This is a double post, I apologize. I am wondering if there is a setting in Final Cut Pro HD that will allow me to capture footage without reading the timecode. I am transfering a friend's hi8 family movies to DVD, so I put all the movies on mini DV but it still recognizes time code breaks.

Any help? Thanks!

Hi Corey and welcome to DVinfo. We don't allow cross-posting, and the tape forum would be the wrong place for this question anyway. Please see our policy here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/announcement.php?f=38&announcementid=23

I think there are two settings which will help with your problem. First, go to User Preferences and uncheck "abort capture on dropped frames". You could also set "on timecode break" to "make new clip".

The other thing you will probably want to do is change the device control preset to "Non-controllable device" in the Audio/Video Settings dialog box.

See if these things fix your problem.

I'll try what you've suggested and report back soon.

No good. Every time he shut off the camera on his hi8, he left huge gaps on the tape. I thought that by transferring it to mini dv, even the gaps would be filled with timecode. While the timecode DOES STAY continuous, Final Cut stops capturing every time the screen blanks. This means I have to sit at the computer for the duration of each tape.... is there another way to do this?

EDIT:

Okay, I take some of that back. This did help for some of the smaller timecode breaks, which is awesome. BUT, the huge gaps still confuse the computer. I guess that's the price I'll have to pay for helping someone with a dinosaur camera.

Are you trying to set in and out points and capture individual clips, try just hitting capture now at the beginning of the tape

Just hitting capture now. It's weird... depending on how long the gap is between shots, it may or may not keep reading the timecode. I still have to sit with it to help it along, but I don't have to start and stop nearly as often.

When you transferred your Hi8 to miniDV did you continuously record on the miniDV camera? because if you did it should be consistent timecode. If not try to continuously record for each hi8 tape that you have.

That's the strange thing, Nate. I recorded it all continuously, so there are no timecode breaks. But for some reaosn, when I try to "Capture Now," FCP seemingly ignored the timecode and just stops recording each time it sees a big blank area of video. All is well though, I finally got it all onto the computer, it was just a more lengthy process than I'd hoped.