Lately when I try to import video from my Sony HDR-FX 1000 to FCP 7 the import stops because of dropped frames. A LOT! I am lucky to get more than 2 mins at a time. I have 3 cameras and tried importing from each one to rule out the camera being the problem. I turn off all other programs and the internet to make sure they are not interfering. No luck. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Here are the details

I am working on Apple Mac Pro Desktop Computer Late 2013
Processor 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5
Memory 12GB 1866 MHz DDR3 ECC
Graphics AMD FirePro D300 2048 MB
OS X 10.9.5

My FCP documents go to an External 4TB G-Raid with Thurnderbolt Storage that is daisy chained with 2 other external disks. I use Sony DigitalMaster DVCAM miniDV tapes. I always use a cleaning cassette before recording weddings.

I hope for you it is another problem but if all 3 camera's display the same problem there is a high chance it was a bad tape and there is as far as I know no way to recover. I have had a similar issue in 2009 with my brandnew xh-a1 and a brandnew tape, I had over 100 dropouts and no way to get my footage back in one complete recording (it was the ceremony), right after that I bought a 1200 euro costing hvr dr60 with 60gb from sony and never had a issue again.

I don't think it is a tape problem. I have 5 tapes from the wedding and reception and they play fine through the camera and also when I play them on my television. The drop outs only happen as I try to import them into Final Cut Pro.

If the tape with the dropout plays fine in your camera/tv then it's another issue, maybe try another cable that connects your camera to the pc?

Thanks, I'll try a new cable. I sent for 2 adaptors. 400 Firewire to 800 Firewire and 800 Firewire to Thunderbolt. Right now I have i link (from the camera) to an external hard drive that accepts 400 firewire and that is connected to my computer.

We shoot many weddings in Missions which are dark and need to have cameras that will shoot in low light. The Sony MiniDV cams will do that. If I could find a digital camera that I could afford that would shoot in low light I would change.

There seems to be a confusion here about 'dropped frames' and 'dropouts'. The OP mentioned dropped frames - This could be due to your Prefs file and capture settings, that Mac is more than capable of handling those files either native or ProRes.

Have you tried FCP7>User Prefs>Turn off> 'Report Dropped Frames" and Turn Off " Abort Capture on Dropped Frames" and "On Timecode Break" - change to "Warn After Capture".

You mention your FCP 'Documents' go to your 4Gb RAID - does the media go to the same drive? - "System Settings" > Scratch Disks > Video & Audio > Set.

Dave what you said makes so much sense. I checked all my settings and they were set correctly. And all my FCP Documents and media go to the same drive.

But I knew it had to be somewhere in my settings. I changed my Easy Setup from HDV to Apple Codec 1080i60 and now I have been able to a whole tape with out it stopping!!! Halleiujah! I don’t fully understand why it is working now but I’m so grateful it is. It is the middle of my heavy wedding season and I have a wedding every Saturday. This problem was really slowing me down. Thank Goodness for DVINFO where I can seek help from my peers!