XLH1 capture in FCP

As a fairly new geezer to the world of HDV has anyone had knowledge of capturing 1080 50i from the XL H1 via firewire into a G5? I can capture at 25f but having a bit of trouble getting the 50i rate directly into the mac.

Cheers!

What software are you using?

Final cut pro 5.0 on a G5 dualprocessor with 3gb of ram.

I have a g5 2.5 a canonxlh1 and am trying to capture 25f as well. I can get it in via firewire 1080i50 but when I try to make subclips it won't let me. Anyone had this trouble? If choose i and out point it basically makes oner big clip.

has anyone had knowledge of capturing 1080 50i from the XL H1 via firewire into a G5? I can capture at 25f but having a bit of trouble getting the 50i rate directly into the mac.

- in the 'Final Cut Pro'-menu, choose 'Easy Setup...'
- check 'Show All' at the top right
- choose either 'HDV - 1080i50' or 'HDV-Apple Intermediate Codec - 1080i50' from the drop-down menu
- click the 'Setup'-button

After that, you should be good to go with 'Log and Capture' ('File'-menu or cmd-8).

On a dual-G5, it may be better to go with Apple Intermediate Codec because it is less processor intensive during playback and editing. Drawbacks:
- the data rate is 4x higher than with HDV, which will result in your footage consuming 4x more space your hard drive
- time code is not preserved during capture, which will make re-capture difficult

I've been editing native HDV (i.e. sans AIC) on a Quad G5, and it works fine...

NB: If you haven't updated to FCP 5.0.4 yet, I'd suggest you do. QT 7.0.4 is preferrable to 7.1. I'd wait for 7.1.1 if I were you. And lastly, I'd advise ordering the FCP 5.1 Universal Crossgrade while Apple's promo lasts: http://www.apple.com/uk/universal/crossgrade/

HTH,

Ron

Ok - I got it working now with the apple codec and the HDV codec, my only problem now is I have a canopus ADV300 DV converter that previously would take the firewire feed from the mac and display the footage on a monitor in real time. Now, the monitor displays a still of where I am in the timelime...ok...but when I play the timeline the footage on the monitor doesn't move with it. When I stop the play the monitor updates to the new current frame. I've checked various settings etc. but no joy yet. I prefer viewing my editing through a proper monitor and not using the FCP canvas as a monitor for reasons of colour and lipsync.

Am I doing something wrong? Or is it the fact that its an HDV source going through a PAL convertor? Cheers

HDV does not have much at all in common with DV (other than a similar bit-rate). I don't know if the ADV300 can handle HDV, but I suspect not. Live-preview of HDV via FireWire is apparently not possible, anyway. It's a technological limitation. Check this thread in the FCP HD forum for a possible low-cost alternative:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=68240

HTH,

Ron

OK! so looks like I'll be editing purely within the confines of my 2 monitors for now then! Thanks for all the excellent advice!

Brian Wheatley
The Multi Media Market

www.multimediamarket.org.uk

Hi Brian,
you're saying you have no problem capturing 25F in FCP, is that right ?????
I just shot a whole documentary in 25F with a Canon XL-H1 so now I need to start editing and everyone tells me that FCP does not capture 25F properly for the moment. So what is your entire set-up ? (video cards, connectors, transfer box, etc.) And is it working perfectly fine? Do you have any issues with timecodes not being recognized when you do batch capture ?

Your answer would be greatly appreciated as I still haven't been able to find anyone that works with the XL-H1 in the 25F mode so far...and I need to buy a whole set-up and start working very soon...

Thanks in advance.

Bonjour Axel,
There are several on this forum working with 25F and FCP. I believe you work with it as 50i material. No big problems so far to me but I do not own all fancy boards and monitors. The 24F problems are so much discussed here so we in the PAL region seem to drown and think 25F couldn't work because 24F is a problem with a long and winding road to follow to get it working.
Just plug 25F in and start editing! If it doesn't work; try Ron´s´ detailed guide above. Good luck!
PS. Before you shoot too much I would recommend trying different custom presets. The picture is quite possible to improve compared to the factory setting. I just took the 18 presets and 2 of my own and shot short sequences to try them all. They are all very different in my opinion and you will definitely find a favorite or two.

Thanks for your reply Johan .
"Just plug 25F in and start editing"
I did just that and went to an apple store with my camera to do some testing before buying...
We tried capturing on a G5 with FCP 5.1 and we kept having timecode issues... It works kind of ok in "capture now" mode , but when we put in and out points and try to "batch capture" it doesn't work properly at all... it never finds the timecode of the first clip and gives an error message or sometimes it finds it and captures it, but in 2 seperate clips, etc...
Has anyone experienced the same ? If not, please tell me what your system set-up is...! and how to capture 25F in a RELIABLE way, as I have over 50 hours of footage to go thru...! Any help would be great
Thanks in advance.

I have had similar problems to yourself but I think what I did was bin the finalcut prefs file from the system folder.

Also try running something like disc warrior on your system

Bri