Capturing issue with FCP at DVinfo.net

Dave Lammey · April 18th, 2008, 06:35 AM

After a shoot, I like to put all my miniDV tapes together, rewind them all, then capture each tape using scene detection to divide the clips up automatically.

So typically I would do this by loading up the rewound tape in my capture deck, call up the log & capture window, set a start point near the beginning of the tape, then set an end point that I know is beyond the actual end point of the tape. I log that clip, then batch capture the logged clip and let scene detection do the work to divide up the individual shots on the tape.

The problem with this approach is the end of the tape.

As it is capturing, when the tape goes past the end of recorded content (and the deck no longer registers time code), I have to manually end capture by hitting escape. That's fine, except that this apparently causes the last shot to disappear, nowhere to be found on the hard drive.

First question: is this last shot (clip) hiding somewhere on my hard drive, and I just don't know where it is? Or is it instantly vaporized by FCP when I hit the escape button?

I've been getting around this problem by first loading each tape into the tape deck and taking note of where the end point is, then taking the tape out, rewinding in my rewind machine, then putting it back in to the tape deck to capture. Which is a big hassle, extra wear and tear on the tape deck, etc.

So I'd love to figure out a way that FCP will allow me to capture that last shot without having to specify the exact end point. Any suggestions?

April 18th, 2008, 06:35 AM	#1
Dave Lammey Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Simsbury, CT Posts: 247	Capturing issue with FCP After a shoot, I like to put all my miniDV tapes together, rewind them all, then capture each tape using scene detection to divide the clips up automatically. So typically I would do this by loading up the rewound tape in my capture deck, call up the log & capture window, set a start point near the beginning of the tape, then set an end point that I know is beyond the actual end point of the tape. I log that clip, then batch capture the logged clip and let scene detection do the work to divide up the individual shots on the tape. The problem with this approach is the end of the tape. As it is capturing, when the tape goes past the end of recorded content (and the deck no longer registers time code), I have to manually end capture by hitting escape. That's fine, except that this apparently causes the last shot to disappear, nowhere to be found on the hard drive. First question: is this last shot (clip) hiding somewhere on my hard drive, and I just don't know where it is? Or is it instantly vaporized by FCP when I hit the escape button? I've been getting around this problem by first loading each tape into the tape deck and taking note of where the end point is, then taking the tape out, rewinding in my rewind machine, then putting it back in to the tape deck to capture. Which is a big hassle, extra wear and tear on the tape deck, etc. So I'd love to figure out a way that FCP will allow me to capture that last shot without having to specify the exact end point. Any suggestions?