HDV vs. Apple Intermediate Codec at DVinfo.net

Ryan Bales · February 10th, 2010, 08:20 PM

Hey there everyone. Sorry, but my first post is going to dive right into it. I edit with FCP 5. I know, get with the times, and I will, as soon as I save up the money. Anyways my iMac is an oldie as well; 2.16 GHz Intel with 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. Here is my problem.

I recently updated to Snow Leopard. When I attempted to capture some HDV footage just like I always have, FCP decides that the only way it will recognize my deck via firewire, (HV20), is by using Apple Intermediate Codec, which I have no controls over except for the Esc button.
Also, all my audio is imported as stereo instead of dual-mono and I have to separate it post capture in the timeline which I have never had to do. I've done every basic set-up I could think of and still haven't figured it out. I even tried to install Quicktime again, but my computer won't let that happen because it says I have the latest and greatest. Any ideas? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Ryan

William Hohauser · February 11th, 2010, 09:19 AM

1) Throw out the FCP prefs.

if that doesn't work....

2) Reinstall FCP from scratch. The main programs not the support files. You can leave those on your computer.

You can de-link the audio files in the AIC capture window, I believe.

David Scattergood · February 19th, 2010, 09:41 AM

Hi all,

I'd carried out a bit of a search on this issue - and lo and behold DV info is the one with the closest (if not identical) problem!
I too have recently updated my tiger to snow leopard (not entirely convinced it's been a wise decision yet). Back on FCP (FCS2) I had seemingly lost my HDV firewire (I'm as careful as ever with the cable/connections/isolator etc). It will however, allow me to capture HDV AIC (again, no control). I was initially impressed as the clips were broken up correctly but no missing captures (4 second problem) took place. Bizarrely though, these clips are now 50 frames rather than 25p - it plays twice the speed in the HDV timeline (I have successfully capture the same footage as HDV in the past). Having trashed prefs/rebooted cam and iMac (2.33 Ghz core 2 - 2gb RAM) the issue remains and I cannot extract HDV footage.
Initially I thought it might be due to the new QT program...?

I haven't been on this board for some time so currently (until I get up to date) unaware if the FCP HDV dropped footage problem was ever fixed?

Will reinstall FCP some time this weekend (just FCP or is it necessary to install the whole FCP suite?)

Many thanks.

William Hohauser · February 19th, 2010, 10:18 AM

It has never happened to me. All three computers that I upgraded to SL capture HDV as before but I have FCS3 so that might be the issue.

David Scattergood · February 19th, 2010, 12:34 PM

Possibly...the back of my mind always worries that the part of the firewire connection has fried (the HDV 'switch' in this case). I shall not panic till I've tried a few more things.

Any light on the fact that HDV AIC captures 25p as 50 fps footage (playing it double the speed in both viewer and timeline)?? Odd day.

David Knaggs · February 21st, 2010, 06:27 PM

I'm mostly using XDCAM EX these days, but I did do an HDV720p25 job back in December. I captured .m2t files with DVHSCap and then converted to QuickTime movies with ClipWrap.

Personally I find it the least annoying (and fastest) way to capture from HDV tape and work natively in FCP.

And when working in the HDV720p25 timeline, I had the rendering settings set to ProRes.

If your FireWire is capturing footage as AIC, the FireWire port is not fried.

February 10th, 2010, 08:20 PM	#1
Ryan Bales New Boot Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Redmond, OR Posts: 14	HDV vs. Apple Intermediate Codec Hey there everyone. Sorry, but my first post is going to dive right into it. I edit with FCP 5. I know, get with the times, and I will, as soon as I save up the money. Anyways my iMac is an oldie as well; 2.16 GHz Intel with 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. Here is my problem. I recently updated to Snow Leopard. When I attempted to capture some HDV footage just like I always have, FCP decides that the only way it will recognize my deck via firewire, (HV20), is by using Apple Intermediate Codec, which I have no controls over except for the Esc button. Also, all my audio is imported as stereo instead of dual-mono and I have to separate it post capture in the timeline which I have never had to do. I've done every basic set-up I could think of and still haven't figured it out. I even tried to install Quicktime again, but my computer won't let that happen because it says I have the latest and greatest. Any ideas? Any help is greatly appreciated. Ryan

February 11th, 2010, 09:19 AM	#2
William Hohauser Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: New York City Posts: 2,650	1) Throw out the FCP prefs. if that doesn't work.... 2) Reinstall FCP from scratch. The main programs not the support files. You can leave those on your computer. You can de-link the audio files in the AIC capture window, I believe. __________________ William Hohauser - New York City Producer/Edit/Camera/Animation

February 19th, 2010, 10:18 AM	#4
William Hohauser Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: New York City Posts: 2,650	It has never happened to me. All three computers that I upgraded to SL capture HDV as before but I have FCS3 so that might be the issue. __________________ William Hohauser - New York City Producer/Edit/Camera/Animation

February 19th, 2010, 09:41 AM	#3
David Scattergood Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 755	Hi all, I'd carried out a bit of a search on this issue - and lo and behold DV info is the one with the closest (if not identical) problem! I too have recently updated my tiger to snow leopard (not entirely convinced it's been a wise decision yet). Back on FCP (FCS2) I had seemingly lost my HDV firewire (I'm as careful as ever with the cable/connections/isolator etc). It will however, allow me to capture HDV AIC (again, no control). I was initially impressed as the clips were broken up correctly but no missing captures (4 second problem) took place. Bizarrely though, these clips are now 50 frames rather than 25p - it plays twice the speed in the HDV timeline (I have successfully capture the same footage as HDV in the past). Having trashed prefs/rebooted cam and iMac (2.33 Ghz core 2 - 2gb RAM) the issue remains and I cannot extract HDV footage. Initially I thought it might be due to the new QT program...? I haven't been on this board for some time so currently (until I get up to date) unaware if the FCP HDV dropped footage problem was ever fixed? Will reinstall FCP some time this weekend (just FCP or is it necessary to install the whole FCP suite?) Many thanks.

February 19th, 2010, 12:34 PM	#5
David Scattergood Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 755	Possibly...the back of my mind always worries that the part of the firewire connection has fried (the HDV 'switch' in this case). I shall not panic till I've tried a few more things. Any light on the fact that HDV AIC captures 25p as 50 fps footage (playing it double the speed in both viewer and timeline)?? Odd day.

February 21st, 2010, 06:27 PM	#6
David Knaggs Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 826	I'm mostly using XDCAM EX these days, but I did do an HDV720p25 job back in December. I captured .m2t files with DVHSCap and then converted to QuickTime movies with ClipWrap. Personally I find it the least annoying (and fastest) way to capture from HDV tape and work natively in FCP. And when working in the HDV720p25 timeline, I had the rendering settings set to ProRes. If your FireWire is capturing footage as AIC, the FireWire port is not fried.