odd camera/computer behaviour at DVinfo.net

Andrew Khalil · September 7th, 2005, 02:04 PM

Hi everyone,
I've been using Final Cut Pro for about a month now (switched for Premiere) and it's just awesome.
I do have a small issue however in terms of the computer (Dual G5) detecting my camera. The problem is that in order for the camera to be detected by FCP, I have to boot the computer with the camera on. If it gets turned off then I need to turn it on and restart again.
Is there something I can do about this or is it just a small bug I have to live with?
Thanks

Jay Voog · September 7th, 2005, 02:42 PM

If you have final cut 5.0...
just go to View>Refresh AV Devices.

But first make sure your firewire cable is connected and camera is turned on.
Should do the trick.

Boyd Ostroff · September 7th, 2005, 03:57 PM

Is the camera a Canon perhaps? For some reason they tend to have a lot of issues with FCP. Do a search, or just browse through the Mac forum here for lots of discussion.

Also, have you seen the following? http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=49838

Andrew Khalil · September 7th, 2005, 06:27 PM

Actually, I should have been clearer - the camera is detected by FCP (it's controllable) but it gives me the dreaded "Preview Disabled" unless I boot with the camera turned on. And yes, it is a Canon - ZR-45. I shoot with an XL1 though and only use it to capture.
I tried the method mentioned in the link to get FCP to detect the camera - before I did that it wasn't detecting it at all, but it would be nice to be able to turn the camera on without having to reboot the whole computer.

Boyd Ostroff · September 7th, 2005, 06:47 PM

I'm just not sure if there's a fix for this. There is something about Canon's implementation of ieee-1394 that doesn't seem to mix well with Apple's firewire. There have been a lot of posts on the topic here and elsewhere. For example:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=49843

If you have any luck solving the problem please let us know, I think a lot of people could benefit from your experience.

Andrew Khalil · September 7th, 2005, 08:23 PM

Well, the only way I've been able to solve it so far is to simply restart the computer with the camera on, so hopefully someone can benefit from that as a workaround. I was also having a problem with it not working when I connected my firewire 800 drive to the computer, so I currently use the firewire 400 on the front of the computer for the camera and plug the drive into a pci firewire 800 card and other than the restart issue, everything works very well.
I am hoping to find out why I need to restart to get fcp to detect the camera though, so I'll let everyone know if anything comes up.

A. J. deLange · September 7th, 2005, 09:21 PM

I get exactly the same message with the XL2 (i.e. "Preview Disabled") but as soon as I send a motion command it disappears and video appears.

Andrew Khalil · September 8th, 2005, 09:08 AM

What do you mean by a motion command? Would that be like playing the tape, cause I tried that and it still says preview disabled.
By the way, I'm considering buying the XL2 for my job next summer - how is it with FCP? Does it have any audio sync issues like the XL1 does?
Thanks

A. J. deLange · September 8th, 2005, 12:09 PM

Andrew,

Yes. Most of the time when I do this I hit the variable speed scan control to back up the tape a bit because I'm at the end of a recording and want to mark the "out" point for capture. Video immediately appears when I do this.

At the risk of violating the cross posting rule I'll mention that I just captured 22 minutes worth of XL2 audio/video with FCP5 and found them to be in a constant sync relationship througout the clip but offset from another by 2 frames. See my post in the Audio forum.

September 7th, 2005, 02:04 PM	#1
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	odd camera/computer behaviour Hi everyone, I've been using Final Cut Pro for about a month now (switched for Premiere) and it's just awesome. I do have a small issue however in terms of the computer (Dual G5) detecting my camera. The problem is that in order for the camera to be detected by FCP, I have to boot the computer with the camera on. If it gets turned off then I need to turn it on and restart again. Is there something I can do about this or is it just a small bug I have to live with? Thanks

September 7th, 2005, 02:42 PM	#2
Jay Voog Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Minnesota, USA Posts: 86	If you have final cut 5.0... just go to View>Refresh AV Devices. But first make sure your firewire cable is connected and camera is turned on. Should do the trick. __________________ Jay ---------------------------- Sony VX2100 cam; FCP 5.0.4

September 7th, 2005, 03:57 PM	#3
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,800	Is the camera a Canon perhaps? For some reason they tend to have a lot of issues with FCP. Do a search, or just browse through the Mac forum here for lots of discussion. Also, have you seen the following? http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=49838

September 7th, 2005, 06:27 PM	#4
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	Actually, I should have been clearer - the camera is detected by FCP (it's controllable) but it gives me the dreaded "Preview Disabled" unless I boot with the camera turned on. And yes, it is a Canon - ZR-45. I shoot with an XL1 though and only use it to capture. I tried the method mentioned in the link to get FCP to detect the camera - before I did that it wasn't detecting it at all, but it would be nice to be able to turn the camera on without having to reboot the whole computer.

September 7th, 2005, 06:47 PM	#5
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,800	I'm just not sure if there's a fix for this. There is something about Canon's implementation of ieee-1394 that doesn't seem to mix well with Apple's firewire. There have been a lot of posts on the topic here and elsewhere. For example: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=49843 If you have any luck solving the problem please let us know, I think a lot of people could benefit from your experience.

September 7th, 2005, 08:23 PM	#6
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	Well, the only way I've been able to solve it so far is to simply restart the computer with the camera on, so hopefully someone can benefit from that as a workaround. I was also having a problem with it not working when I connected my firewire 800 drive to the computer, so I currently use the firewire 400 on the front of the computer for the camera and plug the drive into a pci firewire 800 card and other than the restart issue, everything works very well. I am hoping to find out why I need to restart to get fcp to detect the camera though, so I'll let everyone know if anything comes up.

September 7th, 2005, 09:21 PM	#7
A. J. deLange Major Player Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: McLean, VA United States Posts: 749	I get exactly the same message with the XL2 (i.e. "Preview Disabled") but as soon as I send a motion command it disappears and video appears.

September 8th, 2005, 09:08 AM	#8
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	What do you mean by a motion command? Would that be like playing the tape, cause I tried that and it still says preview disabled. By the way, I'm considering buying the XL2 for my job next summer - how is it with FCP? Does it have any audio sync issues like the XL1 does? Thanks

September 8th, 2005, 12:09 PM	#9
A. J. deLange Major Player Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: McLean, VA United States Posts: 749	Andrew, Yes. Most of the time when I do this I hit the variable speed scan control to back up the tape a bit because I'm at the end of a recording and want to mark the "out" point for capture. Video immediately appears when I do this. At the risk of violating the cross posting rule I'll mention that I just captured 22 minutes worth of XL2 audio/video with FCP5 and found them to be in a constant sync relationship througout the clip but offset from another by 2 frames. See my post in the Audio forum.