Has FCP 5.1.4 fixed the capturing problems with the GY-HD 100/110/200/250 series?

[David Knaggs]

I'm interested in general feedback on this point.

Yesterday, I captured natively with FCP some HDV 720p24 clips and it all went smoothly. It was the first time I'd tried with 24p (I was previously scared off by all the reports of bugs with native 24p capture). Today, on the Mac forum, someone reported their first bug-free capture of native HDV 720p25 - right after updating to FCP 5.1.4. For the first time, everything worked as it should.

Has a quiet revolution descended upon us?

I'm interested in any other reports of capturing natively in HDV 720p24, 720p25 and 720p30 with the updated FCP 5.1.4.

The specific phenomena I'm checking on are the mid-clip breaks (e.g. you capture a 3 minute clip [which had been recorded continuously with no timecode breaks] and FCP might break it into 4 or 5 smaller clips with 5-7 second gaps in between.

Has that really been fixed now (by broad experience of the FCP users on this board) for 24/25/30p?

I know FCP doesn't yet support 50p/60p HDV native editing. And I'm specifically NOT asking about people missing the beginning few seconds of each clip as the camera comes up to speed (feel free to start another thread about that! But you could try playing the previous clip on the tape, get the camera up to speed then, at the instant [or fractionally after] the new clip begins, click the "Capture Now" button. It could work).

[Tim Dashwood]

I doubt it has anything to do with 5.1.4. Probably coincidence.

I was able to capture without issues with 5.1.2 and briefly with 5.1.3. The issues are stream and tape based. I've been trying to get to the bottom of it, but I don't want to conduct the obvious experiment on my own gear and switch to different tape. My problem free days could be over then!

By the way, if you want to capture 720P60, you can use the built in AIC capture utility. It isn't native, and it won't maintain TC, but it does work perfectly.

[George Doyle]

Got delivery of 111E today. Tried FCP 5.1.4 and had no problems other than the first 5 secs missing at start of the clips. Was capturing 720p25. Won't call it a revolution just yet but relatively painless compared to some of the others problems I've been reading about. Just delighted that I wont have to capture everything in DVHS Cap!

All the best,

George

[David Scattergood]

David as you know I'm soon to take the plunge into HDV, I was wondering if it might be best practice to keep the TC set to REC and also get into the habit of hitting the RET button following power offs (or even tape pauses...I swear I sometimes lose time code on pauses).
I also need to get in touch with JVC uk, just to double check the s/w and firmware updates (if any) of my camera (purchased around october 2006).

[Fernando Hermoso]

Originally Posted by Tim Dashwood

I doubt it has anything to do with 5.1.4. Probably coincidence.

By the way, if you want to capture 720P60, you can use the built in AIC capture utility. It isn't native, and it won't maintain TC, but it does work perfectly.

Hello Tim, you could specify since to make the capture with the AIC? you know if it works in 720 to 50p? thanks in advance

[David Knaggs]

Originally Posted by David Scattergood

I was wondering if it might be best practice to keep the TC set to REC and also get into the habit of hitting the RET button following power offs (or even tape pauses...I swear I sometimes lose time code on pauses).

Hi David.

I believe in first trying "the usual", and only if that doesn't work start using workarounds as your second option.

Amongst a number of things, the "usual" would consist of using the manufacturer-recommended tapes (as given in the user manual) such as M-DV63PROHD, allow sufficient pre-roll and post-roll to make it easier for FCP to capture it (although I know that's not always possible when shooting nature or weddings, one should always endeavour to, anyway), shoot with the usual REGEN setting, make sure your heads aren't dirty, etc., etc.

Then set Easy Setup in FCP for HDV 720p25 and capture.

Remember, if it then "doesn't work", you could then try future recording with TC GENE set to REC and try "Capture Now", etc., etc., and you can always fall back on DVHSCap-MPEG Streamclip which is rock-solid for 720p25. So you'll have a number of "safety nets" anyway.

One oddity which I should mention is that I've had an 80% success rate with REC and Capture Now (Clip Capture and Batch Capture didn't work at all well for me) with 720p25.

I spent a good deal of time yesterday capturing natively with HDV 720p24 and found that Capture Now was the WORST (unlike 25p) and had best results with Clip Capture and Batch Capture (logging in and out points). I captured from different parts of about 4 tapes (all recorded with REGEN) and some tapes were perfect (no problems at all) and some might sporadically break off the capture - in the first few seconds usually. But rewinding and trying again would usually fix it.

So I wouldn't say that FCP 5.1.4 has fixed all of the bugs with 720p24 capture (although it was pretty darn good!), but I'm intrigued by recent reports of native 720p25 capture being trouble-free and will set my TC GENE switch to REGEN for a small bit of corporate shooting I'm doing later this week and see how I go.

[Drew Curran]

I had no problems capturing 720p25 with FCP and wondered what all the fuss was about - until I did a wedding for a friend! Drop outs or whatever caused FCP to start a new clip in the middle of vows and speeches, etc. It would capture 20 minutes without any problems and then insert a break at random!

I had to capture the whole thing again using DVHS-Cap and had no problems at all.

Before this wedding my longest clip would gave been a 2 or 3 minutes and so FCP obviously didn't encounter any problems. I captured each take as a seperate clip and allowed plenty of pre-roll during filming for capturing.

I suppose longer clips can have more drop outs, etc and these seemed to be the problem. I haven't went back to FCP for capturing as I prefer to work with AIC codec anyhow. I found rendering HDV to be too slow. DVHS-cap gives me more work, but its less of a pain in the neck.

Andrew

[David Knaggs]

Thanks Drew. Very interesting.

Well, Tim's theory on the issues being stream and tape based may yet prove to be right.

It looks like the FCP capturing saga continues! (Unfortunately.)

[Peter Lataster]

I've been encountering the same problems capturing footage: chopping a single 20 minute shot in 24 pieces. Awfull! Then I started capturing the material from tape 2. No problem at all. In both cases I used the JVC prohd 63 me tapes. But, tape 1 came in a black cassette and tape 2 in a white one. Obviously a new batch. My tc switch is set to "rec", I'm using easy set-up and tried both capture now and batch capture. Same result. So maybe JVC has improved the quality of the tapes without telling anyone?

[Jeffrey Butler]

Originally Posted by George Doyle

...other than the first 5 secs missing at start of the clips.

That is currently my problem. It is infuriating. I did it fine yesterday, but today can't capture anything that doesn't nip the first 5 seconds. That's retarded. Simple retarded.

[David Knaggs]

Hi Jeffrey.

If you find yourself missing vitally needed footage in those first five seconds (these days I always allow at least a ten second pre-roll, but I know that's not always possible, especially if you do event shooting) there is a workaround to get all of your missing footage captured and into your native HDV 720p24 sequence.

1/ Capture the footage from your camera or deck as an .m2t file using DVHSCap (which can capture across timecode breaks) or HDVxDV.
2/ Transcode the .m2t into an Uncompressed 720p24 Quicktime movie using HDVxDV or MPEG Streamclip. It's important not to add an extra MPEG-2 compression step at this point, so it's best to make it uncompressed. FCP will render it later to conform it with your native HDV sequence.
3/ Import into FCP and drag the clip into your HDV 720p24 timeline.

[Jeffrey Butler]

Originally Posted by David Knaggs

...there is a workaround to get all of your missing footage captured and into your native HDV 720p24 sequence.

I did discover that one. It could be a lifesaver, but it's actually retarded if you think about it...but give me this evening to verify it. If you're just going to capture then convert it, my thought is why bother - just use the HDV w/ AIC template to bring in the footage - I've done that and it works fine - captures everything. I get some bogus clips of just a V track for a few seconds, but sorting by tracks and deleting them is easy...

When you compare the workflow nightmare by using (these great tools) DVHScap and MPEGStreamclip, with just using an HDV/AIC capture template, there's arguably little gain in the raw .m2t capture.

There are reasons for wanting it, but editing in FCP isn't one of them. Backup to DVD, well, that may be worth the capture/conversion...

[Drew Curran]

Originally Posted by Jeffrey Butler

just use the HDV w/ AIC template to bring in the footage - I've done that and it works fine - captures everything.

Jeff

Can you show a screen capture of these settings?

If I'm right, I've tried this but I didn't get the usual Log and Capture screen?? Is this correct?

Drew

[Jeffrey Butler]

Originally Posted by Drew Curran

If I'm right, I've tried this but I didn't get the usual Log and Capture screen?? Is this correct?

That's correct - you only get a mini clip name, then it goes and gets the tape as clips.

In fact, I'm pulling out my beard RIGHT NOW just trying to do this with HDV 720p/24! I cannot get it to come in at anything other than 59.94, and it's driving me batty. I've loaded every preset I can find...and HDV/24 native drops the first 7 seconds - completely unacceptable and retarded - and now I can't even capture the 24p via HDV Apple Int. Codec....

AIIEEEE!!!!

[Jeffrey Butler]

Originally Posted by Tim Dashwood

By the way, if you want to capture 720P60, you can use the built in AIC capture utility. It isn't native, and it won't maintain TC, but it does work perfectly.

You know, that's right. I've been doing it time and time again for my kids soccer games. But NOW - now I've decide to try and use 24p - and good grief! It doesn't work capturing via AIC w/o capturing it at 59.94, and native drops 7 seconds. Stupid. Why it works perfectly w/ 60p and NOT 24p is beyond me. . . .