FCP, HDV and the A1

[Steven Galvano]

I do not have the HDV 1080 30p codec yet -- I have FCP v5.1 on order.

I have a bunch of footage from a Canon A1 (shot on 30f mode).

I have about a week before FCP 5.1 arrives, so i want to start logging/capturing.
Can I do this in a HDV1080i sequence for now?
Will this negatively impact the footage?

Thanks

Steven

[Bill Pryor]

I would wait, because if you capture it that way, you're going to have to either recapture it or render it back to 24p.

I've also found that with FCP and capturing with the camera, it's a lot easier on the camera and faster in the long run if you just capture the entire tape at once. FCP will automatically divide those clips for you and you can name them then, after they're captured. You don't even have to mark an in and out point, just Capture Now, and it will stop when it reaches the end of the recorded video on the tape, ie., it won't capture a bunch of noise.

[Martin Saxer]

Bill,
maybe you know: if I use free?run tc on the A1, record HDV, and capture with "capture now" in FCP 5.1.4 with the option to make a new clip on timecode breaks, does FCP stop each time when it encounters a TC break, wind back and use pre?roll before it starts capturing the next chunk?
In short: how much footage do I loose with this method at the beginning and end of each clip? Is it possible to trim back preroll to (almost) zero?
And: is timecode preserved?

I can‘t try it out and its crucial for the planning of my workflow.

Martin

[Bill Pryor]

I'm not sure because I haven't shot anything with free run yet. Recently I had about 45 minutes of footage that consisted of a lot of short shots. I did the Capture Now, and it ran through the whole tape and loaded everything as individual clips but never did stop between each clip. I don't know how it did that, but it did.

[Martin Saxer]

Thanks Bill,
if ever to have a minute to try the free-run option, I would be more than greatful. I've searched all forums but haven't found answers yet.

Martin