successful FCP native HDV capture

[Tim Brown]

Originally Posted by Charles Barreto

not to take this out of subject...but does anyone know where I can find minimum specs for a G5 running Final Cut Pro to edit my GY-HD100 footage?

Before I got into HDV i was able to edit all day and night using my 2GHz Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro with FCP 5.1.4. Now with my JVC HDV footage, I am chug chug chugging along and it is killing me. I am not looking for something like super high end...I just want at least to do two layer video without crapping my computer...mabe I would need a cheapy BlackMagic card?

Any ideas?

Your computer is plenty fast enough. The weak link in your speed chain is probably your HD. Where are you storing your media?

[Charles Barreto]

Originally Posted by Tim Brown

Your computer is plenty fast enough. The weak link in your speed chain is probably your HD. Where are you storing your media?

I got all my media in an external Lacie Terrabyte drive...I've also tried in smaller 250GB drive modules via firewire...but it chugs

[Paolo Ciccone]

Originally Posted by Charles Barreto

so the clips are not chopped up into many clips? Is this is true, then this would be the way to go.

All right, I did a test with one full tape. Not a single broken clip, not a single dropped frame. Just to be thorough I switched to other applications during the capture, ran a couple of SQL queries, refreshed a few Safari tab, still not a dropped frame. And the clip in interpreted correctly at 23.976 fps. I'm very, very pleased.

What would make Premiere better or equal to FCP?

In my opinion Premiere has now the upper hand. At the video level we have:

- multi-format editing. FCP is bound to QuickTime only. Premiere works directly with .m2t file, other mpeg variants and others. You can pretty much convert everything to QT but this option makes your life easier.
- Image sequence are supported. A feature important for VFX work.
- Multicamera editing. Synch of multiple clips is actually more flexible in Premiere as it supports synchronization via markers.
- Sound. FCP is still pretty primitive when it comes to sound processing. Premiere allows you to work with surround sound 5.1 in the timeline and supports VST plugins.
- Dynamic link with AE. Copy a piece of the timeline, switch to After Effetcs, paste in it, apply effects, now Premere and After Effects are updated in real time. This was, BTW, the main reason for me to switch. To get full compatibility with my HD100 is icing on the cake!
Finally, I can say goodbye to the DVHSCap/MPEGStream clip workaround.

There are many other features but I'll cover them in another place, I don't want to "highjack" the thread too much.

[David Knaggs]

Originally Posted by Paolo Ciccone

There are many other features but I'll cover them in another place, I don't want to "highjack" the thread too much.

Hi Paolo.

I've been looking at the Adobe Suite for a while. So your experiences are of great interest. I'll start a new thread in the Mac forum where I'll have a couple of questions.

Thanks!

[Tim Brown]

Originally Posted by Charles Barreto

I got all my media in an external Lacie Terrabyte drive...I've also tried in smaller 250GB drive modules via firewire...but it chugs

Hello Charles,

You may want to look into a CalDigit Express card along with a supported drive. I suggest something from G-Tech.

[Charles Barreto]

Originally Posted by David Knaggs

Hi Paolo.

I've been looking at the Adobe Suite for a while. So your experiences are of great interest. I'll start a new thread in the Mac forum where I'll have a couple of questions.

Thanks!

Send us the link so we I can take a look at it...interested also in the native plug-in capabilities.

Originally Posted by Tim Brown

Hello Charles,

You may want to look into a CalDigit Express card along with a supported drive. I suggest something from G-Tech.

but I do need a G5 for this right?

[Tim Brown]

Originally Posted by Charles Barreto

... but I do need a G5 for this right?

The Express card is for the MacBook Pro.

[David Knaggs]

Originally Posted by Charles Barreto

Send us the link so we I can take a look at it...interested also in the native plug-in capabilities.

Hi Charles.

Here's the link:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=120462

[Steve Oakley]

I'll also note that the 3.2 release of Prem Pro can also handle corrupt Mpeg2 streams from drop outs, really bad ones. Prem can go thru and flag bad frames, then resync after the bad frames so the audio stays locked. thats really impressive. compare that to FCP which seems to barf at one bad bit of data, while Prem Pro will just take it in and run with it.

[Paolo Ciccone]

True, I noticed that Premiere actually creates a log in the Info window showing the possible data/timecode breaks. Those entries in the log can the be used to just to the location without having to scrub manually.

[Tim Dashwood]

Originally Posted by Steve Oakley

I'll also note that the 3.2 release of Prem Pro can also handle corrupt Mpeg2 streams from drop outs, really bad ones. Prem can go thru and flag bad frames, then resync after the bad frames so the audio stays locked. thats really impressive. compare that to FCP which seems to barf at one bad bit of data, while Prem Pro will just take it in and run with it.

This is promising. I hope Apple follows suit with the next version of FCP.

[David Scattergood]

I hope all you guys don't make the switch...the FCP help pool on here just won't be the same!
Funny, I deliberately made the switch from Prem Pro on the PC to FCP on the Mac due to poor behaviour, although to be fair that was mainly down to the PC.
Still, interested in the link up between AE (which I'm keen on getting my hands on) and the entire suite.
I tend to use Logic Pro for audio so not really sure if this favours one NLE over the other.
I guess apple won't close the loopholes associated with the HD100, but I'll stick with FCP for some time. I made the switch from Cubase to Logic and it was almost like using a different language....frustrating indeed.

[Paolo Ciccone]

David, I still have FCP but the lack of support by Apple for some essential features, like image sequences, mpeg, and integration with After Effects made me finally cross the threshold. I just remembered that when I got my HD100, winter 2005, a friend of mine, with Premiere on a PC, was able to capture footage right away while for the past 2 years we have gone from struggle to struggle with FCP. We got the "A" upgrade that was supposed to improve things with the NLE, we got endless updates, it's still broken. I tried Premiere and I was surprised how easy it was to pick up. The downside of Premiere is the performance. I's not as optimized as FCP to run with non-specialized hardware, but it's getting there.
At the end of the day I just use what tool makes sense for the job and right now Premiere is a very good solution for HD100/250 owners and the integration with After Effects makes post work and color correction really easy.

[David Scattergood]

Originally Posted by Paolo Ciccone

David, I still have FCP but the lack of support by Apple for some essential features, like image sequences, mpeg, and integration with After Effects made me finally cross the threshold. I just remembered that when I got my HD100, winter 2005, a friend of mine, with Premiere on a PC, was able to capture footage right away while for the past 2 years we have gone from struggle to struggle with FCP. We got the "A" upgrade that was supposed to improve things with the NLE, we got endless updates, it's still broken. I tried Premiere and I was surprised how easy it was to pick up. The downside of Premiere is the performance. I's not as optimized as FCP to run with non-specialized hardware, but it's getting there.
At the end of the day I just use what tool makes sense for the job and right now Premiere is a very good solution for HD100/250 owners and the integration with After Effects makes post work and color correction really easy.

Absolutely Paulo - in fact I've just had my HD100 back from JVC - the (A) upgrade, latest firmware and some [unknown??] motherboard replacement...tried to capture natively and still no luck (although this was on footage captured 'pre-op' if that makes any difference)!
The workarounds are often a ball and chain to creativity - you just want it to do what it says on the tin, not fiddle with sub programs.
Be interested to see what apple does over the next year or so - I had Prem Pro down as losing the NLE battle (and I believe the BBC have bought into FCP in a big way).
Had I AE and critical colour programs I'd be tempted to take a look again at Prem. Is much of the Adobe suite rocky for intel macs?

[Paolo Ciccone]

Originally Posted by David Scattergood

Is much of the Adobe suite rocky for intel macs?

Well, I've been using AE CS3 for a while and it runs just fine. I started using the rest of the Master Series recently but it seems pretty stable.