JVC HD 100U, 110U, 200U, 250U Users WITH DR-HD100 PLEASE READ!!!

[Michael Vallier]

I have a JVC HD-110U and a DR-HD100 60GB Hard Drive. I posted the following problem in many places but got no good responses. If you use any of the JVC HD cameras I mentioned in the title and a FOCUS DR-HD100 Hard Drive, please read the following and let me know how you get it to work. Thank you.

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I have QT Pro 7 on a PC and having big problems viewing Quicktime HD files from my DR-HD100 shot on a JVC-110U. I try to view these files, the audio is there but there is no video. I tried brining these files into Avid, Sony Vegas and FCP on my office computer and all the same thing. I downloaded a codec from this link:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/

...and I paid $20 for the codec but it did not work.

I contacted FOCUS and this is what I got:

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"This a CODEC issue. The crux of the issue is that actual HDV QT files require QT PRO or FCP on the Mac to playback because they provide the appropriate HDV CODEC.

The Windows QT player and FC Express provide Apples's intermediate CODEC only, so
this is the "HDV" QT files that they will playback. This CODEC is not HDV; the data in files using the Intermediate CODEC is partially uncompressed at capture.

FOCUS only support HDV QT not the Intermediate CODEC HDV QT.
Final Cut or AVID will have to contacted to assist with the necessary updates."
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Avid says I have to contact QT, Apple QT says I have to contact FOCUS and
FOCUS is saying I need to contact QT or Avid. I am stuck in a loop with
a product that is suppose to work.

How does it work??? What does a computer system need and what is the workflow???

This footage I have I REALLY need to edit ASAP. Can anyone shed some light on the issue??? THANK YOU.

-Mike-

[Ted Ramasola]

Michael,

I dont know if this will work for you. I use edius for editing and sometimes i place on the timeline a QT file which i get from these forums and when i do theres also NO audio track.

What i do is open the file in premiere pro and ithe audio is there. I export the audio track from the prempro timeline and place it on my edius timeline.

If you have a trial prem pro, why dont you try opening your QT file there.

Ted

[Michael Vallier]

I think that my problem is a bit different. But I thank you for responding. With my issue, I always have audio, just no video. With the amount of footage I will be shooting, it would be too time consuming to bring it in to different programs first. I got picked up as a DP on a feature and I need this to work so the editor can edit on Avid or FCP. If I can't get this to work by next weekend, I lose the job to someone else. I myself use Sony Vegas to edit and the M2t files work fine with that. I personally have no problem using those files but they don't work with Avid or FCP. I could record in M2t and export to QT but with a feature film, that is too much footage to do and would take too long.

But again thank you for your response.

-Mike-

[Bill Ravens]

Sheer Video makes a very excellent intermediate file that is importable/exportable to AVID or FCP. Yes, it takes some time to transcode. Alternatively, Cineform will also transcode to .mov much more efficiently and may suit your needs.

[Bryan Olinger]

If you are shooting 720p24 footage, you will need the Apple 720p24 codec to view and edit these files if you are shooting footage in a QT wrapper. The unfortunate end of this means you need an apple computer running at least Final Cut Pro v.5.1.2 - this is earliest version Apple released of Final Cut 5 thats has the HDV 720p24 support necessary to not only edit the footage but view it in Quicktime.
You can download for free from the apple developer website an MPEG transcoding program called MPEGStreamclip.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...treamclip.html
Record in m2t format instead of quicktime and then use MPEGStreamclip to transcode your m2ts into a codec friendly to the NLE you are runnning like AIC or DVCPRO HD, or even Uncompressed 8-bit. MPEGStreamclip allows you to do this in a batch as well.
Hope this helps and good luck

[Michael Vallier]

Is there no way just to use the QT files??? Why do they offer it if it is not working??? This is so frustrating.

[Bryan Olinger]

I reread your first post and missed you're trying to edit Quicktime files from the DR-HD100 on a PC. I'm guessing since it's a feature film the footage is being recorded as QT HDV 720p24. My co-worker and I ran into a similar problem where we shot footage at 24fps HDV in a Quicktime wrapper to a 60GB DR-HD100. The editor and I had no trouble cutting on a G5 running a current version of FCP but when my co-worker wanted to use some B-roll he shot for a music video he had the same Codec issue on his PC running Adobe Premier Pro.
HDV is a tricky format and when you add new framerates and different wrapper options it doesn't become a universally friendly file format even if you're going to harddrive. The problem whatever NLE system your footage is destined for decides the wrapper you shoot in. This is why the option is available. It used to be you chose m2t as your format and that was the only choice. Final Cut doesn't edit raw m2t streams natively so FOCUS added the quicktime wrapper support so files recorded to the DRHD100 could be brought right into Final Cut Pro( if you had v5.1.2 or later) Vegas, Premiere Pro, and others require you choose the m2t option on the DRHD100- some of these NLE will edit the m2ts natively while others require rewrapping in a .avi format.
In the end, my co-worker found an apple and used MPEGStreamclip to transcode the Quicktimes to PC-friendly AVI.

What we learned was the Quicktime setting on the DRHD100 is intended for footage that will be cut in Final Cut Pro. Final Cut is the only software with the QT HDV 720p24/30/25 support. PC is not going to play ball with the m2ts that have already been wrapped in Quicktime. My suggestion is make sure the editor will use Final Cut Pro that's at least v5.1.2 if you have already shot footage in Quicktime mode. If shooting hasn't started yet, you're fine- shoot in m2t recording format. This way you can always transcoder for use on an Apple if necessary.

Side note: the $20 upgrade is for MPEG-2 support which is actually a handy thing to have but won't help this issue. While HDV is technically MPEG-2 video it is a different type of MPEG-2 coding that the $20 plug-in does not support.

[Tim Dashwood]

Originally Posted by Michael Vallier

I have QT Pro 7 on a PC and having big problems viewing Quicktime HD files from my DR-HD100 shot on a JVC-110U.

Focus' response was exactly right.
The HDV codec (~Library/Quicktime/AppleHDVCodec.component) isn't included in the Windows version of Quicktime. It is only included with Final Cut Studio (5.1) or Final Cut Studio 2 install.
If you don't have access to a Mac with FCP 5.1.2 or newer then in the future you should switch the DR-HD100 to mpeg mode and use m2t.

Originally Posted by Michael Vallier

Is there no way just to use the QT files??? Why do they offer it if it is not working??? This is so frustrating.

It works perfectly. Your Mac system just needs to have the HDV Codec installed.

[Bryan Olinger]

Dashwood, you beat me to the punch.
And with considerably less words.
I wouldn't have expected anything less.

[Michael Vallier]

Thank you all for your input. I have a clear understanding now. Take care.

-Mike-