Copying edited HD material BACK to A1E (FCP 5.x)

[Paul Wilkinson]

Hi everyone.

First time post, long time reader. I have looked in this forum and haven't seen this question, but please point me in the right direction if it has already been posted/answered.

Have no problems capturing HDV from A1E via i-link into FCP 5 using HDV1080i50 (G5 2GHz 1Gb Ram OSX 10.4.3). However, once edited, I cannot get the camera to accept HDV out from FCP via -link - despite the camera on screen display showing HDVin. All the options (HDV 1440 x 1080) 25fps are greyed out in the FCP View Menu. Thus, I am unable to get a HD master copy of my edited material.

Has anyone had the same problem? Looking online, I see that a number of Sony Pro HDV models are supported, but the A1E is missing. Is this just a support issue? Is one due? Is there a simple workaround to this problem!?

Any help would be great!

Cheers

Paul

[Paul Chun]

Paul,

Sorry a bit off topic but I had a question on your importing of HDV into FCP 5. I'm trying to import 1080/60i HDV into FCP and it works fine, but when I drop clips into the timeline, there is a red line above it and it seems to need to be rendered before I can view it. Is this normal? If not, what settings do I need to change to import it correctly into FCP? I'm using the easy setup and pick HDV 1080 60i for importing.

[Boyd Ostroff]

You need to be certain that your capture, clip and sequence settings are all the same and then no render will be needed. The simplest way to do this is to choose the "HDV-1080i60" Easy Setup (you will need to check the "Show All" box in the Easy Setup dialog. For existing clips and sequences, compare their settings using Sequence > Settings when the timeline is selected or Edit > Item Properties while a viewer window is open to a clip.

You should be able to send your sequence back to the camera using File > Print to Video. You cannot view your video on the camera or record it to tape via firewire during timeline playback as you could with regular DV.

[Paul Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

You should be able to send your sequence back to the camera using File > Print to Video. You cannot view your video on the camera or record it to tape via firewire during timeline playback as you could with regular DV.

Get the following message when all easysetup files are in place:

Unable to locate the following external devices:
DVCPRO HD (1080i50) (1920 x 1080)
DVCPRO DH Out

Hence why I am unable to print to video ... any further thoughts Boyd?

PS: Camera connected with HDVin and iLINK both displayed ...

Thanks again for your first reply!

[Boyd Ostroff]

First, how are you viewing the video while editing? Are you using the Digital Cinema Desktop on a second screen, or just the canvas window? Under the FCP menu choose Audio/Video settings what does it say under Video Playback in the Summary tab? It should be either "None" if just viewing in the canvas window or else one of the Digital Cinema Desktop options.

Now click on the A/V Devices tab. The Playback output will match the setting in the Summary tab. Click the "Different Output for Edit to Tape/Print to Video" box and choose HDV (1440x1080) 30fps (or 25fps if in PAL land).

This should be the correct configuration for your camera. However I'm guessing that your sequence settings are wrong also. Apparently you have setup for DVC Pro, which would be wrong. Choosing an Easy Setup will only affect future sequences/clips, it does not change existing ones. See my earlier post about checking clip and sequence settings.

[Paul Wilkinson]

That fixed it allright. Plus, if anyone else having same prob, the Sony HVR-A1E likes to be put into Pause/Record mode first ...

Thanks again Boyd!

Paul