OK I give up, a little help here please.

D

David_M_Payne

Well-known member
OK I give up, a little help here please.

I've been reading the manuals for both the HVX and the G4 to find out how to connect the two and get them working together and I can't find the info. I've got FCP studio 5.0.4 on the laptop but so far I can't get any connection going between it and the HVX using firewire. The Panasonic book covers the basic operating instructions using P2 card (P25-28) and the tape drive, (P29-31) but if there is a page of instructions on connecting to a laptop I've missed it. I'm know I'm not all that technically sophisticated with the camera and computers, I just need to know how to get them talking to each other so that I can start learning how to use them to film my film. The G4 manual says that when I plug in a camera it will automatically detect it, but it hasn't happened yet. The instructions on page 30 of the G4 manual say to see the HVX book, but again if the info is there I've missed it. Is there a basic how to book or links that anyone can point me to, to get me started? Any help in this matter will be greatly appreciated.

Barry, hurry up with that book and DVD.

David
 
Is the PC/DUB light on in the back of the camera lit up? If not, put the camera in mcr/vcr mode.... then hold the same button you used to change into the MCR/VCR mode for 2-3 seconds - the camera then goes into PC/DUB mode.

When you plug into the mac via FIREWIRE (not sure that's required, but I THINK it needs the firewire not usb) a unnamed volume should mount.

Then you can go into Final Cut and import Panasonic P2.
 
joelnet said:
Is the PC/DUB light on in the back of the camera lit up? If not, put the camera in mcr/vcr mode.... then hold the same button you used to change into the MCR/VCR mode for 2-3 seconds - the camera then goes into PC/DUB mode.

When you plug into the mac via FIREWIRE (not sure that's required, but I THINK it needs the firewire not usb) a unnamed volume should mount.

Then you can go into Final Cut and import Panasonic P2.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info bud. It's late now but I'll do that tomorrow.

David
 
joelnet said:
Is the PC/DUB light on in the back of the camera lit up? If not, put the camera in mcr/vcr mode.... then hold the same button you used to change into the MCR/VCR mode for 2-3 seconds - the camera then goes into PC/DUB mode.

When you plug into the mac via FIREWIRE (not sure that's required, but I THINK it needs the firewire not usb) a unnamed volume should mount.

Then you can go into Final Cut and import Panasonic P2.
Click to expand...

OK, I did that and I still get the same window.

(External A/V)

Unable to locate folowing External devices:

Apple FireWire NTSC (720X480)

Then it says the configuration may have changed or your deck/camera may be disconeccted or turned off.

The camera says 1394 device disconnect

I need a basic set of instructions for hooking this camera up to the computers and running it. I'm a bit tech challenged I know but I have a lot of tales to tell as you can see on my web site, and I just need to find out how to start at the bottom and work my way up to a point where I can shoot the film. It works fine using the P2 card.

David
 
After looking around here and on the DVinfo.net site I see I'm not alone in getting the camera and computer up and running right.

Barry, hurry up with that book/DVD and that other offer is still on the table.

David
 
Unable to locate folowing External devices:

Apple FireWire NTSC (720X480)

Then it says the configuration may have changed or your deck/camera may be disconeccted or turned off.


That is because you are not hooking up a NTSC Device you are hooking up an HD device. Ignore that window in FCP it's not a problem.

DO THIS-
With your camera switched to 1394 Firewire output- should read on the flip screen.
Plug the firewire cable from the camera into the firewire port on the MAC. Make sure you are plugging in firewire
and not USB. Make sure connections are tight.

Now if FCP got to FILE>IMPORT>PANASONIC P2...
A window will pop up with P2 and clips from the card. Select the clips and import.

MAKE SURE YOUR SEQUENCE SETTING MATCHES THE FOOTAGE ie. DVCPROHD 720p60 etc.
 
Took the HVX to an Apple store today

Took the HVX to an Apple store today

Met with a Final Cut Pro tec/pro who up to today only dreamt of seeing the HVX.
He was very willing to help to try to figure out how to transfer data. We tried
to hook all kind of ways. We hooked up directly to a G5 and tried to do a capture with the camera in any mode. We found out the only thing we could do was a live shot (not even a capture) was in viewer window only in tape mode so far.
The only way we were able to transfer data to the G5 was to
1: Record HDV in a mode that FCP advanced import can recognize.
2: Export the P2 cart to the Maxter external HD. (then of course turn the camera off to be able to do anything again per instructions).
3: Import the clips in FCP.
So now we have all this data in the external HD. Seems like the only way to open up
memory space from the EX.HD was to do a REFORMAT of the HD to wipe it clean.
Didn't learn how to independently remove clips from the EX HD yet since it is formatted to the camera.
I hope for $10.000 the camera + the gig cards can make it easier to transfer data easier than this.:badputer:
 
I've gotten the footage to capture fine plugging the HVX200 directly into my G4 Laptop via Firewire (4 to 6 pin).

The problem I had initially was I had the record format in camera as 720p/24pN...which is not recognized by FCP. That might be one of the problems you are encountering. Make sure that it is not native, and just 720p/24, 720p/30, or whatever mode you are shooting in.

When you open FCP, disregard this statement:

"Unable to locate folowing External devices: Apple FireWire NTSC (720X480)"

Go to Audio/Video settings...Set your Capture and Sequence presets to whatever you are shooting in. Set Device Control Preset as Non-Controllable Device.

Then open up your Log & Capture Window, and you should see what the camera sees. Press Capture Now and you are set.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The problem I am having is when I try to export the footage. It won't keep the correct aspect ratio. I know it's capturing the footage correctly, as the Capture Scratch Clip is correct, but whenever I export it through FCP, it totally disregards the aspect ratio I'm trying to preserve. Any thoughts? I still can't get an answer.
 
aravance said:
I've gotten the footage to capture fine plugging the HVX200 directly into my G4 Laptop via Firewire (4 to 6 pin).

The problem I had initially was I had the record format in camera as 720p/24pN...which is not recognized by FCP. That might be one of the problems you are encountering. Make sure that it is not native, and just 720p/24, 720p/30, or whatever mode you are shooting in.

When you open FCP, disregard this statement:

"Unable to locate folowing External devices: Apple FireWire NTSC (720X480)"

Go to Audio/Video settings...Set your Capture and Sequence presets to whatever you are shooting in. Set Device Control Preset as Non-Controllable Device.

Then open up your Log & Capture Window, and you should see what the camera sees. Press Capture Now and you are set.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The problem I am having is when I try to export the footage. It won't keep the correct aspect ratio. I know it's capturing the footage correctly, as the Capture Scratch Clip is correct, but whenever I export it through FCP, it totally disregards the aspect ratio I'm trying to preserve. Any thoughts? I still can't get an answer.
Click to expand...

That is just what we did and it worked as advertised. I figured it was something that I was missing and that was the case. Good post though, it should help anyone having the problems I was having.

As for your other problem, I can't help you on that one but I'm sure someone here can, and perhaps already has. If you can't find a thread on it, post one and ask for some help, people here are pretty good about helping you out. Did you up date FCP to 5.0.4? If not that might help.

David
 
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I've tried exporting using a lot of different things. Quicktime movie file, Quicktime Conversion, Compressor, all of those don't seem to work for me. I've tried exporting using lots of different codecs as well: H.264, 720p60, etc.

Maybe you can't convert 720p/24p into a .mov?
 
When you drag the clip into your sequence, do you have to render? I'm just checking to make sure your sequence settings are correct for your clips.

You most definitely should be able make 720p/24p into a quicktime. Your original source clips are 720p/24p afterall.
 
Okay, I think I figured it out using Compressor and Quicktime Movie.

Compressor, I just go and select custom size and put it as 1280x760, or something of the equivalent ratio and it turns out okay. And simply by exporting using Quicktime Movie, it maintains the aspect ratio for me.

However, I still cannot get Quicktime Conversion to maintain the ratio, no matter if I do put 1280x760 in the custom size..it still gives me 4:3!

:kali: Quicktime Conversion
 
Maybe if you could tell me how you go about exporting 720p/24p into Quicktime Conversion? Then I can see where I'm going wrong.
 
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