Live Capture/FCP Experts - Small File Size?- NewB help

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emart

Member
First, thank you for taking the time to respond. I probably should have posted this on the workflow forum.

I am new to using the HVX and to using FCP, so please excuse me for posting what is probably an obvious question.

I am now recording long (1-2+ hour) documentary style interviews in the field, using my HVX and capturing directly to HDD using a MacBook Pro and FCP 5.0. I want this to be acceptable (though not perfect in this format) for TV broadcast on History, Discovery, PBS, etc. in its final form. I know that I should be using a much more expensive format to guarantee that, but that is beyond my budget. The results look great, and the system is working (apparently) well, but I'm concerned about one thing.

Today, after capturing two interviews over two days, I reviewed the footage and see that the file size on the HDD is far smaller than I estimated it would be (see below). I'm also getting a message while capturing that I had ignored during testing because the results looked great and things were working well (duh!).

I'm now convinced that FCP is removing some of the video data coming in, because this is the message that appears in the capture window:

"Capturing clip - Removing VFR duplicate frames from source media"

The main question is: By FCP removing these duplicate frames (that's undoubtedly what's causing the smaller file size), will this create problems in post or create a situation where I'm making a big mistake during capture? Or, can this be changed and is it something I shouldn't be concerned about?

Secondary question - Can I change a setting in FCP to alter this frame removal, and is it worth it to do so?

Shooting 720p/24p (though the easy setup continues to save the setup file as "custom.")

First interview - about 2.5 hours = 48 gig file
Second interview - about 1.7 hours = 34 gig file (both approximate)
 
Quick clarification:

Are you trying to capture to the MacBook Pro using an earlier version than Final Cut Pro 5.1?

Because you are, then you are going to have issues. Anything before 5.1 runs in Rosetta and causes a bunch of issues.
 
Yep, FCP 5.0. Can't get the new version yet, and can't get a free upgrade either, so buying the old version of Studio is foolish (assuming I could find a copy). I'm stuck.....

How bad will it be, and what should I do to make this work?

I have 8 more interviews scheduled over the next two weeks.

Thanks very much!
 
Unless you're a big fan of wasted space, VFR duplicate frame removal is a good thing. You're not losing anything by having FCP remove the frames. As far as running 5.0 on an intel Macbook Pro, you have entered into unknown waters.
 
There is no free upgrade at all.

And yes you can buy FCP 5.1.4 I believe.

To do production work runing FCP in Rosetta isn't optimal and is something you might want to reconsider.

I strongly consider something like Scopebox in the interim
 
Thank you both for your comments.

David S. - considering the goals for my project, would you mind giving me an idea (in general terms) of what difficulty I will face if I continue in FCP 5.0 with the Rosetta issue?

Thanks very much. I'm very short on research/decision time as I have another interview tomorrow afternoon.
 
Performance, stability issues are big.

Capture issues also present in Rosetta.

And there are reports of corrupted files.

This is not a good idea for a serious project, IMHO
 
emart said:
Yep, FCP 5.0. Can't get the new version yet, and can't get a free upgrade either, so buying the old version of Studio is foolish (assuming I could find a copy). I'm stuck.....
Click to expand...


Why would you want to buy the old version? It seems as though that is what you already have. Version 5.0, is the old version. You can buy an upgrade to 5.1.4.
 
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