A query regarding file capture

THX1138

THX1138

Well-known member
Hello Gents and Ladies,

I haven't been here in a while, and I'm rather out of the camera loop these days, still happily shooting on my DVX100A, oblivious to other goings-on.

However, I have a job coming up in a couple of weeks that needs to be shot in HD. I mentioned this camera to the person I'll be working for, but what I'm wondering is about capture. I won't be cutting this (most likely) so I needn't worry about capturing to an NLE. However, I will need to empty the cards to make room for more footage throughout the 2 weeks, obviously, which is where my question comes in: can I capture the files to a hard drive (i.e., drag and drop) and worry about getting them into FCP (or whatever) at a later time? Or is an NLE necessary to move the files from the SD card?

I've been reading many horror stories about capturing with FCP (I'm on FCP 6, by the way).

Thanks in advance!

cheers,
travis
 
Can't help you with FCP (I'm Win7/Premiere), but as far as getting the footage off the card onto your computer, simply drag and drop/copy and paste the *ENTIRE* 'PRIVATE' folder to where ever you want. Just make sure that you don't rename anything or break up the file structure (that's where a lot of the headaches in general seem to come from)
 
My experience has been that the Mac won't be able to correctly read your files if you don't load them from the card directly onto the Mac. If you save your files to a hard drive you will need software that can convert your MTS files for Mac compatability when you go to edit in FCP. I have heard however that Panasonic is supposed to be coming out with free software this Summer that can do the conversion for you.

If I hadn't gotten my FCP software and Mac for free, I would go with Avid or some similar PC editing software. The reason I say this, is because previous to FCP I used the free Windows Movie Maker and found it very easy to use. FCP is obtuse and non-intuitive, and Mac/Apple is set up not to play well with others (be it MTS files on FCP or MP3 files on an iPod).
 
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I find transcoding via FCP to be quick & painless; the only issue I have is different frame rates on the same card seem to cause trouble; if I have a few 60p shots for slowmo, I have to catch those separately with the proper frame rate. I've started devoting a separate card for slowmo at shoots for this reason.

My son has used my 150 several times for a feature he's shooting; he's twice had card failures with Kingston cards from Frye's. Makes me think seriously about a Ninja. Looks like a great little system.
 
Step 1: Create a directory on your computer. For example: "Vegas Footage -- Sept 24 -- Card 1"
Step 2: Copy the entire contents of the SD card (the PRIVATE directory and all subdirectories) to the directory you created in Step 1.
Step 3: Repeat Step 1 for every subsequent SD card.

This works 110% with all NLE's -- anyone who says otherwise made a mistake. These cameras are all file-based and, if you need to import, just point your NLE to the directory of your choice.
 
Phil1076 said:
This works 110% with all NLE's -- anyone who says otherwise made a mistake. These cameras are all file-based and, if you need to import, just point your NLE to the directory of your choice.
Click to expand...

Your statement is incorrect. Read this post:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?252591-Mac-video-clip&p=2362821&highlight=#post2362821

"Don't even try to edit MTS files in FCP - you need to transcode to ProRes 422 (or 422 LT if you have FCP 7). The colour band you are seeing is a decode error during playback. FCP 7 is not designed to do this with MTS files." ​
 
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ramkuma said:
My experience has been that the Mac won't be able to correctly read your files if you don't load them from the card directly onto the Mac. If you save your files to a hard drive you will need software that can convert your MTS files for Mac compatability when you go to edit in FCP. I have heard however that Panasonic is supposed to be coming out with free software this Summer that can do the conversion for you.
Click to expand...

This is wrong on so many levels. I NEVER ingest from the card and I don't experience any problems. I can either drag the PRIVATE folder onto a drive or create a disk image of the card.
 
Can't you point FCP log and capture at the private directory and ingest just like it was off a card?


ramkuma said:
Your statement is incorrect. Read this post:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?252591-Mac-video-clip&p=2362821&highlight=#post2362821
"Don't even try to edit MTS files in FCP - you need to transcode to ProRes 422 (or 422 LT if you have FCP 7). The colour band you are seeing is a decode error during playback. FCP 7 is not designed to do this with MTS files." ​
Click to expand...
 
ramkuma said:
Your statement is incorrect. Read this post:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?252591-Mac-video-clip&p=2362821&highlight=#post2362821
"Don't even try to edit MTS files in FCP - you need to transcode to ProRes 422 (or 422 LT if you have FCP 7). The colour band you are seeing is a decode error during playback. FCP 7 is not designed to do this with MTS files." ​
Click to expand...

My statement is correct. The fact that FCP cannot edit AVCHD files natively is irrelevant.

When you follow my steps, FCP will transcode the AVCHD MTS files to Prores. I never said that all NLE's can edit AVCHD natively...no, they can't....but the procedure to ingest the files into the NLE is correct. What the NLE does after that (transcode, re-wrap, whatever) is dependent on which NLE you're using and how you configured it.

I never said FCP can handle AVCHD natively.
 
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