FCP 6 Capture Problem (Deck Control)

vegas06

vegas06

Well-known member
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica] Ok, in a nut shell, here's my problem. I can preview (JVC monitor) via Firewire from FCP with no problem. But can't capture via FW (no preview in Log/Capture or deck control).

This is my setup.

JVC VDS 3U Mini DV/SVHS deck

The JVC 3U is plugged into my Canopus ADVC100 converter box (via firewire IO on back of deck).

JVC 3U is also plugged into via Video/Audio out on back to my JVC "10" monitor for color correction.

When working on PC (or on MAC via Bootcamp) with Sony Vegas I would simply plug in a Firewire cable from the front of my JVC deck to the front of my ADVC100.

Then my PC Windows wourl recognize a second Firewire source and I can then monitor my media being captured and Vegas would allow me deck control via firewire while I'm capturing.

As I said, I have bootcamp installed on my MAC and can capture in the above way with no issues.

However, when I try to use FCP's Log/Capture I don't have deck control or a preview in the FCP window. Capture (deck control) tries to play when I push play (get spinnig color whel of death) then it switches back to stop.

I have tried two FW setups.

1. Plug FW cable from front of JVC deck (via FQ I/O) into 2nd ADVC100 FW (I/O).

2. Straight FW out of JVC deck into the front port of my MAC PRO.

Capture is setup for FW

Neither yield good results.

The only other FW interface that I have running on my MAC is a external FW800 1TB Raid atht is being fed out to my MAC and other PC system.

Could this be the source of the problem?

Is there a good affordable FW capture/preview option for the MAC and FCP?
I was looking to the Blackmagic Deckling card (as I'm looking to go HD in a year or so), but it seems that it only captured via HDMI.[/FONT][/FONT]
 
I would go straight from Device to Mac Pro. Then try and digitize with that. But also, digitize a test clip to your internal drive. Make sure the FW800 is not connected to your Mac Pro at the time (not just unmounted, but make sure the 800 cable is not plugged in to the Mac Pro). Its been a little hit and miss (so don't know the "why"), but we've had a few problems with our Macs reading the FW400 device control when an FW800 HDD was connected (not always though). At least eliminate or confirm the potential FW800 problem first.

As for Blackmagic cards, these aren't meant for firewire capture. They're meant for options like SDI (HD or SD), Component cables, Composite cables, XLR, etc. And in the new Intensity card, the HDMI option as you mentioned. That's only one card though, there are other cards that offer different I/O's. If you are going to get a card though, I'd consider saving up and investing in the Kona 3 or at least Kona LHe. We've had a lot of good results from both here.

cheers.
 
Thanks for the insight.

When I got home I did some testing on my old PC system (with FW800 drive off and then on). Strangely enough I was able to preview my footage from Sony Vegas to my external JVC monitor (w/FW800 on).

But the monitor setep is only connected to my MAC not my PC.
MAC (FW out)----> Canopus ADVC100 (FW in)----> JVC deck (SVHS/RCA audio in and out again) ----> JVC Monitor (RCA w/BNC connection in)

I have the FW800 drive independantly connected between both systems. So there seems to be daisy chainning going on using the FW800 drive. This might be causing a conflict with my FW400 on my MAC when both systems are on.

I tried connecting the JVC deck directly to the MAC and had hit or miss success. In one instance I was able to have deck control, but no preview in the FCP capture window. Another instance I and preview but no deck control.

I'll give your method a shot, as that was my next course of action. First, I'm going to try capture with my FW800 drive off and my normal workflow (deck plugged into ADVC100 box). Then if that deosn't work well, I'll try the JVC deck directly plugged into the MAC front FW port.

Then if hopefully I have success, I'm going to try turing on the FW800 drive with my PC turned off and see if I can capture like normal. Then lastly have my PC and MAC on and try to capture like before (I am expecting not good results here).

All of these setups should give me a good idea of what the problem is and works and doesn't.

BTW you mentioned teh Kona cards and I was looking at the Kona LHe. Also a cheaper alternative might be the Black Magic Decklink Extreme card. Any opinions on that. As it's about $700 cheaper than the Kona LHe card.
 
The Blackmagic cards are pretty solid as well. Have certainly used them a lot in the past. Just lately the office has gone with the Kona's. Out of pure personal preference I'm now a bigger fan of the Kona (especially its software interface). But properly setup, the BMD's can get the job done as well for you.

In the end you need to read through all the specs and decide what you want/need the card for the most. If you don't need some of the things like DVCProHD & HDV hardware acceleration that Kona LHe offers, then well perhaps no need to drop the extra cash on it. But really read through the specs and find out what you really honestly need/want.

And let us know if you come across any epiphonies or solutions with your firewire issues.

cheers.
 
Sure thing.

I'm looking to switch to HD sometime in the coming year (which is mwhy I upgarded to a quad core setup and chose MAC and FC Studio 2.
As I don't like the direction that Vista is going (slows down your system too much). I haven't had issues with XX, but that will go away somtime in the future). I already work on MAC's at my Graphic design job, so no learning curve needed there.

HDV acceleration would be nice as I will most likely be working with HDV footage shot on Sony FX7 and V1U cameras. And as such plan to work with straight HDV media on the timeline. I will give the AIC codec a try though it does take up considerably more HD space, but is easler to work with.
 
Depending upon turn around times that you're given/get, you could always do offline/online with the HDV. Most the HDV decks (and cameras for that matter) have a SD downconvert ability built right in. So you could do an offline cut at DV and then only deal with going up to HDV for the online aspects. Just a thought anyway. I've not used the AIC, but I believe it doesn't tape timecode, and it basically captures footage in a "capture now" mentality (no proper logging and batch capture available).

cheers.
 
VaricamLife said:
The Blackmagic cards are pretty solid as well. Have certainly used them a lot in the past. Just lately the office has gone with the Kona's. Out of pure personal preference I'm now a bigger fan of the Kona (especially its software interface). But properly setup, the BMD's can get the job done as well for you.

In the end you need to read through all the specs and decide what you want/need the card for the most. If you don't need some of the things like DVCProHD & HDV hardware acceleration that Kona LHe offers, then well perhaps no need to drop the extra cash on it. But really read through the specs and find out what you really honestly need/want.

And let us know if you come across any epiphonies or solutions with your firewire issues.

cheers.
Click to expand...

One question.
How do you capture video from a deck that only has firewire and RCA in/out ane no BNC capability. I was looking at getting te Sony M15U deck but it only supplies FW and Component RCA in/outs.
 
Use the firewire. You wouldn't use your card at this point. You can capture HD with firewire though.

If you want though, you can use analog component outs and B/NC cables w/ barrel connector to connect to the card and B/NC to RCA adaptor to connect to the deck. There's your video. Then use something like a 10/4 convertor (are other equivalents, but I forget them) and you can go RCA to XLR and then take the XLR's into the card. This is an annoying way to go about it though (we do it to get our offline codec, but I don't really recommend it).

cheers.
 
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