Importing raw footage

Tradeco

Tradeco

Member
Hey gang,
I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask Mods so my apologies if it's not:dankk2:
My question goes something like this,

I just bought a panosonic dvx100a and have a macbook with Final cut pro, what is the best way to import the footage without piling up hours on the heads of the camera.

I know I can buy a deck, but there are so many out there and I'm just starting out as you might be able to see, and don't know what to look for in a deck, is it cheaper to buy an inexpensive camera to run the tapes in?

also when I edit in Final Cut on my MacBook it gets pretty hot and drops a lot of frames frequently, is this normal use or does it just not have enough ram?...............what's a poor boy to do?


any input here would Greatly be appreciated ,

thanks
tc :)
 
Hi Tradeco

Cameras date so fast it's not an issue (in my opinion) to use it for a feeder to ingest your media, most DV cams will provide well over 2 to 4,000Hrs of run time on the heads in normal use. ( a friend of mine has had his PD150 now with over 6,000 hrs of shoting and ingesting)

Your Macbook if it drops frames is most likely not set up correctly, visit a pro user near you and ask if he'll go thru the preferences with you, and make sure your using a separate HDD to lay your media back to from the cam don't use the system HDD, use a FW or USB external.
if you are a "poor boy" then check out apple forums and find many solutions to your issues with your Macbook and FCP.

Cheers
Tom K
www.olinevideo.com.au
 
Thanks Tom,

I'm just starting out and appreciate the advice.

I guess my main concern is wearing out what little gear I have to work with. The Macbook gets pretty hot and my desktop is running Windows so no FCP there.

Also I heard it's best to import from a deck rather than yor camera, but I hear what your saying. I'm not too too poor, but on the same token want to invest wisely. I bought the dvx 100a because I saw some footage and read it's the closet thing to 35 mm for the dollar. Now I want to get set up proper to edit with Final Cut Pro which is only available on my MacBook for now,
I was half thinking of getting a deck and a Mac dsktop, but you think there's no need to?

At any rate thanks again and I'll look into that Mac suggestion.

PEACE
 
Hi Tradeco

Don't stress about wearing out the "Heads" they will give great service if you keep the cam clean, and don't reuse your tape stock anymore than say three times.
I use mini DV and DVCAM to file compile stock vision to. I have a SONY DSR-11 it has many hours up now, and still goes great, the tape loading mechanism is crappy and the front door has broken off , but it still rocks along.
Get whatever gear that will satisfy your clients needs/budget, that's the best advice us old guys can give, and look at the guys close to you that are doing similar work, don't expect that if you buy the gear the work will follow, the real world is not like that.
Your creativity and ability to work with your subjects/clients, is your most valuable asset...

cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
OK Next Question

OK Next Question

Tom, thanks once more....however I have another question here

I just bought fire wire cable to go from my camera to my macbook to edit in FCP, now when I hook up the cable the macbook is not reading the camera.
Is there some setting on the camera I'm overlooking here? Or is there a setting in FCP I need to adjust.

How can I simply get the footage from the camera to my macbook via fire wire to edit in FCP?

:dankk2:
 
so I finally figured out what I was doing wrong, in this case I was not using the log and capture feature in FCP, everything is fine and now that I got that resolved I'm on my way out to by myself a B-day present ..........a Sony GV-1000.

more questions to come,

have an awesome Sunday peeps, I know I am !

 
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