Log and Capture Format

A

ASchear

Well-known member
Hey guys,

I have a question about log and capture in FCP9. I use my school's machines to capture, they have Sony tape decks and Mac Pro's. I don't really know much detail beyond that. My problem is that I capture there, then bring those clips home to import into media composer on my Windows machine, I notice that the format of the clips isn't all the same. Some of the clips, under the 'video' column in MC5, show me that they are DV/DVCPRO - NTSC, while others show me DV 25 411 (NTSC).

The 'format' column shows that the DV 25 411 clips match the SD 30i NTSC format of my edit timeline, while the other DV/DVCPRO clips are blank on the format and MC5 says I have to convert those to match my timeline. Also, I'm shooting squeeze on the DVX100b for these, and the DV/DVCPRO clips show up as 16:9 when linked, and the DV 25 411 clips show up as 4:3 squeezed when linked (which I think they should...). The clips that appear as each is seemingly random, about half of each. When I'm capturing, I don't change any settings, I just hit capture and go on Easy Setup. There is no apparent way to predict what format I'll get from each clip.

Any idea on what's going wrong? Thanks!
 
Two possible reasons:
1. The videos are shot in different modes, saving in different aspect ratio.

2. The sequence settings or export settings from FCP is different for some files.

If you export using QuickTime conversion, you can change advanced settings like Size, compression. I think you should handle the videos again.
 
Specifically what camera were these filmed on? That could tell us a lot. Here's some general info, just to have it.

Use Easy Setup first, and select DV-NTSC Anamorphic. Then go to Log & Capture. Before actually capturing, verify in the Capture Settings tab that you have the correct settings, never assume they'll be correct. Capture the whole tape at once. Not sure why you're getting all that stuff, but verify what you capture in FCP before going any further (right-click a clip in the Browser, Item Properties, Format). Verify the format information there first, before going further.

You could try to batch export all your clips (put them in one Bin, File > Batch Export).
File > Export > Using QuickTime Coversion
Format: QuickTime Movie
Click the Options button.
Click Settings: Compression Type set to DV/DVCPRO NTSC, Frame Rate to Current, Compressor Quality to Best, Scan Mode to Interlaced, Aspect Ratio to 16:9. Be sure all the clips are being exported with the same settings.

Squeeze mode takes a 16:9 native image, and "squeezes" it into a 4:3 image, which is all the camera can output via Firewire. You have to ingest it and treat it as native 16:9, which "stretches" it back out to it's native aspect ratio. It's all NTSC footage, which is all a standard definition DV camera will record. Sounds like different export settings were used for different clips.

By the way, where'd you get Final Cut Pro version "9"?
 
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My bad on the version number; I assumed X was 10 and knew that my school had the version prior!

I shot everything on my DVX100b, all in 24p mode and in squeeze. From what I understand about the camera, it's recording in 4:3, but squeezing the image to be 4:3 rather than letterboxing it to be 16:9. Anyway, it's all on the default settings for the DVX100b's scene file number 5. No settings were ever changed in camera. I never change any of my settings in FCP, just use the easy setup for DV-NTSC, capture everything as raw as possible to .mov files, and then move everything home where I subclip all my stuff in MC5. What I do is use the "capture now" button and then hit play on the deck. I stop it about every 15 minutes to make it so the .mov files don't get too large and if one is corrupt I don't have to wait so long to replace it. After I stop it, I let FCP rename the next one with the next number up and hit 'capture now' again. When I say there's no way to predict what I'll get, I mean it - even on the same tape I've seen different output formats. The whole thing seems so odd to me because there's no rhyme or reason to it.
 
OK. So squeeze mode, you capture as 16:9 aspect ratio, done.

You recorded at 24p, not 24pA? That means you capture as normal NTSC. If you recorded 24pA, you need to do a pulldown removal. But I highly doubt you did that. I takes some maneuvering around the DVX menu to make that happen, it's not a default.

Yep, set Easy Setup, capture all your footage. The DVX100 only records one way. With the "b" unit, you want to capture PAL anamorphic, from what I understand.

In User Prefs set to only warn after capture for TC breaks. Then when you get the whole tape captured, and it's in the Browser, highlight it, go to Mark > DV Start/Stop Detect. This will put clip markers at ever place the Time Of Day timecode breaks. Not something Log & Capture is able to do at all.

Then, create a new Bin, select and drag all markers into that new Bin, they'll now be sub clips, and ready for you to edit with. Like "magic".
 
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