Log, Capture and Dropped Frames in Final Cut

T

Tayl0r

New member
I've searched around, but I haven't been able to find a definitive answer so sorry if this is a repeat. I have a Macbok Pro Dual Core 2 with 2gb of Ram and Final Cut 5.1.2

I am shooting a kids TV show that will require a ton of footage, so I was hoping to record straight onto my laptop hard drive (or onto an external drive). Unfortunately, when I go into Final Cut and try to Log and Capture footage it works for a few seconds, and then I get an error message saying that frames have been dropped. I've tried it with a USB Drive and with the internal SATA 5400 drive.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? Is there another program I should use instead?

Thanks!
 
When it comes to the internal drive, 5400rpm is probably not fast enough to sustain the required band width for HD as well as running the OS and FCP. For external drives, USB is probably not fast enough either. Another option would be FW800, however the problem here may be that the camera and hard drive will share the same bus and that could cause problems. Some people have had success with it though. Another option is to get a FW adapter card to put in the slot of the laptop so as to add another FW bus, or better still get a SATA adapter card and use that for the external hard drive.
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempo_sata_express34.html
 
You should never use your system drive for media regardless of the drive speed. I strongly recommend a SATA 34 card with an external SATA drive. I've been using a Wiebetech cad with a 750 gb Seagate in a Wiebetech "Toughtech" enclosure (SATA II, FW and USB). And USB is not suitable for FCP editing.

Ned Soltz
 
Get an EC/34 firewire card and a external 7200 firewire card.

You need two FW buses, or a FW bus and an eSATA bus.
 
Thanks for all the help, that makes this much clearer. Since time is short, we'll probably rent a firestore for the short term, and then look at something more permanent.
 
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