Black screen when capturing...

FCP-HD
3 gigs of ram
Canon GL2
Sony DV deck
Apple G5 2.0 Dual


I log my in and out, no problem.

FCP will control both the deck and the camera, no problem.

When I attempt capture, FCP rewinds to the in point and starts, but my capture screen within FCP stays black. It goes past the out point and i get no clip.

Under view --> Video playback it says "Missing Apple 'Firewire NTSC".

I've tried two differnt firewire cords, coming from both the camera and the deck, and in each case FCP will control the deck/camera - but the capture screen remains black.

I'd be so grateful for a solution. It seems it's a problem in FCP.

A couple of things to check:

1. Did you log the clips into a batch list, or are you using Capture Now?

2. Do you have Mirror on Desktop turned on?

3. Do you have timecode breaks? Timecode breaks will cause your clip durations to go batty -- for example, if your clip's Media Start is at 01:00:10:00 but timecode breaks at 01:01:00:00 and skips forward to 03:00:00:00, FCP will think the clip is actually two hours long. The capture will then try to run the tape for two hours, hit the end of timecode, and keep going into oblivion without capturing anything.

4. Try just using Capture Now to capture 10 seconds off your tape. Look at the resulting clip. Is there anything there -- sound or image?

5. Are your Clip Settings set to Audio Only?

6. Do you get sound levels when controlling the deck with the Log and Capture window? Do you see the image?

This could be a simple matter of dumping preferences, but more info would help.

I agree with derek. If you can't see anything in the log and capture window BEFORE capture, you won't see anything during.

Have you considered that you have a bad FW port? Do you have any other FW devices that work properly in the port that your deck is plugged into? An iPod or FW drive or something so you can test?

Andy

PS: If it is an FCP problem, try dumping your preferences and trying again. Also make sure you're up to date with drivers and any firmware with your deck.

1. Did you log the clips into a batch list, or are you using Capture Now?

Batch list. Just trying one clip to test.



2. Do you have Mirror on Desktop turned on?

After I trashed the prefs, I checked and it was on so I tested again with it turned off --> no good.



3. Do you have timecode breaks? Timecode breaks will cause your clip durations to go batty -- for example, if your clip's Media Start is at 01:00:10:00 but timecode breaks at 01:01:00:00 and skips forward to 03:00:00:00, FCP will think the clip is actually two hours long. The capture will then try to run the tape for two hours, hit the end of timecode, and keep going into oblivion without capturing anything.

No breaks. It's a 4 minute straight preview and I'm trying to pull a minute out of the middle.



4. Try just using Capture Now to capture 10 seconds off your tape. Look at the resulting clip. Is there anything there -- sound or image?

I get an error message. "Attempt to capture video without a device selcted. Please select a device in your capture presets and try again". I check and DV NTSC is selected. But, as stated earler in View --> Video Playback, it says MISSING Apple Fiewire Device. It seems that is important. The capture screen is just color bars and shows NO IMAGE and when capturing it's black. It seems the video is not getting through. Could it be a bad wire? I've never had this problem before and have been able to see everything, always.



5. Are your Clip Settings set to Audio Only?


No. Video and Audio.

6. Do you get sound levels when controlling the deck with the Log and Capture window? Do you see the image?


I see no image when controlling the deck, although the log and capture window WILL control the deck perfectly. I don't know where sound levels are supposed to show... I don't see any in the Capture window.

I did trash preferences and tried again --> no good.

THANK YOU FOR THE TREMEMDOUS HELP.

> I get an error message. "Attempt to capture video without a device selcted.
> Please select a device in your capture presets and try again". I check and DV
> NTSC is selected. But, as stated earler in View --> Video Playback, it says
> MISSING Apple Firewire Device.

Anna, you're not quite looking in the right place for the settings, though what you're seeing is related. View - Video Playback only controls how it plays back clips that are already captured. The settings which control the capture device and preferences are under Final Cut Pro HD - Audio/Video Settings. Check your Capture Preset and Device Control Preset under that.

That said, if View - Video Playback can't see the deck, chances are your FCP can't see the deck under all the preferences. Check those above presets first (and make sure you actually check the settings under each Preset, rather than just putting a checkmark beside the one you think is right), then try out Andy's suggestions. Also try a couple of more things:

1. Hook up your GL2 as a capture device. Does FCP recognize it?

2. Which model is your Sony deck? Have you successfully used this deck to capture before?

3. What's your OS? Did you just upgrade to Tiger and/or QuickTime 7? That's been known to cause problems. I've read of other people's accounts of FCP losing sight of FireWire devices and in some cases they've had to re-install FCP or QuickTime Player, or both.

> I see no image when controlling the deck, although the log and capture
> window WILL control the deck perfectly. I don't know where sound levels are
> supposed to show... I don't see any in the Capture window.

You should turn on Audio Meters under Windows. Watching the Meters can help diagnose certain problems. However, they probably won't help in your current situation.

Anna,

this is a guess,
but do you perhaps have BOTH the camera and the deck pluged in and turned on at the same time?

that will confuse FCP no end, although it generaly gives a slightly different warning.

another thought: have you upgraded to QT7 recently?
this could be useful:

Final Cut Pro: Restoring a DV device connection in QuickTime 7
[docs.info.apple.com]

cheers
nick

THAT DID IT!!!!!

Final Cut Pro: Restoring a DV device connection in QuickTime 7
[docs.info.apple.com]

Recently, I ran an update and Apple deleted my QT6 and installed 7. I got a link to let me download 6 again and it was right after that that my issue started. I followed the advice in the above article and BINGO -- everything is good.

Damn! Thank you so much for that bit of advice. Picture me buying you guys a bottle of wine for all your trouble and effort -- I can't thank you ENOUGH.

Anna.