RE: HDV -

I am shooting HDV using the JVC HD100 set at 720p at 30p

When capturing into my G5 using FCP HD:

The program will capture 3:24 and then start a new chunk but skips like five to 10 frames before starting the new chunk. ie stops @ 00:39:04:00 the starts again at 00:39:04:07

Any idea what causes this? Why won't it capture a longer chunk?

thanks,


ML

Is that where you stopped and started the camera up again? Shen HDV is captured, it breaks it up at each start/stop. And it needs some pre-roll so it will miss a few frames or seconds.

You need to shoot planning for this.

Thnaks for the advice on the pre-roll. I'll keep that in mind when shooting, but that's not the problem.

It seems to be making chunks that are 3minutes 24 seconds on average and then dropping 5-10 frames before creatiing another chunk. I'm confused.


thanks


ML

If it's not breaking at shot changes but in the middle of shots I'd suspect a drive formatting problem.



All the best,

Tom

Are you suggesting I need to wipe the drive and re format?

I already have almost 350GB of DV info on a 500GB drive.

I'm only in the test phase of my project, it might be easier for me to buy new drive and start fresh. Yet the drive has no problem accepting more DV footage.

My version of FCPHD should be up to date, it only gives me two capture options for HDV, 720 30p and Intermediate Apple Codec. Is there another codec that I'm missing? And is there a good way to capture JVC HDV 24p yet?

still confused but grateful for the advice,

ML

To expand upon Tom's answer, if the drive is formatted FAT 32 or some other PC format, then you have a 2GB limit in file size...

Make sure your capture drive is formatted Mac OS extended.

I'm all mac. I've never touched a PC in my life so please forgive me how would I check the drive to know if it was FAT 32 or some other PC?

ML

Click on the drive then hit APPLE-I...this will bring up an INFORMATION window. Under FORMAT it will tell you what the format is.

Currently there is only a couple ways of getting 720p24 footage from the JVC into FCP.

1) conversion software like Lumiere HD or HDVxDV...but then you lose timecode information.

2) Get an HD capture card and follow this workflow: [www.aja.com]

The drive is formatted Mac OS Extended. So that's not the problem.

I've just quit everything and restarted. I'm starting ove with a new capture.

Will be back shortly.

ML



also thanks for the 24p info.

I'm missed it though you have said it before, you're using FCPHD, i.e. 4.5. I don't think that version supports HDV material properly. You need FCP5 for HDV support. And Shane said 720p24 is not supported in FCP natively.



All the best,

Tom

I'm on FCP HD 5.0.4 - on a G5 dual 2.2 w/1.5 GB ram

I just restarted everything and saved the capture to a different drive. Same problem it captures 3.24 and creates another chunk.

Any other poss causes?

ML

what brand and interface is your capture drive? usb, usb2.0, firewire, sata???? or are you capturing to your internal boot drive?

LACIE Firewire
and G raid Firewire -

ML

That explains one point of confusion. The only version of FCP that is FCP HD is the version with the number 4.5. The version numbered 5 or later is simply called Final Cut Pro.

I can't reproduce the problem you're having unfortunately. It may be that all my shots are shorter and I just get breaks at the shot changes. These breaks though are more than a few frames and are a few seconds during capture to reestablish the GOP structure, but this predictable 3:24:00 break I haven't seen. I'm still curious about this 500G drive and it's support on Mac OS X.



All the best,

Tom

the drive is one of the Lace G Raid's supposed to be very fast and consistent especially for video - blah blah. However it has worked very well with all the DV footage I've captured on it. The only fault is that it is slow in mounting but whle editing everything is fine.

Luckily it's early days on this project.

When recording on the JVC there's 3 timecode options

FREE - REC & REGEN - I recorded using REC as per the manual. Do you think this is the prob?

ML

of all the problems that pop up on this forum, the word "lacie" is at the root of about 40% of them

I've been using Lacie drives as well as Maxtor, I probably have 1.5TB of drives and I think I've been incredibly lucky because I've never had a problem with any of them with the exception of 1 power connection.

That said - HDV is a new format. Is there a consensus within this forum of what would be the best drives for HDV?

I'm expecting all kinds of quirks with the JVC - being that it's a new camera. Is FCP going to support more fully? Or should I be thinking different software. I'd hate to have to change because I've been using FCP for three years now.

very best,

ML

i captured 5+ min straight from an hd100 to my promax firewire drive a few months back with no problems...

not to beat an old dead horse, but i see no value in the HDV format unless you are A: shooting a dramatic feature and plan to deliver on film or B: are delivering on the web.

i have done extensive testing with the HDV format and i think it sucks for general videography. for three main reasons, 1. it doesnt handle high motion or camera moves worth a crap and 2. it doesnt handle graphic overlays very well (about 97% of my work involves alpha overlays. 3. getting a decent SD dvd from it is like pulling teeth.

there are i think 3 people here who claim success with the format, but none have ponied up with workflow examples that id consider realistic - AND of the half dozen examples of HDV to broadcast ive seen on tv, i can still see all the things i hate about the format. - ill shut up now, since you can read all my bitching in detail if you search the forum...

I think we use REGEN, but I don't think that makes any difference.



All the best,

Tom

""what would be the best drives for HDV?""

There is really no difference with drive A or B when using it for video. The actual differences are the interface bus. Firewire and SATA are two common bus structures. SATA is the internal bus Apple now chooses to use on the G5 and Firewire has been around since the G4 computer was shipping.

Many people are very happy with using Firewire for their workflow. Some are not and of those who are not, we see reference to Lacie Firewire most of the time. We never see any reference to ProMax Firewire or OWC Firewire but I attribute that to the fact that packaged LaCie drives are sold EVERYWHERE!

I have talked to people who sell LaCie Firewire drives when used on a MAC, they seem to get about a 40% return for failure rate. They also tell me that ever failure was because of a Maxtor drive inside. My historical use of disk drives is also based on my experience with Maxtor and that of my close friends.

I am skeptical since Seagate has bought Maxtor, of how they will integrate the Maxtor products into their product line. I really like Seagate and hope that they do not garner a bad reputation with their name attached.

The pole taken by me is not one of substance, only understanding and for that reason I would never knowingly use a Maxtor drive inside any enclosure.

I have personally had very good fortune with Western Digital drives as they are the ones I have used most often over the last 15 years. IBM drives were considered very good except for a couple of models and since they are now produced by Hitachi, they also seem to be doing well. The cadillac of disk drives was Seagate during the SCSI years and I still like their products for innovation.

I currently have 4- 500 GB Seagate Barracuda SATA drives waiting to go into my new Quad G5, as soon as the vendors come out with PCI Express versions of their SATA controllers.

Bottom line -- know what drive is inside the Firewire box you are purchasing, first and let this help make your decision.

OK I'll try a different brand of drive. I hope it's that simple.

Thanks for all the help and opinions - I'll check back in after I get a new drive.

ML

This maybe a stupid question, but are you using CAPTURE NOW? If you are what are your capure settings?



God Bless,

Douglas Villalba
director/cinematographer/editor
Miami, Florida

[www.DouglasVillalba.info]
[www.youtube.com]
[vimeo.com]

Try this:

Use Easy Setup:HDV

Under A/V settings:
AV devices: none
- there should be mirror on desktop -checkbox, but there is not, so:
Change to some other device, and check mirror on desktop -box
Change back to: none

This solved my problem with Sony HDV-Z1E