Cannot capture

Cannot capture from my Sony DVCAM DSR 1500A, which I serial control via RS422 using a keyspan USB adapter. Only capturing is a problem - in the log and capture window, preview is disabled. I can control the deck, edit to tape, and also use this deck to send audio and video to my NTSC monitor with no problem, so my firewire connection would seem to be fine. I think this is the first time I've needed to capture since I upgraded my OS and crossgraded from FCP 4.5 a few weeks ago, and yes I did a totally clean install. I've repaired permissions and trashed prefs.


G5 dual 2.0
2 GB Ram
OSX 10.4.7
QT Pro 7.0.4
Final Cut Studio 5.1.1

Q. FCP can't see my camera/deck. It used to work fine, but now I can't capture.

Most likely answer :
A. This sometimes happens when you have upgraded to Tiger (OS 10.4) and/or QuickTime 7. To get it working again, you need to remove your old QuickTime receipts. Step by step instructions on how to do this can be found here : [docs.info.apple.com]

Other things that it could be :
? Dust in the firewire connections -> Quit FCP, make sure all the connections are free of
dust, replace the cables and try again.
? Broken firewire cable -> Try using another firewire cable.
? Fried Firewire card -> Try connecting another device, such as an external firewire drive
to test whether the firewire is working.
? Momentary tantrum -> Shut down the computer, wait ten seconds and then try again.

Yeah, I had looked into this, but I thought this only applied if you're using versions of QT and FCP that aren't compatible. Can QT really be the problem if everything else is working fine except for capturing?

Yes.

It turns out how you got there counts. If you *upgraded* to Tiger from Panther instead of a clean install, you're likely to have problems, as well as upgrading to QT7 *before* you went to Tiger.

This one step is messy and a lot of troubles were generated
before people figured out what the spells were.

Koz

I stil dispute the QT7 is a problem in Panther thing - I've been using it without problems for ages on my Panther partition. I did put a disclaimer in the FAQ though .

So I've deleted the old quicktime receipt and used software update to upgrade to QT 7.1.2, as well as the Pro Apps update, but still nothing. Log and capture window shows "preview disabled", and any capture attempt results in an error due to no video coming in. Like before, I can control the deck as well as record video onto tape. I'm seriously puzzled about this.

OK, so I see on some apple discussions that I should not use the software update utility. So I've trashed the new QT package, downloaded the 7.1.2 installer and did a fresh install... I still can't capture!!

<<<FCP can't see my camera/deck. It used to work fine, but now I can't capture.>>>

Nobody ever leaves their machine completely alone between jobs. Please think clearly, what did you change between the last time it worked and now? Everything counts. Did you download a new audio propgram? Did you add memory?

Did you move to a new room down the hall from the old one?

Oh, wait. I missed one. Are you getting the Spinning Beach Ball Of Death a lot?

Koz

Nope, everything's been working fine. I just haven't captured from the deck since I upgraded the OS and FCP. Nothing else has changed.

I/we still think it's your software combination.

The most stable installation happens when you install Tiger fresh--not the upgrade--and then put Final Cut 5x on and then make sure your QuickTime is version 7.

There have been a number of instances of people *ending up* where you are but having troubles because of how they got there.

Koz

You didn't save an image of your old disk so you can easily go back until we figure this out, did you?

Koz

Nope!

Thanks for all the feedback, but i'm gonna have to do this job using my PC Avid Xpress Pro system. I've pulled the deck from my FCP gear - no problems using it now.

Hi, I've had a similar problem - I'm using a dsr 25 deck.
I was on 10.3.9 and upgraded to Tiger.
I then didn't use the FCP system until after a second software upgrade (Quicktime Pro add-on) - so I didn't know which - if either - was the problem. I had some good feedback and helpful hints from the forum and got the link which explains deleting the QT reciepts - I went through that proceedure with no luck.
I then re-downloaded Quicktime from the Apple website and all works perfectly.

So - I now don't know what exactly the problem was - or what exactly solved it - but it's up and running and I'm back working.

Incidentally - before the problem was fixed I was able to use the carriage controld for the deck in log and capture but with no video or audio throughput.

Good luck



John Fairhall
johnfairhall@hotmail.com
shoot-edit.co.uk

having the same issue. and I threw away the reciepts and downloaded QT. I too loaded 10.4.6 and fcp 5.1 and bam capturing hasn't been the same since. I need to capture cause it is an important part of editing... anyone have an answer to this problem?