Importing from mini dv

I'm trying to capture video from my Sony DSRPD100A. I'm doing the same thing I always do to capture but for some reason I'm not getting any video. I'm working in FCP 5.1.2 There's video in the monitor of the camera and I'm getting the VTR OK signal. Audio is coming through but no video. I was plugged in with the charger, which I've done before to capture. I unplugged the charger and pressed play on the camera and I got a video signal in the log and capture screen. So I rewound the video and pressed play and the signal was no longer there and I haven't been able to get it back. Audio is there everytime though. I trashed my preferences but to no avail. Any suggestions?

In the capture information panel, there is the option to capture picture or sound or picture and sound. Check that. The panel is available after you launch Log And Capture.

Koz

The video box is checked in the capture panel. Inconsistent things are happening. When I have my camera in VTR mode when I launch final cut I get a timecode with audio functioning but the video preview is disabled. Sometimes, but not always, if I turn my off and back on I don't have a timecode in log and capture but if I press the play button on my camera the video shows in the capture screen. When I try to capture now it won't because it's not reading any timecode. When I try to capture when there is timecode it tells me that there's no video. I'm totally stumped!

<<<I'm doing the same thing I always do to capture >>>
<<<I trashed my preferences >>>

Are you sure you didn't do an upgrade and then it stopped working? This is the complaint of people who went from FCP 5-something to FCP 5-something else.

Assume not. "It suddenly stopped working" can be caused by putting puctuation marks in filenames (never put a slash mark "/" anywhere) or full hard drives. Select each and every hard drive you own one after the other and press Apple-I. No drive in a video system should be over 90% full. Don't forget the System Drive.

Start there.

Koz

There's no punctuation marks in any file names. I have successfully captured since upgrading so I don't think that that's the issue. Device conrol is set to FireWire NTSC and Capture/Input is set to DV NTSC 48 khz which matches my Audio/Video settings in my preferences. Both drives I've been trying to capture to are less than 50% full. I still get audio with every attempt but no video.

Unhook everything -- FireWire cable from both camera and computer, turn off the camera. Shut down the computer for 10 minutes. Now replug everything and try again, see if anything changes.


www.derekmok.com

That did the trick. I left my computer off and everything unplugged for several hours and now it's back to business as usual. Thanks!

<<<Inconsistent things are happening.>>>

<<<Unhook everything -- FireWire cable from both camera and computer, turn off the camera. Shut down the computer for 10 minutes. Now replug everything and try again, see if anything changes.>>>

<<<That did the trick....Thanks!>>>

So we'll be ripping our edit rooms apart every time something like this happens?

Is this an odd-number Final Cut release?

... even numbers indicate a stable release, i.e. one that is deemed fit for production use, such as 1.2, 2.4 or 2.6. Odd numbers have historically been development releases, such as 1.1 or 2.5. They were for testing new features and drivers until they became sufficiently stable to be included in a stable release.

Koz

It's 5.1.2

<<<It's 5.1.2>>>

I'm half joking. That was from the Linux WikipediA entry.

All Final Cut releases are intended to be stable.

Intended.

Koz

> ... even numbers indicate a stable release, i.e. one that is deemed fit for production use, such
> as 1.2, 2.4 or 2.6. Odd numbers have historically been development releases, such as 1.1 or
> 2.5. They were for testing new features and drivers until they became sufficiently stable to
> be included in a stable release.

Often true, but not definitive. Final Cut 4.5 was one of the most stable upgrades I had ever seen for this application.


www.derekmok.com