FCP is creating multiple clips where it shouldn't when capturing from JVC GY-HD100

Posted by bradleybennett 
I've got what I am concerned may be a serious problem. When I am capturing clips in HDV from my JVC GY-HD100U camera into FCP, many of my clips are getting broken up into multiple clips.

As you know, FCP has a handy little setting in the Clip Settings of the Log and Capture screen to automatically create new clips on each start/stop. The problem is that it is doing it right in the middle of a scene where there isn't any start/stop. So, one might suggest that a work around if it happens on an important clip would be to just turn this option off for that particular log and capture. Unfortunately, it appears that this setting has no effect and ALWAYS creates separate clips. So, the result is that there does not appear to be a way keep it from having this problem. I have tried to recapture the same clip multiple times and it appears to always separate the clips in the exact same place. It feels like the camera is transmitting or FCP is interpretting something that the camera is transmitting as a bogus start/stop.

I have researched this issue on the Apple FCP discussion forum and it appears that several people have been discussing this problem, but no one seemed to ever offer any responses - just a lot of dead end questions. I am working in 720p24, and most of those users were having the same problem working in HDV at 30fps. The problem appears to be independent of the frame rate. I'm also using brand new Sony DVM63 HD tapes.

I am concerned that this could end up being seriously costly problem. If a critical piece of footage won't capture completely, then I may have to bring actors, crew, etc. back and renegotiate time at the location - if possible. I will be very nervous going onto location if this problem persists, otherwise I'll feel like I have to get two good takes of every shot and I don't have the time or the money for that. Any of these scenarious could be very costly. Any answers, advice, suggestions, etc. would be most helpful.

Thanks,

Bradley
Re: FCP is creating multiple clips where it shouldn't when capturing from JVC GY-HD100
October 10, 2006 04:03PM
Yeah, I've read this too and have no answer. Has to be a JVC problem I'd wager. Other HDV cams are not exhibiting this behavior that I know of. Has anyone got JVC to admit anything? I'm assuming you are using 5.1.2?

Michael Horton
-------------------
I haven't heard of anyone trying to contact JVC. I'll try barking up that tree too, but it doesn't give me a good feeling. Yes, I am using 5.1.2.

Still, I should at least be able to disable the "Create new clip on Start/Stop" feature in FCP to work around the problem, and I can't. That is an FCP issue. And it is this issue that turns the problem into a showstopper rather than just being a nuissance to have to manually capture individual clips.

Do you or does anyone know if there is a solution to this problem?

Bradley
Re: FCP is creating multiple clips where it shouldn't when capturing from JVC GY-HD100
October 10, 2006 04:16PM
Well now that I think of it, perhaps it is a FCP problem. Check over on the JVC forum at dvinfo.net. Read this thread

[www.dvinfo.net]

Michael Horton
-------------------
Ah, thank you. That is a very current thread and full of information.

So, what I gleaned from that is that possibly some alternative tape hardware for capturing "might" alleviate the problem, but would also be costly and an unknown.

Another alternative was suggested to use the HDV Apple Intermediate Codec and that the problem appears to go away, but my experience says that I will still have a problem because I have not been able to get the HDV Apple Intermediate Codec Capture Preset to work with 720p24 HDV. It appears to only work with 30fps otherwise the clips appear to play at higher speed. Also, I just tried it anyway, and the footage still is splitting, so I guess that was a bad suggestion anyway.

So, any other thoughts on disabling the "create new clips at stop/start" feature, or is that a bug in FCP?
Re: FCP is creating multiple clips where it shouldn't when capturing from JVC GY-HD100
October 10, 2006 05:02PM
If it doesn't disable for you and everyone else its a bug. Not sure what work around there is except to downconvert to DV and convert to DVCPRO HD. I believe you can do that out of the camera.(downconvert to DV) Don't use JVC so don't know. Lots of threads on HDV today. Might want to read them. Course they are not 24p

Michael Horton
-------------------
I had a smimilar problem trying to capture 720p24 from that camera, but that was on 5.0.4. I was told it has something to do with the GOP. Everytime the camera is stopped and started, it placed a break. Had a pretty intense workaround to get the footage in. Don't know what to tell you but maybe that might give you some clues.
Re: FCP is creating multiple clips where it shouldn't when capturing from JVC GY-HD100
October 11, 2006 10:12AM
5.0.4 didnt support 24P. 5.1.2 does

Michael Horton
-------------------
Hi All,

Sorry to restart an old thread, but we are having the same problem. So far we have found this workaround, and wanted to post it here in case others are still in need of a workaround:
[www.dvinfo.net]

The only problem is that the MPEGSTREAMCLIP conversion loses the timecode.

At the moment we are looking at using HDVxDV (http://www.hdvxdv.com/) instead of DVHSCap and MPEGSTREAMCLIP, as it is supposed to retain timecodes. It's not free, but at $80 is not too expensive. Haven't tried it yet, but looks like the way to go - until Apple fixes the problem.

Regards,
John Drayton
Thanks John,

I'd love to see your workaround, but the link you provided doesn't appear to be functioning. This is an ongoing problem for us JVC GY-HD100U users. Please check the link and get back to us if you can so that we can see what you are doing, or posting the text here would be even more valuable for the future should the link you provide change over time. That way this would be a place of record for this information.

Also, a fellow JVC user suggested this idea which I think might work too. The idea was to take a second camera or deck and connect them together and dump the affected clip from one unit to the other. Doing this should cause the camera or deck to record new timecode onto the tape. Then it should be possible to capture that clip without issue. I have not yet tried it, but plan to next time I have this problem and can get my hands on a second camera.

Brad
Hi Brad,

Here's the original post from David Knaggs on www.dvinfo.net (not sure why the link doesn't work for you):

Quote:
Originally Posted by Len Nowak
Talk to Noel Oakes at JVC Professional in Sydney who is championing for the problem to be fixed quickly. My workaround is to downconvert everything to SD using the component output of the deck/camera and then running it through an analogue to digital converter before inputting into the big Mac! A big thanks to Noel for his ready support.

Hi Len.
Welcome to this board and Happy New Year to you and all the other board members! (It's midday on New Year's Day as I write this in Melbourne.)

It's good to hear that Noel (who gives such great support to users of this camera in Australia) is pushing Apple to fix this problem.

In the meantime, it's worth knowing that there are a couple of other workarounds for getting your 720p25 footage into FCP. I am a bit concerned about possible quality loss with the capturing method you mentioned because your image recorded to tape has already been through an initial A/D (analogue to digital) conversion plus MPEG-2 compression before you even play it out through the component outputs and do the second A/D conversion. Also, the following workarounds allow you to work in and export/archive in 720p25 rather than SD (and both allow you to capture via FireWire).

FIRST WORKAROUND
a/ The DVHSCap-MPEGSTREAMCLIP workaround (for tapes that you have already recorded and can't capture properly into FCP). You capture the .m2t (MPEG-2 Transport Stream) files with DVHSCap and then convert the .m2t files into Quicktime movies (which FCP will then recognize) using MPEGSTREAMCLIP. You can do these conversions into any codec you choose, such as Uncompressed, 720p25 Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) or even, if you wish, an SD codec (such as DVCPRO50 for example).

The detailed workflow which follows is for 720p25 AIC (AIC is supposed to be visually lossless):

CAPTURE:
Capture the .m2t files from the camera or deck using DVHSCap. It is part of the ?FireWire SDK 20? package and can be downloaded from this page:
[developer.apple.com]

CONVERSION:
1. Launch MPEG Streamclip (available from this link: [www.squared5.com] ) and open the .m2t file you wish to convert.
2. Fix the timecode breaks. (press ?Apple-F?, then click "Proceed"winking smiley.
3. Select your In ("i"winking smiley and Out ("o"winking smiley points, or omit this step if you wish to convert the entire clip.
4. Select ?Export to Quicktime? (Apple-E).
5. Scroll through the ?Compression? codecs and select "Apple Intermediate Codec".
6. Drag the ?Quality? slider to 100%.
7. Deselect both ?Interlaced Scaling? and ?Reinterlace Chroma?.
8. Make sure the ?Frame Size? is ?1280 X 720 (16:9)?. There should also be a message "No scaling will be performed" when you have this right.
9. ?Frame Rate? - type in "25"
10. Click ?Make Movie?.
11. Type in the file name, select the destination and click "Save".

EDIT IN FINAL CUT PRO
1. Launch Final Cut Pro.
2. Open "Easy Setup", select "HDV - 720p30" and click "Setup".
3. Make a new sequence (Apple-N).
4. Double-click the new sequence to open it, then select "Sequence - Settings" (or press Apple-0).
5. In "Editing Timebase" select "25".
6. Under "Compressor" select "Apple Intermediate Codec".
7. Click "Advanced..." and under "Preset" select "HDV 720p" then click "OK".
8. Then click "OK" on the "Sequence Settings" window.
9. Now import your converted AIC files and drag them into your sequence and (if done correctly) there should be no need to render.


SECOND WORKAROUND
b) The "Set the TC GENE switch to REC before recording your tapes, then capture and edit away in native HDV 720p25" workaround (which can only be used for non-REGEN recorded tapes, of course).

Here is the workflow (the use of "REC" was first discovered and posted by Rob Castiglione):

1/ Set TC GENE switch to REC.
2/ Allow at least 10 seconds pre-roll before the start of each take.
3/ At least 5 seconds post-roll at the end.
4/ Open FCP and set the "Easy Setup" to "HDV - 720p25".
5/ Capture (using Capture Now) and edit away in native HDV 720p25.

The advantage of this one (over AIC) is that it allows you to work natively in FCP RIGHT NOW (even before Apple updates FCP to fully correct these capturing problems).

Drawbacks to this method:
1/ When using "REC" you have to manually reset your timecode (if you want to keep continuous timecode for any future batch capturing) every time you rewind your tape to check your last take on the monitor. I like to immediately check an important take to ensure there are no visual tape dropouts on the image. That's why I would prefer Apple to simply fix this so I can go back to using REGEN.

2/ For me, this method only works 75% of the time. Perhaps it has something to do with the individual quality of each tape(?). I use the recommended JVC Pro HD tapes (M-DV63PROHD). The first two times (two different tapes), it captured everything perfectly. On the third one, it split nearly every take (back to those original capturing problems!). However, that third tape gave at least one visual dropout when capturing (which made FCP immediately break the clip). When I rewound the tape and recaptured that portion, the dropout was gone! So perhaps the tape was a bit faulty (or a bit of dust on the heads or something). The fourth project (tape) captured extremely well again and restored my faith in this method.

The biggest advantage of this method is that it gives the theoretical highest quality (being native HDV 720p25) from your tapes. Even if your final export is to SD, I personally think you should work in 720p until the final export of your sequence. (This also gives you the chance to archive your work [Quicktime] in 720p - I prefer 720p AIC as an archiving codec.) If your delivery, for example, is to DVD (SD) you can edit your sequence in native HDV 720p25 and export using Compressor to directly make your .m2v and .ac3 files for the DVD. It gives superb quality results.

Sorry to make this such a long post, but I thought it best to give you the "full state of play", as I currently understand it, for working in HDV 720p25 with FCP 5.1.2.
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