A/V settings using Kona 3 w FCP?

I?m transitioning from an HP/Avid system to a MAC/FCP system.
So I?m still trying to learn all the ins/outs to FCP.
I?m having a bit of a stumbling block when it comes to capture video settings in FCP 7.0.3.
I want to get the best looking video without any compression.
I?m using a DVCAM Deck, a DSR 1800, connected to a K3 Box that runs to the Kona 3 capture card.
Everything seems to be working as far as capturing A/V and playback, but the video quality still doesn?t look nearly as good as the original source tape.
I switched my video settings around but I just can?t seem to get the right combination. FCP Video almost looks like it was shot on VHS.
These are the settings I currently have as seen under the Easy Set Video/Audio Settings-
SEQUENCE PRESET:
Uncompressed 10 bit NTSC 48khz

CAPTURE PRESET:
AJA Kona 3: 720p 50 10 bit

DEVICE CONTROL PRESET:
AJA Kona3 29.97 Sony VTR A

PLAYBACK OUTPUT VIDEO
AJA Kona 3 525i 29.97 10 bit (720x486)

PLAYBACK AUDIO
AKA Kona 3

EDIT TO TAPE
AJA Kona 3 525i 29.97 RGBA

Could somebody suggest what settings I should have when capturing from a Sony DSR 1800 DVCAM deck?
I shoot our stuff on DVCAM tapes with both an Ikegami and Sony and master our videos to DVD.

Does it have FIREWIRE? If so, don't use the Kona card, just use the firewire connection.

But you do have a bad setting in there:

CAPTURE PRESET:
AJA Kona 3: 720p 50 10 bit

You are blowing up the SD footage to HD. Is that what you want? If so, then the quality will be degrading a little. Because you are blowing up the picture by 4x. If you want SD...then choose an EASY SETUP that matches what you want. Uncompressed 10-bit 525i 29.97. But only if you have a LOT of space and a fast RAID. I suggest a ProRes SD setting.


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Thank you so much for your suggestions.
Our DSR 1800 deck does not have firewire.
I went ahead and switched capture settings from 720 to match my other 525i 10 bit settings.
Although I used the Uncompressed setting and/or the ProRes setting, I get some slight flickering when I tried capturing video that had graphics on it. The raw footage without graphics looked a bit better but not as clean as the source tape. (Comparison: When I captured the same footage on our AVID system the video looked much better).

Do you think my playback settings may be wrong on my Mac?
Am I better of capturing from my camera(s) via Firewire?
I have an Ikegami DVCAM and a Sony HD Video cam (HVR-A1U).
Any suggestions on a better workflow are greatly appreciated...
Here are my Mac's specs.
I have 8 TB Raid (4 volumes) for my video.
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro5,1
Processor Name: 6-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 12
L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per processor): 12 MB
Memory: 16 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 6.4 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: MP51.007F.B01
Again thank you for helping this FCP novice but I'm hopeful to get it right soon.

Are you connected via sdi, components, s video or composite?

> I switched my video settings around but I just can?t seem to get the right combination.

Oh, don't play roulettes with your settings. Either know what they do or get someone in who does.

Firstly, I can't imagine a dv deck without FireWire/ilink connection. Look again. If you capture via FireWire, capture as dv. If you're capturing through the card, to avoid double compression, capture either via components with good quality cables or sdi and capture as uncompressed. If you don't have the space, time or drive speed to work with uncompressed, then use prores. How are you monitoring your footage? And as Shane said, capture as sd unless you plan to do a blow up.



www.strypesinpost.com

Is it possible that your deck has a FireWire port but you don't recognize it? Like strypes, I have a hard time imagining any DV deck under 12 years old that has no FireWire port, let alone a Sony DSR series.

You do know that a FireWire port on a camera or deck is different from the ones on a drive and a computer, right? That you need a 4-pin-to-6-pin (or, these days, sometimes a 4-pin-to-9-pin) adapter cable?


www.derekmok.com

The SONY DSR 1800A SHOULD come with FireWire in/out port as standard - probably labelled iLink.

[pro.sony.com]

Quote

Although I used the Uncompressed setting and/or the ProRes setting, I get some slight flickering when I tried capturing video that had graphics on it. The raw footage without graphics looked a bit better but not as clean as the source tape. (Comparison: When I captured the same footage on our AVID system the video looked much better)

.

What are you viewing the FCP output on? I hope you aren't judging from the Canvas/Monitor window on FCP as you should not rely on this as a judge of quality on FCP or Avid as neither are accurate.

Furthermore, viewing Standard Definition content such as DVCAM on an HD display will not be a true representation of the video as the signal. You should be monitoring the output on a Standard Definition CRT monitor connected to the Kona 3 via SDI or component (or at the very least s-video) not composite or if you are lucky enough to have a Broadcast Multi-format HD CRT Monitor that will also be fine.

The other thing might be that the graphics have not been created properly for SD.

Try again and digitise the footage via the iLink/FireWire port connected directly to the Mac. Unless you really have an 1800 without one!

Here is a link to the SONY DVCAM manuals: [www.sony.ca]



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

Thank you for your help guys.
Apparently all our 4 DSR 1800 decks were purchased without the optional firewire card six years ago. (It has a black plate over the area, which is an empty whole, where it SHOULD be located. Right now looking into whether we can buy the $1800 firewire option for our decks. Definately, going to change vendors so we don't continue to get jipped).

RE: playback monitors
Yes, I'm using SDI connections and using Standard Definition CRT monitors on both the FCP and AVID system.
I think it has to be a bad cable from my K3 Box to my playback monitor (via component).
Going to change it out right now and later today having someone come over to double check my setup.

> Right now looking into whether we can buy the $1800 firewire option for our decks.

Surely you jest. You can probably get a brand new dsr11 with a brand new drum at that price. Not to mention, who works with dv anymore?

There's that play out single field/ both fields on a paused frame option in the Aja cards. Usually I play out both fields, because the resolution looks so bad at half rez that a director once asked me to "do something" about the stair stepped edges on a comp when viewed at single field on a CRT. "Do something", I did. I switched the card to "both fields" and he came back and loved the crisp and sharpness of the full rez image.



www.strypesinpost.com

>
> Surely you jest. You can probably get a brand new
> dsr11 with a brand new drum at that price. Not to
> mention, who works with dv anymore?


Raises hand, we still do. We do work for a city that has not made the migration to HD yet.

I finally fixed my video problems..bad BNC cable!! (I had even tested cable on other sources but for some reason it didn't work with component out of K3?)
I double checked that the K3 component settings were switched to composite in the control panel and then switched BNC cable and video looks beautiful. No shaky video, no compression..NICE.

Crossing fingers we go tapeless soon:]!