Capturing from DV camera directly to Macbook's Hard drive

[Hendi]

I use iMovie HD 6 to capture footage right from my DV camera into the project without using tapes. This accelerates all the process for me and I don't have to spend money with many tapes - I use the Save Project to DVD feature in iMovie to make backups.

I use to export quicktime movies from iMovie to FCP without loss - I guess so.

These are my doubts:

- Can I make this "live capture" in FCP or I have to keep iMovie for that ?
- If I have to go on with iMovie, what's the better export settings to get a lossless file ?

Anybody help ?

 

[bigbossbmb]

yes, you can capture live with FCP... just open the Log and Capture window and hit "Capture Now".

 

[Hendi]

Thanks Bigboss, I'll try it ! But I think I have already tried this before and FCP told me that my camera should be in VCR mode to capture. I'm not sure right now, so I'll try it and post the result here.

 

[Digital Skunk]

If you have FCP and not FCE you should be able to go to Capture while the camera is on and hit capture now, then you should be able to get live footage.

 

[Hendi]

I'm totally newbie in FCP, sorry for the stupid questions. But this is the screen I get when click Capture Now:

 

[Cromulent]

I'm totally newbie in FCP, sorry for the stupid questions. But this is the screen I get when click Capture Now:

Try disabling device control. I think FCP is trying to control the device hence the need for VTR mode. I can't remember where it is in the settings (i'm not at my main computer at the moment) but I believe it is in the capture settings area.

Bit of a stab in the dark there as I have not done any direct capturing myself.

 

[SteveG4Cube]

How about with HDV cameras? Can you still capture live feed or do you have to record first?

 

[Cromulent]

How about with HDV cameras? Can you still capture live feed or do you have to record first?

Shouldn't be a problem capturing live footage with an HDV camcorder.

 

[Hendi]

Thanks Cromulent ! I've disabled device control and it just worked fine. But now I have a new problem. I get an error message talking about tapes ! Oh Lord, how could that be so simple in iMovie and so tricky in FCP ? (I'm just joking, I know FCP is professional software and bla bla...)

 

[Hendi]

Problem solved guys ! I guess the problem was the wrong capture preset or something like that. I'm using a NTSC camera and the preset was to PAL.

Thanks for the fast help !