Capturing problem with a Canon HV40 and Final Cut

[jake9909]

I am having a problem capturing from my Canon Vixia HV40 to Final Cut Pro.
I go to Log and Capture as usual, and begin capturing. It goes alright for a little while, but after the capture gets about seven to ten minutes in, Final Cut freezes.
My tape and camera keep rolling, and this happens even when there is no break in timecode. After this, I have to force quit Final Cut because it stops responding. I then obviously lose everything because I haven't been able to save.
This happens with separate computers and also both in Express as well as Pro.

I have multiple tapes to capture and this problem makes the process take up to four times as long as it should. Please help with any advice.

 

[spinnerlys]

Which FCP version on what Mac with what Mac OS X version do you use?

What settings do you use and do you capture to an external HDD? If so, which connection does it use, USB or Firewire?

Are the captured clips still there (via Finder) and can they be played?

 

[jake9909]

Which FCP version on what Mac with what Mac OS X version do you use?

What settings do you use and do you capture to an external HDD? If so, which connection does it use, USB or Firewire?

Are the captured clips still there (via Finder) and can they be played?

I'm using Final Cut Pro 6.0.6
I use firewire to my Mac Pro (OS X version 10.6.2) Then USB to an external hard drive where my content is saved. The captured clips are not there either afterwards.

 

[spinnerlys]

I'm using Final Cut Pro 6.0.6
I use firewire to my Mac Pro (OS X version 10.6.2) Then USB to an external hard drive where my content is saved. The captured clips are not there either afterwards.

And what SETTINGS did you use to capture? HDV or DV? Which codec did you employ - AIC, DV or ProRes?

Btw, USB is not a good connection to use with video editing. It will suffice for DV footage, but HDV is HD and depending on what codec you used, the capturing process might take up too much bandwidth.
It is better to use Firewire as connection, you can daisy chain the camera to the external HDD which is connected to the Mac Pro, but an MP has more than one FW port anyway.

Also a Mac Pro can have several HDD inside the case, so why don't you capture to an internal HDD, which gives you the best speed?

 

[jake9909]

And what SETTINGS did you use to capture? HDV or DV? Which codec did you employ - AIC, DV or ProRes?

Btw, USB is not a good connection to use with video editing. It will suffice for DV footage, but HDV is HD and depending on what codec you used, the capturing process might take up too much bandwidth.
It is better to use Firewire as connection, you can daisy chain the camera to the external HDD which is connected to the Mac Pro, but an MP has more than one FW port anyway.

Also a Mac Pro can have several HDD inside the case, so why don't you capture to an internal HDD, which gives you the best speed?

Used HDV to capture, and ProRes Codec. Also, reason I don't use an internal HDD is because there isn't simply enough space left on them. That's why I switched to using an external. Also I wanted to be able to easily take my footage with me.

 

[spinnerlys]

Used HDV to capture, and ProRes Codec. Also, reason I don't use an internal HDD is because there isn't simply enough space left on them. That's why I switched to using an external. Also I wanted to be able to easily take my footage with me.

What ProRes setting did you use?

Because ProRes might be overkill for HDV footage, AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) is more than sufficient for that.
Whatever ProRes setting you used could cause high data rates, which USB does not offer consistently for video capture. USB will get 35MB/s in burts, 25 to 30 MB/s is more likely.

numbers in Mbit/s, to get MB/s divide with 8, 100Mb = 12.5MB
from Apple ProRes White Paper July 2009