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getting started with FCP: importing video

S

slug420

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 14, 2007
140
0
How do I import video (capture) from my handycam? I have it hooked up via firewire and it worked like a charm with imovie...now I just want to capture using FCP instead...

I did file->log and capture and clicked "now" to see if it would work and it just pops up a window that says its waiting for timecode or something.

Is there a way to capture as clips in FCP like imovie does by default or do I need to just capture it all at once and then split it into clips on my own?

Also, most of the video on my tapes is widescreen, how do I make my project widescreen and then when mixing in 4:3 clips will it stretch them or just use the vertical boxes on the ends?

thanks!
 
press play.... it should start recording... as far as clips you have to do it manually by setting in/out points
 
slug420 said:
I did file->log and capture and clicked "now" to see if it would work and it just pops up a window that says its waiting for timecode or something.

Is there a way to capture as clips in FCP like imovie does by default or do I need to just capture it all at once and then split it into clips on my own?
Click to expand...
puckhead193 said:
press play.... it should start recording... as far as clips you have to do it manually by setting in/out points
Click to expand...
You could hit play on the camera, as puckhead193 said, or you could press play in the log & capture window, then hit "capture now."

To break clips up automatically, you need to first of all be sure that the time of day is set on your DV camera. If the watch battery is dead, if there's no battery, or if there's a battery and the time isn't set, the clips won't separate. Since stop/start detection works for you in iMovie, that is probably not a problem.

Once your video is loaded, highlight the file in the Browser window, then go to Mark - DV Start/Stop Detect.
 
ok, i captured a tape but at the end it said "frames were dropped during capture" or something....how do I avoid this? I am running a mac pro 2.66 with 5GB...?
 
good to know, I do this by changing the "Scratch Disk"? (trying it now)
 
ok, that allowed me to capture a whole tape without dropped frames...excellent

I did hwever get some error about having the wrong audio setting on my import and it didnt match the audio on my tape and so it may be out of sync....

how do I know what my audio is on my tape and where do I set that in FCP? my camera is a handycam HC42 if that matters....im not sure if this imported clip is out of sync or not but it would be nice to have it right going forward
 
slug420 said:
ok, that allowed me to capture a whole tape without dropped frames...excellent

I did hwever get some error about having the wrong audio setting on my import and it didnt match the audio on my tape and so it may be out of sync....

how do I know what my audio is on my tape and where do I set that in FCP? my camera is a handycam HC42 if that matters....im not sure if this imported clip is out of sync or not but it would be nice to have it right going forward
Click to expand...

try changing import settings from Firewire - NTSC or PAL to Firewire NTSC or PAL basic, it might help
 
not sure what im doing wrong here, I cant seem to get any audio to play in FCP. I am pretty sure it is capturing it all, when I drag captured clips to my timeline i get one line for video and 2 for audio which to me indicates it has the audio tracks, but the only time I seem to be getting sound is once in a while when I click play i get a half second of sound right as I am clicking....I cant find any mute or volume settings anywhere...any ideas what I am doing wrong?

thanks again for all your help :)
 
slug420 said:
not sure what im doing wrong here, I cant seem to get any audio to play in FCP. I am pretty sure it is capturing it all, when I drag captured clips to my timeline i get one line for video and 2 for audio which to me indicates it has the audio tracks, but the only time I seem to be getting sound is once in a while when I click play i get a half second of sound right as I am clicking....I cant find any mute or volume settings anywhere...any ideas what I am doing wrong?

thanks again for all your help :)
Click to expand...

I had this problem of a while too, it just kind of fixed itself though, try restarting and trashing your prefrence files, for some reason finalcut pref files always seem to be the source of some kind of trouble:D
 
slug420 said:
not sure what im doing wrong here, I cant seem to get any audio to play in FCP. I am pretty sure it is capturing it all, when I drag captured clips to my timeline i get one line for video and 2 for audio which to me indicates it has the audio tracks, but the only time I seem to be getting sound is once in a while when I click play i get a half second of sound right as I am clicking....I cant find any mute or volume settings anywhere...any ideas what I am doing wrong?

thanks again for all your help :)
Click to expand...

The mute settings are to the left of the audio track on the timeline. Click the little green button.
 
Cromulent said:
The mute settings are to the left of the audio track on the timeline. Click the little green button.
Click to expand...

Yea, I saw these and while I wasnt sure they were mute buttons, I clicked them off and on a bunch of times. Should they be green or grey (I think they trun grey when you click them)? Mine were all green if I recall correctly.


I restarted my MP but I didnt trash the preferences file...do you mean to just manually move to trash the files the preferences are stored in? I assume it will create a new one when you start FCP?
 
slug420 said:
I restarted my MP but I didnt trash the preferences file...do you mean to just manually move to trash the files the preferences are stored in? I assume it will create a new one when you start FCP?
Click to expand...

yes do just that manually trash the pref files and empty the trash FCP will automaticly create a new one when it does'nt find one where it should be
 
When the clip is playing do you see the audio meters moving? If so, go to the top menu bar, View->External Video and make sure it's set to "Off."


Lethal
 
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