Help with videos to final cut express

[Iceburg640]

Hi.

I am converting old home videos to my mac, and i have an old camcorder that needs to go through a converter that connects to my mac through a firewire cable. My problem is, the video starts out fine but after a while the frame just freezes and it cuts out a bunch of scenes then goes back on a couple of scenes later. Overall i am missing a lot of footage and need to solve this problem. Thanks,
Iceburg640

 

[huntercr]

Hi.

I am converting old home videos to my mac, and i have an old camcorder that needs to go through a converter that connects to my mac through a firewire cable. My problem is, the video starts out fine but after a while the frame just freezes and it cuts out a bunch of scenes then goes back on a couple of scenes later. Overall i am missing a lot of footage and need to solve this problem. Thanks,
Iceburg640

How fast is your Mac?

Have you tried importing the video with iMovie HD?

Does it happen at the same point on the same video? ( I assume this is VHS you are reading in )

What converter are you using?

Are the old tapes you're trying to import in bad shape?

 

[Iceburg640]

How fast is your Mac?

Have you tried importing the video with iMovie HD?

Does it happen at the same point on the same video? ( I assume this is VHS you are reading in )

What converter are you using?

Are the old tapes you're trying to import in bad shape?

1. I have an external hard drive because the video files are just to big, but iMovie wont let me capture the videos to that hard drive

2. Yes it happens at the same point every time, when the video switches scenes or a "timecode break"

3. i am using datavideo dac-200

4. The tapes are in OK shape

 

[VanMac]

1. I have an external hard drive because the video files are just to big, but iMovie wont let me capture the videos to that hard drive

This might be part of the problem. Usually you want a fairly fast scratch disk for capturing your video to.

What kind of drive is it, how is it hooked up, and why wont iMovie use it?

 

[Iceburg640]

This might be part of the problem. Usually you want a fairly fast scratch disk for capturing your video to.

What kind of drive is it, how is it hooked up, and why wont iMovie use it?

Its a Maxtor 750GB external hard drive hooked up by USB cable.

 

[huntercr]

1. I have an external hard drive because the video files are just to big, but iMovie wont let me capture the videos to that hard drive

2. Yes it happens at the same point every time, when the video switches scenes or a "timecode break"

3. i am using datavideo dac-200

4. The tapes are in OK shape

Lots of possibilities here. As someone else mentioned, the external harddrive could be a problem, but if it's happening at exactly the same spot every time, I'm leaning against this. ( you can easily prove that though, by freeing up a good chunk of space and changing your FCP settings to capture to the internal drive )

One other thing to try is borrow someone's DV camera with a S-video passthrough ( or composite, etc ) and try capturing that way. I have a Datavideo DAC-100 and found it to be unusable for tapes that had tracking problems. Worked great otherwise.

Good luck!

 

[gpeden]

......hooked up by USB cable.

That might be the problem? Worth trying a FW drive to check..... Even a shorter USB cable?

Cheers!

Glen