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My camera doesnt batch capture into FCP5?

L

lukemilnes

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 5, 2006
32
0
England
I have a JVC GR-DVL167EK. Ive managed to connect it to my mac for use when logging all my clips in FCP5 and now ive done that i want to batch capture all the clips.

Unfortunately when i try to batch capture, the minicam is controlled by the computer, moving the tape along and syncing it to the correct capture point. however when it actually starts to capture, the picture comes up on my screen briefly before an error messages comes up saying that;

"Capture encounted a problem reading the data on your source tape...."

I cant seem to select show details... so im a bit stumpt. Is there a setting i can alter?
 
Ok ive ordered some cleaning tapes over the internet. But since our last conversation ive been through the settings and ive changed the easy setup from:

- DV50 PAL 48KHz

to

- DVPAL 48KHz

When the settings are in the DVPAL 48Khz setting the tape captures to the computer just fine. Unfortunately the quality in this setting isn't really good enough. I'm making an EPK for a band and i need playback quality to be higher.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to why DV50 PAL isnt working for me?
 
DV50 is a different format than consumer MiniDV. Panasonic makes pro gear in DVCPro, which runs the tape--the data--at 25Mb per second, same as consumer MiniDV. At the higher end of the pro scale, quite expensive and utterly beautiful, is DVCPro50, which runs the tape at twice the speed thereby doubling the data rate to 50Mbps.

Looks like your software is detecting a 25Mbps data stream instead of the 50Mbps you told it to look for, and it's erroring out on you.
 
learning everyday... thanks for the answer pegasus.

so whats the maximum quality that i can capture at from this JVC camera.

and secondly, if i were to get my handsa on a DSR-40 deck would i be able to improve the quality significantly?

thanks again everyone, this place is really helping me along.
 
Happy to help.

Using another deck won't change anything. DV tape capture is basically a simple data transfer. Your video has been recorded as digital date on the tape, and you are essentially copying the data to your hard drive. Therefore, a different deck does not change anything, for it is transferring the same data.

If you have significant quality loss, something else is going on. Possibly just that your playback settings are set to low quality? Go in system settings, and hit the playback control tab. You'll see settings for playback and record. I bet you playback is set to "low". As long as your record setting is "full quality" you'll be ok when you print to tape at the end.

If your machine has enough power, go ahead & change playback to full quality as well.
 
ok so im starting to answer mty own questions, but i think its wise to discuss this openly so anyone who knows otherwise can correct me as im going along.

It would appear i need a PCI video card to capture uncompressed SD video from my DV tapes and this card must have external connectors. I have a Radeon X800 XT which apparently doesnt have this available.

Dam shame, i guess the DV PAL 3.6Mb/sec is the maximum i will have available for this project then.
 
Changing your capture settings will not increase the quality of your footage. Your capture settings should match your camera recording settings. For example, if you shot miniDV or DVCAM NTSC, then your capture settings would be DV-NTSC 29.97 or something like that. If you shot the same but in PAL, then it would be DV-PAL...if you shot DVCPro50, then....

Now, you can always take your miniDV tapes and upconvert them to DigiBeta or another higher tape format, but the quality increase is not worth the money you will spend.

Again, as the other poster said, if playback on your computer looks fuzzy, check your playback settings to make sure they are set to Full Quality. Also, read the manual...
 
Disregarding my previous post, as its complete rubbish.

I am reading through the manual all the time, infact its hard assimilating all this info at once, but im getting there. Im in the editing phase of the manual now, so im trying- rest assured!

But i have now captured alot of my footage to disk, and looking at the payback across several different reels of captured footage, im just not at all happy with the results. Surely there must be a better option for capturing than, DV PAL 48khz.

When ive played my footage back through my camera direct to my 72" plasma, it looks great- i mean its not SD quality but its pretty good. I shot all this on a Canon XL-1, so i'd expect the results to be better. All i want is to maintain the quality from tape to hard drive?

- At the moment i run it from tape and i can make out the strings on the guitar from a medium range shot. The red and green stage light on the face is crisp.
- Playing the same footage back after capture, the ability to define the fret board and strings has almost entirely disapeared behind a kind of 'too high contrast/brightness' haze. The lighting on the face, has become clumsy pixelated.

Is there anything im doing wrong. Ive checked the system settings > Playback control > recording > Full quality. Surely you can maintain the quality better than this?
 
an XL1 will only record in regular DV...so DV PAL 48khz is the correct setting.

have you exported some raw footage to a dvd and looked at that on your plasma?

don't get a PCI card for uncomporessed video because you haven't recorded any uncompressed video. DV is a compression format and will not look any better if you converted to an uncompressed format.
 
Not to sound like a dick, but it sounds like you are a victim of your own inexperience. DV has been used as a pro format for years now, and the XL1 (in it's day) was a flagship prosumer camera. The movie "28 Days Later" was shot on an XL1 and NIN's most recent live DVD "And All That Could Have Been" was shot on 5 (I think it was 5) XL1s cameras. DV is far from top shelf, but the quality is there to get professional looking results.

When you watch the footage you've already captured what are you watching it on? The computer monitor or the 72" TV?

Open FCP and look at your timeline. In the upper left hand corner there is button that says "RT". Click it and you'll get a drop down menu of playback quality settings.


Lethal
 
bigbossbmb said:
an XL1 will only record in regular DV...so DV PAL 48khz is the correct setting.

have you exported some raw footage to a dvd and looked at that on your plasma?

don't get a PCI card for uncomporessed video because you haven't recorded any uncompressed video. DV is a compression format and will not look any better if you converted to an uncompressed format.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the replys guys. I havn't yet ripped any raw footage onto a DVD, i just moved it onto my powerbook (connected to the plasma) and watched it back through quicktime.

As for the PCI card, like i said ignore my previous post, it was all rubbish i realised as i read more information.

Lethalwolfe- ive checked all these playback settings etc. etc. So it seems ive captured all my media at the highest quality possible from the raw tape footage, its all i can do at this point, so i'm happy enough. Its pretty complicated stuff, but im loving learning it.

Final word... (for now)... i cant believe they shot '28 days later' with XL-1s!!
 
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