Problems capturing to FCP 5 on a Mac

[dknyc]

It happened before and i thought maybe it's a faulty tape but now i am not sure that's the case. When I download HDV24p footage, fcp finds breaks in time code or something happens that the clips split up. If i hit "digitize now" it still breaks up the footage into clips with frames or seconds missing in between.

I actually am not sure that it's a break in time code but rather a problem in the connection between the computer and camera. (i have the latest mac book pro) What makes me think that is when i play footage to log it, the sound would disappear for a split second and then reappear again on a regular basis, while if i play the footage on the camera not through fcp but on its own, it's all fine, no interruptions. on fcp i put the settings to easy set up - hdv 1080i60.

When i tried to shoot and capture in DV mode, there is no problem. But the whole point of getting this camera was to shoot HD. Does anyone have an idea of how to fix this?

[Little-Big Sound]

Check your preferences - you may have to check the box (and don't ask me where it is - I just remember seeing it...) that allows the capture window to ignore breaks in timecode. You're going to get a break every time you stop or start (this includes pause) your camera. FCP is breaking these out as scenes which is good if you want that :-)

One way to avoid losing crucial frames in the future is to make sure you have plenty of pre and post roll for each scene (or find the ignore scene/timecode breaks setting in FCP).

Hope that helps. I've been using FCP 5 for a couple of years now, and I'm still finding out new things about it everyday. It's a deep program, never mind throwing in HD footage into the equation.

[flotha]

dknyc, thank you. I have the same problem you describe and it drives me nuts. Changing the settings in FCP "User Preferences/General" unfortunately does not help.

When I capture, FCP creates lots of short clips (around 70 clips for 1h of material). Very difficult to work with this. I had the camera checked, they said, there is no problem with the camera. There are no time code breaks (as the time code continues and does not start at 00:00:00:00). Is it only me and dknyc who are unable to click the right setting?

...please help!