Re: Capturing problems

I am capturing full 40 minute miniDV tapes and then media managing them. Every once in awhile one tape will have problems. The capture will abort and the message says there is a problem with the tape. Sometimes I can fast forward the tape a few seconds and continue capturing just fine. Other times it will abort every few seconds. I've trashed and redone my preferences to no avail. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Best, Mapafilm

It sounds to me like you have Time Code breaks on the tape.

--ken

Would that happen even if I never turned the camera off? The one tape that's really a problem was a continuous shot of a woman doing a reading at a bookstore. I also set the choice to "warn after capture" instead of making a new clip. Thanks so much! -Mapafilm

Are you doing a Lg and capture or Capture Now. You could try turning off Device Control and Capture Now.

This was not shot as 'LP' was it?

--ken

I was doing a Capture Now. The tapes were shot in DVCam (instead of 60 minute tapes, they are about 40 minutes) mode on a Sony PD150. If I turn off device control (which is now set at "Firewire NTSC") do I set it at "non-controllable device?" Thank you! -Mapafilm

Yes, try non-controllable device.

--ken

Hi Ken,

Tried it and the one tape that was really a problem still wouldn't do it. So I'm trying another tape and so far no problems. Could one tape be corrupt or have a problem? I so appreciate your help and your site. You've gotten me out of some big jams. Thanks, Mapafilm

Probably something wrong with that one tape. If you put the tape in the camera, can you play through without the camera stopping?

If you can find a second camera, you could dub the tape to the second camera, creating a fresh tape with new TC.

--ken

Yes, the tape plays in the camera just fine. But I will try dubbing it to another tape. Thanks again for all of your help. Mapafilm

I started out with FCP version 4.5. It had a setting, or settings, to ignore all time code breaks and to just keep going. Not only did it keep going, but it digitized the TC that was there, good OR bad. So if the code jumped from 1:00:00 to 2:00:00 during the capture, it would warn me that there was a break, but it took the correct code

I now run FCP 6.0.4 and it can still be set to ignore breaks, but if the break is at 1:00:00, FCP takes it upon itself to jam sync and lays down NEW code from the break rather than what's actually on the tape. So at the aforementioned break, the code goes to 1:00:01 instead digitizing the 2:00:00 code that's actually there.

You then get a warning telling you there's a problem, but the real problem is that FCP should just capture whatever's there. If you don't go back to the break point and start again, your code will be off the rest of the clip.

I could be wrong about how 4.5 worked, but IMHO, 6.0.4 should have an option that just takes the code as is. We don't need pre-roll like we used to!

Thanks so much for your information. I've managed to capture other tapes just fine. It seems to be the one or two or three tapes that cause problems. I did set it to keep capturing and warn me afterward. I'll look into it a little more. Thanks again, Mapafilm