Hi - I'm using an HDR-FX1 to capture HDV over firewire to MC 3.0. I usually use the logging mode and then batch capture later. I'm finding that I can play through the video and find my log points fine when I play at real-time or shuttle very quickly, but when I try to frame-step the monitored image does not update (in MC 3.0).

I've had this same trouble with Liquid  and wondered if this is something to do with the MPEG-2 but I would have figured that Avid would have figured out a way to improve this.

Are these frozen images expected? If so, how do you get around this issue. Obviously I can use the camera's display or I suppose I could connect the camera to an external monitor....

Any help, as always, is appreciated...

Steve 

 OK - let me ask this another way - any of you using HDV cameras - when you perform a capture or logging operation, do you monitor your video within MC, do you use the camera's LCD screen or do you use something else?

If you do use MC's 'monitor' window, do you have the same problem with single frame positioning of the tape? I'm hoping to determine whether this is a problem with my machine, with MC or with the HDR-FX1 (or simply life with HDV).

Thanks,

Steve

 Steve,

We don't really monitor HDV during capture as it's just a digital file transfer from camera or disc to the Avid edit systems Hard Drive.

While importing HDV the Avid transcodes the footage to MXF files using the DNxHD TR 145 codec which eliminates the "Long GOP" file format of .m2t files. This is good because you can then work on a frame by frame basis in the MC3 instead of be limited GOP by GOP. I think that your frame-step problem is related to the GOP based files on your tapes.

Good Luck

Whitehorse:

While importing HDV the Avid transcodes the footage to MXF files using the DNxHD TR 145 codec which eliminates the "Long GOP" file format of .m2t files.

Does it?  My understanding is that Avid can, on request, transcode to a DNxHD codec, but that it normally handles HDV unconverted.  Avid will still allow you to single step through long GOP on a frame-by-frame basis.  It will also allow you to break the frame sequence when cutting.

Because the additional processing required to handle long GOP loads your CPU more heavily the response time when single stepping can be slower.  Could this be your problem?

 Well you are correct that Avid captures and works with native HDV. I was reffering to importing .m2t files which as far as I can tell are transcoded on import. At any rate I think the frame-stepping thing is due to Long GOP. Thats why we don't really try to do much with HDV until it's been loaded into the avid file system.

 Thanks to both of you for your replies. A couple of things. First, by default if you use the HDV raster setting for you project, Avid keeps the long GOP format during capture. Secondly, my problem is not after capture, it during logging when I'm shuttling the tape back and forth and I'm trying to find a specific location to assign a mark-in (or mark-out).

Slow-motion shuttling with HDV and my FX1 is poor - the image does not update unless I shuttle at real-time or faster. It's hard to precisely set the mark In/Out using the logging tool unless I watch the LCD on the camera itself.

OK - so why would I need precise In/Out points? I don't - I was just asking this quesiton to determine if others who work with HDV observe this issue.

Steve

 Yes.  I got so frustrated with finding in and out points on tape or subsequent batch capture failures that I now capture the entire tape to disk before doing anything with it.  This increases the amount of footage that is on the HDD, but it certainly reduces the frustration level.

 That's my solution as well. Frankly, I might get a dedicated monitor for this purpose because the actual controls (through Avid) are quite good - it's the screen update that's poor. Had the same problem with Liquid.

Thanks for the confirmation. What HDV camera do you use, if you don't mind?

Cheers,

Steve

BarkinMadd:

it during logging when I'm shuttling the tape back and forth and I'm trying to find a specific location to assign a mark-in (or mark-out).

 My camera is the Sony ...Z1