Hi, I have this Sony HDV-1000U mini dv cam here as seen on BHPhoto:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/551806-REG/Sony__HVR_HD1000U_Digital_High_Definition.html

When I capture 1080i footage into my Avid Media Composer academic version the capturing will break/stop numerous times. I can't figure out how to stop this from happening.

Is there a setting in Avid and/or on the cam I need to change? If so what is it? I have tried and tried with no luck. PLEASE HELP!

Chris

Hi Chris,

Are there timecode breaks on the tape?

good luck,
Carl

There must be. I have looked all over the cam menu settings to see if I can change, make sure that the cam is set to REC RUN. There is no such option.

This is causing me immense trouble....

Hi,

If there are timecode breaks on the tape, Media Composer will stop capturing whenever it hits one.  If you click on the Settings tab of the Project window and select Capture settings, make sure Capture Across Timecode Breaks is checked.

Also, try capturing without making any in or out marks on the Capture Tool.  Just click the big red Capture button.  When Media Composer reaches a timecode break, it should stop and ask you if you want to keep or discard whatever has been captured to that point.  Then you can roll forward and capture from after the break to the next break.

good luck,
Carl

I recommend you do as Carl suggests and first make sure "capture across timecode breaks" is active in the capture settings. Then, if you set a custom pre-roll of 1 second, each time the system encounters a break it will stop recording, log what it has so far as a clip, then it will advance 1 second past the timecode break and begin recording a new clip. It will repeat this cycle at every timecode break, making sequential clips as it goes. I've used this function quite frequently.

If I set a pre-roll of 1 second will it give the "discard keep" error? I guess what I'm asking is will the capturing abruptly stop when it reaches a timecode break during the captiring process.

Do you need timecode?

If not turn off time code in the capture tool and your problem SHOULD go away.

If you do select keep everytime it stops (at a TC break)

IMO 1 second is very short/ unreliable for a preroll on a FW controlled deck. For me the boring workaround is to manually recue the source tape to before the break in TC. Hit play and crash record as soon as you see the break go past. You can normally capture the clip within a second of the TC break this way.

I never highlight "TC" on the top right of the capture tool and the problem still happens.

I do hit "keep" everytime a tc break occurs but this is not good for me. Sometimes I'll go out and record a 45 minute speech. If tc breaks continue to occur during a speech with no cutaways it's hard for me to sync up everything and it looks bad.

I'm confused on where to find the preroll 1 second where do I do that so I can try that?

DFWReporting:

 

I'm confused on where to find the preroll 1 second where do I do that so I can try that?

Here is a way to increase your TC break tolerance by using a console command as originally posted by MichaelP.  Your Avid needs to be in capture mode when you set this command.

Until these versions, Media Composer and Xpress Pro would poll the deck for timecode every six frames (1/5th of a second) and report a break. Breaks smaller than that would still get captured resulting in the wrong timecode for that span of capture. The offset would be 6 frames minus the true timecode break on the tape. This can cause rebatch capture errors of 2-5 frames at times depending on when the break was detected.

Productions using Time of Day timecode record don’t run into this as much since the breaks tend to be longer than 6 frames – but Record Run recording can run into this if the camera is powered down, goes to sleep with a battery saver feature or with a battery change – a small timecode break can happen.

Users can now enter a command into the console: TCBreakTolerance

The console is opened via the Tools menu or by doing a CMD-6 on Mac or CTRL-6 on a PC. Once the console is open:

•    type: TCBreakTolerance 3
o    Where 3 is the value of the frame detection (2-12)
•    Then the user hits:  ENTER

This should be entered each time the application is started up as it does not stick. The supported values are 2-12. Users who have tested this feature have found that “3” provided excellent results.

“1” is not allowed as it will return timecode breaks where there are none as it is too sensitive a setting. Users may find that “2” or “4” will work better for their tapes, but the user now has control over that setting.

DFWReporting:

Sometimes I'll go out and record a 45 minute speech. If tc breaks continue to occur during a speech with no cutaways it's hard for me to sync up everything and it looks bad.

Are you saying that you are getting breaks/aborts within a SINGLE 45 minute shot even when capturing without TC?

If so I have seen this before. If the transport is out on your camera it can cause glitches at the end of the magnetic stripes written to tape. This causes TC and the virtual control track (HDV has no separate control track) to dropout. This can often be seen on higher end decks with proper TC displays where the display stops or disappears momentarily. This will often cause Avid to abort with a "Video" related error. A bad pinch roller can cause this.

Thanks! Do you think if I switch to a memory stick/card to shoot that this will go away? Instead of using mini dv tape.

Most definitely as there will be NO capturing. You would just import the files.

Does your camcorder support that though?

It would appear from the specifications in the B & H link that it does not.

I tried to import mini DV into MC and had lots of problems.  Eventually someone recommended HDVSplit ... worked like a charm.  I don't know if it will work for you, but I urge you to give it a try ... after all, it's free.

I can't thank you guys enough for this outstanding feedback. The command:

TCBreakTolerance 3

seems to be working wonderfully. I figured out a round about way to capture HDV video into Avid Media Composer using my camera but using the command above is more efficient. Thanks!

I haven't tried the HDVSplit recommendation yet.