What MAC program retains timecode during capture of HDV footage?

[Mr. Shannon W. Rawls]

I am going to run an experiemnt.

 

Currently, there are NO Windows based programs on this big beautiful planet that will retain proper timecode of any pro HDV camera that recorded its footage in PRESET.RECRUN mode or FREERUN mode timecode.

 

Having said that, I was wondering if there are any MAC based programs that do.

 

Currently the only 3 programs I know that capture HDV footage for MAC users are:

1. Final Cut Pro (60i & 30p only)

2. HDVxDV (24/25/30 f & p, 60i)

3. DHVSCAP (24/25/30 f & p, 60i)

 

I was wondering.....which of the above three programs will accurate capture footage from Sony, JVC and more specifically Canon XL-H1 with the .m2t file having the correct timecode embedded in it.

 

To make sure I am clear about what I am asking......... Please capture some HDV footage from your HD100, Z1U or XL-H1 and be sure that the tape DOES NOT BEGIN at 00:00:00;00. Honestly, FREERUN timecode is the best test while capturing over a few timecode breaks and such.

Once you have succesfully captured a few seconds or minutes of footage, playback the file in your MAC and ensure that the timecode at the beginning of the .M2T file is the same number on the minidv tape where you started your capture at.

 

Please reply with your results. *smile*

 

THE TEST that I am going to do is the following:

 

Since .M2T files are multi-platform, if someone replies with a successful capture of HDV footage retaining timecode in the file on their MAC, then I am going to take that timecode-embedded file and put it on a PC, and see which PC NLE's can read it correctly.

 

If it does....I will buy a MAC to be used for HDV capturing only, since PC companies can't seem to get it right.

[James Erd]

This won't answer your question but I wanted to say that there is another program that captures HDV on a Mac, and that's iMovie-HD ;)

 

By the time I get a hold of an HDV camera I will probably have a good laugh for admitting I use iMovie-HD when FCP turns it's nose up at my tapes because of time code breaks.

 

IMOHO most of these issues arise due to mixing iron oxide tape ( a medieval technology )with high speed processors. I don't think it makes much difference whether are using a Mac or a PC. Besides Macs are Intel now. Any way, I've just spent the last few days trying to capture audio off of a DAT through SPDIF and TOSLink on to my Dual G5 2 Ghz.

 

If I had used a solid state recorder or a hard disc recorder I would be done and working on something else. Ironically I would be done if I had used an old analog Nagra which leads me to believe that cassettes whether for DV, HDV or DAT are all evil and need to be done away with :ph34r: