[This article was first published in the June, 2009, issue of
Larry's Final Cut Pro Newsletter. Click here to subscribe.]

George Godfrey writes:

I'm new to Mac and FCP worked with windows mostly anyway I've just registered at your site and have two questions if you don't mind. Excuse me if you find them elementary.

1. When I make a QT movie from my timeline in 16.9 and then reimporting the file, I end up getting it 4.3 format and is it suppose to be so? I've looked everywhere to find the box to tick in for the correct format but alas.

2. When capturing a full dv tape I see in the capture map later that several files appear, the captured film file or files, plus QT symbol files that can't be opened, but if trashed the film file won't open either. What is this file and why is it splitting into separate files when using capture now?

Larry replies: Thanks for writing, George! These are two great questions.

1. After importing the QT clip into the Browser, but BEFORE editing it to the timeline, scroll right in the Browser until you find the Anamorphic column. Check it ON for all 16:9 QT clips.

2. You have an incorrect capture setting. Go to Final Cut Pro > System Settings > Scratch disk tab and UNcheck the second checkbox from the bottom - Limit File Size to ...

Also, it is bad form to capture an entire tape unless you have a continuous performance. FCP works better when you capture shorter clips.

UPDATE - June 16, 2009

Tom Wolsky also points out:

This [also] happens when the capture drive is incorrectly formatted usually FAT32, which has a file size limit.

Larry replies: Thanks, Tom, I forgot that.

UPDATE - June 16, 2009

Ian Hart writes:

Regarding your reply to George Godfrey about capturing the entire tape vs individual scenes. Since moving into HD (MiniDV) I've found it much more difficult to accurately find shots, spool through the tape, set In/Out points and log the shots, due to the fact that HDV is encoded as a MPEG-2 sequence of I , P & B-frames rather than individual frames as in DV. These days I find it more convenient to capture the entire tape with the "Create new clip on start/stop" checked and "Limit capture to 62 mins". I then use a tool such as Adobe Bridge to review and notate the captured clips, rename them, throw away NG takes, etc. I then trash the clips in the browser and re-import the logged clips from the project's Capture folder. Perhaps it's because I'm an old film editor and this sits more comfortably with my workflow (see below).

Larry replies: I agree, keeping clips short is a good idea. And I, too, am a fan of Adobe Bridge -- so much so that I created a video tutorial explaining how to use it.

Larry Jordan is a post-production consultant and an Apple-Certified Trainer in Digital Media with over 25 years experience as producer, director and editor with network, local and corporate credits. Based in Los Angeles, he's a member of both the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America.

The information in this article is believed to be accurate at the time of publication. However, the author assumes no liability in case things go wrong. Please use your best judgment in applying these suggestions.

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