# Capturing HD on Final Cut Pro



## clairefulness (Jul 16, 2008)

I've been trying to capture HDV to Final Cut 5.1 from a Sony HDV 3CMOS in 1080i/60, and it won't recognize the camera. I'm using a firewire, but is that the wrong cable? What capture settings should I have it set on?


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

I have never used FCP, so I don't know how it gets video. But 1st off, are you sure that FCP 5 can handle HD video? Second, I know with iMovie, you have to put the camera is VCR/playback mode before you can import video, and it may be the same for FCP. Also, did you check Apple's site to make sure that your camera is supported?


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## clairefulness (Jul 16, 2008)

Thanks for posting! I do have the camera on playback mode when I try. I know that my version of FCP supports HD because others have captured HD on the same computer; it's just not working for me. I'm wondering if there is a capture setting I'm missing.


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## macthorough (Jul 5, 2008)

Don't matter if 30 people used the camera to import video, if it aint on the list than it aint guaranteed to work every time meaning apple had not tested and qualified that device to work every time.

Usually this is how the issue occurs. Don't check list before buying camera, shot video, import video once and it works, then shot another video and it does not work.

Check the list and let us know what you find...

Start here 
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302337
http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/resources/supportdevices.php
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I've talked to people who were able to get unsupported cameras to work on certain versions of MAC OS X, for instance they say it was working fine on 10.4.3 but when they upgraded to 10.4.4 it did not work. I would tell them to try to go back to 10.4.3 but this camera is not supported therefor not guaranteed to work every time.
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Unfortunately, I did not see that camera on the list.The only other thing you can try is to import the video in another user on your mac and see if it works, or try importing the video on your friends MAC (if it's not on the list). I guess you could try importing to a Windows PC and then transfer to a mac.


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## clairefulness (Jul 16, 2008)

Thank you! I never would have figured that out. It doesn't look like it'll work on my computer in HD, but at least I now know to film on a DV tape and not an HDV one. I might try it on another computer and then just transfer it over, if I can.


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