If you notice a loss of connectivity between Final Cut Pro or Final Cut Express and your camcorder or deck after upgrading your versions of Mac OS X and QuickTime, here’s what you can do to resolve the issue.

1. Remove QuickTime receipts:
   1. Go to /Library/Receipts/
   2. Locate the QuickTime receipts files.
   3. Select all QuickTime receipts that have version numbers as part of their names (but don’t select the other QuickTime receipts). Here’s an example of what they look like (you may have different receipts on your computer):
      
   4. Drag the selected receipts to the Trash.
2. Download and install the latest version of QuickTime for Mac OS X.

After following these steps and restarting your computer, your device should interact with Final Cut as expected.

If not, try one or more of the following:

• disconnecting, then connecting the Firewire cable while the capture window is open
• start the tape playing before opening the capture window
• power the camera on first, then launch FCP
• power the camera off, then on again
• another Firewire cable
• another camcorder
• another computer

If you’ve ever realized that you logged your footage with the wrong log clip settings, here’s a great tip that’ll solve it for you.

Click here to ask a question about Final Cut Pro workflows.

For more info, check out:

Final Cut Pro Foundations

Final Cut Express Foundations

If you’ve ever chosen the wrong reel name, or entered the wrong reel name on accident here is a cool tip to show you how to fix that.

Click here to ask a question about Final Cut Studio workflows.

Here are some potential problems that you may encounter while capturing, and some possible solutions.

If you have a problem not mentioned here, the best way to solve it is to “troubleshoot” the problem. Troubleshooting is a process where you change variables, usually one at a time, to pinpoint the problem. Here’s a helpful article on troubleshooting.

Tape Capture Problems and Possible Solutions

• Problems with your capturing device:

If you are having trouble capturing footage, whether it a “dropped frames” or “broken timecode” warning, try using the same device that you shot the footage with, instead of your deck or a different camcorder. In many cases, this will solve the problem.

• Problems capturing to an external FireWire drive:

If you’re using external Firewire drives with your Final Cut Pro system, you may find them problematic- they may drop frames, or lock up your system.

In this case, try capturing to your internal drive, then move those clips to your firewire drive if you need to to make room.

• If your capture device is not recognized:

If your camera or deck is turned on and connected to your computer, but isn’t recognized by FCP, try this fix:

Go to the View Menu, and choose External Video, All Frames.

If that doesn’t work, try changing the order in which you turn on your camera and computer – if turning on the camera after the computer isn’t working, try turning the camera and connecting it first.

• QuickTime compatibility issues:

Sometimes a QuickTime reinstall of the latest version will help resolve capture issues.

Navigate to your Library folder, then Receipts on your main drive (not from your personal folder).

Remove all files of the form QuickTime*.pkg, where “*” is a version number. E.g. QuickTime701.pkg, QuickTime712.pkg, or Quicktime714.pkg. This simply tells your system that those packages are not installed.

Go to http://www.apple.com/quicktime/downloads and click on the “download Quicktime” link. DO NOT USE THE AUTOMATIC UPDATE UTILITY. Download QuickTimeInstallerX.dmg. Double click this file (probably on your desktop) and then invoke the installer by double clicking QuickTime701.pkg.

After your computer reboots, you should be able to restart Final Cut and see your camera.

• Mac OS X compatibility issues:

Sometimes after you upgrade your operating system, you may find that something that used to work in the past has suddenly stopped working.

Our advice: If everything is working great, and you’re in the middle of a project, never update the OS (you can always update later)!

If you have some capture advice that we should add to this list, please email us!

There are several formats of video people call “24p”:

1. true 24p
   To capture this, you’ll have to create special capture and sequence presets. But it’s a very rare format.
2. 23.976
   This is more a much more common frame rate. Use the appropriate capture and sequence preset. (Note: FCP calls 23.976 “23.98″ for some odd reason).
3. 24p with pulldown (actually 29.97 fps, aka 59.94 fields/sec, aka “60i”)
   Capture and edit using 60i presets.
4. 24p “advanced” (2:3:3:2 cadence – actually 29.97 fps, aka 59.94 fields/sec, aka “60i”)
   Use the capture preset in FCP titled “DV NTSC 48 kHz Advanced (2:3:3:2) Pulldown Removal”. This preset will capture at 29.97 (that’s what the actual recording on tape is), but remove the redundant frames added by the camcorder to make the video 23.976 fps (notice the box is checked that says “Remove Advanced Pulldown and/or Duplicate frames During Capture From FireWire Sources”)
   Use the appropriate “23.98″ sequence format.