I've done this on my PD150 and now on an HVRA1U--with the same result. HELP!
I record in DVCAM mode (with miniDV tape--do I need special DVCAM tape???). When I load in the tape to my miniDV recorder to download to FCP6 (or FCX) the video shows on the screen and runs fine--but when I go to capture it only captures a few seconds and stops with some message about "timecode". The few seconds of video that does download looks fine, but has audio that is interrupted at regular intervals. I've tried downloading with several cameras--same result. Anyone have any idea how I'm screwing this up? Where am I going wrong? With tape, with FCP or FCX settings, or playback machine? Or all of the above?
bill

Have you tried swapping out the cable or using a different Mac? Or using iMovie instead of FCP? Could help rule out a bad cable or port.

__________________
"It can only be attributable to human error... This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been due to human error."

Adam,
thanks as always for your reply. no i haven't tried those things. maybe i'll try imovie--i guess i could download into there and then import, but the cable and connectors work fine, as does the computer, on everything else, including shooting HD on the HVRA1u; same for my VX2000 and PD150. If I can't get this DVCAM thing solved I can't shoot in true 16X9--which is what I want as much as shooting HD (nice but not necessary for my present needs).
Also, any tricks to downloading HDV in FCP? This camera shoots 1080i but often the FCP program can't identify the camera.
Finally, I burned an HD DVd last night, but my DVD player (a Bose) could not read the format, nor could my older DVD players. Any suggestions there? I'm burning in DVD studio pro.
bill

Gosh, there is so much wrong here I hardly know where to start. No, no, no, this is just to test to see where the problem is occurring. If everything is fine in another program, then you have messed up something in FCP.Wait, what? This is in the PD forum so I assume that's the cam you are talking about. If you are mainly referring to your A1 you're in the wrong forum, and there is even less reason to shoot DVCAM, and the whole 16:9 issue is even less relevant. No PD or VX shoots in "true" 16:9 in any format. It is always cropped and stretched, 360 lines total, no matter what you do. Many threads here and elsewhere on this.

If you are talking about your A1, DV WIDE SELECT > 16:9 WIDE (page 58) works the same in DV or DVCAM; wide mode is completely unrelated to DVCAM. But why would you do this when you could shoot in HDV?Again, if you mean your A1, you're in the wrong forum, but obviously your other two cams do not shoot HDV. Which cam are you referring to?

This is almost always due to a settings mismatch between the cam and the NLE.How exactly did you burn the HD DVD? NO DVD player will play anything in any HD format, but a Blu-Ray player will burn properly burned Blu-Ray discs burned in a Blu-Ray burner or HiDef DATA files, in some cases. HD-DVD can be burned to a regular DVD, but must be played back in the now-defunct and hard to find HD-DVD players. You'll never get any form of HiDef out of a regular DVD player.

Why are you shooting DVCAM anyway? The only difference is a faster tape speed to minimize the effects of a dropout and enable insert editing, which none of your cams do. It's exactly the same codec and resolution; in other words, there is no benefit.

From Wikipedia:
DVCAM
Sony's DVCAM is a professional variant of the DV standard that uses the same cassettes as DV and MiniDV, but transports the tape 50% faster having 50% wider track, 15 micrometres instead of 10 micrometres. This variant uses the same codec as regular DV, however, the wider track lowers the chances of dropout errors. The LP mode of consumer DV is not supported. All DVCAM recorders and cameras can play back DV material, but DVCPRO support was only recently added to some models like DSR-1800, DSR-2000, DSR-1600. DVCAM tapes (or DV tapes recorded in DVCAM mode) have their recording time reduced by one third.

Because of the wider track, DVCAM has the ability to do a frame accurate insert tape edit. DV will vary by a few frames on each edit compared to the preview. Another feature of DVCAM is locked audio. If several generations of copies are made on DV, the audio sync may drift. On DVCam this does not happen.[7]

Edit: just noticed your other thread where you say you know all this about DVCAM and that there is no advantage -- so why are you doing it?

Have your thoroughly read pages 103-106 of your A1 manual? There is a lengthy discussion there about DVCAM, including lots of warnings, admonitions and caveats.

What presets are you using in FCP? Project settings?

Are you trying to mix the footage from all three cams in a single project? This is why it's a bad idea. Three cams in three formats = headache.

__________________
"It can only be attributable to human error... This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been due to human error."

Adam,
I see I've caused a bit of confusion. Sorry. I wrote on the PD forum because I ran into the same problem with DVCAM every time I've tried it with either camcorder. Process goes like this.
1. shoot the footage
2. connect the camcorder to FCP (or FCX).
3. begin to play footage from camcorder.
4. select capture
5. capture stops after only a few seconds of download.
6. download capture screen freezes with the message it has stopped due to timecode error.
7. shoot in DV anamorphic on PD or VX, no problems.
????
8. Shoot DVC with PD or A1; same result: timecode error.

So, I don't understand this timecode error. Repeat: it has nothing to do with the A1 per se. Timecode error shows up the same and FCP acts the same when shooting DVCAM with either the PD or the A1.
So, I thought I'd pose the question first on the Pd forum.
I'm well aware that the VX and PD both stretch the video and are not true 16X9--that's a given.
So the first issue is why this error happens only in DVCAM.
I originally thought of getting a PD-10, which I know shoots true 16X9 in SD.
But decided to get the A1 instead.
It does great in HD---certainly good enough for my purposes. But shooting in SD saves memory, gets good quality in youtube (where most of my vids go) and loads more quickly for viewers.
I've been uploading lots of vids for youtube in SD for some time, no problems.
I knew HD would be a learning curve, and I may proceed to shooting only in HD, but I'd still like to understand why this time code problem in DVCAM happens in FCP/FCX.
Sorry for being so unclear.
bill

Thanks for the clarification. It helps greatly. I suppose if it were me, I'd just bail on DVCAM as there's no benefit. But that still doesn't answer the question of why it's not working.

I'm still guessing a settings mismatch somewhere in FCP. This is almost always what it is when cam and NLE aren't playing nice together. Again, what are your FCP settings when it works and when it doesn't?

A couple of clarifications, though:Not really. The PDX10 is a sort of odd hybrid chip that crops one way (but less than the PD/VXes) for 16:9, and another for 4:3. The chip itself is neither. Adam Wilt discusses this on the same page he talks about why you can never get decent widescreen out of a VX/PD.Not really... DV and HDV are the same size on tape or disk... 13GB per hour. It's only if you "uncompress" HDV to an intermediate codec that it expands greatly (which I guess FCP does).

My advice... shoot HDV on the A1 and DV WIDE (not DVCAM) on the VX and PD. Downconvert while capturing from the A1 into a DV Project. Your Wide DV from the DV cams will still look much worse than the real widescreen brilliantly downconverted by the A1, and it'll never really match, but at least you'll have roughly the same frame size with none of your DVCAM problems.

Or sell your VX and PD and get a couple of XR520Vs with XLR boxes....

__________________
"It can only be attributable to human error... This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been due to human error."