Firewire video output in DP8?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Curiosity got the best of me. Nope. DP 8.01 now "sees" the movie but doesn't load or play it. It also crashed when I tried to clear a movie in an existing project.

No .dv files yet... I feel another update in the making and I sincerely hope so. DP 8.01 does crash more than I like. Not terrible in that I haven't lost more than a few minutes work at best, but still annoying.

DP 7.24 never did this, just as der Führer has never said this "ba-by"...

[dix]

I think dix reported it wasn't working. Maybe you can search his posts to find it. I don't have my system running but will try when I do.

Right. DP 8.01 can now see and import .dv files, but they don't play correctly and can not be output via firewire on my system.

[Kubi]

Ah, Thanks, all! That means I'll keep waiting. Better anyway, since I am starting a film and am on deadline. Only the suicidal update in such situations! Recent reports of a stable DP8.01 and in praise of 64bit performance almost tempted me, thanks for slapping me out of it!

[donadi]

Files with .dv extention don't play on my system, but Mov files encoded with DV codec play good through FireWire but my CPU gets hit pretty bad. It's funny how, if I output through external, then my CPU is at 40%, as soon as I put it back to internal, then the CPU goes back to 5%.
I really hope they fix the FireWire thing, I always thought that movies look better through a RGB monitor than on a computer display.

[dix]

Re-resurecting this thread. Is anyone using Firewire Video Output successfully with DP8.05 via Canopus ADVC or similar?

[dix]

Anyone? Is DP8 not capable of outputting video via firewire as is advertised anymore? Is this functionality being phased out?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Much as I'd love to test it, I don't have an external device to send it to. The AVDC is connected for input, but no monitor is connected.

[dix]

I guess, like so many other things Firewire, this feature is going out of style

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I think in most music production studios, it is. QT is so much more efficient for ITB work and not that many audio guys in project studios need to output to FW video monitors. It you do the higher end video stiff, I suspect a high end graphics card and device is called for. But if the feature is in DP it should, in theory work. I'd like to know and if I can rig my second monitor or portable DVD device up I'll give it a shot as soon as I can.

All that said, I do think DP 8 is worth the price just on it's own merits provided you are making good use of the 64 bit architecture (and actually need the power).

[Marc7777]

I can chime in here since I have a Canopus ADVC110 and use it all the time. I use it since for some reason, even though I bought an upgraded graphics card, when my session gets big, the video will start to stutter and it throws me off when composing.

The Canopus is nice and smooth. Although it's not 1080p or anything, but it looks "analog" I guess you could say.

Here's the problems i've faced (and gotten use to) DP8.04 FW playback works fine. HOWEVER, you cannot chase when locating. So say you go to bar 10, you don't see the Canopus change until you press Play. My solution was to keep a tiny movie window on a 2nd monitor, in the top corner, and use that if I am trying to locate a specific point or Time Code.

I also needed to do the "Playback Offset" setting because for some reason or another, I need to offset the Canopus about 4 frames. NOTE - This feature is BROKEN in DP8.05. MOTU is aware and is fixing it for DP8.06.

Another drawback is that if you have a template setup, it won't save the "Playback through Firewire" setting. You have to choose that every single time you pull up a file. My solution was to use QuicKeys. pretty easy to make it a One Button solution.

The only drawback with the Canopus is that it does indeed take a decent amount of CPU. almost a whole thread (100% of a thread) At least according to Activity Monitor. I believe it does this because Canopus is spitting out 29.97fps and the videos I work to are 23.976. So there is TONS of real time converting going on. It'll also warn you every time you want to use it that "This is not supported.. blah blah." or "The frame rates don't match.. blah blah" Just hit okay.

I'm hoping that if I upgrade my mac Pro to a newer one (or THE NEW ONE) it'll solve my video woes.. But for now, the Canopus can't leave my setup!

[dix]

Thanks for all this helpful info. Knowing I can dismiss the frame-rate warning saved me a couple hours for sure! Too bad about chasing. Is scrubbing possible, or do you use the mini-movie for that too? Have you let MOTU know about that (as well as the broken offset functionality)? Once I'm setup with 8.05 I'll submit tech notes as well (I'm waiting for a new gfx card to show up - my current one is essentially incompatible with DP8). 

Re the CPU with the Canopus, I have notice that sometimes using it slows things down slightly. I never considered that there was real time conversion going on somewhere. I'm wondering if running a third display instead would be more efficient. As FireWire phases out, I'm wondering how composers are working. ....I'm guessing there'll plenty of TB options too, but I'm not there yet. 

[Marc7777]

Is scrubbing possible, or do you use the mini-movie for that too?

yes you can scrub using the wiper (for whatever reason). MOTU is aware of the problem and they thought they fixed it for 8.05 but it somehow broke again. 8.06 "should" have all that up and running.

'm wondering if running a third display instead would be more efficient. As FireWire phases out, I'm wondering how composers are working. ....I'm guessing there'll plenty of TB options too, but I'm not there yet. 

There definitely is a "Thunderbolt to Firewire" adapter. $30 i think. From what I read there is no USB 3 to Firewire adaptor for some technical reason that is beyond me. I'd love to use those USB 3 ports on the New Mac Pro for something and reserve my thunderbolt ports for the heavier duty stuff..

The other option i've heard other composers do is getting a mac mini or some other cheap computer and have it run just video via MTC and a program called "Video Slave". Basically it's MTC over LAN (or MTC device) which has been used to some degree of success. Some users i've read have issues, some don't..

Upgraded graphics card and going to Mountain Lion helped a lot for me, but again, if my session gets big, the video will suffer. The Canopus doesn't do that at all, so I stick with that.

[dix]

In moving up to one UAD-2 card from two UAD-1 cards, I now have an extra slot open in my Mac Pro. I'm wondering if I can run two video cards on my Mac Pro - so I could put the movie on a third display. Google is not clear on this issue. Anyone?