Apple Final Cut Pro 7 - Manual (Page 200)

• For more information about sequence settings and presets: See “Sequence Settings and
Presets.”
Connecting Professional HD Video Devices
The steps for connecting HD devices are essentially the same as those for connecting SD
devices. For HD video, you need to have a video interface that supports HD video capture,
which is usually transferred via an HD-SDI signal. To connect equipment, follow the
instructions in
“Connecting Professional SD Video Devices.”
Connecting Professional Component Analog Video Devices
The most prevalent component analog video format still in use today is Betacam SP. It is
an SD video format, but because it is analog, your video interface must have
analog-to-digital converters to digitize the analog signal before encoding it and writing
a digital media file to the computer hard disk. Unlike digital capture interfaces,
analog-to-digital interfaces often allow you to adjust luma and chroma levels (using
controls in the Log and Capture window) when you digitize. For more information about
calibrating an analog signal before digitizing it, see
“Measuring and Setting Video Levels.”
The steps for connecting an analog VTR to a video interface are essentially the same as
those for connecting digital SD and HD devices. The main difference is that you need to
make three physical connections, one for each of the three analog video components:
Y, R-Y, and B-Y (also called YUV or Y
′
C
B
C
R
, depending on the country and the specifics of
the format). For more information, see “Video Formats.” To connect equipment, see
“Connecting Professional SD Video Devices.”
Connecting Consumer Analog Video Devices
If you want to digitize video from an analog consumer format, such as VHS or 8 mm video,
you need a video interface that has an analog composite video input. Also, older consumer
decks rarely support remote device control, which means you can’t remotely control the
deck or capture timecode from these formats. If you need the ability to recapture the
video accurately using timecode, it’s often easiest to dub (copy) the video to a digital
format like DV, or a professional format you are using for your project.
There are fairly inexpensive capture interfaces that can accept an analog composite input
and convert it to a DV video signal transferred via FireWire. Some more expensive interfaces
may also accept an analog component input.
For more information about composite video, see “Video Formats.”
Connecting Non-DV Devices to a DV Converter
You can use a DV converter to convert a device in a non-DV format, such as Betacam SP
or Digital Betacam, to DV. This allows you to capture footage using the built-in FireWire
port on your computer. However, unlike a complete DV FireWire setup, this kind of deck
still requires serial (RS-422 or RS-232) remote device control.
200 Chapter 12 Connecting Professional Video and Audio Equipment