Is there a DVD player that CAN be controlled by Final Cut Pro? Or is that just like an editing snuffalufagus?

March 31, 2008 10:47 AM

FINALCUTPROFILTER: Is there such a thing as a firewire DVD player that is controllable by final cut pro?

I just just took an FCP class this weekend so if my understanding or terminology is wrong, please forgive me. Basically I watched the whole lesson on how to use FCP with firewire to log in and out points on a tape and then, magically, it batch imports them all and you got a clip bin.

I asked if there was anyway to do the same thing with a DVD player. The instructor said you had to rip the whole DVD, put it into the system, then do the same process. Why? Because it's a non-controllable device.

And I was wondering: is it always?

Does SOMEONE sell a CONTROLLABLE firewire DVD player that works with FCP for just this purpose? Or is that just crazy talk?

posted by rileyray3000 to technology (3 comments total)

There are plenty of DVD players with Firewire output, but I'm not aware of a commonly available one that can be controlled via FCP, either via Firewire timecode or by RS422.

In my opinion, it is a bit of crazy talk to need something like this. It's much faster to rip a DVD to a Quicktime file using commonly available software such as MPEG Streamclip or Cinematize (either the whole disc, or selected sections of it).
posted by melorama at 10:58 AM on March 31

It's a logical assumption, but in this case, crazy talk.

DVD and VHS do not have timecode (although there were some SVHS decks that could do some hybrid version of this.)

Without timecode there's no machine control. How do you figure out what frame to go to?. That's what batch capture does - goes to specific parts of the tape based on the timecode.

With DVDs, it's even worse - because you could have more than one movie on the DVD.

This is why your instructor told you that you'd have to rip the DVD...and preferably, also told you that you'd have to convert it from the native (authored) MPEG-2 VOB to something FCP can use.

Everyone pretty much uses MPEG Streamclip (squared5.com) or DVDxDV.
posted by filmgeek at 11:23 AM on March 31

Another fairly common practice is to dub the DVD over to DVCAM or miniDV and use a DV deck to load it in. Then you'll have a timecode accurate copy to use.
This way is handy when you're editing at low res and low on disk space - you just load in what you want at an offline resolution, then you can reload from the DV tape the bits you need at high res during the online.
posted by brgale at 2:14 PM on March 31