2

Appendix C Working with Professional Video and Audio Equipment 501
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
Final Cut Pro Log and Capture window) when you digitize.
The steps for connecting an analog VTR to a video interface are essentially the same as
for 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 the Final Cut Pro User Manual.To connect equipment,
see “Connecting Professional SD Video Devices” on page 498.
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.
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.
This kind of setup is used mainly for low-resolution capture and offline editing. Because
Final Cut Pro can edit DV video natively, you can capture your video as if it were DV
footage, edit at DV resolution, and then recapture only the necessary media files for
your finished movie at full resolution using one of the third-party video interface
solutions described earlier.
Important: If you plan to recapture footage later, make sure timecode is captured
accurately.