I'm using a JVC 9600 with FCP on a imac DV.

When I capture my audio is out of sync. Maybe just a second but it makes my desktop movies look like crap. Is there anything that I should do to prepare a new dv tape, before shooting on it. Or is it my hardware? The camera audio is in sync. when I play it on a tv before I capture it so I don't think the camera is the problem. And is there anyway to sync. audio after I captured it (when it was captured out of sync.)?

Thanx or the help.

[videoalex]

I've had a little experiance with this also, and here's what I think, but I need to know more about your situation before I tell you for sure.

When I capture long files (like 10-11 minutes) is when it seems to lose sync most often. I assume that it is coming from a fragmened hard disk, and a utility such as norton utilities' speed disk will help solve that problem. It would also help gretly if you captured to a seperate hard disk. It will save wear and tear on your main system disk, will reduce fragmentation, and make your life generally more agreeable. Since I see you have an iMac, consiter buying an external Firewire Disk and moving the files out as soon as you capture them to the system disk. it will solve your wear and tear problems, and some of your sync problems (don't reccomend trying to capture straight to the firewire disk, that's asking a lot of your firewire bus.)

Of course, you can always just capture smaller files, like less than 5 minutes, seem to work for me-but (as always) your results may vary.

As for syncing within final cut, try just grabbing the audio in the timeline view and playing with it until it gets more aligned with what you're looking for. if you have any more questions, email me at videoalex@mac.com
---Alex Johnson

[kiddydoc]

I had a similar problem trying to import my VHS-C movies into iMovie 2.0.1 using a Sony media converter... the audio was a split second behind the video. I played around with all the settings on my G4 and almost reached the conclusion that it was a defective media converter box (since the tape played fine on the camcorder and VCR), but then I read somewhere that virtual memory was causing a problem for some people. I turned off virtual memory. It was only set to 1 MB higher than my physical RAM, but turning it off fixed the problem. Now everything is in perfect sync. Don't know if this is your problem, but it's worth a shot.

[petek]

Since you're using an iMac, is it safe to assume you're using iMovie?
[oops! I just noticed you said FCP. Do you have the same problem with iMovie?]

I have problems with the audio capturing ahead of the video, even with short (30 - 45 sec) clips from my JVC GR-DVF21U with Adobe Premiere 5.1 LE, but not with iMovie 1.02. Memory and disk are not issues as I have 192 MB RAM and use a separate 20 GB partition on a 7200 rpm Maxtor for DV and I have Virtual Memory off. (The rest of the hardware: rev A beige G3/233 MT upgraded to G3/466/1M, Orange Micro Firewire/USB card)

iMovie is so much easier to use, and doesn't have any sync problems, so I'm happy. Despite not being on Apple's compatible list, my JVC camera works great with iMovie, complete with on-screen preview and remote control. That was not the case with Premiere, though (had to use the camera's display and controls). I did like Premiere's video & audio editing "bench" a little better for fine editing, though.

I saw several posts on Adobe's support site about audio sync problems, but they seemed to just be with long captures, and the fixes they suggested didn't work for me.

[This message has been edited by petek (edited 11-27-2000).]