Bug with DV-Tape import?

I have to digitize some old Video 8 and Hi8 Tapes via a Digital8 camera with DV-out and it seems to be impossible with FCPX. When I´m trying to make some camera archives from a tape it seems to work perfectly. The tape gets rewound, then it starts to play and FCPX seems to record, and I get a message that it was done. BUT - the file is nowhere to be found on the hard disc! It just disappears! Same thing if I select the tape and hit "import" - it seems to import without getting any error message during the process, but the file does not get written to the HD! Is this a known bug?
I looked everywhere - you can select where you want the camera archive to be saved to. A camera archive file gets created and I can see the file while its importing. As soon as it finishes importing, the file disappears. Also I compared the free space on the HD before, after importing and during importing. It confirms that nothing gets written to the HD...

I'd ingest tape with QuickTime Player, FCPX's tape support is minimal, and buggy.

It seems to be a known problem with FCPX and Imovie which cant import tapes which have no timecode.

Welcome, Gerald, to fcp.co

gloidl wrote: … Imovie which cant import tapes which have no timecode.

No consumer camcorder has TC, and iMovie is intended and especially made for consumers/hobbyists. Sorry to say for a first post, but that info isn't correct …

Carsten,
There seems to be a timecode on regular amateur DV-Tapes which are no problem to capture in FCP and Imovie. Its not a timecode you can set like on a professional camera - but its there. On Video8 and Hi8 tapes which I am trying to import at the moment through a camera with DV out - no such timecode seems to be present. While you can control this camera and see the preview, it does not actually record the information to the HD - neither in FCPX nor in iMovie.

Fired up my old dv cam.......tried to duplicate your issue but everything works fine on my end.

Camera Archive as well as importing worked fine.

I read somewhere that if destination drive is low on space it won't save the clip......otherwise I'm not sure what would cause.

I realize this doesn't help solve.....but I just wanted to confirm for you that a cheap canon dv cam (consumer cheap model Canon ZR60) works with FCPX.

gloidl wrote: Carsten, …

It's Karsten… have to insist :woohoo:

gloidl wrote: …There seems to be a timecode on regular amateur DV-Tapes which are no problem to capture in FCP and Imovie. …. On Video8 and Hi8 tapes which I am trying to import at the moment through a camera with DV out - no such timecode seems to be present. …

Timecode isn't Timestamp.
And yep, analogue recording techniques lack even that.
So, your 'tinkered' digitalisation (=not via a regular digitiser , TBC, which would add a timestamp or even a TC) could probably make FCPX stumble - but this isn't FCPX fault, but simply owed by hardware in use.

The P in FCPX stands for … 
I'm the hobbyist with the shoestring budget here, showing outrageous 'solutions' - but sometimes you reach a dead-end...

Workaround:
Import in iMovie first. Import resulting files to FinalCut

(just an idea: is your DV-out device on landline power? and a time&date set?)

QuickTime Play to capture, very simple, works.

Hi-8 and 8 are not digital, are they? Isn't it analog video? I NEVER have a problem digitizing DVCam video. I commented in your comment as you seem to know what you are talking about. Thanks.

Karsten Schlüter wrote:
It's Karsten… have to insist :woohoo: )

No problem

Karsten Schlüter wrote: Timecode isn't Timestamp.
And yep, analogue recording techniques lack even that.
So, your 'tinkered' digitalisation (=not via a regular digitiser , TBC, which would add a timestamp or even a TC) could probably make FCPX stumble - but this isn't FCPX fault, but simply owed by hardware in use.

Well, the problem seems to be limited to FCPX and Imovie. I have no problem with my old FCP 7 and Premiere Pro.
I think a professional application should be able to handle ancient amateur formats as well
I love FCPX and I have edited hundreds of TV shows and reports on it during the last few years and now just want to use it to go through my old private video archive and digitize around 40 tapes.

Karsten Schlüter wrote: Import in iMovie first. Import resulting files to FinalCut

Imovie cant handle this material either. I´m now using FCP 7.

Karsten Schlüter wrote: (just an idea: is your DV-out device on landline power? and a time&date set?)

Yes - I have checked this - does not change anything - but a great tip! Thanks!

King Ronan wrote: Hi-8 and 8 are not digital, are they? Isn't it analog video? I NEVER have a problem digitizing DVCam video. I commented in your comment as you seem to know what you are talking about. Thanks.

I have checked - no problem with DV and DVCAM-tapes which all contain at least a time stamp. This missing timestamp seems to cause the problem. I´m digitizing through a Digital8 camera which I grabbed on ebay. This camera can digitize analog tapes and output the signal through DV-out via Firewire.