Apple Final Cut Pro 5 User Manual
Page 1678
Chapter 25
Device Control Settings and Presets
327
IV
 Use Deck Search Mechanism: Select this option to use a deck’s internal search
mechanism to cue a tape to a specific timecode value, if available. Decks with serial
device control may have this option. Do not select this option if your deck has
problems moving the playhead to a specified timecode value during capture. For
more information, see the documentation that came with your video equipment.
This option is not available for DV devices.
 Capture Offset: Because timecode and video are often captured by Final Cut Pro via
two separate channels (device control connection and video input, respectively),
there may be a small, but consistent, offset between when a video frame and a
timecode number are captured to a media file. You must calibrate your timecode by
determining its frame offset from the video and entering it in this field. For more
information, see “
Determining and Entering the Timecode Offset
Note: This is not an issue when you capture DV video via FireWire, since both
timecode and video data are transferred via the same FireWire cable.
 Handle Size: This setting only has an affect when you batch capture clips. The value
in this field tells Final Cut Pro to automatically capture additional footage, or handles,
at the head and tail of each batch-captured clip. For more information about batch
capturing, Volume I, Chapter 19, “Capturing Your Footage to Disk.”
 Playback Offset: This option allows you to compensate for latency between
Final Cut Pro device control (the number in the Current Timecode field) and your
video interface output, since some video interface take some time to process the
video signal. This is only an issue when using separate connections for device control
and video output, such as serial RS-422 device control and a PCI video card.
Enter a number to compensate for delays between the start of playback and the start
of recording on your deck when editing to tape. This is normally set to 0. Enter a
positive number to start playback before recording begins; enter a negative number
to start playback after recording begins.
Note: If the first frame is duplicated over several frames when you’re editing to tape,
enter the number of duplicated frames in this field to eliminate the problem.