FCP Says "Error Reading Tape" and Stops Log & Capture

I filmed a workshop for a non-profit on my TRV-950 miniDV camera. I bought nine new TDK miniDV tapes for that purpose.

Today I am importing them in FCP 5.1.2. On tapes 2 & 6, the log and capture starts and after about 5 minutes a dialog box comes up on the screen and says that an error was encountered on the tape and that import can't continue. I am importing using the TRV-950 in VTR mode because I do not have a deck.

1. Has anyone had a problem like this before ; and

2. Are these tapes toast, or might they import correctly if I used a deck? ; and

3. If I need to try a deck, are there places that let you mail in your tape and import it and shoot you back a DVD with the raw DV output? I'm only aware of one place in Sacramento that has decks and it is the community cable station, and to use their decks you have to be a member and you have to agree to let them air your finished movie/documentary on community cable at 4 in the morning. :-)

Suggestions? The workshop was a rather unique event and while it would be possible to re-shoot the portions on these defective tapes, I'd rather not if I could avoid it.

Bill

Sounds like Time code breaks. If so you have to capture around them. You using Capture Now?

Michael Horton
-------------------

Yes. I was using Capture Now and just trying to suck in the full contents of each of the 9 tapes.

interestingly 3 of the tapes give this message and they came in packs of 3 from TDK. Makes me wonder if the media is bad.

do an easy set up in a/v to be sure you have the right capture presets. If everything fails copy the tapes to dvd and then import the dvds into fcp. you'll loose quality but at least you won't lose the show.

Have you tried capturing non controllable device. This will tell you whether its the tape/camera or final cut having the problem.

RE: capturing non-controllable device : Can you point me to where in the menus I find that?


==


RE: exporting from tape to DVD, that is a new one. I've exported from the camera to a VHS tape, but what is the trick for capturing from the tape directly to a DVD? I didn't think DVD Studio Pro did that, but I'm all ears.

Sure

Log and Capture..like normal

Go to the capture setting tab in Log and Capture

Under device control select non controllable device

Press play on your camera then press capture now

This means that FCP is generating the t/c so if you need to recapture that tape the t/c wont be the same.

> If everything fails copy the tapes to dvd and then import the dvds into fcp.

No no no no no...do that and you're basically making your show undeliverable.

First, check to see if the tape was recorded in LP mode. If so, find a DV device that has an LP mode and use it to capture.

Second, find out if it's a timecode break, or whether it's a "bad data" error. "Bad data" errors tend to be unfixable by FCP.

Instead of DVD, find two DV devices (eg. DV deck and DV camera), link them with a 4-pin-to-4-pin FireWire cable and redub the tape, writing new timecode. This fixes 90 per cent of tape problems as long as you actually have the data on the tape that can playback.


www.derekmok.com

.

Well, so I have to ask. Not that I mind joining the community cable station to use their deck, but are there service bureaus where I could mail these tapes and get them dubbed?

OK, tried non-controllable device capture, and I'm still getting the error message:

"Capture encountered a problem reading the data on your source tape. This could be due to a problem with the tape. Capture has been aborted and your clip has been saved."

So am I on to trying to dub this tape to another cartridge using 4pin to 4pin?

Find another DV camera. Any DV device with a FireWire port -- which, these days, should be any DV camera. That should work.


www.derekmok.com

Are you trying to capture footage from very beginning of tape? try re-winding and then forwarding 10 seconds or so and then try and capture your first clip. Trash your preferences first.

Michael Horton
-------------------

Here's a further update - and thanks for all the suggestions.

This morning at work I am having the part time video jock at my office try to import these 3 tapes on his Windoze machine, I believe using Premier? In any event he is having no trouble importing these tapes, except his output is .avi

So before I tell him to waste his time importing them for me, what would I use to get from .avi into a format that FCP 5.1.2 is going to be able to understand? Or is this just a waste of time to do it on the Windows machine?

Bill

I believe this is new "behavior" in FCP 5.1.2. I had two virgin Sony DVCAM 40N cassettes. The first simply would not Batch Capture. Kept getting the "Tape Trouble" dialog repeatedly, something I'd never seen before this. The second tape logged clips batched perfectly. Both were shot in the same session on the same HVR-A1U camera. The timecode is smooth on both, no detectable breaks. The deck was cleaned.

It continued to act this way even when I unchecked "Abort Capture on timecode breaks." It would not create a new clip so it likely didn't detect any breaks. Something else is kicking in. I flagged this to the FCP team.

Now, I use serial deck control on my DSR-40, but I heard from someone else using plain FireWire control and getting similar behavior. Seems random.

Individual clips capture okay, but you know, I'd rather be a postman than load up individual clips for capture. Anyone else seeing this in 5.1.2?

- Loren
Today's FCP 4 / 5 keytip:
Do a virtual Audio Mixdown to lighten playback load with Command-Option-R!

The FCP KeyGuide?: your power placemat.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

> I believe this is new "behavior" in FCP 5.1.2.

I beg to differ on that one, Loren. I've seen this "Bad data" error as early as FCP3. Most tapes with "bad data" also have timecode and pixellation problems.

Strangely, I also seem to remember encountering this when capturing from HDCam. Never DigiBeta or Betacam SP, though. Maybe this happens with formats with touchy timecode -- DV cameras vary wildly, and HDCam camera masters often register a timecode break even if no break is visible and if the camera was never turned off.


www.derekmok.com