Video freezes on capture after 5 minutes

BS"D

I'm working on an eMac, 1GHz G4, 512mb RAM, OSX 10.3.9, FCP 4.5. I've been using this for the last 2 years or so with no capture problems, until today.

Suddenly, the video freezes on capture after the clip becomes 5 minutes long. The audio continues, I get the SBBOD, and then have to force quit. I trashed prefs, repaired permissions - it occurs whether recording to a 320 gig Western Digital external hard drive, or to my system drive, both of which have plenty of room.

Should I reinstall FCP? If so, how do I do that? Any other suggestions would be mightily appreciated.

General rule, guys -- don't use words like "plenty". Doesn't tell us anything we need to know to help diagnose the problem.

How much room, exactly, is left on each of your drives? Are they properly formatted? Did you do any software updates recently? Running antivirus? Also check the "Limit Capture" System Preference.


www.derekmok.com

I've got 130 gig left on my 320 gig drive, and 21 gig left on my 60 gig drive; formats on hard disks haven't changed and I've been capturing since July with the external hard drive (and system drive for small jobs) with no problems. Software update - I'm not sure - is Quick Time 7.3.0 the latest update? - since that's what I'm running. I'm not running any antivirus programs in the computer, but my server supposedly runs an antivirus on my email. My capture limit is, and has been, 70 minutes.
The only thing consistent about the problem is that the video freezes at 5 minutes of capturing, so smaller clips are no problem, but someone's wedding will be a problem if I have to load in 5-minute increments.

The problem is the WD external drive that you have where did you get it from if you got it from a store than there is a possibility that the Drive was formatted for only Read permissions. If this is the case then you will need to reformat the drive.

Do you get any error messages when it stops?

I see everybody is looking at the computer so hard it's getting hot. What are you using to send the video? A five-year old camcorder? Did you change cables? Is it on batteries? Did you try a different camcorder?

Are you in a different office?

Koz

Koz, everything is the same. Same camcorder as last week, same hard drive, same cables, running on AC, same place.

Jason, I've been using the WD hard drive since July with no problems - and I tried capturing to my Mac HD just to see if it was the hard drive and it also froze at 5 minutes.

Could it possibly be the Quick Time update I installed on Nov. 6, according to my software update log? How do I go back to the previous version, which was 7.2?

Thanks, everyone!

Can you digitize an older tape that clearly used to work?

The last couple of Apple updates have been really interesting. We are holding off updating until we have a really good reason.

Unfortunately, Apple posts updates with a certain urgency:

"QuickTime Update provides codec expansion, compatibility, and speed improvements and KEEPS YOU FROM DYING A FIERY DEATH RIGHT THERE IN YOUR AERON CHAIR."

Ummmmm. OK.

Koz

Thanks for the suggestion about digitizing a tape that used to work, but no, that didn't solve the problem.

Since I installed QT 7.3 only a few days before this happened, and this is the first time I needed a clip longer than 5 minutes, I hope it's the QT. How do I rid my computer of this version, and, hopefully, this problem, and go back to the last QT, which was 7.2? I will, however, need something else to keep me from that fiery death in my aeron chair....

It maybe too late. I don't know anybody that was able to back up between those two. You may need to install the machine again and not let it go all the way to 7.3 in the updates.

Koz

Is there a way to go back further than 7.2? I'm on OSX 10.3.9, if that makes a difference.

So - what exactly does "install the machine again" mean?

He means wipe the HD and reinstall all the software, including the Operating system, from scratch.

I don't supposed you've got the capture time accidentally set to stop after five minutes? Is it always five minutes exactly, or more random?