dropped frames in canvas, okay in viewer

I've started with 2 QT movies which I've exported from QT as dv stream at 29.97 fps and then I've imported them to FCP 5.0.4. They come into the timeline with a grey line, so no need to render. They play in the viewer but in the canvas I get a dropped frame message. Before I begin to edit I'd like to know if I have a problem. They don't play in the canvas so I assume I have a problem. But what is it?

Hmm, why are you using DV Stream? Did you capture in iMovie? Neither of these approaches is really recommended. DV Stream is not the same as DV NTSC/PAL.

Let's backtrack. What was your first-level raw footage on? Movie files? Tape? DVD?

The #1 cause of dropped frames is a Scratch Disk drive that isn't appropriate for video editing. Where is your media? External drive? Internal drive? USB? FireWire? A FireWire 400 drive at 7200rpm is recommended for DV footage. USB can't be used for video editing at all.


www.derekmok.com

My original content is from the Internet. It is mov. files. They are 10fps and small so I change that in QT when I export. After I edit in FCP I want to burn to DVD so I thought DV stream would be a good format. BTW I used Sorenson 3 compression. Is that a good choice?

My 1st two scratch disks are on an external HD. Te third is the boot disk - that also has FCP on it.

You've got tons of potential problems in there.

First of all, your original format is highly compressed. Even by converting this in QT you won't manage to make the footage any better quality. Also, it will need to be scaled up to get to the correct size for NTSC/PAL TVs, so the artifacts will get even worse.

So, you're taking this compressed footage and recompressing it, using DV stream which is not a good editing format for FCP, and the sorenson codec which is basically for making file sizes smaller.

What you need to do, ideally, is get the original footage from the maker at the correct frame rate and size, and work with that. Otherwise, it's pretty much always going to look terrible on a DVD at full screen size.

If you have to work with it, convert it using DV NTSC/PAL as the codec.

The eternal HDs need to reformatted when you buy them, as Derek said. Did you do this?

Hi Cheryl

Make sure that your Canvas is set to-- Fit to Window -- and not zoomed in-

If the canvas its zoomed at all you will get dropped frames --Jay--

Someone said it may be because my files are on an external drive connected by USB.

> Someone said it may be because my files are on an external drive connected by USB.

Yep, that'll do it all right.

Cheryl, you might want to find a Final Cut Pro instructor to sit with you for a day. You're missing a lot of the basics of proper project setup and it's hard to do it on your own. You need somebody to give you a set of set-in-stone instructions on what settings to check and use, how to make the necessary choices and the reasoning behind them.


www.derekmok.com

I'm self taught - in as much as I know anything. I work with unconventional source and expect unconventional results. I do look at tutorials on the Internet but it can be difficult to locate relevant info. You're right, I should get someone to sit down with me and I hope I run into that person one day. Meanwhile I'm VERY grateful for this discussion forum.