Weird Time code break.

Hey guys at LAFCPUG whats up !

I got a little bug here and its weird. I wonder if someone ever ran into the same kind of bug in FCP before.

I have to numerize tapes wich were recorded on a set. Its a show taped in studio with 3 cameras, of course the timecode on cameras are synced together since its a show taped in the studio of the national broadcaster here in canada. The time code is freerun time of day.

I worked on that series last year and never encountered this problem...here it is :

Normally i put the tape...lets say the ISO-1...in the VTR and start numerize the tape with FCP. Normally i dont have timecode break.

Yesterday i was in the process of the numerization than at approximatly each chunks of 2 minutes the VTR stoped like there was a TC break, find the TC break than continue the numerization.

At first i said to myself...ok some tc break here and there no problem...but i started to realize that it was more than ''here and there''.

I looked in the browser in FCP, at the ''media end'' timecode of a clip than checked on the tape to see if there was really a TC break...guess what there was no tc break on the tape. For each clips stoped in the process there was no TC break at all on tape.

So i opened the user preferences of FCP than changed the '' make new clip at timecode break'' to tell me at the end there was TC break. So i recapture the ISO-1 than started my sequence with the same TC of the First clip, put the media file in it and with timecode overlay in the canvas did some spotchecks...guess what from start to finish the TC was a perfect match.

Whats going on in here ???

The show is filmed in HD 1080i59.94.
I capture it in apple prores 422 1080 HQ
I work with the latest verison of FCP on a MACPRO with 6gig of ram 2xquad core intel(buyed last week)

Was it even times? Like all in two minute segments? If so, you could have an incorrectly formatted drive, or you could have FCP set to make a new clip after a certain size or time limit is reached.

Have a read of this Wiki thread : [www.lafcpug.org]

Well, here is some more specific info,

The tapes i got are : Program (wich is pre-cut in studio)
Safety ( Which is exactly the same as program)
ISO 1
ISO 2

The first reaction i had after the numerization of the safety was to check if the breaks occured at the same place. It did with + or - 1 second.

I think it cant be a disk prolem since when i captured it without the '' make new clip at timecode break'' it captured the entire tape with no problem.

But if there is an option in FCP that make clips at every 2 minutes it could be the problem cuz this MACPRO is brand new as the FCP installed on it so there is maybe some otptions to change in FCP. If there is such an option ( clips at every 2minutes) where can i see it to change it.

Thx

I just checked the link you posted and i can assure you that the drives are not the problem since i personnaly formated them and they were in Extended and not journaled.

OK - try checking the other thing listed in that FAQ -

"there is an option in FCP to break captured or exported files into 2GB chunks. It could be that you have this option enabled. In FCP go to System Settings > Scratch Disks > and make sure that ?Limit Capture / Export File Segment Size? is not ticked. Note that the default is 2000MB, or 2GB. "


If none of this helps, try trashing your preferences, because it sounds like it is invoking this rule erroneously.

Here's the FAQ on trashing prefs : [www.lafcpug.org]

Any other hardware or networking attached to your computer? Please be specific on exactly what devices you're using for playback and capture.

Man response are fast here thats amazing...i love you guys.

I will check that as soon as my num is finished since m working right now as i wrote.

But it sounds like it might be the problem.

THX A LOT, the director is coming in 3 hours im in a rush....sometime i hate my job...lol

The VTR i use for playback and capture is the SONY SRW-5500 HDCAM SR.

I got an AJA KONA 3 card in the mac pro and of course the break out box of that card is attaches on that mac pro.

Well Jude i just checked and the option was not checked in the capture scratch options.

It could be the result of a funky drive, or insufficient throughput. Try capturing to another hard disk (or even your internal drive) and see if the issue persists.



www.strypesinpost.com

UPDATE :

Last year at the start of the season we got the same kind of problems, and the productions house were really hard on us saying that we weren't professional and stuff and we nearly lost the series.

So yesterday when it happened, my boss and me after the numerization, we took some tapes that were shooted at RADIO-CANADA (CBC) and went to 3 Differents Post-house (Competitors). And on different platform, AVID NITRIS and same kind of platform we got, the problem was still there.

Conclusion : Last year they thought that we were the problem, but today we realize that those old dinosaurs at CBC were the problem, something is wrong on their set in the studio. Since the set is assemble on tuesday, the show shoot on wednesday and the set is packed up again after the show, its seems really clear now that something is wrong in their settings at RADIO-CANADA


Thx really really much guys, you are awesome.

Nice troubleshooting Francois-Michel, and thanks for coming back with the solution.

Hey jude, we got a meeting at the production house next wednesday to get things straight with them, ill let you guys know what was the problem on the set.

Well, end of the story, RADIO-CANDA (CBC) had a problem on the set with the TC generator.

Thanks Francoise-Michel. One to remember for the future.