trouble playing reference files

I've noticed that after several days, many Quicktime files created in FCP will no longer play. They appear to be the reference files that rely on media captured to my 1TB external hard drive. Is this a common problem with external hard drives?

Not with external drives per se. Reference movie files are, by definition, unreliable, because not only do they connect to your "hard" media files, ie. captured clips used in editing, but they are also linked to render files, which are fleeting and unstable (change an effect and re-render, and your old render files often get replaced).

Most of us use them for a one-off operation such as burning a DVD of a current cut. If you want those movie files to stay for more than a day or two, simply put, export them as self-contained.


www.derekmok.com

As I've been recycling a lot of titles created in Title Tool, changing text and re-rendering, I now wonder if this has been corrupting the files. I've been resisting self-contained files until now, trying to save drive space, but glad to know this is the commonly accepted remedy for long-term preservation... Thanks.

> As I've been recycling a lot of titles created in Title Tool, changing text and re-rendering, I now
> wonder if this has been corrupting the files.

Not corrupting, but changing an effect means it has to be re-rendered, which can modify or change pre-existing render files so that old reference movies can't find or recognize them.

Self-contained movie files are better. Reference movie files get lost without your knowledge; you can still ditch self-contained movie files as they become obsolete, except you get to choose when.


www.derekmok.com

Now I know exactly why certain projects have become irretrievable only days after being accessible, for I had been routinely modifying pre-existing render files. All around, self-contained files are the best option for the tasks I've been performing and projects I've had to go back to. Funny, though, how the conventional wisdom in many texts and tutorials treats them with disfavor.

They do? Most of us around here are all for self contained. It's the equivalent of backing up to tape, really - something most of us would do whenever we thought things could go pearshaped in the olden days. And since you can output quicktimes with up to 24 lines of separated audio, it's even better than tape.

It does take up more space, but space is a LOT cheaper than it used to be, and the knowledge that your cut is safe to that point is totally worth it.

> Funny, though, how the conventional wisdom in many texts and tutorials treats them with
> disfavor.

Yeah, I'd say those tutorial writers haven't gone through enough real-life, long-term projects. I can count on one hand the number of occasions in my nine years of editing when reference movie files would have been useful...if I had only two fingers on that hand.

I don't even use reference movie files for tape output or DVD. I always reduce the number of elements as much as possible for the final stage. Reference movie files need dozens, even hundreds and thousands of files in order to play. Self-contained movie files need only one. And you won't believe how many people out there can't tell a reference movie from a self-contained one. Come time to, oh, let's say backup the movie file to data DVD or an external drive, they often just copy the one file. Six months down the line, when all other media has been erased, they're in for a nasty surprise. I consider reference movie files misleading, unuseful and half-assed.


www.derekmok.com

I'm with you guys all the way. I even intuited all the good reasons and common sense for creating self-contained files awhile back, yet still plodded along with reference files out of habit.

I hope this discussion rubs off on others, because I know from my own experience in talking to fellow users, along with the aforementioned literature (yes, it's true), that there's a fair amount of misinformation out there -- and with it, missed opportunities to avoid problems and streamline work flow.