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continuous dropout errors -- when none exist??
Just purchased/installed FCP 7. Am trying to capture a tape I shot, capture stops it every 30 seconds or so, signalling a dropout. However, there's no visual dropouts when I play the tape. It's fine. When I go back to try to recapture, it captures the portion fine that it previously reported a dropout, then gives me a dropout a minute later.
In other words, it seems to me that the tape is fine, but FCP is stuttering. When I play the tape and watch it in the camera's monitor, it's smooth and just fine. At the same time, viewing it with the log/capture screen open, I can see it freeze for a few seconds, then start up, as though it's seeing a dropout every minute or so.
However, as I said, there is no corresponding dropout on the tape! It's almost as if my system can't handle the data stream all of a sudden, and so after so many seconds of playing the video, it freezes to somehow catch up?
Any ideas?
Thanks.
I tried to capture a tape that I had captured a few weeks ago (before the upgrade to FCP 7) and knew the tape was good. I can't capture that tape now either, has breaks every 10 or 20 seconds, as if drop outs.
I'm thinking I either have a bad firewire cable, which I'm going out to buy a replacement, or else something in FCP 7 is majorly screwed up, and I guess I need to reinstall it and see if that fixes it?
Very very weird problem.
What tape format, what machine, what OS, what version of QT, what codec are you capturing as, what kind of drives are you using, and how full are they?
www.strypesinpost.com
HDV, 24p or 30p. OS X 10.6.4, Quicktime 10.0 and also have Quicktime 7. Have tried capturing onto a couple of different RAID 1 and RAID 0 Caldigit VR drives, each has about 150 gigs free.
What happens is I open Log and Capture and then just play a tape from the camera, it sort of freezes every 20 seconds or so, as if there's a dropout. But I don't see any dropout in the camera playing the tape. FCP seems to be glitching while playing the tape.
And as I said, the only change since I last captured this same tape was upgrading to FCP 7.
Thanks.
Hmm... What kind of HDV? If you're using Canon's version of HDV, make sure the deck control is set to Firewire Basic.
www.strypesinpost.com
Thanks, yes it's Canon HDV and yes, deck control set to Firewire Basic. It is really weird. Every tape I try to play, including full tapes I've captured before for one hour with no code break, is showing a break just in playback, not even in capture. Can't get through one minute of playing anything without FCP somehow losing the signal for a second or two. Will try a new firewire cable tomorrow, to see if that could be the culprit.
Thanks for the suggestion. Any other ideas welcome.
You have unchecked Abort Capture on dropped frames in the User Preferences correct?
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Dean
"When I see you floating down the gutter I'll give you a bottle of wine."
Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica.
Yes, I did. Thanks. But it doesn't have to do with capturing. Simply playing the footage through the camera into the log/capture window (without actually capturing), it won't play smoothly. It freezes every 10 or 20 seconds, no capturing going on.
It's the darndest thing. I am waiting for a new firewire cable I ordered to see if it's that. If it's not the cable, I guess I am down to removing and reinstalling FCP 7, to see if there was something in there that's messed up. Have had a number of different FCP versions over the years, never had a situation like this where it just won't play footage right at all...
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Jeff Nelson
I guess I am down to removing and reinstalling FCP 7, to see if there was something in there that's messed up.
Did you install FCS 2009 (FCS 3) over an existing installation?
If so, you may want to consider a few more things:
- Some of your preferences may be "messed up." Also, check your scratch disk settings, making sure they are set to drives other than your startup disk (ideally) and that there is enough room. Jon's Preference Manager may be of some help in checking for corrupt preference files.
- You could possibly benefit from doing some basic OS X maintenance, such as repairing disk permissions, running disk repair in Disk Utility, etc. I would recommend also running some of the cleaning utilities contained in the Onyx application, which is free.
- If you did install over a previous version of FCS/FCP, you may want to consider cloning or backing up your startup/system drive, erasing the drive, and then reinstalling the OS and FCS/FCP, along with everything else (I would suggest trying the previous options first, plus anything else others may suggest, before doing this, however it is a good practice to follow when upgrading both OS X and FCS/FCP).
-Dave
Thanks for these suggestions. Yes, I did install FCS 3 over an existing installation. Have already run some OS X maintenance, will explore your other suggestions.
Thanks again.
Jeff
Canon 24f is a pain in the neck to capture. I know, I have one. I love the image but the 24f HDV codec is terrible.
Se if you have the timeline set to Drop Frame or not.
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Douglas Villalba
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Miami, Florida
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Canon cameras have a reputation for not playing nicely with other FireWire devices. Does the problem go away if you unplug the Firewire drives and capture to an internal drive or an external drive connected to a different type of port, such as eSATA or (gasp) USB?
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Thanks. I have run both of these cameras via firewire into this computer for years with zero problems. Only since upgrading to FCP 7 am I suddenly experiencing a situation where I can't even play the camera into the camera without constant freezes. Haven't tried using a different connection to connect yet. Thanks again for any musings on this...
In terms of the timeline being set to DropFrame, not sure on this, but it doesn't really have to do with the timeline. It has to do with FCP seeing the video as it's played, before capture even. Thanks.
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Canon cameras have a reputation for not playing nicely with other FireWire devices.
"Reputation"? Disagree completely. I have never had a single issue with any Canon cameras including my most recent VIXIA HF-S10.
When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.
I did have a dud install a few years ago where nothing helped but a fresh install. Once I took that step though, everything was peaches again. So it is possible it was a glitchy install.
Okay -- additional information.
1) It is not the firewire cable.
2) When I upgraded my main system to FCP 7, I also did a fresh install of the same program onto a new laptop. I am able to play/capture/everything just fine on the FCP on the laptop.
So where does that leave me? Uninstall FCP on my main box, and then do a fresh install? I presume I can keep all my filters and plugins, etc., and not remove those.
What do I need to uninstall (and how) in order to do a fresh reinstall?
As I said, there are zero problems playing tapes/frame rates/Canon cameras into the laptop, but everything I try to play into FCP on my main mac pro, freezes and dropouts every 10 seconds of so.
Thanks all.
Jeff Nelson Wrote:
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> 2) When I upgraded my main system to FCP 7, I
> also did a fresh install of the same program onto
> a new laptop. I am able to
> play/capture/everything just fine on the FCP on
> the laptop.
The laptop (MacBook Pro?) didn't have a previous installation of any sort... correct?
> So where does that leave me? Uninstall FCP on my
> main box, and then do a fresh install? I presume
> I can keep all my filters and plugins, etc., and
> not remove those.
First, you need to account for everything that was installed for previous version(s) of FCS, including plugins and other QuickTime components, third party utilities (that may be interfering with FCP), etc.
Unfortunately, most of the existing "stuff" (prior to FCS 3/2009 or FCP 7 installation) is now mixed with your FCS 3/2009 or FCP 7 installation. There are tools available for removing FCS/FCP, but they may not remove other items (that may be causing problems). Something like Jon Chappell's FCS Remover may remove most, if not all, of the FCS stuff (dont' know about third party plugins, etc.).
Again, your problems may have been caused by a bad install and fixed by reinstalling, as Jude mentioned. Or, there could be some bad fonts on your system (incompatible with FCS), troublesome cache files, kernel extensions, etc. Older QuickTime components, third-party FXScript FCP plugins, and others, could be problematic, as well.
If a removal of FCS and reinstall doesn't work, the next step would be to erase your startup/system drive and install everything from scratch (after adequately backing up everything first), being careful as you reinstall QuickTime components, system "haxies," third-party System Preferences, drivers, plugins, etc. This option is even more time-consuming and tedious... certainly no fun...
-Dave
> The laptop (MacBook Pro?) didn't have a previous installation of any sort... correct?
Correct.
Thanks for the advice. I guess a simple uninstall/reinstall is where I'll start, and then move to the more draconian solutions after that...when I get the time. Meanwhile am working on my laptop...
Thanks again.
Jeff Nelson Wrote:
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> > The laptop (MacBook Pro?) didn't have a previous
> installation of any sort... correct?
>
> Correct.
>
> Thanks for the advice. I guess a simple
> uninstall/reinstall is where I'll start, and then
> move to the more draconian solutions after
> that...when I get the time. Meanwhile am working
> on my laptop...
>
> Thanks again.
Your welcome. Hopefully, the uninstall/reinstall will work...
If you don't mind, let us know what you find out, or which solutions you try, and which one works... Thanks.
-Dave
Update: I tried Jon Chappell's FCS Remover, then reinstalled fresh. Same problem.
Hm...next is erase system drive and reinstall everything? Oy...that will be a real pain if it's coming down to that...
This problem is resolved...by itself??
Thanks to all who weighed in here. Saturday morning I got up knowing that, after trying Jon Chappell's uninstall and reinstalling FCP 7, restarting, etc., I was still having the same problem. But when trying it again Saturday morning, suddenly everything is working! Did multiple capture tests w/different tapes/frame rates. It's all good.
Maybe the FCP gods decided to smile on me so that I didn't have to burn up my weekend reinstalling everything on the drive. But bottom line is that the problem has disappeared!
Cheers.
Jeff
I think the official word on that would be - wow, that's odd. Good, but odd.
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