FCP 5 Batch capture broken...

I've been fighting with FCP since version 1, so I know it's not a simple case of bad prefs or something, this is a real debilitating problem... HELP!!
I'm using a Kona LS and a rented A500 Digi Beta deck and I just upgraded to FCP 5 and now batch capture no longer works. It started out with drop frame messages while trying to capture 8bit to DVCpro50. last week with fcp 4.5 I was capturing 10 bit uncopressed on the same set up. the only thing i've changed is the recommended system updates (security, etc) before upgrading to 5.02. I'm capturing to a series of g-raid 500s. AJA tech support told me to get a FW800 card, so I did and the drop frame messages went away, but then FCP started shorting the clips. what I mean is that on a 45 minute capture, it stopped 3 and a half minutes before the end and sent me back to the insert reel window with "Ready" next to the clip and the wrong, shorter time showing for the capture length. Now I've noticed that if I try to batch capture a clip the logged duration does not match the capture duration. I've tried rebooting from my backup drive with 4.5, and it has the same problem, so I think it was one of the system and or QT updates that broke things.
I've tried the latest updates, I've tried a manual uninstall and re install, i've tried going back to an older version of QT, I've tried qoing back to FCP 4.5 but nothing works.
Any one come accross this yet?

Have you tried resetting your fcp preferences? You're going to have to do some digging to find out how to reset them as it's been years since many of us have worked in fcp5.1 Someone may pipe up, but if not, do some searching here and google.

Similar Messages

Failed Batch Capture - Broken Timecode

Hello,
I'm attempting to capture some old footage from a project I had done in Premiere about a year ago.
There is clip in particular I'm trying to capture where the timecode was broken - premiere attempts to capture the first 8 minutes of my clip and then stops and gives me an error stating that the timecode was broken.
Is there anyway to force premiere to capture this clip all the way through and ignore the broken timecode point?
It's not a big deal to capture the clip "manually" but the problem is that I had split up and edited this clip so much, I'd rather batch capture it so that it will automatically appear on my sequence and I won't have to re-edit the whole thing.
Thanks!
FOO

I also have a Canopus card (in a system with Premiere 6.5) and broken timecode ("timecode hell" as I call it) was really only an issue when the tape pre-rolled over the break point during batch capture.
Do you still have the old Canopus .avi? You could use their util for CDVC <-> DVSD conversions:
http://download.videohelp.com/download/Canopus_DV_File_Converter.exe

FCP 7 Captured/Imported letterbox footage incorrectly marked as Anamorphic

I recently installed FCP 7 and captured 24pA footage with the Easy Setup for 23.98 with Advanced Pulldown Removal. The footage was not shot anamorphic but was shot letterbox (on DVX100b). FCP batch captures the footage and I notice afterward that the anamorphic box checked on all the clips (and correspondingly visually distorted). I notice the same after I import 24pA footage (non-anamorphic) that I had already captured into new FCP project, also setup with the 24pA Easy Setup for Capture and Sequence.
This is fixable by unchecking the anamorphic column for each of the clips, of course, but it's tedious and shouldn't be happening i the first place.
Why is FCP 7 interpreting all new letterbox footage as anamorphic? I checked the settings for the Easy Setup and the box for anamorphic is NOT checked! I did not check non-letterboxed video. Also, the pixel aspect ratio. is set at CCIR601 on both the capture and sequence settings. Any ideas about the letterboxed video? Thanks.

I don't have an answer to your core question, but I own the DVX100B and shoot/capture at 24PA/advanced pulldown removal. However, I either shoot SD or I attach anamorphic lens adapter for 16:9.... have never tried using either Letterbox or Squeeze mode.
Reading through "The DVX Book" by Barry W. Green, he suggests that Letterbox mode is useful for simulating a wide screen look on a 4:3 TV screen, which is what you may be trying to achieve, but if your viewers are watching wide screen, you would get better looking results using the Squeeze mode.
My workflow is designed to create deliverables that are properly formatted for 16:9 flat screen displays because the majority of my clients and end users no longer own a CTR monitor or TV.
Eddie

Certain tapes crash FCP during batch capture

I'm doing an autoconform from HDV tapes via Blackmagic Decklink HD Pro, using HD uncompressed 10bit. I'm digitizing via SDI (Sony 1900) and while I've managed to capture 75% of a 100min doccie there are 8 tapes which crash FCP when I try to batch capture them. Any suggestions?
I'm using FCP 6.0.4 on Quad Core 3Ghz intel mac pro with the BMagic Decklink HD Pro card.
Thanks

I read a few more posts and thought I'd be more thorough and add more info.
I'm in PAL space, HDV shot at 108050i and I'm capturing using the BlackMagic HD uncompressed 10 bit codec.
My Quad Core 3Ghz has 8Gb of RAM, I'm monitoring via HDLink to 23" Apple Cinema Display and I'm capturing to a rocket Raid controlled 1.8TB RAID made up of 9 200Gb platters. The RAID was newly formatted just before the job began. And as I've said, I have captured 75% of the footage already.
Thanks.

FCP "general error" on hdv batch capture

help!
i am trying to batch capture around 3k clips that went down when we installed a bad raid controller card that scrambled our RAID, and also 28 hrs of HD footie. OUCH!
anyways i'm trying to batch capture as much as i can to retieve our logging notes and rebuild some of our assemblies, but FCP keeps kickin me hard. after a reasonable amount of success, FCP generates a GENERAL ERROR message, leaving me unable to capture anymore (every time i hit batch capture i get the general error)...
I hate HDV n all, but i think this one is coming from FCP as after i re-install (3 hrs later), i can start crankin out the tapes again....
any ideas how i can avoid this boys n girls? its really killing me and making our sundance deadline of sept 18 a bit of a dream.
peas
andrew stromotich
www.dropframestudios.com

reinstalling FCP rarely fixes anything. If you want to be sure you have a good installation, you need to do an erase and reinstall of the system drive. This gets you a clean version of OSX, FCP and QT. If that doesn't work, you likely have a hardware issue.
Good luck,
x

BATCH CAPTURE TAPELESS workflow still FCP is looking for a capture device when going ONLINE

Hi,
I am working on a documentary and about to go online with my edit.
I used Sony FS100. Tapeless. I did Log and Transfer to ProRes 422 in FCP 7.
Later when I run out of space I used Media Manager to RECOMPRESS everything to ProRes Proxi. Worked well.
But now when I try to batch capture to ProRes 422 FCP is looking for a capture device thinking I am working with tapes.
How do I make FCP undrerstand I am tapeless? Does the recompress kill the possibility of bach capturing back to online full quality 422?
Thanks for the support!
Gabor

I have read through some more forums and I only found one mention of the Media Manager 'Recomress' function.
It said:
"Transcoding with MM (recompress). It preserves timecode/reel name, file names, etc... Except the clip ID, which is used along with reel name and timecode to batch capture from source files (at least for P2)."
Clip ID is the metadata relyable for the work of batch capture. It seems without it it is impossible to batch capture.
I wonder why they designed Recompress like that, if it is true?

Help ! Batch Capture won't capture . FCP 5 & Kona 3

When I select any offline clip and try to batch capture it - the machine seems to be working fine, cues up the deck at the start of the clip, rolls away - the capture screen appears but then everything just keeps rolling - ie it doesnt stop when it reaches the tc out point of the clip. I eventually have to abort and the offline clip remains offline.
Capture Now on the fly works fine.
This is a new G5 Quad running the latest OS with FCP5 capturing from a Digibeta PAL Sony deck with RS 422 control thru the AJA BOB to a Kona 3 Card. I havce full deck control as normal thru the Log & Capture window.
Any help would be appreciated.

Do you have the latest Kona drivers? What are you capturing to? What codec are you using?
Patrick

Batch Capture from a FCP sequence

When I select a sequence for batch capture with no handles, the system reports much more media to be captured than the total running time of the clips. Why should this be?
Alternatively, suppose I wish to import an off-line sequence at a higher resolution, how should I re-capture just the media+handles that's used in my sequence?

Create a new sequence and delete all the audio in the timeline. This should reduce the amount of media needing to recapture. It still may show a time larger than the length of your sequence. Even with out handles. Not sure why.
Also, make sure all the clips have timecode and a reel number. It won't deleted the unused portions if it doesn't have it.

Batch capturing entire tape...recomended???

Is it a good idea to attempt to batch capture a tape in its entirety? I am having problems doing this...I do a lot of events that last often over 2 hours. Instead of capturing footage in clips, I just capture the entire tape. When I'm done with the project, I simply make the clips offline.
I'm in the process of reviving a project now, and one tape in it's entirety(55 min approx), captured OK, but I am having problems with another tape. I am getting a broken timecode error, when I don't see how this is possible...because I let the tape freely run. Also, under the logging info, the media ends before the tape ends, which means that is space left on the end of the tape without any timecode. Yet when I batch capture, it still goes to the end of the tape.....isn't a batch capture suppose to go by the clips media in and media out points?
All help is greatly appreciated.

I do this often. There are two shools of thought on this method -
Capturing entire tapes allows one to scroll through non-linearly and make subclips. The advantage to subclips is that they are serachable and you can add comments. The downside to this method is that the files are large, and you may be capturing much more metarila than you need. I often do this when working on docs with very high shooting ratios. The most recent one had 190 tapes for a 1-hour program, which led us to use offline RT for our cutting format and then recapture for online.
Logging and capturing single clips fives you the advantage of starting out capturing only what you know you might use, you can input the logging info at the start, and will have several small clips that may be easier to manage. Since at some point you'll have to familiarize youself with the matreial anyway, you might as well do it at the logging stage.
Several factors can contribute to perceived TC breaks - reusing tapes, camera stops, shooting format (HDV, for instance, will show a TC break each time the camera stops). If you are capturing whole tapes, you might do well to let FCP create new clips on TC breaks and just let it roll. Make sure the TC format matches between your tape and settings (DF vs. NDF)
Regarding rolling off the end of the tape during capture, you might be very close to the end with the clip you are capturing. You might try lowering the post-roll value in the device control preset in your A/V settings.
Hope this helps -
Max Average

Batch capturing tapes Wowsa what a Hose! Please Help...

Hi all, i have a bunch of tapes I did not shoot. Yesterday I was on a mbp with latest FCP and a Sony DV Cam. Long story short, the MBP burned up and the Sony had to leave for a shoot. So today I have the same tape with a new Imac and a Canon XL1s cam. The iMac was restored using Time Machine, so it's the same software. The Canon cam will record and allow me to capture just fine...but with the tape I was using yesterday, I get all kinds of broken timecode errors. I can't even recreate the a clip from yesterday, even though in the Log and Capture window I can see that the timecodes match up between what was logged on the Sony and what I want to capture today on the Canon...arg!!!! any idea on what to do?
I tried going device control=none (or whatever) and I get "Capture encountered a problem reading the data on the source tape. This could be due to a problem with the tape. Capture has been aborted and your clip has been saved.
The video looks okay but the audio is all choppy, so perhaps there is some strange thing between a sony and canon on audio? I can't get ahold of the shooter as he is out in a village somewhere shooting, but he told me he shot the tape in PAL SD 16bit audio, and what was captured on the Sony the other confirms that. I think. Very confused and stressed out now...first a blown PC, now this. Thanks!
It seems when I try and log a clip, say 30 seconds, and go to batch capture it, FCP is stopping a lot and saying [locating timecode break (press 'esc' to stop]. FCP pauses here for some amount of painful time, then continues with the capture. And is captureing random bits it seems. If I turn off device control, I get Capture encountered a problem reading the data on the source tape.
I was using a Sony the other day and the same tape was capturing fine. Now I have another machine and another camera, a Canon XL1s, so I am not sure what's up. Can anyone help me diagnose this problem?
If I record a bit of film on the Canon and capture that all is fine. I don't have access to the Sony anymore, so what to do?
The timecodes look consistent

You should try this on the Final Cut Pro forum.
Are you sure it's a PAL camera?
"The iMac was restored using Time Machine, so it's the same software."
You can't install pro apps like this. It will always causes problems. You must install the software properly on a correctly installed OS. Restoring will not provide a correct OS installation for pro apps.

Unable to locate timecode in batch capture

Hi there, I have been working on this problem for a while and would really appreciate some help.
I have a documentary project I have been working on for some time and have completed the EDL. I am now trying to batch capture the footage again in full res and am having problems with a couple of the tapes.
First the specs:
The video was shot on a Sony HDR-HC1 in HDV(1080) mode.
I am using this camera to capture the footage.
I am trying to recapture the footage in a sequence with the easy setting on HDV1080i50.
I had originally captured the footage in SD on an older version of final cut pro (I am now working with FCP6) and didn't realise that my 16:9 footage was actually all 4:3 letterboxed. To fix this problem I used the media manager to export and then in the new project batch capture all the footage again from the tape. The project uses 18 tapes, 16 of which were batch digitised with only minor troubleshooting required. However 2 of the tapes are proving to be very problematic. It seems that whatever clip I select on the tape it gives me a message saying "unable to locate timecode".
I have tried setting the tape to the exact location of the clip before selecting the batch capture, but the computer always seems to look for a spot which is 2-3 mins out of sync with the clip. For example, if the in point is 00:10:00:00 the computer will roll the tape to around the 00:12:00:00 mark and start jogging around there for about 30 seconds until eventually giving me the "unable to locate timecode" message. Looking in the information in the bins, the in and out points are accurate, its just that when I try to capture, the computer rolls the tape to the wrong position.
If anyone knows a workaround for this that will help me avoid having to edit the footage all over again I will be extremely grateful.
Thanks
Liam

HI I have the same problem, the capture window says: Waiting for time code, the device must set in vcr mode and then This operation could not be complete as there is no video, the F!#!%$$ problem is very illogical ,at this mooring I do batch capture without a problem but since the second tape this problem starting, I update to FCP 6.0.4 and,. @@#%#@%#$ the first tape capture but the second not capture and the problem starting againd, note that IMOVIE capture the tape and work very well, iI replace fire wire, camera VCR and , I trayu with Canon, Sony, JVC and the problem persist , I have quicktime 7.4.5, FCO 6.0.4, note that I have two Macs with the same problem in both macs IMOVIE work like a PRO edition Software but FCP is very bad, I have with this problem a long time, I formated Mac, reinstall FCS2 many timers and the problem persist. IS not a problem whit easy setup or wherever , I download the FireWire SDK from Apple and test all connection with the applications of sdk and in all case , the camera and the fire wire are OK, the problem is with quicktime and FCP, If any one is working OK with FCP and DV NTSC devices and JVC PRO HD devices, please tell us HOW DO. I'm working with FCP since 2000 and in this month FCP makes me very UNHAPPY.

"No Video" error when Batch Capturing

I am getting a new error that I have not seen before when using Batch Capture in FCP. It cues the tape, starts the pre-roll and then spits out an error message that there is "no video". Of course, there is video.
The same thing does not happen when capturing one clip at a time nor does it happen if you capture live (hitting Capture "Now" in L&C window).
Any thoughts?

I also don't want to keep paying $23 a month for software that is not 100%.
Software as complex as Premiere Pro will never be 100% bug free.
I'm also inclined to believe this is more of a system issue than a PP issue. I don't recall other reports of this nature, and it works fine on my own system.
The only other thing I can think of to suggest is another FireWire port, possibly by adding a FireWire card to the system. I've read that the chip makes a difference, so research over in the Hardware forum.

Batch capture problem

I'm trying to batch capture my clips, so i logged them all but when i select them all and choose batch capture an error comes up after a while and says "end of tape reached". The only footage i have on my tape goes from the beginning of the tape to about three minutes in. Can someone please help me here.
thanks,
Paul

Don't know if you are still looking for a solution to this but...
You most likely set your in point very near the first code on the tape. FCP needs to roll back a few seconds, before the in point, in order to ensure the deck gets up to speed before the capture begins. If it rolls back and can find not code before your in point, things get confused and FCP will not do the capture. This is also why, when shooting, you should always roll at least 5 seconds before the action starts.
Try moving the in point forward at least seconds.

Batch Capture Error: Timecode Error: End of Tape Reached

I have been having issues doing batch capture with my JVC VS30U. I logged all my clips on the fly and did the entire tape, so the OUT point of one clip is the same as the IN point of the next clip. When I attempt to batch capture it gives this error between every clip.
I have to hit retry, sometimes more than once, in order for the deck to properly cue and FCP to start the digitize. I don't know if this is a weird pre-roll issue, or something else, but it completely defeats the purpose of a batch if I have to sit here and hit retry after each clip.
There are no TC breaks, and obviously its not really the end of the tape. I've read where people have similar problems, but didn't find a solution. Have already trashed prefs, but to no avail. Using FCP 5.0.4 with OS 10.4.3 and said JVC deck via firewire.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

I don't know the deck but a simple test would be to move a couple of i/o points so they are not adjacent. Or test with a single, longer clip and break it up into subclips.
Tell us what you've tried so we don't waster your time and ours with fruitless suggestions.
Errors displayed by FCP are usually irrelevant and rarely helpful.
bogiesan

HDV batch capture is making new clips...

thanks for watching...
i have imported batch lists into FCP with name, media start, media end, reel and log note just as the FCP manual instructs. they import fine and i have them all in their own bins.
i batch captured a few tapes to day and i noticed that FCP is making new clips at times. for instance i'll have a clip "dogs" in the original batch list. after the batch capture there will be "dogs" and "dogs -1" the starting time code of "dogs" and the ending timecode of "dogs -1" are the original start and end of the clip. so, FCP has spit this clip in two for some reason. why is that?
i thought it might have to do with the setting "make new clip on Start/stop" thats listed in the clip settings tab of the log/capture window. so i made sure this was unclicked and then tried another batch , also making sure to uncheck "use original clip settings" in the batch window. but, the problem still persists.
i have 30 tapes to digitize and i'd prefer the clips matched the batch lists. any ideas i can try to solve this problem?
take care,
max

Is it a new media drive?
how is your media drive formatted? highlight the drive on the desktop and press command(apple)+i to get info...
Where it says 'Format' it should read Mac OS Extended... does yours say FAT 32 by any chance?
FAT32 is a different format that can be read by PCs and Macs... it can only store file sizes of 2Gb, so has the knock-on effect of causing FCP to break captures into smaller chunks.
If your drive is FAT32 you need to re-format it using Disc Utility. When you do this, you will lose everything on that drive, so back it up if possible.
If your drive is formatted correctly, post back with your media set-up, ie - what drives you use, how is your capture scratch configured etc.

FCP 5 Batch capture broken...

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