FCP as online?

Question

I am in the process of on lining a series of 50 minutem, cut intensive documentaries (400video edits, speed ramps reverse shots and freeze frames) for Worldwide HD Broadcast. The Programmes were offlined at SD and Project managed to an offline sequence (used media only) and then reconformed at HD. All tapes were meticulously logged and there are no timecode breaks on the source HDCAM tapes. Why then does FCP insist on putting the wrong clips (with the wrong Time code) in various random spots. In some cases the correct clip is sitting in the browser but has not made it into the sequence - in some cases the wrong clip has been digitised. Motion effects are ignored or just plain wrong.
FCP has been doing this for sometime now. Is it an XML issue? Isnt it about time apple sorted this one out? 10% of the clips in the first programme were wrong and I have spent all day eye matching clips back to the guide clip. Does any one know of a solution to this very frustrating problem?

Answer 1

One thing I do when preparing to media manage an offline/online project, is to isolate all my speed-adjusted clips in my offline sequence and put them in a separate sequence where I remove all the speed adjustments. I then include thiis sequence in my media manager step. That way, when FCP changes the timing of a clips that has been speed-adjusted, I have another master clip already logged/captured with the correct in/out that I can use to replace the speed adjusted one.
However, it sounds like you are encountering time shifts in other clips as well, not just the speed adjusted ones. You are probably encountering an issue I often think of as my pet bug. Look closely at the timecode on your tapes in the log and capture window - are they showing as drop frame or non-drop? The timecode display in Log and Capture and Edit to Tape will default to drop-frame, and for non-drop tapes you must play the tape until the timecode display updates to non-drop. This can cause problems in a few places.
1. logging - it is possible to log a NDF clip as DF. Ithis can potentially create clips that do not match the tape TC. You can compare the tc format of the logged clips to the tape, or try match-framing a point on the offline clip and the tape to see if they line up. I have also noticed that once a NDF clip gets edited into a DF sequence, its TC displays as DF under certain circumstances.
2. Capture - If your tapes have NDF TC, and you do a batch capture, it is possible for the batch to initiate while the deck control is in DF mode. The problem here is that once a batch capture has begun, FCP cannot update the timecode format - so if you start with a DF tape, then put in a NDF tape, the NDF tape TC will be read as DF, and shifted by FCP accordingly. The workaround here is to open Log and Capture before starting your batch, playing the tape until you see NDF TC in the current time field, then leave L&C open when you initiate your batch capture.
If this error has occurred when the offline clips were captured, your offline clips willl not match your tapes, and getting the online lips captured correcctly becomes more tedious. However, the issue is much more likely to occur when doing the online recapture, in which case taking that little precautionary step of opening log and capture before you start the batch should usually fix it.
Whe you doing your batch capture, keep an eye on the TC format on your tapes. If you are capturing DF and come across a NDF tape, stop the capture and update the TC format in L&C before starting again.
Hope this helps.