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

Similar Messages

  • HDV Batch Capture Preroll

    Others have had the problem of not being able to do effective Batch Captures due to the computer's inablity to locate the timecode (it seems especially true of Canon cameras and HDV--so, the XLH1). The solution is to just capture the whole tape and then delete the unwanted clips. I'm wondering if there is a smoother way of fixing this problem.
    I can get FCP to batch capture as long as I'm willing to sit by the computer and tell it to "Continue" 3-5 times each time it has to fast forward. The computer fliddles around the timecode point until it finally decides that the timecode indeed exists.
    Thus, it's not that the computer doesn't know what the timecode is at that moment. Rather, it seems to get hung up on just when to strat rolling so it can begin capturing at the right time. This, as far as I can tell, would be a Preroll problem.
    So, is there a way to force FCP to give the tape a little more space and just start rolling? Or, could we petition for Apple to give the computer a bit more time? Or... something.
    Any other ideas, thoughts, comments? Am I way off?
    Sorry for such a long post.
    ~Luke

    Hi everyone,
    Just thought i'd take a minute to post back and update the forum with the outcome. After many more tries and batch capturing with HDV and DV and in great frustration, I came upon a wonderful post (sorry can't remember who/where) in which the OP said they were having the very same issues as me. The solution was staring me in the face the whole time: Quicktime.
    All I did in the end to overcome my problem was to plug in the camera, check QT preferences were set to source: HDV camera and Native resolution, then just hit play on the camera and start up a new movie recording!
    This captures the tape in one complete clip. Though obviously it does not pull across timecode, and due to the nature of manually hitting play on the camera and record in QT, would make it difficult to reconnect media in the future, however it HAS successfully captured footage in its original resolution, ready to be imported into final cut and subclipped.
    Hope this helps someone. It was by no means my ideal workaround, but having backed up the file taken from QT, has at least saved me this once!
    Thankyou for all your help,
    Best,
    Adam

  • 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.

  • Cannot open projects in FCP - "General Error"

    Well, just upgraded to OS 10.4.10, and FCP to 5.1 on my 867 quicksilver. several external lacie hard drives. 1.5 GB ram. after the archive and install of the OS, I could not open projects in FCP 4.5 due "General Error". I upgraded to FCP 5.1 and experience same issue.
    at the time of OS upgrade, i also changed my second internal drive for a larger one, and put the original one, with its original name, in an external firewire housing. It appears on my desktop and is included in the FCP system preferences, so i assume that is not a problem.
    any ideas?

    I updates to 5.1.4, and issue turned into "project file unreadable or from more recent version of FCP" when file is actually from older version. THIS problem was solved by disconnecting all external drives, opening 4.5 project and updating to 5.1.4, reconnecting and setting external drives in FCP system pref, and then reconnecting media.
    I have had this problem also happen with a project i already successfully opened in 5.1.4 ...turns out i had opened it with some network drives on my desktop and then removed them. I put one back, it opened successfully, I got rid of the network drive and resaved and now it opens fine. In other words the message "project unreadable or from a later version of Final Cut" really indicates there is some drive rooting problem, not a problem with project file or what generation it is.
    hope that helps anyone out there. sure is a relief to be working again.

  • 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.
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  • Canon Camera - Batch Capture Problems

    Hi. I understand this is a common issue: I am using a Canon XL1 for interviews. I black out the tape in advance to avoid TC breaks, but when I use Batch Capture, I still run into "broken time code" messages. So, I end up using Capture Now, which is less efficient, so far as I can tell. I'm using a G5, 2.3 Gz, Dual Processor. As to Michael Grenadier's answer below, what does a firewire card do?
    Thanks, as always!
    Scott
    This from Michael Grenadier:
    There have always been issues with canon cameras. Try capturing with firewire basic device preset and see if that helps. The broken timecode error can also indicate some other thruput problem. Making sure your camera and hard drive are on seperate firewire busses can often help this problem. You need to add your equipment and os/software configuration to your profile to help analyze the problem. If you're using a tower, even though there are multiple firewire ports, there is only ONE firewire bus. Adding a firewire card can help.

    Maxx, Thanks. In the past, I've taken the pre-post
    TC break approach, but I always end up with an error
    and no batch capture. I thought Batch Capture
    doesn't work when there are TC breaks? Is there a
    setting I'm missing?
    We don't have a deck, so we use the XL1. I can try
    my small camcorder though.
    Very good to know about the XL2 - can we have yours?
    hanks!
    PLease take them both... I've been looking for an excuse to push for some new gear.
    Typically I log all of my clips and then batch them from the browser. That way I can select a couple of clips at a time if the tape is that bad. And it has been before. We've got 1 shooter that likes to review shots but never rolls off any xtra tape before he does this. So everytime does it there's a TC break. But if the tape is bad or just doesn't have solid TC then you may be screwed.
    Your camcorder will work just fine. I suggested this b/c that way you would at least know if you have a playback issue with your xl1 or if the tape just doesn't have solid TC.
    Take a gander at Kevan's post as well. He asks some good questions and makes some good points as usual. I agree with what he said about blacking the tape. Back in my news days we had to do this and it was to be able to assemble edit deck to deck. No need to do this now though in this day and age of instant gratification. Boy I miss the days of blacking tapes, taking feeds, and sprinting through the news room with a tape as the anchor was leading into the story and tossing the tape to the tape op just in the nick o time... Ahh good times!

  • An answer to the "General Error"

    I'm in the process of importing old VHS tape through a Canopus ADVC-300 into FCE and prepping the video for DVD via iDVD.
    In the process of exporting one of the tapes, FCE generated the "General Error". My queries on this forum found many posts from folks looking for an answer to the same error, albeit not always from the same set of circumstances.
    For me, it turned out to be a specific frame of imported video. I located it by selecting half the video for export via In and Out points and exporting only that half. During export, if the error would occur I would further divide that half of video in half again and export. I did this 7 times (you don't need to subdivide any more than this) and relatively quickly located the specific frame of video that was causing the problem.
    I cut out that single frame and then exported the entire sequence without generating the "General Error" problem.
    It is helpful to note that the export processes the video linerally from left to right. Noting where in the export process the error occurs helps narrow down the general area to look in and which half of video to export to find the problem frame.
    Hope this helps others figure this one out.

    "In the process of exporting one of the tapes"
    From this I understand the General Error was caused during capturing (exporting) the tape.
    That sounds like it may have been a timecode break on the tape.
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  • Batch capture HDV error

    I have FCP 5.14 and have just logged a bunch of HDV footage offline. I did this the normal way I would when capturing DV footage, marking the in and out point and then log the clip, standard stuff?
    When I try to Batch capture the offline clips it captures only 1 frame from each clip, then the clip details are also effected, ie the Media start and media end of my clips changes from what they where into two new time codes 1 frame either side of the newly captured clip.
    Is this a program error or am I just completely useless??? Can somebody help me please

    Not sure if this is your exact problem, but I've had issues with Batch Capturing HDV in FCP 5.1.4 using both a Sony M15U and M25U.
    The deck would seek to the appropriate place on the tape and then just jog back and forth looking for the right start point. It would do this about 3 times and then give up.
    The solution for this was a DROP FRAME / NON-DROP FRAME setting in FCP. If you go to your A/V Settings and then to the Device Control Presets tab and edit your preset (If it's locked you can just make a copy of it and edit the copy - I am using the Sony HDV firewire preset). If you know what your footage was shot in (drop or non) make this setting adjustment. If you don't know, try both.
    As soon as this not so little detail was checked everything batch captured without fail. Just make sure there aren't any timecode breaks on your tape.
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  • "General Error:48" in FCP - Please Help!!!

    Okay, this may be a long winded post but please bear with me. I really need some help here.
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    Try matching your capture and sequence settings or rather than starting ProRes you can export Pro Res when you are ready to go to DVD

  • Batch capture a sequence - strange error

    Hi I am trying to batch capture a sequence (1 hour long, captured on DV PAL), now I am trying to get it into the FCP in HDV. I copy the sequence make all clips offline, select batch capture and it asks for a tape. So far so good.
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    Is the first time I do a batch in FCP. I think I select the correct audio/video setup, but always happens the same: rewind and error...
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    Am I missing something?

    FCP rewinds the tape because it loads the clips in ascending timecode order -not the order that they appear in your sequence. This saves wear and tear on the tape because FCP does not have to spool back and forth, it simply progesses up the tape grabbing the clips.
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    Try the following: reduce the amount of pre-roll time or shorten the length of any handles you may have assigned.
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  • "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).
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    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.
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  • 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.
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    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.
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  • Batch Capture - Error/Warning

    I have a PowerPC G5 with a Firewire800 external HD plus a SATA external RAID system all connected to the G5. I have been (up to now) successful in batch capturing my video's. I now get an error message (warning) when I attempt to batch capture even one file. The messages says:
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    I didn't receive a reply to this but I believe I figured out what what "drop frame box" Irl is taking about.
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  • Batch Capture : Timecode Error?

    So I am attempting to capture my first video onto FCP from my Canon XL. I have about 5 minutes of video and I have logged the info for each clip. They are all in my "Bin 1" and it is set as a "logging bin." The first logged clip that i want it to capture i have marked the "In Point" at 00:00:00;00 and the "Out Point" at around 00:01:09;24. The rest of my 11 clips just go in order (i.e. 2nd clip: In = 00:01:09;25 etc...). After doing all of this I click on "Batch" under the "Capture" option, a big black screen pops up over my FCP with the capture info underneath the black screen in a gray strip. My camera then rewinds to the beginning and STOPS. I then have to sit and wait for anythin to happen, my camera still saying "STOP," and then a message pops up reading the following:
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    God bless,
    |-(|:^D
    `

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  • Trying to take a piece from Adobe CS6 to edit on FCP 7 - general error

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