Final cut server makes MacOSX freeze

Hello,
We have a FCServer installed in network enviroment withe three clients. After many incidents we decided to reinstall everything from zero, MAC OS Server and FCServer.
now the problem is that when uploading projets from any client machine the server freezes and we have to restart the system.
We saw in the console that the problem may come from the apple Qmaster and compresor.
Any ideas of the best configuration in order that Qmaster and compressor work properly with FCServer?
or if this problem comes from somewhere else?
thanks for your help

We are running into a similar problem using a similar configuration. When we start a large number of transcode operations the Final Cut Server become unresponsive to new connections, which also gives the appearance to new connections that the server has crashed. Clients with existing connections active can still search and browse the server like normal.
Currently we have 28 transcode operations active. The server reports 300% on the Compressor process. When we try to connect with the client a frozen spinning wheel appears as it tries to apply the previous search that the account had previously logged out with. Waiting for multiple minutes does not help anything. This is repeatable on other clients, which tells me this is a server side issue.

Similar Messages

Final Cut Server Make Link Not working. And I could almost swear this wrkd

I am trying to create a link to a new primary representation of an asset ( I am using a script to move it due to space constraints) and I cannot relink to the new file with:
sudo ./fcsvr_client make_link --llinktype 2 /asset/4387 /dev/19/Set%20Test%201.mov
CODE = E_DATABASE, DESC = ERROR: null value in column "childentityid" violates not-null constraint, SRC_FILE = PmsTask_Db.C, SRC_LINE = 295
I cannot create a link of ANY type.. Even if I try a link type of 15 for edit proxy it wont complete... Now here is something interesting thought.. I one time accidentally hot the return key before I had completed type out the movie name and it created a link to /dev/19 successfully .. Of course that doesn't work because it is a device not a movie...
Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks

Hi -
I have recently dealt with this issue - the command line error is because FCS is trying to "make" the link, but cannot link to a file that is not already associated with some kind of Final Cut Server "entity", be it on the parent side of the link, or child side.
I would ask, if you're replacing one primary rep with another, why you can't simply replace the file on the device, with the exact same filename?
At any rate, if you need to run make_link, you'll need to have the file associated with an FCS entity already, before running make_link. For some proxies in our workflows, this is accomplished by creating a "proxy" asset to be the entity in question, and then running make_link as you described.
I hope that helps!
- James Heliker

Final Cut Server machine keeps freezing...

For some reason, randomly....my final cut server machine has been freezing. I end up having to force restart the entire system. Then it works for a while and eventually the entire machine is pinwheeling. Is it a corrupt database? Any way to fix it if so?
Also, let's say I wanted to re-install Final Cut Server on a fresh system and scan drives to generate proxies and re-generate the database (obviously I would lose the meta data). If I did this, how will the system know what projects were archived to my near-line storage and what is on regular storage? Will it know this somehow with a special type of scan?
Thanks!

It could have nothing to do with Final Cut Server.
Impossible to know without looking at the logs. Look at them for signs of software (or hardware) conflicts.
Call AppleCare or your local Apple Certified Tech if you need help troubleshooting.

Has anyone migrated existing file libraries into Final Cut Server?

My company currently uses Virage to archive thousands of video clips. Currently we only archive proxies and keep a corresponding tape on the shelf -- it's a big library. We want to move away from tape and keep all the clips on a centralized server but we need to be able to move all the existing files over to FCS via an automated process. The clips we keep in Virage has 5 or 6 fields that we would need to migrate over and the thumbnails are mpg2. Has anyone had any experience migrating huge chunks of data over to Final Cut Server? We ditched our Avids and Unity and purchased FCP. Final Cut Server makes sense. (By the way...for what we paid for Virage, I could have purchased Final Cut Server and a Porsche to drive it to the office.)

My company is implementing FCSrv as a video database. Moral of the story: I did everything from scratch. I took the time to log and digitize all the tapes, creating a file folder structure that corresponds to the tape label. I can say from my experience, you need to organize and have all of your original media ready on the drives that you want the files to live on and THEN upload to FCSrv. I left those drives as Edit In Place devices, created FCSrv assets, and then turned the drives off. The drives only come back on when I want to copy over any of the source files. Also, FCSrv wants to create everything from scratch - its own proxies, thumbnails, and poster frames. Currently I believe the only metadata you could map / migrate over would be fields associated with FCP Log and Transfer media. Another workflow hint I have is to find media that has the same (or most similar) metadata and upload those at the same time (choosing create individual assets). Also, there is a great workflow on the forum for bulk metadata changes that helped me out a lot : http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7522555
Every time I call Apple anymore they try to sell me on purchasing the custom workflow services from an engineer so you could look into that for specific help with your current metadata fields. Otherwise, I'd suggest hiring some interns
Good luck!

Does a QMaster Cluster really make sense for Final Cut Server?

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I often am, but my understanding of the difference between setting up a "Cluster" and just using "This Machine" is the cluster allows multiple jobs to be processed simultaneously, while an unmanaged system will only do one job at a time. However, when it does that one job, it uses all the system's processors.
Yesterday I created a cluster consisting of two Quad Core Intel systems, and started Final Cut Server cataloging about a half a TB of data. I noticed that Server submits the Proxy render jobs one at a time, and that the jobs were being submitted to only one processor core, in a rotating fashion. Is there a way to make FCServer submit jobs in "parallel," or am I better off with using just the local system for transcoding?

The default proxy transcode setting seems to be specifically tuned to work at a small scale, which makes sense if you are asking a box to host the database, serve the app, and do all the proxy transcodes. I observed the same phenomenon, so I made my own transcode setting for proxies and I chose to lower the bitrate a bit to help with file size and transfer time. The upside is the floodgates are wide open when my 32 core Xeon cluster (four 8-cores) goes to town on a proxy encoding job.
Your other observation is also right, that only one item is encoded at a time across the cluster rather than working on all of them at once across the cluster. So what you get with a fast cluster is shorter encode time, not parallel encodings that all finish at the same time.
If you have the spare machines to dedicate to cluster work, I strongly endorse setting up that way. I would not recommend Quick Clusters for Final Cut Server encoding duty. Either set up a dedicated Managed Cluster that FCSvr can use or none at all.

Small Office Network Solution for Final Cut Server - Proxy Storage Etc.

Hi,
I haven't been able to find any answers for this question by googling, So I would love if anyone here had some advice. I have the 10 License version of Final Cut Studio with 5 clients at the moment. I would like to set-up our office in the most effective way, however we are a non-profit organization, so we are working with a limited budget.
My question is, does anyone know of any networking solutions for Proxy Storage and Media storage, that wont bottleneck, but is not as high budget/high tech as using an Xserve/XSan system?
Right now we would be looking at running Final Cut Server off of our 24inch Intel IMac (Going to beef up the RAM). We have a Gigabit Switch, 4 more intel machines running final Cut pro, and a direct attached Drobo for Media Storage. I know this is not an Ideal set-up, but it's what I have to work with right now. So, I'm looking for any kinds of tips and tricks to make this set-up work for us, and am looking at purchasing either a Network Attached or iscsI storage system for the Proxy Storage.
I hope this is a decent description of my situation, and would love some advice.
Thanks Very Much,
MacNomad

Hi,
I haven't been able to find any answers for this question by googling, So I would love if anyone here had some advice. I have the 10 License version of Final Cut Studio with 5 clients at the moment. I would like to set-up our office in the most effective way, however we are a non-profit organization, so we are working with a limited budget.
My question is, does anyone know of any networking solutions for Proxy Storage and Media storage, that wont bottleneck, but is not as high budget/high tech as using an Xserve/XSan system?
Right now we would be looking at running Final Cut Server off of our 24inch Intel IMac (Going to beef up the RAM). We have a Gigabit Switch, 4 more intel machines running final Cut pro, and a direct attached Drobo for Media Storage. I know this is not an Ideal set-up, but it's what I have to work with right now. So, I'm looking for any kinds of tips and tricks to make this set-up work for us, and am looking at purchasing either a Network Attached or iscsI storage system for the Proxy Storage.
I hope this is a decent description of my situation, and would love some advice.
Thanks Very Much,
MacNomad

Long HDV and XDCAM clips through Final Cut Server

Hi,
I know that I could post this in Compressor and/or Quicktime and/or Leopard/Tiger Forums, but as this problem it`s causing my Final Cut Server to not working well, I think it makes sense to post here.
To resume: HDV and XDCAM clips (all on original codec, only xdcam transferred to mov in xdcam transfer) with file size bigger than exactly 4GB always FAILS in "Final Cut Server"/"Compressor alone in ANY machine installed from scratch"/"Anything that uses Quicktime". Source and Destination being localy or networked. DV or DV50 can get bigger than that, I`ve never seen this error with DV`s codecs.
I had seen this problem before I bought final cut server. When I was transcoding our interviews for transcription. We always worked with BETA SP and captured in DV or DV50. We were starting to go to HDV and now to XDCAM and this error has started to appear.
I have a "proxy" made a year ago from a HDV and it`s original has 8GB. I tried this file again and as I expected didn`t work. In ANY computer with any installations with only the latest updates. I`ve remembered that I was using Tiger at this time, and Quicktime/Tiger/ProApps had a old version.
My two cents are that some update from Tiger/Leopard/QuickTime/ProApps made this happen.
So ANY HDV/XDCAM file bigger than 4GB it`s FAILING in ANY system. (Tiger or Leopard, With or without FCP and QT PRO, Installed from scratch and updated every thing).
Some tests I`ve made:
-Compressor works with this two codecs to lower res in TIGER and with QuickTime Version 7.4.0 and LOWER. (had to be tested, but I think that was my version of QT when I managed to make the proxy of this two codecs).
-Compressor doesn`t work on any system with QT above 7.4.0.
-CATDV (http://www.squarebox.co.uk/) version 6 can make proxy versions of this two codecs in TIGER ONLY! They already know of this problem and CATDV 7 works on both.
-Compressing in compressor with H.264 (same codec as the FCSvr proxy) BUT without changing the resolution, size and etc. Works OK in both Tiger and Leopard.
-Exporting through QT works in ANY system BUT I loose TC, so it`s not an option (and I can`t input this workflow in FCSvr without using compressor).
-Exporting from FCP as QuickTime Movie with H.264 doesn`t work on Both (Tiger and Leopard).
-Exporting fro FCP as QuickTime Conversion with H.264 works but as exporting from QT I loose TC and can`t input this into FCSvr workflow.
Error message are always: "QuickTime error = -50" or "QuickTime error: corrupted data" (and of course it`s not corrupted because it`s used - even in FCP to edit - and opened viewed, catdv can do proxy and everything).
I`m surprised not to see anyone freaking out about this issue... I don`t think that It`s only me.
This is some problems that I came across while trying to find a solution:
http://www.paulescandon.com/blog/?p=39
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4912265&#4912265
http://www.squarebox.co.uk/faq155.html
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5513003&#5513003
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1903644&tstart=0
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1780228
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1853507
As you can see this is not the first time I`ve posted about this issue.
I`m sending a bug report as well.
Thank You all in advance.
Regards

Hi Chará!
We should, but I think the others will be disappointed eheheheh.
It doesn`t matter what version of Leopard I`m using (right know I`m using Leopard Server 10.5.6, but this issue has happened even with 10.4 if QT is updated and all updates of 10.5 up, as I`
ve mentioned above).
What file size are those clips that are longer than 10min?
I really don`t get, how it`s possible that just the two of us has HDV and XDCAM files with file size longer than usual? Maybe people that do interviews don`t like to record the entire interview and when capturing those clips would be under this file size limit? Or maybe we are the only ones in the whole world that transcode longer HDV and XDCAM clips (it`s funny that it doesn`t even need to be FCSrv, with only ONE machine and compressor this issue happens all the time).
I`m convinced that I have to install a Tiger version in a virtual machine with compressor and doesn`t update anything to test this further on. But I`m certain that with TIGER and CATDV this works ok! And I think that CATDV uses QT engine to do this transcodes.
This is too much of a mystery to me. Maybe it`s time to spend 24+ hours with apple in a international call and probably not getting anywhere.
I`m only posting this here in FCSrv forum because this issue it`s must worse when you have hundreds of clips with this issue and if you bought the package it doen`t matter if it`s a problem with QT+OSX or whatever, apple has to solve it for FCSrv use.
Do you reckon?
Let`s get in touch through email: lucas at rwcine.com.br
(at = @ and delete spaces).
Regards

Red Footage and Final Cut Server

Aloha gang-
I am still testing FCS in our studio and enjoy many of the features in this product. I love being able to search for footage and pull it into my FCP project with no waiting (using edit-in-place). But I am looking for some advice and knowledge regarding Red Footage.
My scenerio is this:
We render all our red footage to offline files that we will use in the post production process. I want to tag all those files with appropriate metadata so our edit team can search and retrieve files as they need it. But with red there are 7 files (in our workflow) that correspond to the same thing. Basically there is the original R3D file which can not be used in FCP, there are the 4 quicktime proxies that the camera generates and live in the same folder as the R3D, and these are the files I want to get back to after the production is through and archived. There is the offline quicktime we generate to edit with which we need to tag. There is a log and transfer quicktime we can log and transfer all this data to FCS (but it doubles the data size so I am not looking to use this one and edit performance is okay at best), and finally there is the folder that the 4 proxies and original red file live in.
All of these files should be search able by the same metadata. Imagine the shot is of a blue bird. When I type blue bird I would want all of these files to show up (obviously I could limit my search so I only get the version I need for what I am doing i.e. offline, proxie, etc. I have made metadata lookups for this so this is not the challenge.)
The challenge is I only want to log 1 of these files and have the metadata applied to all of them. They all have almost identical names. The offline, R3D, and folder file have the exact same name. The proxies are identical but with _F, _H, _M, and _P behind them. For the catalog process I only want to transcode proxies for the _M (The _F, _H take way too long and the proxies look the same as _M and the _P is too small
I could make them a bundle but that does not help too much as the offline lives in a different place as the footage.
Any ideas would be greatful. My easiest solution is to tag the files twice, once for the production and once for the archive, but this seems like a waste of time that I could have a computer do instead
P.S. anyone successful in getting the metadata out of the red file, I see the red metadata set, and have it in place, but can not get it to show anything no matter which file I upload.
Any ideas, or help would be great
mahalo
scott

Thank you for your replies. I guess my question is not really answered because of the conundrum associated with red footage
But my workflow to get through this will be as follows: (In case anyone is interested)
Set a scan to bring in the offline quicktimes as they are rendered and have someone tag them with meaningful tags to help us search during the production. I will send those to archive when we are done.
After the project is completed and the files are removed from Final Cut Server I will set a scan to import all the _M files (they transcode faster and quality is not an issue since it is making proxies) and tag them as best I can for the long haul (archive) I can either leave the media on the drive or back it up, depending on the immediate use of the files. This works very well if the media is still there as I can just drag the _M into Clipfinder and render the shot I need as I need it.
I am storing these clips in folders labeled CC_LTOXXX (where XXX is the number for the LTO tape which increases by one for each tape I use. When I import them into Final Cut Server from the LTO folder I have a direct line to which LTO tape the file lives on. It's not easy to get the files back (so with files used frequently I will also keep a copy on an external drive I can just plug in) from an LTO, but it is doable.
If anyone has an easy way to pull a list of files from an LTO tape that would be great, and even better if it could be a list Final Cut Server made, or if Final Cut Server could just pull the files. My LTO is a network drive so I would have to access it through an IP address, but if I could do that I would be golden.
Anyway I know this will all evolve and this is just where I am right now, any ideas would be appreciated.
Mahalo
scott

Hardware Configurations for Final Cut Server

I am a small video production shop, currently running 2 standalone FCP stations; one Intel tower FCP7 with about 3T of firewire 800 Raid 1 storage, and one PPC G5 tower FCP6, on a gigibit ethernet network with a central NAS. I am adding a 3d station and a new employee. The problem we have run into is that many assets seem to always reside on the wrong system, and duplicate projects become impossible to resolve and archive effectively. We shoot exclusively on HDV.
This is the setup I am considering....
Convert the Intel Mac Pro tower to Final Cut Server
Buy 3 27"iMacs for edit stations
My plan would be to have all projects reside on the FCPServer and edit on 422 Proxy versions on the iMacs. I understand that each iMac would need a copy of FCP. Would they all need to be FCP7 to work on the same project at different times?
Other questions:
Would working on a gigabit ethernet network be a bottleneck?
Could I ingest video directly to the server? Is there a way to capture 422 video onto the server or would that require a separate copy of FCP on the server to capture from tape? If so could I use the older FCP6 copy withot upgrading just for capture? Alternately could I use a copy of FCExpress on the server just to create a project and capture on the server then open and convert to FCP7?
Any suggestions for what to do with the Dual 2.5G PowerPC Tower?

ProRes wil be much faster for rendering on the client and transcoding on any machine, and will also allow for more realtime effects vs native HDV in FCP. "Full-rez" is a misnomer here, since ProRes Proxy does not sacrifice any resolution and indeed has a higher bitrate than native HDV. You might find that your HDV source looks just as good in ProRes Proxy (it is very high quality, just not as pristine as the higher quality versions of ProRes).
Remember, ProRes 422 Proxy is still a 4:2:2 10-bit codec. I think you'd need to look awfully close to see a qualitative difference. You can choose to use ProRes Proxy at lower resolutions than your source media, but you don't need to. It is designed to work all the way up to 2K and maintain all the color fidelity of a 10-bit codec.
When you check in a project that you are cutting locally with Edit Proxies, FCSvr relinks the project to the original media, but it does not render anything. You would need to open the project on the FCSvr host with FCP to create an flattened QuickTime against the original media (in your case native HDV).
You can recapture, but when you have FCSvr cataloging your clips, you do not want to recapture the same media and duplicate the asset. If you are careful and recapture the clips that were disposed of to the exact same location with the exact same filename as before, FCSvr will re-link the media to the asset automatically. However, that workflow is very human-error-prone and I strongly recommend you not adopt it. Keep your source HDV tapes as a worst-case backup, but if you are going to use FCSvr, use its archive capability to RAID-1 external drives and only go back to the tapes if all else fails. And you'll need to be very careful to match you prior ingest if you do.
Of course, you can always delete an asset altogether when you're done with its media and later recapture the footage from tape and treat it as a new asset. It depends on how interested you are in keeping your asset records and their proxies intact for media you plan to remove from storage.
I'd take a good long look at ProRes Proxy vs HDV for quality. If you can't see a difference, capture to ProRes Proxy and make that your online format. Then you won't be eating up all your storage on the server keeping both the HDV original and a ProRes Proxy for edit proxies. If you don't enable edit proxies, FCSvr just hands out the original media.

Final Cut Server is for video and photo archiving?

Too many products in the last few years. I used to use iPhoto to archive both photos and video and edit them. Now I have moved to the professional line but it gets more confusing.
Aperture2: archiving and cataloguing thousands of pictures with minor edits
Adobe CS4: major edits to my pictures
FCP6: video edit but with no archiving and/or metadata capability
Final Cut Server: for what? Can it archive/metadata all my video and all my Aperture files and work
seamlessly between all these four programs?
Please help. I am considering buying Final Cut Server. I am both a photographer as well as a videographer running many different cameras over many different kinds of shoots. And I am trying to simplify my work process.
Thanks,
Brian

We were in a similar situation as well.
We use Adobe products for photo and desktop stuff
and FCP Suite for video.
We ingest images with Bridge and add keywords.
The raw files are backed up and the corrected images
are processed (Photoshop/Image Processor) and dropped
into a Final Cut Server watch folder.
This action automatically adds the files to FCS for
easy access as well as backs up the images to an
external FTP in our desktop publishing office across
town. Desktop has its own version of FCS that adds
the new files and makes them available for designers.
When we shoot video we shoot mainly with Sony EX3
camcorders with SxS media. Footage is downloaded
and tagged in XDCAM Transfer. The folder that is
labeled "Import" in the utility is also a watch
folder which added the files to FCS.
So in other words Final Cut Server has us organized
and working together much better than we were before.

Final Cut Server as "regular" DAM

Hi people,
I've been thinking if Final Cut Server can be used as a "regular" DAM, just like Extensis Portfolio, cataloging mostly images and nothing related to video media.
If it can, that's a definitely good news, specially because Extensis solutions, and many other commercial DAM solutions costs up to $ 10.000,00 or even more...
What you think about this?
Cheers.

Hi Rodrigo,
I thought about that, too. FCS is a very cheep product to manage media assets, even if you use it only for yourself. I have some projects for customers who always come with new product shots (hundres), but they all look quite similar. Sometimes it is hard to browse through all this stuff, so FCS would be a perfect MAM, esp. because of the drag and drop possibilities between FCS and FCP. This just as an example, it would also make sense to use it only for images. But because FCS is mainly focussed on video, maybe you will miss some features (I don't know which, but I guess a dedicated image MAM would have more features to handle your pics than a MAM with compressor functions and all that).
But we'll see - can't wait to ge a version to test all these things.
Marc

Creating a Simple Excel Report from Final Cut Server

1. Modify the following Metadata Group (ASSETLISTVIEW) to contain the field you want to output in your report
2. Create Ruby file. In this example I named mine searchallassets.rb
Be sure to make the file executable, using the following command at the terminal sudo chmod 755 [file]
Copy and Paste this block of code into the searchallassets.rb
--Code Starts Here
#!/usr/bin/env ruby
# Created by Nicholas Stokes
# Copyright (c) 2009 XPlatform Consulting LLC
# All rights reserved
time_file = Time.now.strftime "%Y%m%d%I:%M%P"
FCSVRCLIENTCMD = "/Library/Application\\ Support/Final\\ Cut\\ Server/Final\\ Cut\\ Server.bundle/Contents/MacOS/fcsvr_client"
# What this will do:
# This will create a .csv file that contains all asset records from Final Cut Server database
# If you wish to modify the report further below is the command line syntax for searching the Final Cut Server database
# fcsvr_client search [ --verbose --noheader --mdonly --tabdelim --xml --limit <n> --depth <n> --xmlcrit --crit <str> --ctxaddr <addr> --dirs --linkparentaddr <address> --linkparentrecursive ] <address>
# Note, I am using the --tabdelim option to output the file as a tab delimited file. This will allow for easy importing into Excel or another database management system.
searchfor_allassets = "#{FCSVRCLIENTCMD} search --tabdelim /asset >"
output_file = "/Users/nicholasstokes/Desktop/DickClarkFCSvr_AllAssetsReport_#{timefile}.csv"
runsearch_for_all_export_ascsv = `#{searchfor_allassets} #{output_file}`
--Code Ends Here
Finally. Edit the searchallassets.rb to include the path that you wish to save the output file.
In FCSvr, setup a Script Response to call this.
Then either trigger the Script Response via a Subscription or Schedule.
Hope this helps.
Nicholas Stokes
XPlatform Consulting

http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/toast/default.html?gclid=CIyG7Zqclp4CFdpb2godL HXnkw

Final Cut Server Edit Proxy

Hi,
I need to do remote editing (with FCP7) over small bandwith WAN (1Mbps) therefore I configure Final Cut Server (V1.5.1) Edit Proxy to use a Quicktime H.264 codec with the following parameters:
File Extension: mov
Estimated size: unknown
Audio Encoder
AAC, Stereo (L R), 48.000 kHz
Video Encoder
Format: QT
Width: (100% of source)
Height: (100% of source)
Pixel aspect ratio: Default
Crop: None
Padding: None
Frame rate: (100% of source)
Frame Controls: Automatically selected: Off
Codec Type: H.264
Multi-pass: Off, frame reorder: On
Pixel depth: 24
Spatial quality: 0
Min. Spatial quality: 25
Temporal quality: 50
Min. temporal quality: 25
The workflow is:
The remote editor choose on Final Cut Server the FCP project he has to work on, do a Check Out of the project on his Final cut Pro 7 local station by selecting "use: edit proxy" and "keep media with project". Project and associated footage are then uploaded from the server to the remote FCP7 station with no problem.
When the upload is complete, the editor simply open the project file to start editing on his station. This workflow was working allright till january: when opening the project the FCP7 doesn't reconnect the media with an error message:
"one or more of the updates requested by Final Cut Server could not be applied. (one or more replacement (s) had unexpected track setting.)" and media files are Offline! When trying to reconnect manually by indicating the proper path for the missing files, I have to uncheck "Matched Name and reel only" to select the edit proxy files. It looks like it was still linked with the original media...
Looking at the project file, the paths for the proxy files are the proper ones...
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>fileSubs</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>newurl</key>
<string>file://localhost/Users/XXXXX/Desktop/testbdw10/media/_FCS__XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/dev/3/1670_179_004301.mov</string>
<key>originalurl</key>
<string>file://localhost/Macintosh%20HD/Users/XXXXX/Documents/Final%20Cut%20Pro%20Docume nts/Capture%20Scratch/Untitled%20Project%201/179004301.mov</string>
</dict>
<dict>
<key>newurl</key>
<string>file://localhost/Users/XXXXX/Desktop/testbdw10/media/_FCS__xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/dev/3/1674_179_003601.mov</string>
<key>originalurl</key>
<string>file://localhost/Macintosh%20HD/Users/XXXX/Documents/Final%20Cut%20Pro%20Documen ts/Capture%20Scratch/Untitled%20Project%201/179003601.mov</string>
</dict>
</array>
<key>version</key>
<integer>0</integer>
<key>versionMin</key>
<integer>0</integer>
</dict>
</plist>
If I change the Edit Proxy setting for ProRes 422 (Proxy) on Final Cut Server edit proxy setting then the reconnection is working OK. I cannot use this workaround as the files are then far too big to be tranferred over a 1Mbps WAN.
The setup with the Quicktime H.264 edit proxy was working fine after, it seems, the installation of Pro applications update 2009-01 issued end of october 2009, but since january 2010 it does not work anymore.
Final Cut Server is version 1.5.1 with Mac Os X server is 10.5.8
Editing station are running Final Cut Pro 7.0.1 and Mac Os X 10.5.8
What could be wrong ? Does anybody encountered this type of problem?
Any suggestions welcomed!
Thanks.

I'm dealing with this issue right now (FCSv 1.5.1 latest pro app updates, 10.6.2, FCP7). I was under the impression that you could make edit proxies that were 25% resolution (as opposed to just using an efficient codec), but Final Cut Pro is having a rough time getting it right. I too am only getting success with ProRes-Proxy, audio passthrough, and 100% res/everything else. I tried using Apple Intermediate Codec with default "100%" settings and audio passthrough but had no luck. It's way heavier than ProRes Proxy anyways.
The only suggestion I can make is try your h264 solution with audio passthrough (or Linear PCM) instead of AAC. If that makes a difference we're on to something. Some people started having this issue after an iTunes update, so maybe AAC is the source of the problem.
The edit proxy workflow really needs tweaking from Apple to cater to internet-based solutions rather than fiber/SAN environments where bandwidth is a non-issue.
I'll report back later after some more testing.

Final Cut Server + Media Manager Best Practices

Is anyone using Final Cut Server to organize FCP Media Manager?
I don`t want MM and it`s individual contains cataloged by FCS, only a "bundle" from the directory of MM (that has the project and a sub-directory called Media with all medias from that project).
I`ve tried different solutions but always get stuck in some way.
1- Get the directory from MM and put on a Device being watched by a scan production. A production with the name from the directory is created and the project and medias are catalogued as well.
But I don`t want those medias and projects catalogued by FCS. I`ve tried to set the recursion limit to 0 or 1 but the production is not created, neither the bundle (from the directory) asset. Nevertheless you can`t archive productions (with MatrixStore you can), so a workaround would be to archive only the bundle inside the production (if you managed to get only the directory as a bundle inside the production). But to get worse, if you update the directory as a bundle (regardless if it`s inside a production or not) and your archive device is a FTP device it says "ERROR: E_NOTSUPP Sorry, copying a bundle to an ftp server is not supported".
2- Zip with "ditto" (because the 2GB problem with normal zip) the MM directory and put on a device being watched. This won`t be scanned by a scan production to create a production with the name of it contents because it`s not a directory it`s a zip file and even if I forget about productions and only uploads the zip files to get each MM directory created as a zip takes too long and much cpu power so it`s not possible with many MM directories (the case). And to get things worse (always murphy), before I`ve deleted those directories I checked the integrity of zip files and to my surprise some of them were ruined. So I don`t trust compressing anything for my backup. I`ve tried Tar, ditto, archive from finder (that`s the same as ditto) but it takes too long or break the file.
The bottom line: I just want a MM as directory bundle in FCS (preferentially inside a production automatically created) AND being able to archive it to a FTP device.
Thanks in advance

Well it sounds like you have two problems: getting a successful scan production to work and archiving. I think I can help with the first one.
When you set up your device make sure that it is one directory level up from each folder you want turned into a production. So for example - XSAN/Show1/MM/ - if you make XSAN the device and set the recursion limit to 0, Show1 will become a production and Show2, Show3, etc for example. Set the recursion limit to 1 and MM becomes a production - Show2/MM/ and Show3/MM, etc for example.
Here's what I would do. Device 1 = XSAN/Show1 with recursion = 0. In the production info section of the scan production response set the title = Show1_[0]. The [0] will automatically fill in the name of the directory, ie - MM. This way each folder within Show1 becomes a production and the name is preceded by Show1 for easy sorting. This way you can isolate your MM folder and treat it differently.
That should get your productions scanning correctly. I'm not sure about archiving to an FTP device, zipping bundles, or automatically adding bundled assets to productions with a scan. As far as I know, the only way to add a bundled asset is to manually upload a folder. I might be wrong about this though.
Hope this helps even a little.
Message was edited by: Franbot

Applescript in Final Cut Server

Hi all,
I am trying to get an applescript running from the final cut server. I wrote a script to replace all underscores and spaces in the filenames of a specific folder.
I've tested it local and it works like a charm. But when I attached the script to the folder via the final cut server host it wasn't working anymore.
Then I tried to link the script via the administrator panel in the Final Cut Server software. Response > Run an external script or command.
I'm not really that much of a scripter so now I'm having trouble finding the right command parameters. What should be defined in that line?
This is the script:
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items
          repeat with theFile in these_items
                    tell application "Finder"
                              set theFileName to name of theFile
                    end tell
                    set theFileName to my replace_chars(theFileName, "_", "-")
                    set theFileName to my replace_chars(theFileName, " ", "-")
                    tell application "Finder"
                              set name of theFile to theFileName
                    end tell
display dialog theFileName
          end repeat
end adding folder items to
on replace_chars(this_text, search_string, replacement_string)
          set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the search_string
          set the item_list to every text item of this_text
          set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the replacement_string
          set this_text to the item_list as string
          set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
          return this_text
end replace_chars
I would like to run this script to a folder on our SAN storage with the following path:
NCRV_XSan > FCS > Production > Afkijk_Gijs
What I would like to know now is how I specify the parameters for navigating to the above location.
All input is appreciated since I'm kind of a noob with scripting..
thanks in advance,
best regards,
Jan-David

Hi
First of all I would recommend to upgrade to version 1.1. You will then be able to delete assets without deleting the media files itself (the primary representation).
Just to make sure.., did you double click the FCP project icon?. My workflow consists of making productions for FCP projects. When uploading FCP projects into a production, you have to double click the FCP icon in order to get to the assets.
On the other hand, in the assets pane the assets (videoclips, audiofiles) show up as soon as the project is uploaded or updated.
Are you sure that there is nothing flagged in any search fields that rules out the assets your are looking for?

Final cut server makes MacOSX freeze

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