Media Start/End Timecode problems

I was capturing some tapes so I can start the editing work. Everything was going well, but I noticed a problem with one of the reels, which will make my life **** if I don't take care of it now.
All reels are OK, except one. I made a batch list and captured the clips. The thing is, in the problematic Reel, the media start and end timecodes are lost after the capture.
After the editing proccess, I intend to recapture the used clips in 10 bits, so those lost timecodes are essential to me.
Does anyone have any idea of what can solve this problem? I have tryed recapturing, creating new projects and bins, etc, nothing worked.
My fcp version is 6.0.6.

My solution for these problems is to copy the tape and digitize that. Make sure you start the recording deck first so it generates new code.

Similar Messages

Batch Capture Changes Media Start, End, and Duration

Hello all... For some reason, when I batch capture from an imported batch list in FCP 4.5, the program changes the media start, end, and duration just slightly once the capture has completed. Does anyone know why this might be occurring?

OK... I don't believe it has to do with drop frame or non-drop frame issues, and here's why... I ran a series of tests.
The footage was originally shot with two cameras, an A Cam and a B Cam, which were Jam Synced together. The original A Cam tapes were log and captured normally. But for the B Cam tapes, we exported a batch list to excel, performed a rename function where _B was added to all file names and reel names, and brought the data back into FCP by importing a Batch List at 29.97.
For the tests, I experimented with only one clip. First, I noted the timecode for the media start and media end when the file was uncaptured. Next, I placed the A Cam Tape in the deck and did a batch capture on the one clip. The program changed the media start and end times upon hitting ok. Here were the results of the first test:
LOGGED: MS (05:50:39:26) ME (05:51:41:01)
CAPTURED A CAM: MS (05:50:39:17) ME (05:51:41:07)
Then, I undid the capture so that the timecode would revert back to the precaptured state. I placed the B Cam tape in the deck and ran the capture again, on the same clip, in Batch Capture mode. The program changes the media start and end yet again, but this time, changed it in a different way:
LOGGED: MS (05:50:39:26) ME (05:51:41:01)
CAPTURED B CAM 1st Attempt: MS (05:50:39:16) ME (05:51:41:06)
So then I undid the capture again to revert back to the logged settings, and put the EXACT same tape in the deck, and ran the batch capture in exactly the same way. This time however, FCP didn't change anything. It logged the clip correctly. I tried it yet again, in the same way, and it did it perfectly again:
LOGGED: MS (05:50:39:26) ME (05:51:41:01)
CAPTURED B CAM 2nd Attempt: MS (05:50:39:26) ME (05:51:41:01)
CAPTURED B CAM 3rd Attempt: MS (05:50:39:26) ME (05:51:41:01)
So I ask again... what is up with FCP 4.5?

Preserving tape name and media start/end

I shoot lots of tapes of random footage to get short general-purpose clips for use later. Years ago when I started, I would preview in the capture window via device control, carefully set log in/out points, and let batch capture make all my little clips. Then I learned how hard that is on my camera's heads, so I got Scenalizer Live and used a new workflow - I captured my whole tape, and then sliced, trimmed, and renamed the "keeper" clips. But since most of my clips don't need audio and SCLive doesn't know how to make a video-only AVI, most recently I've gone back to using PPro for the slice and rename operation, putting the captured video on the timeline, slicing and dicing, and then "exporting to movie" the good pieces to make new AVIs, with only video and with the filenames I want. (Yes, I know there are purists out there who would be concerned about generational loss of methods 2 and 3, but in DV-AVI I just can't see how any mere mortal could tell the difference.)
But just now I discovered that only my first method preserved the information of where the clip originally came from, i.e. the Tape Name, Media Start, and Media End. All the rest lost that information when I trimmed the clips in either SCLive or PPro. Argh!
These clips are a lost cause, but for the future, is there a better workflow, one that will preserve both the clip information and my tape heads?

I agree - the metadata doesn't need to be repeated for every frame - just once for the clip.
If the clip gets chopped up in PPro (or SCLive or whatever program), it doesn't seem like it should be that hard for the software to just do the math - if I have a two-minute NTSC clip that was originally captured from timecode 12:00:00 to 13:59:29, and I chop it into a 30 sec. clip and a 90 second clip (silly simple example), the resulting two clips should still preserve the Tape Name and other info, and the start/end times should be 12:00:00-12:29:29 and 12:30:00-13:59:29. But instead both PPro and SCLive delete the Tape Name, and the start times of the resaved clips are all zero. Naturally if what is on the timeline when I save is a composite of multiple clips it's a different story, but if the only editing has been to simply put the clip on the timeline and adjust the end points and/or cut with the razor tool, it would be nice if the capture data was preserved.

How do I automatically position my files based on the Media Start time?

In the project media window, it shows the Media Start, End, Duration of my MOV files based on the timestamp in the file.
I'm talking about the time at which the video was shot (according to the camera), not any marks I have added. Note the distinction: all searches for this treat "Media Start" as the mark-in, mark-out points and have nothing to do with what I'm asking.
There are gaps between the files so I don't want to add them contiguously. I will be lining this up with other sources, and using the absolute time is the easiest way to "just do it", within a fraction of a second.
(I have not used Premiere since version 1.5 Pro)

I'll try that Sync command on the next one; thanks.
At least I should be able to get this out faster than last year's New Year videos: the lighting was so bad that I had to learn color correction and the Resolve tool to accomplish it.
I've used (if memory serves)
Ulead Mediastudio Pro
Premere Pro 1.5 circa 2005
hiatus early 2008 (last use of DV camcorder) — Feb 2013 (dSLR video)
Avidemux (just trimming and concatenating)
Sony Movie Studio Platnum 12, 13 (when I needed real NLE again)
DaVinci Resolve (color correction, but hey includes basic NLE and free!)
Adobe CC 2014 includes Premiere, so jump to that!
I learned concepts like importing asset files to a media pool and then taking clips from that, multi-track timeline editing with razor, single and all-track ripple, rolling edit, crossfades, J and L cutting, and all that, from Ulead in 2002 and later Premere.
Other NLEs I've used since, sometimes one-off, I had no trouble doing basic things. It's like driving a car: basic essential functions are known but need to hunt around for the interval wipers.
This one, though, took much longer to get moving with. They purposefully changed some control concepts presumably for the better (where is the toggle to slide all clips beyond this one when I move it, and another toggle for keeping all tracks in sync or just editing one? I clicked somewhere to expand the track vertically but I can't quite figure out where to do it reliably.
But also made things unnecessarily difficult: it says drop stuff here to to start, but why not allow right-click to work and show useful things in this situation, or at least have a "new" button! There's no speed slider or reverse buttons in the player interfaces, and in general there are commands I can't find on any menu but apparently exist.
The scrollbar/zoom will take getting used to, but why can't the arrow buttons still be there too? Especially at high zoom the slider is much too touchy, and clicking to move a little bit would be helpful. Ctrl-Wheel doesn't work in the waveform source editor but does on the timeline.

Help: Can't change the Media End Timecode

Hi,
We are trying to Recapture a Clip that was originally Captured using "Capture Now" and accidently someone let the Capture continue past the end of the tape.
This kind of issue doesn't cause a problem using the original clip, because all you end up with is some extra Black at the end of your Clip with no Timecode (you loose some drive space, but not much else).
But now that we are trying to Recapture this Clip using "Batch Capture", this extra Media with no Timecode will not allow the Clip to be Captured, because FCP doesn't know what to do when it reaches the End of the Tape, it just stops the Capture without saving the hour of media it already Captured.
I did a little poking around and the FCP Manual says that you can Edit the Clips "Media End" Timecode in the "Clip Properties" Window, but that doesn't seem to work.
Has anyone run into this? Am I missing something or can you Edit a Clips "Media End" Timecode in the Clip Properties Window like they say in the Manual?
Thanks for any input.
Kalagan

Hi Jim,
Thanks for the suggestion, but FCP will not allow me to Modify certain information in my Offline Clip, in the Browser or Properties Windows. I can Select and Modify the Duration, the In and Out Points, but FCP will not allow me to select or modify the Media Start or Media End points.
Should it be able to do this? It seems like FCP should be able to do this.
I think we just found a WORKAROUND for this, it is a little clunky, but seemed to work.
It is; we created a dummy sequence that started 10 seconds before the Media End point we wanted, dropped in 10 seconds of Bars and Tone into the dummy sequence, found that dummy sequence in the Browser, then "Option Clicked" on the dummy sequences "Media End" point, dragged the little box that pops up on top of the "Media End" point of our problematic Clip and let go.
This process replaced the Media End point of our problematic Clip with the Media End point of our Dummy Sequence. That seemed to work. We are currently Batch Capturing that clip again, we will see what happens.
But at least now our Clip has the proper Media End point.
I'll let you know what happens.
Thanks
kalagan

How do I change media start timecode?

I'm working on a project that was handed to me after a significant amount of capturing had already been done. Much of the footage (I'm praying that not all of it is like this) was captured using Capture Now, so there is no room left for pre-roll on any of the clips I am now trying to recapture (literally like 2 frames). I searched the forum and the web for a solution, but came up with some solutions that didn't work in my particular case. I have made the clips offline which for other users seems to have solved the problems of not being able to edit the Media Start/Media End timecode, but I still cannot get it to work.
Could it be that since I've used the clip in a sequence, it will not let me edit the timecode? Assuming there is some solution, and I am able to change the timecode, will any clips in sequences be trimmed to match the changes (for example, if I used the beginning of a clip in a sequence, and have now changed that clips beginning timecode, will it automatically trim the clip in the sequence or will it not reconnect at all?)
I'm working in FCP 4.5.
Thanks a bunch

Hey Jack
]Thanks for your continued posts Peter.
Always happy to help out, but thankyou for the acknowledgment! Often busy stressed people on this board forget that essential ingredient of good manners! So thank you!
]Does that really solve it? I'm not sure that it does
Absolutely! I had exactly your situation a couple of years ago, when I took over a job from someone who hadn't left any room on clips. I gave adding extended handles a shot, and it worked.
Once again I am just sorry I did not remember this workaround sooner.
As always, I would do a little test run first. I have mentioned this previously on the board, but I will again because I find it an invaluable tip:
]<small>A good little technique I have gotten into over the years is learning any new functionality in FCP with what I call my dummy project, dummy.fcp.
]This is just a normal FCP file with a couple of dozen clips, a few sequences and so on. Nothing too fancy, but designed to tap into most of the essential features, and broadly represent a typical type of job I do.
]Every time I want to try something new, and am worried I might damage existing work, I close the project I am working on, make a duplicate of dummy.fcp, and experiment on that. And I do it a couple of times, just to make sure for myself that the new functionality is well understood and predictable. I even try and do it wrong a couple of times, just to see what the results of mistakes would be like... Better learning through mistakes on your dummy ...
]If things go crazy, I have lost nothing, my current real-life project file is safe, and one of thee following is true:
] I am doing something wrong -- so I log on here
] I dont understand the functionality - so I log on here
] FCP might have a bug -- so I log on here
] All of the above -- so I log on here</small>
I recommend that you -- and everyone else! -- make one of these dummy projects for yourself, and try this solution out. And keep a copy for later, when you come across that next possible workflow enhancement / project destruction tool.
Regards
Peter

Difference between IN and OUT and Media Start and Media END?? NEED HELP!!!

As the titles states, what is the difference?
I edited my film in preview/jpeg mode and now need to online the project to full quality. So far it hasn't gone to well. For example the media starts at 00:09:45:12. When I do a batch capture I watch the camera fly right by the time code that it should start capturing at. What am I doing wrong???
Some files onlined easy, but there is a set from one tape that just won't sync up or capture.
It also keeps telling me that I have time code breaks from time to time, but when I play the tapes back they look fine to me. No obvious breaks in time code from start to end.
thanks for any help or advice

Recapturing can be really tricky. Takes practice and it's never recommended that you try it out on a critical piece. Timecode breaks can be perceived by FCP as being caused by several things besides actual breaks in the flow of code. The most common is probably tape dropout.
The clips that are giving you trouble, try parking the tape very close to one of the start points and recapture only that one clip.
If your in point is too close to a timecode glitch, you will never be able to recapture it. You'll need to capture it using NOW and then recut the clip into the scene.
bogiesan

Help! Batch Capture Changes My Logged Clips' Media Start & Media End

I'd be very grateful for any help on this.
I log a tape with about 40 clips ranging from 30 seconds to 4 minutes. I select the clips and start a batch capture. Everything appears to be capturing normally and I receive no error messages or dropped frame warnings - after my last clip is captured I get a "Successfully Captured" message.
However, as soon as I click "Finished," all of my clip media start's, media end's, and durations in the log window arbitrarily change to weird times. All my media start points are 26 frames too early (I've tripple-checked that "Add Handles" is indeed deactivated), and the media end points make no sense at all.
A clip that was once 44 seconds long is now only 12 seconds long, the media end point moved a whopping 34:03 too early. Another clip will become 2 seconds longer, the media start point still shifted back 26 frames, but with the media end now 31 frames too late. Checking the original files on my drive confirms that only these weird, unusable segments are what has been captured.
What complicates things is that I just discovered today that if I capture locally to my internal hard disk, the clips capture normally (the times remain unchanged). But if I set my capture scratch to my external hard drive (a LaCie F800 2-TB RAID-5 using Firewire-800), that's when the clips start changing themselves. I ran disk utility and found no errors on the drive, and have never had a problem with it or any part of my configuration until the last month or so... the only changes to my system being the regular use of Software Update.
On top of that, my colleague is experiencing a similar problem with batch capture changing his clip times, even though he is using a different computer (single-processor G5), a different video deck (Sony DHR-1000), and a different storage medium (Apple Xserve RAID).
So my question is: What is happening! The only thing I can think of is that perhaps some update has a bug - but I can't find anyone with a similar problem online.
Any help on this would be extremely appreciated! Thank you in advance for your advice.
Dual 2.3GHz PowerPC G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4) Deck: JVC CU-VH1 / Storage: LaCie F800 2-TB RAID-5
Dual 2.3GHz PowerPC G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Here's an update on this. Both my colleague and I have confirmed that if we capture to an internal or external drive that is not a RAID FCPro batch captures just fine.
But, if the drive we are capturing to is a RAID (in my case a LaCie Biggest F800 and his case an Apple Xserve), then we get dropped frame reports and/or clip in's and out's changing after the batch capture is complete.
We even tried reformatting one of the xServe's and rebuilding it as non-journaled, it didn't solve the problem.
It seems impossible that we're the only ones to be experiencing this problem... does anybody have any help or suggestions!?

Changing Media Start and End of Logged Clips

This should be really simple, and I'm sure I'm just overlooking something. I am trying to recapture some clips in Final Cut Pro and it was fine until I came to a clip that gave me the "timecode error - pre roll, post roll, etc" message. The Media Start on the problematic clip is at 00:00:01:04 - I want to manually change this time to allow pre-roll. The timecode in the "In" and "Out" sections isn't making a difference and seems unrelated - no matter what I put it to.
So I just want to edit the Media Start time as I'm sure this would remedy my timecode error when trying to capture... but I can't edit that field. What am I doing wrong? How do I change the Media Start time?
I could recapture the whole tape independently but I already have sequences edited based on my previously logged clip. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

If you are re-capturing then you must have used Capture Now to get the clip first time round or you would have run into the same trouble with pre-roll. You'll have to capture the clip again using the same method. Of course, the chances of getting the same start and end code using Capture Now are slim, but if you can get in earlier and out later then you should be able to manually re-connect the clip.
rh

Converting to ProRes changes Media Start and End

I have a series of clips that were incorrectly all captured Uncompressed.
Primarily to save on space, I need to convert them to ProRes.
Using Compressor, I drop the clips in and use one of the preset settings for High Quality Progressive ProRes and convert. The conversion works great.
However, after I replace the clips with the new slimmer versions, when I start FCP up and reconnect them, it tells me that the Media Start and End changed. Indeed, when I look at the Uncompressed and ProRes version in FCP, they do not have the same Media Start and End values.
Can anyone help me understand what is going on here? How is the conversion changing these values?
Or better yet, provide me with a better workflow for converting all these clips to ProRes so FCP does not have a fit?
Thanks,
Dean

To keep the same timecode, you have to use the Media Manager and RECOMPRESS.
Shane

Media Start and End times have changed.

Hello,
I have an old project from which I off-lined all footage to save disk space. I only saved the Project files. Now when I open the project to do some changes I naturally have to recapture the original footage. The problem is that some clips have weird media start and end times that don't match the time code on the tapes. Therefor I cannot batch capture them, and the referenced cuts on the timeline reflect these weird time codes as well. Can anyone tell me why this has happened and how I might work around it so I don't loose my edits. Please and thanks!

anybody have a solution to this yet?
I opened up an FCP4.5 project into 5.1.4, batch captured some clips, and it changed the Media Start times to 00:00:00;00, and the Media End times then matched the Duration times.
Anybody know how to prevent this? How about how to repair it?
In case this matters, or is relevant, when I do a Batch Capture of a clip, it is playing it TWICE in the capture process. No dropped frames along the way, it just plays through it in normal stuttery capture mode, rewinds, plays through again, leaving successful Capture (though with aforementioned Media times problem AND with occasional audio/video out of sync).

Media start problem

hi.
have been capturing some tapes and half way thru FCP started losing timecode on finished clips - media start defaulted to 00:00:00:000.
solved the problem now and is capturing fine (think it was because we were trying to capture over a network or poss a corrupt preference)
is there anyway now to manually input the timecodes to FCP, i.e replace the media start 00:00:00:00 with 09:59:47:00 so I dont have to recapture the tapes -
these values are all locked in on the browser and are not editable as far as I can see.
Thanks a lot if you can help.
Chris

Yes... look in the "Modify" menu. From there you can set the timecode to be correct. Select a clip then select Modify/Timecode...
Jerry

Importing C100 AVCHD footage (timecode, media start, clip names)

I primarily shoot and edit AVCHD footage from Canon C100. Typical ingest workflow is to use the Data Import Utility by Pixela. This creates individual .MTS files on my with unique file names (GREAT)...BUT when I bring the files into PP CS6 it sets the media start time for each clip at 00:00:00:00 (essentially wiping out the timecode reference). Alternatively, if I simply copy entire contents of the card to my raid then use the Media Browser in PP to import the footage, the timecode—and media start time—is maintained from the shoot (GREAT)...BUT the individual clip names that it assigns always start with 00000.mts, 00001.mts and so on). This creates a problem when relinking footage...because now I've got multiple projects with the same file names. Any ingest workflow recommendations?
Appreciate your perspective(s).
~ Brian

Use the original media, which gives you the timecode, and upgrade to CC, which gives you the new Link and Locate feature, making relinking a breeze.

WEIRD! Lost timecode "media start"

My timecode from imported P2 material all went to 00:00:00:00 as the "media start" .... I remember it was all right as I recorded it in the field a few days ago and even remember it being right when I imported .... anyone know what could have happened?

I don't know what could have happened between the field and the import if it was recorded properly in the field, but I'd say head over to the Creative Cow forum- there's a whole lotta' good stuff regarding P2 peculiarities there.
I hesitate to suggest, but is it possible the TC wasn't okay in the field? I only ask because I received a bunch of tapes the other day which the camera assistant insisted were recorded fine, but it turns out his display was set to control track, so when he thought he was recording TC he wasn't. A long shot, but just in case.
I hope that's not the case and that you get this worked out.
Good luck,
Joni

Moved media files relink with different start/end times

Hi all,
I'm really stuck here so any help would be greatly appreciated.
I've got a number of FCP projects which use media from one drive.
The drive containing this media is soon to be in use by another project so I have done a direct copy of all the media onto another drive using finder. Literally a drag and drop copy of the files.
However, when I re-open the project and relink to the 'new' files on the new drive I am getting multiple "different start/end times" errors causing all the edited clips to play from the wrong times.
How can I stop it changing the time code when doing this?
Thanks
YD

On closer inspection, this only seems to be affecting BWavs, if that helps at all?

Media Start/End Timecode problems

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