Playback of captured HD files in Quicktime Pro 7 and FCPS5 no longer works!

Question

Hello to all, this is my first post here on FCP discussions so please be kind also, I am somewhat a novice with FCP, Macs and QT pro. Here is my problem -
A year a go a purchased the full FCP pro 5 HD studio and I captured some Hi def 1080i50 footage from a Sony Z1E. at that time all the footage was captured fine and played fine and also played perfectly externally to FCP in QT pro. A few months ago i mucked up my MAC and had to reinstall the OS, all of my apps were fine tho and didnt need to be reinstalled.
However it is only now that when i need to review my HD material i find that FCP no longer plays the files, all i get -
"Codec not found. You may be using a compression type without the corressponding hardware" AND QT Pro only outputs audio and a white blank screen and directs me to download 3rd party plugins but NOT specifically which one to play HD stuff.
The QT inspector says the fils are : -
HDV 1080i50, 1440 x 1080 (1888 x 1062), Millions
16-bit Integer (Big Endian), Mono, 48.000 kHz FPS 25
Forgive me if you have answered this Question a million times but i have searched all the forums and knowledge bases without any success.
Do i have a missing codec or is QT pro 7? Will i have to uninstall the whole FCP studio and then reinstall?Im running on Tiger Os X 10.4.11 details of softw' below, thanks in advance guys.

Answer 1

In the FWIW category ...
I do understand the reluctance to do a wipe and reinstall.
My aging Ti Powerbook which has been a star running 4.5/6.5.2/10.3.9 was getting very flakey. It had been several years with a lot of upgrades and other software installs/erases.
I finally decided to bite the bullet and install everything from scratch. Herein are X's rules for a happy experience.
• Make a list of all Applications to install. Which ones do you need? Go through your Applications and Utilities folder and note which ones you'll want to reinstall. Note the version.
(I don't know about you, but I had a shocking number of apps I downloaded, used for a few times and never used again. Forget installing these disused apps.)
• If you are upgrading from a PPC to an intel machine, you'll want to know if the apps are UB or PPC. Upgrading your PPC software to UB can be a significant cost in a PPC to intel conversion. Know what you are getting into - do a search before installation to see if there is a UB version available. You can find out whether an app is PPC or UB by looking in System Profiler>Software>Applications. This window will also tell you the current installed version number. Generate a .pdf file of it and have everything listed for your records.
• In the list, note whether is was a download or you have a disk. If it was a download, find the DMG or installer package and copy it to an external firewire drive. Put it in a folder titled - Apps to be installed - or something easily identifiable.
• If you need to go back to a previous version (e.g. QT 6.5.2) download the dmg file BEFORE you start the installation process.
• In the list, note if the application is a full install or an UPGRADE. If an upgrade, make sure you have the previous version's disks (as well as the serial numbers - see below).
If the UPGRADE version does not require the previous version to be present - eg when installing the upgrade version of FCP 6, DO NOT install earlier software. All you'll need is the previous serial number. The way to figure this out is to try to install the newest version. If it needs the previous version present before proceeding, the install process will tell you that.
Some upgrades will require that a version of the previous app is on the disk. If this is the case, when you install the first version, simply install the minimum so the app will be on the hard drive. You will need to do this because there will be NOTHING on the disk after you do your clean erase.
• Referencing your list, find ALL your disks before you start. This includes previous versions if you are unsure whether they will be needed.
• Spend some time looking through this forum for Professional Application installation issues. The classic example is a conflict between Logic and FCP. Install FCP first and you'll have no issues.
• Sort your list into an installation sequence. Lay out your disks in that order.
• Referencing the list, make sure you have ALL your serial numbers including those you've downloaded. I've purchased a number of programs on line and the only documentation of the serial number was an email. All those are kept in a dedicated folder in Mac Mail. For serial numbers that arrived via electronic means, use cut and paste instead of re-typing whenever possible. This will prevent errors in transcription.
In making the list, TEXT EDIT works ok, (I use Excel). Text edit has the benefit of being easily readable on any mac. Print the list out for reference, put a copy on a flash drive or a firewire drive where you can access it to cut and past serial numbers during the installation process.
• Download Carbon Copy Cloner or one of the other backup utilities and do a full backup of your existing system drive to an external firewire drive. Make the drive bootable. *Do not* cheap out on this as this is your insurance policy. If you forget something or can not find a serial number, you often can find it and copy it from the backup system to the newly installed version. Or, if things go horribly wrong, you can simply copy the old system back to your computer and pick up where you left off.
• Recognize this is going to take some time. Ranting, drinking too much coffee, swearing, sitting in front of the computer watching the progress bar, etc will not make things go faster. All it will to is put you in a really bad frame of mind. Do it over a weekend when you can be multitasking. While you are cleaning off the mountains of paper on your desk or raking the yard, you can take regular breaks to check on progress.
Process -
• Once you have gathered and organized all the materials and backed up the drive ...
• Erase the hard drive. Use the ZEROs option as this will map out any bad sectors. This will take time. See the note above.
• Install the OS. If it is an upgrade install, see the note above regarding upgrade installs. Repair Permissions and then run the updates. Repair Permissions.
• Install your applications following your list. Make sure to Repair Permissions after each install and update..
Have fun, be prepared for a few minor glitches. If you multitask, you can get the garage/ or office cleaned out and your computer rebuilt. In all honesty, this process took all weekend plus time in the next week as I discovered apps that needed additional updates, configuration settings, etc. No doubt it would have been faster if I was sitting at the console the whole time, but I was able to get the office cleaned up and organized (which also makes ME much faster). Overall it was a very slick process.
When you have a fully functioning system again, CLONE the new system and put your info, your notes and the disks in a safe place - once you've done this once, why go through the pain of organizing this stuff again ...
Now, rejoice in a much faster machine with a lot more free disk space.
Cheers,
x