Solution to correcting strobing AVCHD captured in FCP 2 as movie file?

Hello, We were given a Sony AVCHD camera by a client to capture rushes needed for a documentary. We were only given a component cable to digitize, which we used.
Now we have quicktime rushes, which strobe on playback when there is movement. I know Voltaic won't work now as the capture was done wrong. Any solutions, as we don't have the camera anymore?
We are using the latest FCP Studio2 on G5 Dual core. We also have a few G5 quads which can't help now.
Thanks
Hiram

Hey Hiram
The problem is you clips are playing back with the wrong field order.
Unfortunately FCP doesn't have a way of simply telling a clip to play back using a different field order, but there is an easy fix. Just apply the Video Filters > Video > Shift Fields filter to the clips.
You can either add the filter to the source clips, in the viewer, before you edit, or to each instance of the clips when used in the timeline.
Hope it helps
Andy

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Now the part that has me baffled is that I used this exact same process on .mts files from the exact same camera for the exact same client before and had no such issues. Everything was workable in FCP and exports were nothing like this in terms of time.
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Also, I tried bringing the clips into Premiere, which also chokes on them.
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cheers!
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Hi Shane,
I didn't import MP4 to FCP, I exported the sequence as MP4.
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Avchd imports into fcp 10.0.7 but choppy playback-even after using clipwrap

I am not sure where the problem may be. I record onto the sd card (16gb sandisk extreme class 10, 45mb/s) from brand new canon m500. Card is read in FCP X and can import but when I play back everything is choppy.
I am recording as avchd, mxp-used 60i frame rate & 30 frame both had same issue.
I tried clipwrap and that improved the first 5 seconds and then still choppy for the remainder.
When I playback the sd card inside the camera no problem-looks and sounds great.
If I look at the file on the sd card - after putting sd card in macbook pro (mid 2009-handles FCP just fine) or copying to computer it is titled as "private." I changed the permissions.
I am also using a canon hv 20 (mini dv)-absolutely no problems with import.
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Thanks Alchroma & digibudIl--Iappreciate the quick reply.
I was able to figure out a solution very similar to the suggestion of changing the playback & optimizing media. Here is what I set up. With these setings, the playback of the file before import is still choppy. After import it is still choppy until the background tasks reach 100%-next to the timecode. Once 100% then it playsback smoothly with these settings.
I was using the internal hard drive on my macbook pro. My workflow is to (sometimes) use the internal hard drive and then transfer to external hard drive. Other times import to external hd.
What was interesting to me about the import process is with AVCHD, is that FCP X recognizes the file from the sd card as an avchd file. I did not need to save the files to another folder, create an archive etc. I tried all these with the same result as the simple import in FCP X.
One last question. The Canon M500 can shoot at a frame speed of 60i and 30. Is 30 lesser quality or is 60 better in some way. I will be editing the footage in FCP X.
Thanks again for the help and I hope my experience helps others.

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Hello:
I'm preparing a video to explain how to do some work for my job, and I'd like to capture the screen to a .mov file as I perform some tasks on the computer. How can I do this? Thank you!

QuickTime Player allows you make screen recordings.
Just launch QuickTime Player and choose File>New Screen Recording.
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Matt
Message was edited by: Matthew Morgan

Unable to capture in FCP, Quicktime and iMovie, camera not recognized.

I am unable to capture in FCP, Quicktime and iMovie.
I have been dealing with this problem for quite a while now, and I think I have tried everything posted on these forums regarding this issue. I have been to the Quicktime, iMovie, and this FCP forum looking for the solution. Hopefully someone has a suggestion that I have missed or have not tried yet. I have a Powerbook G4 running OSX Tiger 10.4. I am running Quicktime 7.04, and FCP 4.5.
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Here are the details…
- Camera is connect via Firewire. I have tried the built in ports, as well as a Firewire Carbus card.
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- I have tried the camera on a Windows XP machine, and capture works perfectly, so I know the camera is functioning properly in VTR mode.
- Deleted my FCP pref’s using FCP Rescue.
- Deleted the Quicktime receipts, and re-installed Quicktime 7.04
- Reverted back to Quicktime 7.01
- Set the audio to 44.1 in the the Audio MIDI setup in the Utilities folder
- Tried the “GarageBand” fix, opening the programing, playing a few notes and closing.
- I have installed Quicktime using the program “Yank” to completely delete Quicktime and re-install.
I may have tried more solutions, but these are the fixes that I can recall.
If anyone has any others suggestions, it would be much appreciated.
Brent

Hi Brent:
Although it looks as if you have tried all of the 'fixes' that are normally suggested here, please read through this Apple Article to see if some obscure thing applies to you.
iMovie: Cannot see or control camera
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=43000
Sue

AVCHD: how to deal with the .MTS files in FCP 5 or iMovie 08

I just bought a Canon HF10 AVCHD camcorder and stumbles into the difficult editing process with FCP 5. Here are my steps:
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- I export the sequence as: Share >Export Final Cut XML…
- In FCP 5: import XML…then I tried different modes: AIC 1080i60 (image is overstreched), AIC 720p30 (proportion is OK, but I captured in 1080…), AIC DV NTSC 48kHz (not HD…) BUT none of the resulting sequence is rendered, I still have the red bar above the timeline.
For financial reason, I’d like to avoid to go to FCP 6, which seems to work natively with the AVCHD format.
My questions are:
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- is there a way not to have to render the imported files in FCP ?
Can anyone help me ?

I have the same camera and the reality is you're going to go through that translation from AVCHD to some sort of Quicktime file format no matter which tool you use. I do it with FCP6 and it needs to do the same translation from the .mts files to (they recommend) ProRes files. AVCHD is a highly compressed format and when you move it to an editable form, the file(s) is going to get much larger. It is HiDef content after all which can be quite large.
In my case, once I do the transfer to ProRes format nothing needs to be rendered in the FCP timeline unless I add some sort of filter or effect to it.
The rendering problem you are describing is often caused by the Sequence setting not matching the content settings. This is automated in FCP6 where it detects the content format of the video you're trying to add and changes the sequence settings to match the content. Take a look at the sequence settings and see if they match the structure of the content and that should resolve the 'everything needs to be rendered' situation.

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i am making VHS(PAL) -> DVD transfers using a Canopus ADVC110 analog converter with iBook G4 with Tiger. previously i was using iMovie HD in capturing which worked fine and gave me good quality DV files, but since i needed more editing possibilities i turned to FCP. i was surprised to find out that it looks like i cannot maintain the quality nowhere near where i've used to since FCP (i have FCP 4 only unfortuntely) only produces me small-sized Quicktime Movie files with mediocre quality compared to the huge but good-looking DV files i got with iMovie. the quality of these is simply way too low for me. and i cannot use iMovie HD for capturing and then import the files to FCP because FCP 4 doesn't understand iMovie HD projects. now am i just being stupid and missing something with the FCP settings here? or is updating my FCP a solution?
i don't need to work with DV cameras, just with VHS->converter->iBook combination.
i'd be very grateful for quick tips/solutions.

A few points: [cliff notes version: get a monitor]
1. Without a TV (aka NTSC/PAL Video Monitor) to see your footage sent out via Firewire, you have no way of know what your footage looks like. QT may do a better job of representing DV stream files, but it in no way means they are of higher quality.
2. Capturing in Final Cut Pro IS computationally intensive. Here's why. DV stream, (the stuff iMovie uses) is a direct write out of the muxed (mixed audio & video) as it is written on the tape by your camera. FCP (or more accurately Quicktime) takes that Muxed stream and separates the audio and video into individual streams IN REAL TIME. If the computer can not keep up, dropped frames or corrupted files are the result.
3. This demuxing does not change the QUALITY of the video. The file started as ones and zeros and remains as ones and zeros. There is nothing to convert at this point - it still is a direct digital transfer - just pulling apart the strings.
4. Playing these more complex Quicktime files places greater demands on your system than iMovie's DV stream.
5. The people who wrote FCP recognized that displaying a high data rate file on a limited computing platform may overwhelm that platform. So, in response, they designed FCP to create a low resolution proxy for the display.
6. Why do this? Now listen closely .... because FCP is designed as a Professional application and professionals (or serious dilettantes) will invest in the proper equipment to monitor the audio and video components of their work This is how a SOFTWARE based editing solution can compete with very, very expensive hardware based systems. FCP is quite scalable. It will run on the minimum configurations but really works much better with more horsepower.
Now, the limited ram, video speed, hard drive capacity and frontside bus speed of your computer is being tested by this process and is not holding up well. A second hard drive to be a dedicated media drive will help. More RAM will help. A faster CPU will help. A machine that is configured from the beginning to run these kind of applications will help.
I'm not trying to be mean here, just trying to explain the complexity of the situation. I really do hold the Apple marketing people responsible for over selling the program. It is NOT rocket science, but does demand a much greater understanding of technology than most people I know to able to actually grasp.
good luck,
x
[cliff notes version redoux: get a monitor]

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If it matters, I'm capturing home video from several sources: Canopus ADVC-300, and mini-DV tapes using a Sony camcorder.
Thanks!
Jenny

Thank you so much. The NTFS-3G did the trick. I have one more dumb question (again...I'm completely PC-illiterate). Would .dv be the best format for me to capture video again for a client who is a home user of a PC? I was planning to capture with FCP (in .mov format) -- but perhaps for ease of use for the client, I should use Toast or iMovie and capture in .dv?
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It's not because of incorrect settings then. Next thing to try:
Deleting FCP Preferences:
Open a Finder window. Set the view mode to columns:
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Move the files "Final Cut Pro 6.0 Prefs", "Final Cut Pro Obj Cache" and "Final Cut Pro Prof Cache" to the Trash and empty it.
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Can't use HDV quicktime .mov files (captured in FCP on a mac at work) on PC

Hiya everyone!
I've taken some work home from the macs at work, but can't open it on my PC.
Footage was captured in FCP on a mac at work, HDV quicktime .mov, but won't open in the newest quicktime, windows media player and more importantly in Adobe After Effects CS3 or Premiere Pro CS3 on my PC at home.
When I try opening the files in quicktime, the screen is white, but the audio plays. They don't open in windows media player at all. When I try to import them into Premiere, I get a message reading, "Error Message, Codec missing or unavailable". But they import into After Effects, except they only play as white...
I've tried converting them into almost everything, and they often play (as .avi for example in the newest QT, WMP, Adobe Premiere and AE), but they increase A LOT in size and decrease A LOT in quality.
The HDV files that won't open read as:
Source: *.mov
Format: HDV 1080i50, 1920 x 1080, Millions 16-bit Integer (Little Endian), 48.000 kHz
Movie FPS: 25.00
Playing FPS: (Available when playing)
Data Size: 69.53 MB
Data Rate: 28.10 mbits/sec
Current time: 00:00:01.64
Duration: 00:00:20.76
Normal size: 1920 x 1080
Current size: 1920 x 1080
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I've been all through google, and the adobe and apple sites, and the best I could find is here:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=7753066#7753066
and
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8159317&#8159317
My problem is almost identical to these 2...
No one in the whole world seems to have an answer...
Does anyone here know how I can use the HDV files from the work macs on my PC at home?
-Kaiwin

HEy, I have been looking into this problem... i also wanted to play quicktime files using my pc... The last thing i tried was downloadiing these codecs
1)apple pro res *for pc
2)mpeg 2 codec for pc
I have HDV files captured on a Mac G5 they are 30p 720,
I think i am close to solving the problem because: before installing the codecs i couldn't see the video and only audio.. but now i open it and i can see the video partially... here are my screen captures....
anyone interested in getting this solved???,... i would also like some help in importing m2t files from VLC player to HDV split where they can be read and edited. Thank you.
Ultimately my goal is to be able to edit these HDV files directly and export them back out with good quality.. because my only editing choice right now is Windows movie maker.
this is an error i got from the HDV split program. Its supposed to read m2t files..

After recent QuickTime updates fcp and QuickTime will not open .mov files captured on my FS-H200. Iran

After recent QuickTime updates fcp and QuickTime will not open .mov files captured on my FS-H200. I put this onthe quick time thread and they sent me here.

and NEVER do a software update unless you've got a clone of your startup drive so you can restore your system to it's working state if something goes wrong.
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2494

Can Curved Verticals Be Corrected Reasonably Easily In FCE /FCP ?

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Solution to correcting strobing AVCHD captured in FCP 2 as movie file?

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