Split FCE Capture Scratch files?

I have some captured video I'd like to archive onto DVD, but I hadn't set the file size limit in Final Cut when I did the importing and now the video files are too big. Is there a way to split these video files into smaller pieces without messing up my Final Cut project?

Not without breaking the relationship between the clips and your FCE project file.
However, you can use FCE to 'split' your video clip files into smaller pieces. Just place one of the clips on the timeline, select a section that is less than about 20 minutes and Export it to QuickTime Movie, be sure to CHECK the option for 'Make Movie Self-Contained'. The resulting file will be an exact copy of that portion of your original clip file. The reason for the 20 minute limit is that for DV material that is about all you can fit on a single-layer data DVD.

Similar Messages

Changing name of Capture Scratch files

My Capture Scratch files have a lot of untitled files although I named the project. I would like to rename them to match the project name but when I did this and tried to reconnect FCE insists that the file name be the same. Is there any way to change the name of these files?
Thanks

If you are not using the clip files in a project, you can just change the file names via the Finder.
If you are already using the clip files in a project, you need to be careful when you change the file names because changing the file name does not change the clip name in the FCE Browser. You will need to manually change both names if you want to keep things straight.
You can change the name of the clip file via the Finder; and the clip name in the FCE Browser by selecting the clip name in the Browser window and editing the name.
You can also change the file names via the FCE Browser; Control-click the clip name in the FCE Browser and select 'Reveal in Finder'; you can then change the name of the clip file in the resulting Finder window. Then also change the clip name in the FCE Browser.
In the reconnect media dialog box, you will need to UNcheck the option called 'Matched Name & Reel Only" in order to point to the clip file whose name you changed.
In the future, give your clips unique names at the time you capture them.

Clearing the Capture Scratch file

When is it safe to clear the files in your capture scratch file? i am going to be upgrading to leopard and when i upgrade i want to strip my 3 hard drives. so before i do that i want to make sure i have my back up all my current work and get rid of what ever is not important. so the big question is what can you trash and what do you need to keep in this file. if i had to guess, you need to keep all the files that are current, if you delete them then you will need to recapture them. is that correct?

Ian's right.
But if you're brave and - more importantly - are absolutely meticulous about how you logged your clips (reel number being the most important) and are sure that all your DV tapes run in an unbroken 00:00;00-60:00;00 - then you can delete your capture scratch per project whenever you feel comfortable about doing that and then...
... when everything has been reinstalled and reformatted back up you can open your original project files, click capture project and you will be prompted to insert your reels number/name by number/name. FCE will automatically find what you logged.
If you're too late (ie you've entered too many reel 001's) you can still change the reel settings in the appropriate bins in the browser. Just view as list and then and rename the reel settings.
Be sure to name the tapes too.
You should be fine (if you're brave and meticulous).
Incidentally all other files can the FCE docs folder (Waveform cache, thumbnail cache, autosave vault, ender files and audio render files) can be safely deleted. When you re-open your project files you can re-render everything. Just never never delete your project files.
Hope this helps.
M.

Error code when trying to move capture scratch files

I tried moving the capture scratch files for 10 interview files I have created from my documents to my external hard drive. I was able to move the render files without any problem but each time I try to drag a capture file from my documents and place it in the capture folder on my external hard drive I get the following error " Sorry, the operation could not be completed because an unexpected error occurred. Error Code (0)."
The external drive still has 261 GB empty, so not sure what the problem is.

What would be the best way to approach this. Can I buy a firewire external hard drive and connect both it and the USB drive to my computer and move files from the USB drive to the firewire drive? And also move the capture files to the firewire drive?
Will my local apple store be a good place to buy the correct drive?
Thanks for working me through this.

Audio Capture Scratch Files Disappeared....

But not all of the audio files are missing. Can't quite figure it out as some of the originals within the same audio capture scratch folder still exist.
Any thoughts.
FYI: Things were cool until I tried to digitize some new video when a message popped up asking if I'd like to add, continue or abort from reconnecting some 26 missing files. I think I hit continue which may have erased some things. They can't be lost forever, right?
In the meantime--I've restored the project today to settings saved from when all was good yesterday. Also, have adjusted and readjusted capture scratch settings in batch capture mode. However, this provided no new results.

You can import audio files into FCE from any location
on any HD. The audio file itself could be in your
iTunes music folder but if so, I suggest making a
duplicate copy of the song file in some other folder
(your choice, your location, your folder name) to
minimize the risk of accidently messing up something
in your iTunes music folder.
You could even drag a copy of the file from the
Finder into the FCE Browser. Once it's in the FCE
Browser, you can drag the music file onto one of your
audio tracks.
The ideal format is AIFF, 16-bit, stereo, 48Khz.
Truly thanks for that. But... In order to convert the iTunes file to the above, I have to go to the iTunes Pref. window and the folder location field, click the Change button and navigate to the "project's audio media folder"... But I don't have, can't find or don't know how to make that folder. So I can't specify the destination. I'd love to drag/drop, but the format won't be AIFF, 16 bit 48kHz.
When I read the manuals instruction for importing directly from a CD, it also says to drag the files into my "project's audio media folder", so I'm back to the same problem. I guess I could try dragging from the CD directly to my browser, and I will, but even if that works for now, I need to understand what/where/how to create the audio media folder, as I fear I'm missing a basic understanding here.
And why is there no Audio Capture Scratch folder showing in the FCE doc folder? Even if this unrelated and irrelevant, I'm still puzzled about that. I'd appreciate any clues here. Thanks again.

Accidently deleted capture scratch files

Hello All,
In my effort to be tidy, and not understanding the FCP system, I accidently deleted Capture Scratch footage. Now I have clips with the red line through them, and "reconnect media" does nothing. Any hope, or just the school of hard knocks?
Thanks.
DG

DG
I think you'll not reuse a tape in your life again, right?
Now you can try with some kind of application to recover deleted files from your system. Hal pointed to one application in this thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1281615
Hope that helps !
Alberto

Render and Capture Scratch Files Suddenly Deleted?!

Something absolutely devastating has happened. I've been working on this FCE project for weeks. I had just exported a section of it for Soundtrack when I suddenly got an error to tell me a media file was offline. Nothing seemed to be offline, though, so I ignored it, but then steadily I got more and more media offline errors until I find that a great deal of my render files have vanished, and one very important raw footage file has gone too!
And then FCE crashed.
And then Soundtrack (which I'd been running in the background) stopped responding.
I am utterly devastated and I don't know what to do. The files just seem to have self-destructed. They're not in the trash, or on my media drive. The media drive was connected all through this time, so I can't understand it... What am I supposed to do?
Please help.
Message was edited by: David Morgan7

Ah. Thank you very much. It seems there has been quite a spate of similar issues in the past. I'd bet that this bug has, as was suggested in one topic, been fixed in FCP 4.5 and above, with Tiger. It's interesting that I was advised to get FCP instead of FCE on the basis that bugs were fixed sooner!
Edit: Hey! Just a moment! That was you! You remember this thread on MacNN... http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=278766
I started that thread before I bought FCE!
Anyway, in hindsight I think I was asking for trouble. I think I had about three Soundtrack projects open at the same time, maybe more than one FCE sequence too. I was clicking frantically and giving key commands impatiently. I must get out of the habit; that can only be conducive to crashes.
Thanks again!

FCE Render scratch files disappearing!

I keep capture files. they keep disappearing and being put offline!
If anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks

Where are the files stored?
Internal or external drive?
What type of drive USB or Firewire.
How is this drive formatted?
It will need to be formatted to Mac OS Extended.
Al

Deleting Capture scratch and Render files

When and how should one go about deleting capture scratch files and render files?
seems alot of folks say to transfer them to disc.... do you have to save them?
i mean if you save the time line project (to re-edit later) and save a dvd proj, and a disc img. and even a copy of the movie/media as qt file -----why do you need to save all the cap scratch and render files???????
please educate me.
thanks
tim

Whoops - only half your questions answered, so I'll try harder:
> i mean if you save the time line project (to re-edit
later)
It's the Media Files in the Capture Folder that are the heart of the project. If you delete those, the Timeline will contain only Offline Clips with nothing to re-connect to.
> and save a dvd proj
Same answer as the QT Movie - only worse! The DVD version will be highly compressed and you'll lose a lot of quality if you re-edit it.
If the project is very small, you might be able to put your FCP project file and the Media Files on a Data DVD - but it will have to be VERY small. The Media Files are BIG.
Andy
G5 Quad 8GB. 250+500 GB HDs. G-Raid 1TB. FCP 5.1.1. Shake 4.1. Sony HVR Z1E Mac OS X (10.4.7)
"I've taught you all I know, and still you know nothing".

Resizing capture scratch/ large .mov files

Most of the time when I capture I get all the footage on the tape. I realized this is eating up my hard drive. Is there a way in quicktime I can edit these capture scratch files to where my capture scratch is contains only what I need?

Hi Paul,
In addition to Studio X and Andy there's another Media Manager workflow.
Make Subclips of the parts you want to keep. Advantage is that you can rename those subclips. Then use Media Manager: Delete unused media" and "filenames based on clipnames".
Read the manual before using Media Manager. It can be irreversible.
Also, to come to you original question, if you just want to delete some complete clips simple select those clips in FCP's browser and control Click > Make Offline > Remove from the disk. This deletes the quicktime files from the capture scratch folder on your disk. And it leaves the TC information of that clip within your project, so easy to recapture if needed. Note that this is also irreversible and you need to know what you are doing in these cases.
Rienk

QT file to Capture Scratch

I am fairly new to Final cut Pro. How do I convert a QT file into a Capture scratch file if possible. I want to be able to access the file from my bin for editing. Thanks

You do need to crack manual open a little bit. Your questions are so basic that they indicate that you haven't done any research.
To make the video fit the screen you need to scale it. Open the manual and search for "scaling" or RGB and wireframe.
Open the manual, and search for "render all."
People are here to help, but you also have to do some of the work your self.
The pdf help manual is accessed from the help menu of the program.
Good luck

Final Cut Express Capture Scratch problem

I am unable to play my video clips as for some reason Final Cut Express is giving a message that a number of capture scratch files are missing. It does this for all clips (referring to different capture scratch files). This did not used to happen. I do not know why it now wants the files. I have looked at old backups and the files are not there (correctly I believe). I have reinstalled the software, copied the backed-up documents (that I know used to work) but still the same error.
Can anyone please help me sort this out (I need the files for Uni work on Monday!)
Thanks.

I occasionally have a similar problem. Tom said:
"Is the media for the project available somewhere on your computer?"
I suggest that you find the exact name of the Project file that is trying to find the lost Captured file(s). Then search the Mac for all occurrences of that file name. The missing Captured file(s) should be in a folder with the same name as the Project. For example, if the Project file is called: "my project file", then search for: "my project file". If they exist, that will find them. (It is possible that the actual Captured File(s) in the folder "my project file" might be named "Untitled", but open it anyway (by double-clicking it) and see if it looks like the missing captured file.
To search on the Mac, click anywhere in the desktop, do File > Find. In the resulting dialogue box choose "Search in:" = "Local discs", then type the filename and press ENTER. (Choosing "Local discs" rather than "Home" is important because the Captured Scratch might have been set to be on an external disc.)
Good luck.

Can I move scratch files to an external hard drive.

I am completing a project in which I am making DVDs of the interviews of 50 people. I saved the FCE project file into which I uploaded their interview for each person onto a external hard drive, but the scratch disk for these files is in my Documents. After completing about 10 of them the memory on my Mac Book Pro is running low. I deleted all of the render files, but still need more room.
Can I move the scratch files for the first 10 people I have completed onto the same external hard drive where their FCE file is located? And then reset my scratch disk to be the next external hard drive I start to upload to?
What steps would I take to make sure all of the information I needed had been transferred to the external drive before moving the scratch files on my documents into the trash and emptying the trash?
Thanks!

If you relocate the files, FCE will give you a message when it opens asking to reconnect them. Look at this thread for more information on reconnecting media, specifically my post with the pictures:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1968953&tstart=15
You can reset your scratch disk to put all future captured files onto your external in FCE System Settings.

Audio capture scratch for iTunes import/48kHz convert

Working in first FCE HD project. I want to import an additional music track from iTunes. Following the manual's instructions for converting iTunes files to 48 kHz for import, it says to "navigate to the project's audio media folder". In the external hard drive's doc folder it shows all the necessary folders there except Audio Capture Scratch ( which was default checked and unselectable in Settings prior to the initial video/audio capture of existing commercials, etc. from a deck).
Apparently setting up this Audio Capture Scratch as a destination that shows in the FCE docs window must be done after the initial set-up. (?) If so, I can't find how to do it. According to what I've been reading, though, the Audio Capture Scratch should already be among the 7 folders (Capture scratch, Render files, Audio render files, etc.) but it's the only one missing. Is this even related? Can audio be imported directly to the project as opposed to the ext. drive?
Question is... Should that in fact be the destination folder? Or do I need to create an "audio media folder" for this project? If so, how? I've not found anything in FCE Help or the Brenneis manual.
Thanks for any help on what must be a basic conceptual hole in my limited mental model.

You can import audio files into FCE from any location
on any HD. The audio file itself could be in your
iTunes music folder but if so, I suggest making a
duplicate copy of the song file in some other folder
(your choice, your location, your folder name) to
minimize the risk of accidently messing up something
in your iTunes music folder.
You could even drag a copy of the file from the
Finder into the FCE Browser. Once it's in the FCE
Browser, you can drag the music file onto one of your
audio tracks.
The ideal format is AIFF, 16-bit, stereo, 48Khz.
Truly thanks for that. But... In order to convert the iTunes file to the above, I have to go to the iTunes Pref. window and the folder location field, click the Change button and navigate to the "project's audio media folder"... But I don't have, can't find or don't know how to make that folder. So I can't specify the destination. I'd love to drag/drop, but the format won't be AIFF, 16 bit 48kHz.
When I read the manuals instruction for importing directly from a CD, it also says to drag the files into my "project's audio media folder", so I'm back to the same problem. I guess I could try dragging from the CD directly to my browser, and I will, but even if that works for now, I need to understand what/where/how to create the audio media folder, as I fear I'm missing a basic understanding here.
And why is there no Audio Capture Scratch folder showing in the FCE doc folder? Even if this unrelated and irrelevant, I'm still puzzled about that. I'd appreciate any clues here. Thanks again.

Workflow, capturing, and file sizes question

I currently use FCE strictly for DV work, but need to upgrade to either FCE HD or FCP for use with HDV.
My workflow now consists of capturing to a scratch disk, then archiving the captured DV file to an external HD for backup purposes and storing the original tape in a safe location.
With FCE HD, can I similarly archive the captured HDV file prior to transcoding to AIC? Or, must I archive the much larger transcoded file? I would perfer to archive the smaller file, and then retranscode it if necessary to work on the project again at a later date (similarly to how I can now just copy the original captured DV file back and reopen the project).
Thanks,
Randy

Tom,
Thanks for the info. I know that FCE HD cannot EDIT HDV natively, but since the transcoding is not done in real time during capture, I wondered if the captured HDV data was stored in a temporary file until transcoded (and if the temporary file could be archived).
Unless FCE HD can export to MPEG-2 with minimal loss, it sounds like I would need to archive the AIC file, or use FCP to edit native HDV and export.
- Randy

Split FCE Capture Scratch files?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for