Timecode break, dropped frames

Hello Hello,
When capturing into Final Cut Express HD 3.0 an error appears that either says--dropped frames were detected, or timecode breaks.
In easy setup I switched over to DV-NTSC_DV converter and manually operated the camera. Dropped frames were detected.
I teach at a highschool that has a mac lab with two types of mac computers. The problem occurs on both computers.
The computer specs. Emac-osx 10.4.9
1.25 GHZ pwr pcG4
mem 512 MB
Intel Imac 10.4.9
1.83 GHZ core duo
mem 512 MB
We are running all computers with
quicktimepro 7.1.2
On one computer we updated to
quicktimepro 7.1.5
Problem still occured.
I am using both sony and canon mini dv to digitizing.
any suggestions
trouble in highschool

Oh man,
I read the previous posts, and the archive users and install trouble shoot looks like the fix to the problem, but with 30 computers and many highschool student users and projects on each of the computer, I cant do it. Please please apple do a patch for fce 3.0!
dopi

Similar Messages

Media Manager Trim changes timecode to Drop-frame.

Have a project with footage shot on AJA Kona Ki at 29.97Psf using Apple ProRes 422(HQ). Timecode base Non-Drop-frame time-of-day timecode. Editing in CS6.0.2 on Mac OS 10.7. Trying to trim project using media manager so that only the used media can get color-graded using Filmlight's Baselight. Once the project is trimmed and new trimmed media is created, we export an EDL from the new sequence and conform in the Baselight.
However it seems Premiere is changing the timecode of the new clips to Drop-frame timecode. The EDL seems to reflect this and the Baselight can't conform. We've imported the trimmed media into FCP 7 and confirmed that it sees the new media as Drop-frame timecode. What the heck?
Can anyone help to replicate this issue and confirm if we're seeing what we're seeing. Think it is a huge bug of some kind. If I can get someone to help confim, I'll submit a bug report.
While on the topic of drop-frame. Premiere also seems to think is needs to compensate for DF code when you import a sequence from a Premiere project straight into Adobe Media Encoder. For instance a sequence that is set to start at 01:00:00:00 imports into AME with starting timecode of 01:00:03:15. Or at least it's always 3:15 off from whatever timecode the sequence is set to start at. That sounds like the offset needed to compensate for the difference between NDF and DF code. This makes bringing one sequence in and setting in and outs while in AME a very big pain. Such as a sequence with 10-30sec spots starting at the even minute. Can anyone help to confirm this issue as well?
System info:
2x2.66 6-core Xeon.
32 GB Ram
NVIDIA Quadro 4000 for Mecury playback
OS 10.7.4
Thanks for the help.

I just looked at the data in the edl. Exported also a new edl from premiere.
In the Premiere edl, there is many FCM at start, so I added one in the AVID, and bang, project is starting correctly.
Before : (From Avid)
TITLE: TEST 720P 29,97 EDL
FCM: NON-DROP FRAME
data.....
After editing:
TITLE: TEST 720P 29,97 EDL
FCM: DROP FRAME
FCM: NON-DROP FRAME
data...

Drop frame video to non-drop frame clip warning (again)

So my most recent search of why this warning comes up reveals no good answers (unless someone can point me to a thread I overlooked...cuz I can't narrow it down without getting threads about folks who have gotten dropped frames during capture, which isn't the same situation)...
I shoot on an XL2 (drop frame) and capture with a DSR-11. Once in a while I will finish going through log and capture (in the log and capture window), setting ins, outs, etc. but I go to batch capture and it gives me the warning. All my ins/outs have semi-colons, I haven't changed the setting on my camera since I started using it more than 18 months ago, and it doesn't happen all the time. I do have the "abort capture on dropped frames" box unchecked as well (if that matters).
99.99% of the time, I've captured and there's no problems with syncing or anything. Thoughts?
Thanks,
Jonathan

If I recall right someone suggest to have your tape playing while opening Log and Capture, but I might recall wrong
I already have the "Abort on dropped frames" and "report dropped frames" unchecked.
Don't be mistaken: Dropped frames are a totally different issue from non-drop and drop frame timecode.
Drop frame timecode drops (or better: skips) timcodenumbers while counting the videoframes. That is a system to compensate for the 29,97 frames per second in order to calculate the correct length of a clip.
Dropped frames (as in "Abort on dropped frames" and "report dropped frames") is an error. Due to some reason the hardware isn't capable to record/digitize every single videoframe to your harddisk. e.g. Your captured file will have 2000 frames, while your footage on tape had 2003. Three frames were dropped then during capture. And your video will noticeble stutter at these points.
So I'd strongly recommend to do check the "Abort on dropped frames" and "report dropped frames"-options. You don't want stuttering video do you. So if your hardware couldn't handle the videofeed somehow, it would resp. abort capture or warn you that it happened.
Rienk

Dropped Frame Count

I am using Premier Elements 11 on Dell XPS 500, 8GB memory, I7-3770 CPU 3.4GHz, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. I have encountered one clip that reported dropped frames. Where can find how many frames were dropped? I have transferred several hours of video with no reported dropped frames. I am using a SIIG Firewall card with ADVC55 connected to VCR to transfer some home videos to DVD.

When you use a DV bridge, you'll often get reports of dropped frames because the program is not receiving timecode information from the camcorder, as it would be if you were capturing DV footage.
So you can ignore the message.
But meantime, if you're going to capture through your bridge, open Preferences (under the Edit menu on a PC) and go to the Capture page. Make sure that all three boxes (related to timecode and dropped frames) aren unchecked.

Dropped frames-break in timecode

need help fast!
trying to capture an HDCAM tape that is a master. there is no break in timecode on this tape. however, i keep getting either a dropped frames message or TC break message. CPU is Dual 2GHz with 2.5 gig ram going thru blackmagic HD card with 5.5 TB Xserve Raid. shouldn't have any speed problems. everything was running fine til last week, now i can't capture. thanks for any advice.
Tom

Hi Thomas,
I stumbled across your post when doing a search. We're experiencing similar problems here when capturing reasonably large sized clips (10 min), the only variable being the DigiBeta deck we're using. Final Cut will pause over a random section of tape and declare a timecode break. I've checked the tapes back over the suspect sections and the timecode is intact with no breaks. I usually cancel then recapture and it won't see any break at all.
Hardware is a dual 2.7 G5 with 2 Tb SCSI storage and 4.5 Gb RAM. OS is at 10.4.2, QT at 7.0.1. Capturing via Blackmagic DeckLink Extreme at 10bit uncompressed. The drives have no trouble with the data rate whatsoever. The system and deck are protected from power spikes with a Belken UPS.
How did the Blackmagic update and FCP reinstall work out for you? Are you still having the problems?
Cheers, Paul.

What's the deal with Drop-Frame / Non-Drop-Frame Timecode?

I'm having trouble with 30fps Drop-Frame and 30fps Non-Drop-Frame timecode formats! I thought 29.97fps means 30fps Drop-Frame, but now I'm all confused.
I'm working with DSLR footage filmed with a frame rate of 29.97. For example, this one clip is listed as (in Project panel)
Media Start: 11:16:11:23
Media End: 11:22:42:22
Duration: 00:06:31:00
Frame Rate: 29.97fps
If I open this clip directly in Source Monitor, the timecode display (yellow, on lower left corner) says 11:16:11:23 at the beginning and 11:22:42:23 at the end. OK. But if I right-click on the timecode display, the pop-up indicates "Non-Drop-Frame"(!!). If I manually change that to "Drop-Frame", the start and end timecode would become 11:16:52:11 and 11:23:23:23, and the duration display (white, on lower right corner) becomes 6:31:12.
Now I create a new sequence of 1080p30, which has a 29.97fps time base. I right-click the yellow timecode display on the upper left corner of the Timeline, it says "30fps Drop-Frame". I drag the said clip onto the sequence. It occupies a length of 6:31:12. If I double-click the clip to open it in Source Monitor, now the Source Monitor timecode display indicates "Drop-Frame", and the start/end timecodes are 11:16:52:11 and 11:23:23:23. Huh??
Now I apply the "Timecode" effect on the clip. The timecode burn-in says 11:16:51:11 at the first frame and 11:23:23:22 at the last frame. I then go to the Effect Controls tab and look at the Timecode effect. It says
Format: SMPTE
Timecode Source: Media
Time Display: 30 Drop Frame
Just playing around, I switch "Timecode Source" to "Clip" - now the timecode burn-in goes from 00:00:00:00 to 00:06:31:11 - and then I switch it back to "Media". Now the Effect Controls tab says:
Format: SMPTE
Timecode Source: Media
Time Display: 30 Non-Drop Frame
And the timecode burn-in says 11:16:11:23 at the first frame and 11:22:42:22 at the last frame!
HUH??
Just for kickers, I switch "Timecode Source" to "Clip" again... Now "Time Display" stays on "30 Non-Drop Frame", and the timecode burn-in goes from 00:00:00:00 to 00:06:30:29.
What's the REAL length of this clip? Is it drop-frame or non-drop-frame? What are the REAL timecodes for it?
Also in a general sense, since I can change the "Time Display" field in the Timecode effect at any time, and change the Timecode display format of the Timeline at any time... How do I avoid creating mismatching timecodes??
Thanks in advance for any clarification!!

So obviously, only one of them could be "correct" in terms of reflecting what actually happened. The other one is slightly sped-up or slowed-down. You might say "oh that's a tiny difference, it doesn't matter".
Zooropa75, just for matter of clarification I want to make sure you understand that no matter which you use, it won't actually speed up or slow down your video. TC, wether it is non-drop or drop, is only a counting system. For that reason, it doesn't even matter which you use to reference edits, so long as everyone editing uses the same TC basis.
If you want actual time accurate TC, as was already mentioned, use drop-frame.
I'm going to kill two birds here. The "drag clip to new sequence button" action I was referring to in my earlier post is dragging your clip to the icon seen below. It should create a timeline using your videos format.
Also, remember I recommended looking in the manuel for "actual" time used? You can see below a snapshot I took from your cameras manuel. You're not shooting in whole numbers for anything unless you're using the 50hz system and shooting at 50p. That is the ONLY exception. ...and this is good for everyone to remember. Very few US digital cameras shoot frames per second in whole numbers. If it says you're shooting in 24p, 30p, 60p, etc. ad nauseum, you can bet your biscuits it's actually the multi-decimal NTCS counterparts like you see below And that should be your final answer. *chuckle*

Drop Frame vs. Non Drop Frame Timecode in DVDSP3

The manual is rather spare in its discussion of the issue of timecode, but it does say that the first video asset determines whether the timecode in DVDSP is drop frame or non drop frame.
Question 1: Does this refer to the first video asset in the V1 track or the first video asset imported into the project?
Question 2: If video is encoded using Compressor prior to import into DVDSP, is the choice of drop frame or non drop frame set by Compressor, or does it automatically use the timecode inherent in the original video?
Question 3: Does the DVD spec require a particular timecode (or is either acceptable)? In other words, will DVDSP convert non drop frame video assets to drop frame (or vice versa) during the build process in order to conform to spec?
I am having timecode issues and I am trying to narrow down the culprit. It can be either FCP, Compressor or DVDSP, or some combination of the three. Since my timeline in DVDSP has a semicolon separator between the minute and second values, I am assuming DVDSP is operating using drop frame timecode.
How can I confirm the timecode of my video assets? Is there a way to get this information? I tried opening the video in QT and viewing properties but I could not find the info. QT does not seem to display frames so I cannot check the separator to see if it is a semicolon or not.
Thanks in advance for any and all help.
TN

How can I confirm the timecode of my video assets? Is
there a way to get this information? I tried opening
the video in QT and viewing properties but I could
not find the info. QT does not seem to display frames
so I cannot check the separator to see if it is a
semicolon or not.
Thanks in advance for any and all help.
In the browser in Final Cut it will tell you all the information regarding your video assets or clips.
DVDSP lets you pick what time code you want in encode window and will conform your clips accordingly.
May I ask what kind of timecode issues you are having?
Dual G5, iMac G5, PowerBook G4, IBook G4, G3, 604e Mac OS X (10.3.4)

Why does Premiere Pro stop, or drop frames when using the Timecode Effect.

The Timecode Effect is gpu accelerated, the render bar is yellow and it still drops frames.
If it drops frames on a yellow bar, how can I ever trust it to print to tape? It wouldn't be a problem if I could say render the yellow sections of my edit, but it won't because the bar is not red. Very frustrating!
Running 64bit windows 7;
gtx470 graphics card;
12GB of memory (9 reserved for Premiere)
Raid 0 _ Speed Tested Excellent
working with uncompressed black magic 1080i AVI's
It seems to happen when I have overlapping clips with the Timecode Effect on one or both. Plays fine if just a single clip with the effect.
Any help would be great, hopefully I'm just missing something simple..

Harm,
Here is a capture of my speed test. I do have 4 disks on a raid 0, very little data on the drives. I have run 3 tracks of HD with different levels of opacity with no problem. I do crash the drives when I add the forth. So I would like to think that two tracks with accelerated effect should be fairly simple to playback. Am I wrong to be thinking that way? Also only working with 8 bit, This test is for 10 and up.
The read comes in above 500 mb/s. It was on the way up when I captured it.

How timecode counts in 720p24 drop frame ?

This might be a slightly OT question, since it doesn't apply just to FCP, but its more general.
As any +drop frame+ timecode, also p24 drop frame (actually running at 23.976 fps) must have some timecode numbers dropped; I guess about 14 (14,4 in theory) in 10 minutes or about 29 in 20 minutes.
My question is: which timecode values are dropped in this case?
To clarify my question: in the case of p30 or i60 +drop frame+ (actually running at 29.97 fps) I know that 18 timecodes are dropped every 10 minutes, and they are exactly 2 timecodes each minute, except minutes 0, 10, 20, etc. So hh:01:00;01, hh:01:00;02, hh:02:00;01, hh:02:00;02, etc. are dropped; but hh:00:00;01, hh:00:00;02, hh:00:10;01, hh:00:10;02, etc. are NOT dropped...
Then, in case of 24p +drop frame+ which values area dropped ?
Thanks
Piero

THis isn't just FCP. 23.98 is non-drop period. On tape, on FCP, on Avid, on Premiere. 23.98 DROP FRAME code does not exist.
So when it plays from 00:10:00:00 (and say you started at 00:00:00:00), it will read 00:10:00:00. But in ACTUAL time it will be 00:10:00:14.
Getting proper ACTUAL time from 23.98 is tough. That is why I use the Timecode Calculator. It has a 23.98 DROP FRAME setting ONLY for timing out the show. Type in the number in 23.98 non-drop, then switch to drop to see the actual time.
Shane

Ex. device detecting dropped frames (from tape) and breaking clips!

I am using a Panasonic mini-dv camcorder to capture footage with on Final Cut Pro and the camera is being pretty sensitive to any glitches/dropped frames and is messing up capturing clips. When I try it multiple times it will sometimes not stop/find glitches, but this is very time consuming (have about 80 hours to go through!). I have gained some access to a mini-dv deck and that is working, but I also need to use the camera due to deadlines.
Is there a way to make this sensitivity in capturing turn off? Any suggestions/tips? (I've already gone into User Preferences and deselected 'Abort Capture on Dropped Frames' and that didn't change it).
Thanks!

#12 Dropped frames on capture/playback
Shane's Stock Answer #12: Dropped frames on capture/playback
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58640
1) Do not capture to your main system drive. Since it is busy reading the operating system and application files, it will intermittently drop frames during capture. Capture to a separate internal drive, or external hard drive (firewire and eSATA for example).
2) Deactivate any anti-virus/filesaver software, including Norton and Virex. For some reason these programs think that the large files created when you capture media are in fact caused by some sort of virus, and they try to prevent this.
3) Check the format of the drive you are capturing to. It should be Mac OS Extended, journaling off. If it isn't, copy your files from it and re-initialize it. If it is any other format, you will encounter problems. If not at first, then eventually.
4) Trash the FCP preference files. Use FCP Rescue available here:
http://www.fcprescue.com
5) Make sure that the hard drives you are capturing to are fast enough to handle the footage being captured to it. A regular firewire 400 drive cannot capture uncompressed HD, or even uncompressed standard definition. A RAID array of drives might be in order for these formats.
Shane

Drop frame - how do i know if my fotage has a drop frame?

hello,sorry about the stupid question,but dhow do i know if my fotage has a drop frame or not?
thx

To see if the footage you captured was recorded with drop frame (the default) or no-drop frame timecode, right-click on a clip and select Item Properties to check the frame rate.
For the 'dropped frames' question, if there were timecode breaks or other problems with the recording on the tape, FCP will either abort capture at that point, or start a new clip depending on what you've told it to do in preferences. The dropped frames on capture condition can also happen if there is a data throughput problem (I/O error) during capture.
For dropped frames on playback, you may sometimes get that warning if your system can't keep up with RT playback. To see if there actually are dropped frames, go through that section of the clip frame-by-frame to see if there appear to be any.
-DH

Two camera footage: one drop frame, one non-drop frame

We recently were delivered a batch of tapes for a two camera project that we're doing the post work on. The timecode was jammed to synch the two cameras. Unfortuantely, one of the cameras seems to be drop and the other non-drop. As a result, the tape that is showing as non-drop stops every couple of minutes for a timecode break in order to synch up with the jammed timecode.
The reality is that there is no break in footage in the sense that this footage was recorded as a real-time 30 minute presentation, but because timecode is being jammed, and because the tape was being recorded in non-drop frame, Final Cut cannot capture this footage in its entirety.
My only thought would be to capture through S-video out and place the footage on a timeline, and force the sequence timecode with the appropriate timecode.
Has anyone run into this issue before and know a better solution? Or if the above solution will work?

Update: Rather than S-Video, we're setting the FCP capture setting to non-controllable device. That will give it higher quality, and so far, that is capturing just fine without the breaks.

Drop Frame being read as Non-Drop Frame

Hey,
I'm working in FCP HD 5.1.4 and our guys are shooting audio at drop frame, and video at drop frame, and yet when we import the media into FCP, the Video is in Drop frame, but the audio appears to be Non-drop so we're getting BAD sync (some clips 30 seconds, others up to a min.). We're using TOD T/C and it's really important that we convert it cuz we'll shoot 8 hr days, and the first few clips arn't that bad but after so many hours, the sync gets worse and worse.
We're using XDCAM Sony PDW-1500 deck for the video transfer and the audio is BWFs from an external Audio receiver, then it's backed up on lacie drives (prob using compressor) then we're syncing in FCP.
Any thoughts?
Fraser

FraserPost, according to Apple in the Late-breaking FCP news PDF on pg.4, Broadcast Wave Audio Files imported will always be interpreted with non-drop frame TC.
Highlight the clip in the bin, choose Modify Menu option and choose Timecode. You can then change it to drop frame in the options panel.
Then your material should synch up.
For future reference but still notable, if you import an aiff, mp3 or another type of audio file without TC, the file will create TC dictated by the Sequence preset setting. This I found out the hard way. One has to shut down FCP and start it up again for the change to take effect on material imported.
Macbook Pro 2.16G Intel Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

FCP X drops frames resulting in thousands of clips

I have a Mac Pro, 2 x 2.66 GHZ 6-Core Intel Xeon machine with 24 GB of 1333 MHZ DDR3 memory.
I have both miniDV videotapes recorded on camcorders as well as on JVC recorder. I also have S-VHS videotapes recorded on the JVC recorder (which is a dual recorder, with the miniDV deck on the left and S-VHS deck on the right)
Whenever I try to import video from either deck (or from a Canon Elura camcorder) into FCP X, I get thousands of separate clips ranging from a few tenths of a second in length to 20 seconds or so in length. When these clips are loaded into the timeline, there is a video and audio stutter whenever the playback cursor crosses between adjacent clips, indicating that a frame or two or more has been dropped. Making a compound clip is no help, the stuttering due to dropped frames persists. This makes it completely impossible to edit since no clip is long enough to be usable. The dropped frames seem to be due to the program, not the cameras, tape deck or videotapes since the problem occurs across all camera platforms as well as the two videotape formats. It's as if FCP X has a hair trigger in identifying some variance in frame rates that it judges to be a dropped frame, and immediately terminates the import of that little clip and goes on to the next import, only to repeat the same process THOUSANDS OF TIMES. The problem persists whether I record imports to my SSD startup disk, to my internal RAID, or to peripheral disks.
This did not happen in previous versions of FCP using the exact same video equipment and tape formats but a different computer. There seems to be no way to tell FCP X to ignore any variation of time code and I'm concerned that this problem will render my current equipment and videotapes worthless.
Has anyone else had this problem to this degree? I've searched other threads on similar issues of a minor nature (separate clips every few minutes), and I've tried all the recommended maneuvers. I've never seen anything discussed about the type of problem I'm having.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks in advance.

Russ, thanks for your reply. It's unclear how joining clip fragments together with Streamclip would be any different than joining the clip fragments together in a new compound clip.?
Luis, bom dia
There appear to be no timecode breaks in the tapes. The duration of some of the shots is several minutes and when I watch the timecode display on the decks or on the camcorder, it appears to run smoothly. So any timecode break must be a millisecond or two. And for some reason, QuickTime gives an error message when I try to set up a new movie recording: "The operation could not be completed."

HELP PLEASE!! Dropped Frames while capturing....lots of them!

We're running Final Cut 5.1, Quicktime 7.4, and OS 10.4.11 on a Dual 2 GHZ PPC G5. We're trying to capture whole tapes with no timecode breaks. However, more often than not :30 to 1:00 min into the capturing process we get a window that pops up stating there were dropped frames. How can we fix this? We are using a Canon XHA1 as a deck, and we've tried capturing to 3 different drives. Two internals, both 7200RPM and an external 7200RPM via firewire 800.
Any ideas? I would really like some help.

QUicktime 7.4 might be the culprit. Many people having issues.
Gotta do an archive and install and get back to QT 7.2.
Shane

Timecode break, dropped frames

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for