-
Final Cut Pro 6 / Leopard / dropped frames
I just started having an issue with dropped frames.
I have a piece of video that I’m supposed to increase the speed dramatically. (1600%). However, I just installed Leopard and have FCP 6, but am getting an incredible amount of dropped frames. I have tried to move the video source from an external hard drive, to my internal hard drive, but nothing changes this issue of dropped frames. In the current project is only one line of video, and one line of audio, so there isn’t much else going on in the timeline and my machine should be more than fast enough. (I think)
Any thoughts?
Thank you.
Michael
-
7 Replies
-
I know this might seem odd, but it’s a legit question – have you rendered the timeline? I’m just wondering if the system you’re on has, for whatever reason, decided to think that a 1600% increase is a real-time effect and it’s dropping because it’s not.
I’m going to presume that you rolled your eyes and thought “of course I’ve rendered it” and then ask if you’ve tried my General Rule of Control-‘M’ing
-
Thanks! When I read your post, I rolled my eyes at myself, not you. It needed the full render, which I guess isn’t the default of FCP. I did it and have no dropped frames now. Very much appreciated!!!
-
Hell, I’m glad that worked for you! Just to make sure you know, the colors in the tool bar tell you what sort of viewing experience you *should* get, based on the profile that FCP builds to describe your machine. It’s sometimes wrong, so if you’re ever in a rush and need to make sure that you hit a deadline, turn off the real time effects. I know this seems counter intuitive, but each time you render something out fully, you’ll have it done and know right where you are. If you leave the RT effects on, you’ll tend to not render bits that will need it before it’s laid out to tape, and you’ll end up rendering them all at once at the end – and heaven only knows how long it’s going to take versus how much time you really have.
I do a coaches show for the local college every sunday, and that was one of the first changes I made when my boss let me take the lead. It’s saved me immense issues when something else has gone because I know exactly where I am in finishing the production when everything that can be rendered already is. YMMV, but there’s my 2
-
I just upgraded my computer and got Leopard and FCS2 knowing that there will be kinks to work out. I have gotten to the point where I can reliably control in FCP the image coming from my camera (Canon XH-A1) in the log and capture dialog box. Trouble is, no matter how I’ve recorded my tests (drop or not-drop), or how I have audio/video settings I always get the same message that doesn’t make any sense to me: ‘Drop frames were detected during the last capture attempt.’
Also, in the Sequence Preset Editor I can change the timecode rate to 60 drop frame, but it NEVER stays there. I can come right back to it and it’s on 60 non-drop.
I’m a bit of a newbie and don’t even know how to try rendering, if that’s my solution. Just getting to this point has taken hours of wrestling with my computer and FCP. I just keep telling myself that one day I’ll be able to capture and edit.
Any help will be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Ted Millich
Charlottesville, VA -
Ted, don’t get discouraged, we’re here to help.
First off, your sequences are mutable in FCP 6, so if the timecode is changing it’s most likely due to the timecode of the first clip in your timeline being different that what you want for output. To solve this, create a clip at the timecode you knwo you need, make it a black slug, and give it the correct timecode. Put that at the beginning and your timecode won’t change on you again.
Secondly, that note that you’re getting is popping up because you are capturing beyond the timecode on the tape. So, since there is black video source coming from the deck but no timecode, it sees it as a ‘dropped frame’ – which it is, kinda, but the wording there could be better. Check your import, but I doubt you’ll find any black frames or broken images. And if you don’t, go forth and edit.
If you do, you might have a hardware issue where your communication from the deck through your computer to your disk is not functioning at the highest level. Swap firewire cables (these do wear out if you bend them lots) and make sure your connections are firm.
Good luck!
-
Thank you very much Kevin!
I’m a beginner and I’m not quite sure what a lot of what you wrote means. When I tried creating a black slug (I’m not sure if that’s what I did – the books aren’t much help) I got the spinning beach ball of death. It will be a few evenings before I can work on it again. I hope to get back to this forum by the end of the weekend with some positive results.
Ted
-
A friend helped me and now I can capture reliably. The problem was that the tape I was using probably had parts recorded on it with different framerates or other changes. I changed settings in the camera to try to get something that would let me capture.
The solution was to set the camera up the same way for both recording and playback (1080i60) and put in a new tape. I recorded, set FCP up the same way and had no trouble at all capturing! Woohoo!!
Ted Millich
Beyond Democracy
Charlottesville, VA
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up