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audio disappearing in FCP QT master (!!!) on drive
This is one starnge and scarry problem I am having. Anybody who can shed some light on this matter will be much welcome.
I have been working with DV NTSC material in FCP for almost 10 years, and in recent years I have been saving FCP “masters” (Quicktime Exports with Current Settings, Self COntained) of my videos on external hard drives. I use LAcie drives, specifically the 1 TB model that has FW 800, 400, ESATA and USB. I always assumed LAcie was a good brand, and still do.
But something scary happened to a “master” of my first feature film, which has been residing on my external drive for almost a year. Occasioannly I use it, imporitng into FCp again to add suntitles, etc. Since the documentary has 80 minutes, the file is huge, almost 17 GB. Now, I have been noticing a problem which APPEARS to be increasing, becoming more frequent throughout the “master” file imported into a sequence. The audio simply disappears for 1/2 to 1 second periods. When I open the original in the Viewer, there really is no audio waveform during these breif gaps…!!! Is it possible for a digital video file to “drop” audio or get corrupted over time? I know this is possible, but it seems very frequent here, very alarming… Almost every minute or so there are a few audio drop-outs. I am monitoring with the mac’s line-out jack, so it is not an issue of the TV not liking the illegal whites or anything NTSC-ish like that.
In the future, should I split the “master” into several smaller QTs, and also save to data DVD? I always presumed an external HD to be more solid than DVD media, as long as the HD doesn’t crap out… -
5 Replies
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Alan,
In all of my years dealing with digital files, I have never heard of a problem such as the one you are describing. I have heard that it is possible that digital files can lose some aspect of their magnetic strength when left on hard drives for extended periods without playback. Is this the case?
If I were you, I would run Disk Warrior on the offending drive(s) to see if the issue might be a header issue in the metadata on the drive. If that is the problem, it’s likely DW can repair it.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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Thanks for the speedy response.
The strangest thing is, after seeing (hearing, really) this issue over and over while subtitling the film just yesterday, today I am unable to find such audio gaps in the imported “master”, although I am not watching the whole movie at once. I will do this, but is it possible that the drive temporarily lost connection to parts of the audio?
Would you recomend in the future backing up / mastering to several smaller FCP movies?
Thanks!
PS: I will run a disk utility, although I did this recently. -
[Alan Langdon] “Would you recomend in the future backing up / mastering to several smaller FCP movies?
“No, an 18Gb file is nothing these days. It’s certainly not a file size thing.
also, you seem to have ignored what I wrote about Disk Warrior. I assure you, the $99 you pay for it is well worth the money.
Also, sounds as if you need to trash FCP preferences ASAP.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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Thanks again. I did not ignore the Disk Warrior suggestion, I got your drift.
About the prefs, I can do that, where do I find them? Application support? What is the file name exactly, if its not asking too much?
I recently installed clean the OS and FCP 6, though, so it really shouldn’t be too fragmented, right? -
Hey Alan, I’m Yasen ( From Bulgaria) haven’t heard from you for a long time. My email is komisarya@yahoo.com , so please contact me! And have a beer before that.
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