Audio Drift – black at end of clip

[Ed Cilley]

Upon further investigation, here is what I have found. When playing the clips in QT, info shows that the frame rate is 23.97. However, when imported into FCP, the clip info shows frame rate at 29.97, which can’t be changed.

When I export a clip using QT (animation codec, current frame rate, 720×480) the resulting clip is still 24fps, appears in FCP as 29.97, but will play fine in FCP. ****this is my work around****

I have tried making a new project with DV 29.98 settings. The problem still exists.

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Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.

[Jeremy Garchow]

I figured as much, Ed. There’s a frame rate mismatch that is happening, but since you have said all along that it’s not, well I just have to believe you. You have mentioned that your footage is 23.97 is Quicktime, do you mean 23.98? You have also said that you exported a clip and the clip is 24.0? Then you said you made a new project that was 29.98? That’s not even a frame rate. Sorry to be harsh, but please explain exactly what your footage is and what frame rate your timeline is. You have two choices, it’s either 23.98 or 29.97.

You need to set up your easy setup preset to AJA BetaCam 29.97 8 bit to dv then capture your footage. Drag a piece of your footage to an empty timeline and say yes when FCP asks if you want your timeline to match your footage (if you are FCP 6). If you are not on FCP6, then simply make a new sequence with that easy setup selected and drop your footage in.

ALso, I would download and install the AJA firmware update that comes with the control panel:

https://www.aja.com/ajashare/AJA_Io_v3.0.zip

https://www.aja.com/ajashare/ProIO_ControlPanel_v1.2.zip

Jeremy

[Monica Summerville]

I’m seeing something similar but with PAL miniDV tapes captured using a Sony DSR-11 deck (via firewire). This is on a client site and they’ve successfully captured hours and hours of footage with this setup. The computer belongs to them but the deck belongs to an editor they work with often (so the deck is not here any more).

But with the last batch of tapes a few drift out of sync when viewed within FCP (either in Viewer or sequence). FCP clip properties however show all the right numbers for frame rate and audio info. However when opened in QT, some of the drifting clips, the Inspector information shows FPS figures other than 25 (mostly 23.xx but one is 12.xx!)

Even more strange however is that some of the clips with a “wrong” FPS still play OK in FCP, i.e. they do not drift.

The client thinks maybe the previous editors’ deck was faulty and wants to recapture using another deck they own. The question is should they redigitise ALL the tapes that show anything other than 25 as a FPS in QT, or just the ones that are drifting in FCP?

I am unclear as to why any clips with the ‘wrong’ FPS (as shown in QT) should be OK when viewed in FCP. I’d like to understand this better before I recommend to the client that they spend money & time redigitising all the tapes.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[Ed Cilley]

[Monica Summerville] “I am unclear as to why any clips with the ‘wrong’ FPS (as shown in QT) should be OK when viewed in FCP.”

Monica,

I too am unclear. I don’t understand how a clip that plays in QT as 23.98fps will appear in FCP as 29.97.

In my case, all the clips I captured were bad. After the client left (with his tapes) I found the problem, and my work-around. I have since captured many clips and all are fine (but I’m checking them more often -just in case).

I don’t think the deck is faulty based on the fact that I am using the same deck and getting perfect results. I would suggest – reboot, and make a test recording.

Hope that helps a little.

Ed

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Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.

[Monica Summerville]

That’s interesting that you don’t believe the deck is at fault… I’m trying to get in touch with the previous editor (to warn her if nothing else) but I’ll see if she’s had other problems.

So if not the deck, then how else could PAL footage end up with less than 25 FPS? I see someone asked if you had multiple firewire devices attached… is he worried about some sort of throughput issue? Another post I read said that a close to full capture drive could mean dropped frames when digitising but could it also cause this? Any thoughts appreciated.

Also as for workarounds… when you said you used Compressor, did you mean you used the Conform function?

Thanks.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Ed Cilley] “After the client left (with his tapes) I found the problem, and my work-around”

What was the problem?

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Monica Summerville] “I see someone asked if you had multiple firewire devices attached… is he worried about some sort of throughput issue? “

WHen you have a firewire deck and firewire drives connected to the same bus on your computer (meaning they are all sharing the same firewire ports on the computer without a separate PCI firewire card) you can have conflicts between the deck easting up too much bandwidth and taking it from the firewire drives. When you have firewire drives for your scratch disks and a firewire deck as your source, it is best to separate the two devices through a PCI card in your computer (they are very inexpensive). With an AJA io, this becomes even more necessary.

The off frame rates in Quicktime mean nothing as QT reports playback errors all the time. You will see that the ‘FPS’ tag should match your footage, but the ‘Playing FPS’ tag will wander all over the place sometimes.

Jeremy

[Ed Cilley]

[Jeremy Garchow] “What was the problem?”

“The problem” was the first post in the thread.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Ed Cilley] “”The problem” was the first post in the thread.”

You gave some weird frame rates last time we talked and I didn’t hear back. I was just curious is all.

Jeremy

[Ed Cilley]

[Monica Summerville] “when you said you used Compressor, did you mean you used the Conform function?”

No Monica, I used the separate program that came with the FCP suite, Compressor and made new version of the clips. This worked well except for one long clip – sync would slip. I had to break it down into sections in QT and make shorter clips.

I would have preferred to recapture all the footage. That would have saved time, but the client took the tapes with him.

Ed