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Error:”Codec not found” been there, done that, nailed it!
Hey dairymen and women!
I was getting the “codec not found” error message on an older sequence, and after some elimination and deduction I was able to remedy the situation.
FCP7, leopard, intel mac, kona lhe.
I resurrected a project from 2 years ago. I opened the project, said yes to the project update question (“this project is from an earlier version yadda yadda…”) and reconnected as much media as i had online.
when i tried to open a sequence i recieved the error message about codec not found. I tried trashing the prefs etc still no dice. went back to an autosave version of the same project (yes i keep my autosaves just like the project) and opened that, reconnecting media as i did. this time i couldnt even open the sequence!
read around the cow and found a thread about cmyk stills causing problems, so i used Adobe Bridge CS3 to search my media drives for CMYK stills (bridge has some very cool search parameters) NADA!
I remeebered that a few of the clips might have been rendered out of AE using Sheer, so i installed that….still NADA!
I tried disconnecting the media from the sequence by making offline and keeping it on the drive, and NOW i was able to open the sequence. I then selected all the clips in the sequence and dragged them to a new open bin, then sorted them all by compressor (codec) Voila! Microcosm None 16 was used on a lot of AE Exports, and it was not installed!
Installed None16 (its free) and now its happy happy joy joy!!!
in conclusion:
1. the project was originally done in FCP5, so i did not have Pro res. Using 6 and now 7 got me Pro res so i did not need to keep Sheer and None16 on the system, hence they were not installed after the last upgrade, so keep those codecs around!
2. the FCP codec error message could not have been more vague and helpless! I realize that fixing the problem could be a big deal, so lets just change waht it sez to “soemwhere in this sequence is a clip your hardware cant play. I hav no idea where it is in the sequence, and even though you just want to look at a small section, this error message will continue to pop up until You Figure It Out! sorry, but thats waht you get for 900 bucks!” (well, maybe skip the part about the money)
3. It was through the help of people on the cow discussing that it was a file problem, and making use of mutiple apps and resources, that i was able to remedy the problem
I hope this helps
“I like video because its so fast!”
Bob Flood
Greer & Associates, Inc. -
2 Replies
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[Bob Flood] ” the FCP codec error message could not have been more vague and helpless”
No, it was spot on. There was a media file or two on your system that sported a codec that you didn’t have installed. Seems on the money to me. But I am VERY impressed with your troubleshooting. Bravo man. That is a good skill to have.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Shane
Thanx for the snaps! When i first started, my boss, who was the cheif engineer and had a maint background, taught me about trouble shooting and working your way along the path until you find the problem (“if you dont see any RGB video, then the problem is before the encoder, if you do then its after” and so on)
I think it would be wise for everyone who gets into this biz to have a little troubleshooting savvy.
as for the slam against the error message, I guess i missed explaining that there were only 5 or so clips out of 100 (approx) that used the missing codec. However the error message kept popping up no matter where i started to play, which was confusing.
Waht was also confusing was that the error message implied my sequence was the issue, whereas it was actually a clip or 2
however, NOW i realize that the codec not found error message probably means I have a clip thats causing problems
thanx again!
“I like video because its so fast!”
Bob Flood
Greer & Associates, Inc.
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