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FCPX holding my timeline hostage; need a negotiator
So, I *thought* I was following best practices. I have P2 cards with DVCProHD files on them, and the first thing I did was copy the complete card into a new folder on my AV drive, and only THEN did I import the footage into FCP, checking the box for making it’s own in-system copy.
4 hours editing later, I want to export a master file, and the entire share option menu is grayed out. I guess it is looking for the original media on the card, though I was certain my import was from the AV drive. Pulling the card from my P2 reader results in the bins and timeline filling with a lot of red picons. I mean a LOT. Like “Sonny Corleone at the tollbooth” red. But not *all* the footage: stuff i imported from another drive to the AV drive, then ingested into FCPX is there and intact. I put the P2 back in, and at this point want to force the system to re-link the media and render it and let me export my work before the sun comes up.
Advice gratefully accepted. I’ll be here all night. Maybe.
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23 Replies
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Eject p2 card.
Open Import Window.
Add all of the p2 folders that you copied to A/V drive to the “Favorites” list on the left side of import window by dragging and dropping the folders from import list to “Favorites”
File > Import > Reimport from Camera/Archive.
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Try Jeremys sage advice for this time.
For next time avoid your “finder copy stage” where you drag files into folders to start. X does not like loose files in folders so much. They are too often cut off from the useful metadata that X loves. X likes Mountable Volumes. Drives, cards, virtual clone bundles – stuff like that. So much that they built in a way to import and “volumize” your cards right in the import window. “Create Archive” is your friend unless you have a network that is providing virtual volumes from a server. Create a Camera Archive of each card first. Import your files off THAT into X as referenced media. (And back it up the archives for safety!)
That should make things easier.
My 2 cents.
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Thanks, Bill. Thumb-tacked that note to the wall here.
I would be grateful to everyone for any additional opinions and suggestions on how to get the P2 footage out of the reader, into FCPX, and ready to edit/share to a rendered master file, or play off the timeline, in the most expedient manner possible. We’re doing lots of run-and-gun ENG type work here and I can’t afford slower methods. I’m stuck in one respect, that the P2 reader is limited to the speed of USB.
I have an Ultrastudio 4k hooked up for my output, using SDI to feed from the timeline over to the uplink rack. I also have access to an SDI AJA T-TAP.
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Are you saying the method I outlined didn’t work?
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Say, Bill: I’m looking for the “Create Archive” setting you mentioned, and I don’t see one on the screen or menus anywhere, can you give me a hint?
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It’s in the import window.
Camera archives are proprietary. Craig Seaman has also had major issues with them.
I tend to stay away from camera archives. You can always use Disk Utility to make a more universal disk image if that method is interesting to you.
If not, I routinely work from Finder copies of cards, and X can handle it, you just have to add a step before reimport, and also make sure X is done importing before quitting fcpx.
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I use P2 cards.
I create a folder in the finder named something like
“P2 MELISSA 7-27-15 HA”.
I drag the entire contents of the P2 card into this folder to copy it. FC has never had a problem reading it, importing it and keeping the name I gave the folder as if its the Camera name. It serves as a b.u. and I have needed it occasionally when the media that was imported got corrupted for whatever reason. Rare but has happened. My feeling about FC’s archives is that it is a wrapper of sorts. I could be wrong but I’d rather use the original files contained in the card. I do not choose keep in place. FC copies it again into the library or in my case a media folder outside the library. Libraries can become corrupted as well. I’d rather have two copies of the media that are then referenced by the library.Inside the folder mentioned above
I have even had a couple of times when FC could not read the P2 copy for whatever reason and I was able to copy the two files back on to a P2 card, put it in a P2 cam. play it. then reimport it into FC and viola all is good. When I first put it back in camera it does give an error message because it is not wrapped the way the camera wraps it. But once it in playback mode it sees the clips just fine and re-wraps the media as usual.
I also feel that a copy of the P2 is a safer bet in the long run if for some reason you want to import it into another NLE rather that hoping Apple’s archive will play well with other programs.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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See, Craig, your method is what I do, normally.
The only difference is that I don’t put the folder on the desktop any more, since that may create space problems in my boot drive if the files are massive. So, I make the empty folder in my AV drive, I double-click the “unnamed” picon on my desktop that represents the P2 card.
I then swipe thru both items there, highlighting them the same way your picture shows… and I drag that selection into the new folder in the AV drive. The wait for the P2 to transfer is painfully tedious, compared to using the card in the P2 reader and doing only proxy – which is what my 2 fellow shooters do, and I cringe at them because I learned long ago from Shane that that’s a big no-no: that way lies madness. But… sometimes, the deadline to air means you have to be fast, rather than correct, and try to clean things up after the fact. The times I’ve gotten into trouble with FCPX, it always came out of trying to edit using only proxies.
Until the other night when I posted this thread.
I did things the “safe” way, outlined above, but still, FCPX somehow got confused and refused to recognize the media unless it was the live p2 card.
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I do not put the P2 folder on my system drive or desktop. I put it in a master folder on my media raid.
If FC could not read the P2 folder with the card files copied in to it then it was not copied successfully.
FC imports the copied files way faster than the original card because my card reader is usb 2. Panasonic has released a P2 card reader with USB 3. That would help tremendously. But my Macs don’t have usb 3.
This looks even better!
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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ooooh, the chief engineer is gonna be mad when he sees how much cheaper and faster the Sonnet is than a full-boat P2 reader. OTOH, the Sonnet can’t record or format or display and etc. like the Panasonic. Still, the speed boost and lack of needing to share the communal P2 reader for budget reasons makes it a tempting buy out of my own pocket. If I had *any* need for a p2 interface for my home system, I think I would buy this right away. As it is, I will start a cookie jar fund for it. Thanks for the tip!
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