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Final Cut “Capture Now” freezing issue
I’ve been running this workflow for the past 3 years and never experienced this issue. Any further expertise or questions I haven’t thought through would be appreciated:
The setup:
Live video feed, DV NTSC Anamorphic, via firewire cable to Final Cut Pro “Capture Now”.
Capture settings are DV NTSC Anamorphic, Non-Controllable Device.
FCP is running on a MacBook Pro 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR3, Graphics Card; NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT.
Capture Scratch is set to an external drive, WD 1TB ‘My book’, via USB.
Capture clip lengths are no more than 5-6 minutes each, recording consecutively for about 12-14 hours each day.The problem:
During some of the captures (maybe 1 out of 10 or 20 captures) at no consistent time or length, the capture window will freeze. The time of the freeze varies. I’ve noticed if it freezes early in the capture, it’s a short freeze, and if it’s late in the capture it will freeze for much longer. The mouse cursor goes to a spinning beach ball, and then eventually will resume capture. The problem I’ve noticed is that the audio not only completely goes out of sync for the entire clip, but the video portion of what was captured for that clip will not only show a freeze (or ‘long frame’ as FCP calls it) but the speed of the clip will change, as if to try to stretch to make up for lost time. It effectively results in a lot of lost frames. When the freeze occurs, I just simply trash that clip and use my backup media, which adds some unwanted time to the workflow.Possible consistent issues that would help isolate the problem:
Seemed to occur about once an hour or so. But sometimes wouldn’t do it for 3 or 4 hours.Solutions I’ve tried to isolate the problem:
1. Changed the firewire cable? Yes, tried 3 different ones.
2. Try a different computer? Yes, had another MBP on hand, same issue.
3. Changed external encoder? Yes, was initially using a Sony DV Cam deck, then did a direct capture from the camera’s firewire out into the MBP, same issue.
4. Changed capture scratch drive? Yes, tried 3 different drives, and even tried doing a capture internally to the local drive, still the freezing issue would eventually occur.
5. Tried different graphics card? Yes, I tried using the MBP’s “Better Battery Life” mode, which turns off the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (w/ 512MB VRAM), and uses the onboard NVIDIA GeForce 9600M (w/ 256MB VRAM). Same issue. Didn’t effect things one way or the other.
6. Open up Activity Monitor, close processes? Yes, and yes.
7. Check FCP settings? Yes, and again, I’ve run this workflow for years and never experienced this.
8. Reinstall FCP or the OS? No, that’s ridiculous.I guess I’d end this post with saying, consistent with year’s past, not much has changed in my setup. I’m using the same type of drives, same type of connections, same FCP settings, same everything. The only thing I can think of is that some software update may have messed things up. I always update as soon my computer says to (I know, stupid me, trusting Apple). But any specifics on why that may be cause, or any other possible causes, and how to resolve, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
– Aaron
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7 Replies
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Only thing I see in your system setup is that USB connected drive… that historically hasn’t be the best way to do this. FireWire of any kind would be a lot better.
And, FWIW, rebuilding your startup disk if you’ve not done this in a long time is a good idea, not ridiculous at all, but I suspect that the USB drive is causing the problem.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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Thanks Jerry. I would tend to agree except that I’ve been capturing to USB drives for years without an issue (it’s all standard def DV). It’s strange that it would just creep up out of the blue. I know it’s not the industry recommended way to do this, but from 3 years ago until last week I’ve done it that way without a single freeze or lost frame.
Secondly, correct me if I’m misunderstanding technology, but my belief was that it was better to use USB drives so that the FW bus is fully dedicated to the capture. Using a FW harddrive to capture onto could present issues because that’s the same bus my video feed is being imported through, no?
– Aaron
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Maybe that drive is just slowing down?
True it’s best to not loop FW through a drive to a signal, it’s actually best to get an express card that adds a second FW bus.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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Well, the drives are brand new. I didn’t mean that I’m using the same exact harddrive, but rather the same type.
That’s interesting about the express card slot, I do have one and use it whenever I need more connections (often). I didn’t realize that was a 3rd separate bus.
Come to think of it, I was capturing all of this via a FW port on the express card adapter (Sonnet). So I guess I wasn’t using my FW bus at all then. I wonder if the express card adapter is the issue? (but that still leaves the question of why is FCP handling it in this weird way) I would think if it was a connectivity issue, FCP would just drop some frames and give me the warning, instead of freezing and then speeding up the clip to make up for the gap (and throwing all the audio out sync in the process)
I’ll run a test at some point. Capture via the FW port, capture scratch on USB. Then run capture through the express card and capture to USB, then FW.
Is there a way to look into the system log and see if some random process shows up at the moment I see a freeze? Or at least look into what the system is or was trying to do that time?
– Aaron
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Actually, add on to what I just said, the adapter can’t be the issue as the other MBP I was capturing on didn’t have an express card, and I was capturing directly through the FW bus.
– Aaron
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I don’t think it’s the card… however using it to capture the video with or run the drive with is better than looping because that card does add another bus. Might try swapping it around… put the drive in the card or the live feed in the card instead of the way it is.
Might be time to clean install that machine though if you use it a lot and you’ve not done it in a long time.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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I’ll try it swapped. You might be right about cleaning the machine. This MBP could use a good fresh install just for all around usability.
The only reason why I doubt it will resolve this particular issue is that 2nd MBP I used as my backup is clean as a whistle. It’s used solely as a capture computer at other events. No other programs are installed on it except Final Cut. And that was experiencing the same freezing issue.
– Aaron
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