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Having trouble importing P2 material from a hard drive into FCP 6
Hi everyone,
I’ve been given a project to edit where the client was given by the shooter the video content transfered from the P2 card to an external hard drive. I’m trying my best to get it into FCP Studio 6 and keep hitting a wall. I have read and watched several tutorials on the process and think I have been doing everything right.
I have opened FCP, set the easy set ups to match the material (in this case 720p 24fps), set the logging bin, opened the log and transfer window, found the folders containing the video and audio (the file structure is the clip name, for example “0001N6”, then you open that folder and in it is a “contents”, then in it are “audio”, “clip”, “icon”, “proxy”, “video” and “voice”). I am able to choose the clip folder “0001N6” and in FCP’s preview window everything plays fine. But when I try to import into FCP by putting it into the render queue, I see the progress bar humming along and then a red exclamation mark comes up and the file doesn’t import. I’ve even watched in the finder window as a quicktime clip appears, and then disappears from the folder that I am exporting to.
I’ve done what I have been able to read so far on the web regarding others who have had this issue. Namely, I have checked the box that says remove extra frames from the pull down menu under the sprocket wheel at the top of the log and transfer screen, I have removed all of my third party plug-ins and re-booted several times. I did notice that the video folders on the clients hard drive do not contain a “Lastclip.TX” file which seems to be the metadata and is the norm on these files, or at least that’s what I read on the web about this. Could this be my hang up?
Anyhow, I’ve tried everything that I was able to read, exhausted my feeble skills, such as they are, and iIt still doesn’t want to import. Any other suggestions? Is there another stand alone program that will convert these files into a quicktime form that I can then import into FCP? Would compressor work? I even thought of trying to ingest it using After Effects but that only works with CS3 and I have version 7.0.
I hope this wasn’t too much info, but better too much than not enough.
I’m pulling my hair out on this and frankly I don’t that much to spare anymore. Can you folks more knowledgeable than me help?
Best,
Michael Escher
Los Angeles, CA, USA, Earth -
10 Replies
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You definitely need the Last Clip.txt File.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Board of Directors
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group -
Michael,
I’m trying to understand what you are opening when it comes to the P2 data. You shouldn’t need to go into the contents folder. Simply open of the Card folder (each P2 Card should have been saved in a unique individual folder) Inside the card folder should be Contents and Last Clip.txt. Just open that in the Log and Transfer window, all the clips on the card/folder should load into the window. You should never need to go into the contents folder.
Best,
Billy“Blind respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”
–Albert Einstein
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Watch this tutorial for the proper way to import:
NOw…missing the lastclip.txt file? Need those. Try this:
Shane’s Stock Answer #38 – When you offloaded the P2 cards, you forgot to get the LASTCLIP.tct file? No worries, not all is lost.
MISSING LASTCLIP.TXT FILE:
https://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=58755
If you neglected to copy the “lastclip.txt” file all is not lost. Much like the six million dollar man, we can rebuild him.
Lastclip.txt can be generated by any text editor. If you are using a mac then open up textedit.
Create a new txt file. It will have 3 lines to it.
The first line is the name of the last clip that was recorded.
Back to the finder. Open up your CONTENTS folder. In there, open up your VIDEO folder. Organize the folder by Date Last Modified. Find the name of the last file in this folder. If you have 16 clips in the folder is will be 0016ag.mxf or something like that. Four numbers and two letters followed by .mxf.
Take this name and place in the first line of your text file. On the next line of the text file type in “1.0” (don’t include the quotes).
The third line is the number of clips in the folder +1. If you have 16 clips then the third line should read “17” (again no quotes).
I’m not 100% sure if the number on the third line is the number of clips left in the folder (after any on-set deletions) or if it is the total number of clips generated during this session with the card. Try both. Remember to add 1 to that number.
Your txt file should like something like this:
0016ab.mxf
1.0
17That’s it. You should be good to go. Put your CONTENTS folders in separate folders with separate LASTCLIP.txt folders and import them as separate P2 cards.
The annoying thing is that all of the various .mxf files in these 6 folders are locked items and they must all be unlocked manually to erase them.
It’s much easier to import direct into FCP 5.0.4 or higher. It does so without leaving all of these locked files on your computer.
Credit for this solution goes to Randy Wedick.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD now for sale!
http://www.LFHD.net
Read my blog! -
Michael,
Sorry, I over looked the line in your post where you were missing the Last Clip.txt. That file is a must. My bad.
Shane gave you a great answer that I’ve never heard before. I’ve been working with P2 material for over two years and I’ve been fortunate enough to never be missing the LastClip.txt. I’m going to have to give Shanes solution (via Randy Wedick) a try.
Good luck.
Billy
“Blind respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”
–Albert Einstein
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For some reason the re-created “lastclip.txt” file solution isn’t working. I tried and I tried and tried.
But I did find a workaround. It’s awfully kluge-y but it anyone else gets up against it, this might work for you.
In the finder I opened the folder that included the individual clips (all of them minus the lastclip.txt files, natch) and then I selected them all (apple key-A) and with final cut running dragged them all onto the logging bin. Final Cut asked for a “translation file” for each of the individual video clips and since I didn’t have one, I just clicked on “cancel” each time Final Cut asked. I then was able to access the video and all four of the the individual audio channels (only channel one and four had any content on them). I then created a whole bunch of individual timelines, dragged the video and audio channels 1&4 on to each of the timelines, lined up the video and audio tracks to synch them and re-named each timeline to match the names of the P2 files. I’ll export them as 720p quicktimes (the same as what they were shot at) and use them as my masters.
A huge, huge pain in the butt, nonetheless a workable solution to my dilemma.
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You must have P2CMS installed. It adds a translation codec to allow the INDIVIDUAL files to be seen in QT and imported into FCP.
Another solution, on to get your audio and video in one clip, is to use RAYLIGHT. That is a pretty elegant solution.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD now for sale!
http://www.LFHD.net
Read my blog! -
Yes, I have P2CMS installed. My solution is a bit of a bear, but it’s free. If I get another P2 job I’ll for sure spring for Raylight.
Thanks for all the help everyone!
Mike Escher
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BTW, I neglected to mention that I have an Aja Kona LHe card installed. Is there any cool/special Aja workaround for this sort of thing. Does the card make any difference whatsoever with the problem that I had?
Thanks,
Mike E.
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[Michael Escher] “Is there any cool/special Aja workaround for this sort of thing.”
No. The Kona cards don’t interact with the P2 card data at all.
[Michael Escher] “Does the card make any difference whatsoever with the problem that I had?”
Nope.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD now for sale!
http://www.LFHD.net
Read my blog! -
Many thanks Shane for offering a solution. Should the txt info be typed upper or lower case. Should all those txt files be in one separate folder, ie, just txt files.
Basically I have imported each P2 Card via my Laptop with a PCMIA slot to a FW Hard Drive. I am using FCPStudio 2. The first batch came in just fine. I have changed the CONTENTS folder title by adding 1. 2. etc and the date as when I tried to import originally it told me i already had a TXT file. Silly me deleted it. Oh well. I have followed your instructions as best I can but still no luck. Any more thoughts would be very much appreciated. Cheers, Richard.Richard Clark’s kiwicafe.com
film / fotography / filosophy
http://www.kiwicafe.com
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