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Importing MiniDV tapes (revisited)
Rather than dig up a 5-year-old thread (good grief, has FCPX been out THAT long??), I thought I’d start “v2” of my own as continuation of this discussion:
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/344/2695
I am attempting to import/archive HDV and DV footage using FCPX. I had imported a bunch of Digital8 tapes using iMovie, but for these MiniDV tapes, I was interested in using FCPX since it retains the timecode from the tape (iMovie does not). The HDV footage imports fine, as does the DV footage, except that I also get no sound when trying to play back via QT Player (7 or X) and QuickLook in the Finder. Not having sound w/ the latter is a large inconvenience, since that’s by far the easiest way to skim through clips to find something I’m looking for.
Anyway, it appears to me that maybe FCPX is failing to assign the audio channels in the imported file. Here is the untouched Format info from QT Player 7, followed by the “Sound Track” from the Properties window:
Notice the missing “L R” channel indicators on the first line— “2.0 (_ _)”. So, I tried clicking on the “Unused” channels in the Assignment table and chose Left & Right, shown here, followed by the changed “Format” portion of the Info window:
Now we have “Stereo (L R)”. After I did this, QT Player showed the level meters and played the audio just fine. Obviously, this isn’t a very good solution for hundreds of clips, but maybe it tells us something.
What do you think? FCPX bug (that’ll likely never get corrected)? Any suggestions for workarounds during import or after?
Thx,
Fred -
6 Replies
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What are your import settings? I have done this a number of times with no problems.
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Hmmm…there’s not really much in the way of import settings to adjust. I haven’t changed any options from defaults, although in one test, I checked the first 2 of the 3 Audio checkboxes (“Analyze and fix…” and “Separate mono…”). Same result.
To be clear, the clips play back fine *IN* FCPX. It’s the QuickTime Player and QuickLook playback that’s affected. And it’s only DV, not HDV. Are you saying your DV clips play back w/ audio if you do File > Reveal in Finder, then press the spacebar to invoke QuickLook?
Thx,
Fred -
I leave all the audio setting unchecked because they cause more problems than they solve. I don’t know what default is but is it possible that you had some of them checked?
I just checked a few DV files that I imported into FCP and they play back fine in QT player and Quicklook.
Is it really a problem when you can just skim and make choices right in FCPX?
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Maybe the footage was some of that 12bit 32khz 4ch stuff?
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[Nick Toth] “I leave all the audio setting unchecked because they cause more problems than they solve. I don’t know what default is but is it possible that you had some of them checked?
As I said, I left the settings as they were for most tests, but for one test, I checked the top 2 Audio boxes. “Same result.”
I just checked a few DV files that I imported into FCP and they play back fine in QT player and Quicklook.
Okay, good to know. Did you import these directly from tape? And do you know which version of FCPX you would have used (wondering if it could be a bug in the current version but not a previous one)?
Is it really a problem when you can just skim and make choices right in FCPX?”
It’s a problem to me, since if I’m archiving this stuff, I might want to browse through it and use QuickLook on other machines besides those that have FCPX installed.
[Bret Williams] “Maybe the footage was some of that 12bit 32khz 4ch stuff?”
Don’t think so…see the pics of the info windows. They both show 16-bit, 48KHz.
I’ll try to do more testing on this. Any add’l data and observations anyone might have are welcome.
Thx,
Fred -
With the help of Apple Support I was able to solve this problem.
Since v10.4 a whole lot of DV camera’s are no longer put one the compatibility list causing this problem of “no sound import”. This has the same effect on iMovie!
Fortunately I still had an previous version of FCPX (v. 10.3.4) on my TimeMachine that I installed… and now everything works again like a charm.
I made a complaint to Apple to reinstall these compatibilities… but don’t know if it will help.
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