Media is out of sync only in FCP

[Christopher Wright]

I actually do think there is something squirrely going on with the DV codec in the latest version of FCP. I just had someone bring me some DV clips that are the proper frame size and audio bit rate for DV and will still not play back properly in a FCP DV sequence. They import fine into the DV FCP timeline with no rendering needed, but the audio is way out of sync. They play back fine within the Quicktime player, and they play back fine and perform perfectly in a CS4 PPro DV timeline. Since I almost always work with HD P2 footage, I have never seen this problem before. I do think that the DV codec is busted in the latest version of FCP.

Dual 2.5 G5, IO, Kona LH, IO, Medea Raid, UL4D, NVidia 6800, 4Gig RAM
Octocore 8 GB Ram, Radeon card, MBP, MXO
Windows Vista Adobe Studio CS4, Vegas 8.0, Lightwave 9.3, Sound Forge 9, Acid Pro 7, Continuum 5, Boris Red 4, Combustion 2008, Sapphire Effects

[John Pale]

[Christopher Wright] “I do think that the DV codec is busted in the latest version of FCP”

Don’t take this the wrong way, but don’t you think there would be hundreds of posts complaining about this if the DV codec was broken?

[Christopher Wright]

Actually I don’t take it the wrong way. It actually makes sense to me. I haven’t worked with DV footage pretty much for over 4 years now, and most of the people on this forum probably don’t either. There have been many other posts about firewire machine control for DV capture not working properly in FCP lately. It is very probable the support for the “legacy codecs” is failing and/or broken. The new holy grail is the RED codec, and both Apple and Adobe are focusing on the new paradigm, not the old dead ones. Even HDV is pretty much dead in the water at this point, and most editors will say good riddance to that format as well.

Dual 2.5 G5, IO, Kona LH, IO, Medea Raid, UL4D, NVidia 6800, 4Gig RAM
Octocore 8 GB Ram, Radeon card, MBP, MXO
Windows Vista Adobe Studio CS4, Vegas 8.0, Lightwave 9.3, Sound Forge 9, Acid Pro 7, Continuum 5, Boris Red 4, Combustion 2008, Sapphire Effects

[Andrew Commiskey]

Do me a favor, highlight the file control-click and select item properties and under format see if the audio sample rate has miraculously changed to 48.001. (I have seen this quite often on PPC systems)
there is a lot of debate on the render file issue and what I know for sure is that when the timeline is playing back video that is not in the timeline, FCP is confused period. The latest version seems to loose track of render files quite easily. Two things can help, 1 delete render files and re-render, 2 use a utility like disk warrior on the media drive. which straightens out the directory, which solves confusion.
Hope this helps,
Drew

Chaos is the beginning of everything.

[David Scott]

Back to the original sync issue…
A little obvious maybe but have you checked that the sequence and media both have the same audio settings – ie 24bit at 48hz?
Cheers

David Scott,
Senior Editor,
GOD TV (UK)

[Art Douglas]

Has anyone found the fix to this issue? I am having a problem importing DV footage shot on an XL2 mini-DV 4 years ago to apply to a demo reel, and it imports “fine” into Final Cut Pro v 6.0.2, but when it is played through either viewer or canvas/timeline, the audio is out of sync considerably — maybe off by minutes. Exporting the video plays a synced version of the media file that is nothing close to the clips I selected in the timeline. The audio seems to dictate what the “actual” video will ultimately be upon export. I applied temp filters to force a render, which after rendering corrects the problem, but this problem shouldn’t exist in the first place. Before anyone responds with an amateur, misinformed fix for this, I will tell you that I have already done the following:

1. Rebuilt directory structure on the external drive containing the media file
2. Played the media in QT Pro 7 (sync is fine)
3. Checked and matched sequence and clip setting based on FPS and AUDIO rates
4. Verified sequence and clip codec synergy
5. Checked the external drive for integrity and imported other clips from other directories on the same drive that don’t have this issue in FCP.
6. Verified the integrity of the FCP codecs by importing clips of identical settings from other folders, drives, etc.

Please don’t respond if your advice is to trash preferences. We’re beyond that.

[John Harrison]

First post because Having the exact same problem (and tried same solutions without joy)

Ingesting footage through firewire from DV Camera (MBP Core duo 2.5, external 2TB G-raid and MXo2le) audio goes out of sync (shame MXo2 doesn’t have firewire input or accept DV on HDMI but anyway!).
Tape 1 fine
Tape 2, 2 seperate parts on same tape Part 1 out of sync part 2 fine
Tape 3 out of sync
Tape 4 fine

All captured at the same time (sequentially)
Had this problem only once before

Recaptured and tape 2 now fine but having to do tape 3 for a 3rd time
When viewed with Quicktime all are fine

Any suggestions willingly tried ……
Love to know why, I can get around it but it doesn’t half waste time