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Mysterious TC error message after 5.1 crossgrade
Although I’m quite new to FCP, I’d like to think that I’m not a comlete noob or idiot. After all, I set up my new G5 quad here at work with Final Cut Studio 5.0 and have produced several projects on it so far. But now that I’ve installed the 5.1 crossgrade, I’m a little confused.
I’m using a Sony DSR-20 with miniDV footage captured through my G5’s built-in Firewire. I have all the Capture and Device Control presets properly set up. I’m importing footage batch lists and attempting to batch capture, but I get a message telling me that I’m attempting to “Capture Drop Frame footage to a non-Drop Frame clip” etc. It would allow me to proceed, but I don’t want to capture a couple hundred clips only to find out that I need to do it again.
I’m well aware of the difference in DF and NDF time code, and as far as I know I’ve got all my settings indicating that I’m using Drop Frame. Am I missing one? In addition, sometimes this error doesn’t come up on the very same batch list. I’m very put out by this, because a lot of my projects are likely to come up for re-edit, and this error message tells me I may have problems re-linking clips.
Any help would be appreciated. I’ve searched over and over, toggled all the settings I could find, and just when I think the error message is gone, it pops up again on the same project during the same session with the same batch list. Yikes.
Thanks in advance,
Clint F -
5 Replies
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Clint,
Two possibilities come to mind.
1) Trash prefs — after the crossgrade many mysterious things can happen until Prefs get trashed
2) Make certain to roll tape for a few seconds before logging so drop/non-drop is sensed.
DRW
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Well, Clint…
I got the same error on my system using DV video also. BUT here’s the strange thing. I was recapturing an old project that I did last year so that I could make changes to it for my boss. Nothing changed. Same Easy Setup and same settings in the sequence.
I also see this sometimes with my XDCAM and XDCAM HD footage using firewire control but video/audio thru my Kona 2. I had a bad K-box so I had to continue using firewire machine control.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com -
It’s interesting that you suggest rolling a bit of tape first. I’ve been searching all over the place (even in the MANUAL, how’s that for desperate?) and found ONE paragraph on page 326 of volume IV of the FCP manual. The sentence “Once a tape is playing, Final Cut Pro determines the timecode mode from the tape, not this pop-up menu.” caught my eye.
I’ve been starting up the deck after I get ready to capture in FCP, not before (I hate fan noise). I’m going to have to experiment more, powering up the deck before I start FCP, and see if that’s the cause. It’s odd that it didn’t matter in FCP 5.0. It could certainly be explained in more detail in the user manual!
Thanks,
Clint -
[ClintVideo] “The sentence “Once a tape is playing, Final Cut Pro determines the timecode mode from the tape, not this pop-up menu.” caught my eye.”
Clint,
This is very common, and the rule rather than the exception. The fact is, you either managed to get away with it before by sheer luck, perhaps you just didn’t notice, or FCP was not smart enough in previous versions to issue the proper warning.
DRW
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Yeah, go figure. I never got any sort of error message before, and my habits haven’t changed. In any case, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. While I always assumed that FCP got the TC info from the tape, I didn’t realize it determined the yet-to-be-captured clip’s TC setting based on the status of the system at the time the batch list is imported. That’s the wacky part.
I just ran into the same thing today; the VTR timed out and shut off over lunch, I imported a batch list when I got back, and FCP issued the error when I got ready to batch capture. I deleted the clips from the bin, turned the deck on and refreshed a/v devices, imported the batch list, and we’re good as gold.
I would expect this is a change from 5.0, unless it’s just smarter at giving me warnings as you said.
Clint
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