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Nasty Inexplicable Shakes During Timeline Playback and On Exported Files
Hello and thanks in advance for any help with this:
Mac Pro (mid 2010)
Mavericks 10.9.4
FCPX 10.1.2
Panasonic FZ200 w/64GB card (camera does not appear to be supported by Apple/FCPX but has worked fine to date (with the exception of intermittent AVCHD import problems)Here’s a link to a video example of what I’m experiencing:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5iyo2qyzax6mqql/Example.mov
Sometimes FCPX will recognize my camera and import the AVCHD footage without a problem, sometimes not— this was one of the “not” times— but this isn’t the reason I’m writing.
I attempted to use Clipwrap to rewrap the files so FCPX would recognize them but the Clipwrap files contained no audio— strike two. I finally used a tool called Media Converter to successfully rewrap the footage, including audio, and imported it into FCPX. I just finished editing this wedding footage and I can’t understand why my timeline playback and exported files look so nasty.
I’m definitely playing-back and exporting Optimized/Original content, as opposed to proxy. Also, when I go into the library for this project, via Show Package Contents, and play the files located in the Original Media folder there— they play-back fine with no nastiness? And, as a possible hint, this nastiness is visible throughout the timeline, but it’s most noticeable on clips with a lot of movement.
Any ideas about what might be happening here?
Thank You
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6 Replies
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[Scott Logan] “I attempted to use Clipwrap to rewrap the files so FCPX would recognize them”
I don’t actually understand why that should be necessary. At least not when and if you’re ingesting directly from the camera/card. NOT copying the files in the Finder first. A big no-no with that kind of footage.
[Scott Logan] “this nastiness is visible throughout the timeline, but it’s most noticeable on clips with a lot of movement.”
I’d say it’s no doubt recording INTERLACED and you’re simply seeing the fields. The clip also suggests that you have a screwy field dominance but also most likely a completely wrong fps upon output also (which is why it bumps at pretty much exactly 1-second intervals). It also sounds like the footage isn’t being interpreted correctly by FCP X on top of everything, which ALL will most likely will have to do with the (as I’ve said, normally completely unnecessary) rewrapping. If interlaced material is being interpreted correctly, you should not see them at all in the viewer whilst editing.
Depending on how the footage was in fact recorded, you need to go into the clip’s info window and set the “Video Field Dominance” accordingly. Which setting is correct I can’t say without seeing the actual footage. But that will near definitely be your problem.
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Thanks for the sharing of your time and expertise, Robin.
I had never before modified field dominance settings, so I researched how to do so in FCPX and tried the available pop-down options— no improvement using any of them. All my footage is 1080p, as an aside.
Then I began exploring frame rates, again thanks to your feedback. I discovered all my footage is at 59.94, but my project was set at 23.98! YES! A eureka moment— I thought. I tried to increase the frame rate of the existing project but the frame rate pop-down was grayed out. So, I created a new empty project with the desired frame rate of 59.94 and I copied and pasted the entire contents of my problem project into the new project. I WAS ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED this was going to make life beautiful again, but nope— that same visible nastiness remains.
In this newly created project I again tried the available field dominance settings for the heck of it, but again without any change.
What in the world could this be, Robin? Anyone?
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Question is, is the the REWRAPPED footage or the original media from the camera? Because I can only speak to what I wrote in the context of the original media that was ingested directly from the camera or card.
At least going by what you describe, your material shows all the signs of being interlaced and/or being misinterpreted. If it was in fact recorded progressive then all of this is of course moot. But from the limited amount of info I was able to find about the camera, it does in fact record 60i. So it’s not a complete impossibility.
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Yes Robin, we’re talking about rewrapped footage. I’m unable to retrieve the original footage from my SD cards because my camera and FCPX don’t play well together. I still can’t wrap my head around that glaring AVCHD incompatibility. Believe me, I’m rewrapping out of necessity.
In closing this thread I won’t try to recount the novels-worth of hair-yanking things I’ve tried in order to resolve this, but I do believe I’ve found the solution. I still don’t know how it happened, but my project frame rate was set a 59.94 and my clips were at 23.98? I discovered this by opening one of the rewrapped clips in QT7 and getting info on it (command I). As stated in my previous post, I checked the frame rates of both the project and the clips a couple days ago and they were both at 59.94? I rewrapped the clips to the 59.94 frame rate and all appears to be well.
Sigh…
What I wouldn’t give to have one of you experienced editors by my side during my editing hair loss sessions.
Thanks once again for your time, Robin!! Much appreciated.
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Hi, Scott. You should report your issue to: https://www.apple.com/feedback/finalcutpro.html
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Ok James, thank you.
Scott
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