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Phantom Timecode Break Errors
I am having a scarry problem. I am on location, 3 days into a four day shoot. Multi camera all using timecade from a Fast Foreward timecode generator. NDF 29.97. The problem is that when I go to capture with FCP (5.1.4) on any machine (we’ve treid 3 systems) with any of three different decks, we get a timecode break error durring capture. THERE ARE NO TIMECODE BREAKS in the section we are trying to capture. We have used NDF setting in FCP for capture presets, we’ve tried every ideration of settings in FCP. We cannot “warn after capture” becuase when we do this the time code is not accurate. Any ideas?
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8 Replies
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What bothers me is you say if you tell FCP to warn after capture,
and then the timecode in your captures is somehow different from
the timecode on the tape, well now this is interesting.
Non drop or drop should make no difference, so don’t worry about that
as part of your problem.What deck are you using?
How are you getting video/audio into FCP?
How are you getting timecode into FCP?Dan
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Decks we have tried:
DSR-11
DSR-1500
DSR-250Audio/Video/Timecode via firewire.
We have tried DF and NDF in device control settings as well as capture presets.The only thing I can think of is to go through my AJA IO and try 422 for timecode instead of firewire. The problem is I have DSR-11’s (no 422) at the shop and would only be able to go one tape at a time through my AJA with a rented deck (probably DSR-1500/45). I would really like to figure out why it is doing this via firewire.
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if the break error always comes up in the same point on the tape on 3 different decks on 3 different machines, then it is most likely there is a break on the tape.
I had situations using DV footage where the break was only 1 frame (e.g. jumped from 20 to 22) and could only be seen by going through the tape step by step. also the jump didn’t happen exactly on the scene change but a couple of frames later.
unfortunately this doesn’t give you a solution but I’m only telling you that it is possible. DV just isn’t as 100% foolproof as Beta and upwards formats.
Also could your tc generator caused the problem by skipping a frame or so. you can easily narrow this down by checking all your tapes. if they all show a TC break at the same point in time, the generator is most likely the problem.
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I’ve always been successful by setting the capture to “warn after capture” but
you say you did that and it caused timecode errors. This suggests it
may very well be the timecode generator. Have you tried recording
a segment with one of the cameras using record run internal timecode
then try capturing that? And what cameras are you using?Dan
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FCP sometimes goes into the mode of lying.
Example: When I’ve tried to digitize something that has continuous timecode, FCP stopped the capture and told me it has a timecode break (sound familiar?).
DON’T LISTEN TO IT!!!!! IT’S LYING!!!!!!! IT’S REALLY A HARD DRIVE SPEED ISSUE!!!!!!!
For me the real problem was my hard drive was so full, it couldn’t keep up. FCP didn’t know what to call it, so it lied and called it a timecode break.
I’ve fixed it in the past by cleaning up my hard drive (full hard drives have lower transfer speeds) or getting a better hard drive or connection.
This might not be what is happening to you, but from my experience, it sounds like the same thing that happened to me.
So how full are the drives you’re using? What speed are they? 4500, 5400, or 7200RPM? Is the connection USB 1.1, USB 2, FW400, FW800, SATA, Internal? Is it a full moon tonight?
-Russ
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DSR 570
I’m almost sure it is the TC generator now. The problem is that the tapes look fine! Every frame is there and TC is sequential in the areas it errors out (diferent places everytime).
I tried warn after capture, then I compared the actual tape to the captured footage frame by frame. The captured clip had erroneous TC starting at a caouple minutes in and off by a couple frames. Normally that wouldn’t be a big deal but these are 1-2hr segments and multisource.
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I agree with Russell, I think FCP has trouble with DV TC. I have had to turn off the warning and just capture the footage. My only other question is in your post you said NDF 29.97. I think DV is only DF 29.97.
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The Sony 570 is DVCam and you can select drop or non drop frame timecode.
The good news is, your footage is probably fine.
The bad news is, you will have to sync up all your multiclips using
in-points instead of just having it match the timecode of all your
cameras. It takes MUCH longer to make your multiclips, but
you still have all your video. When this happens to me I just find a spot
on the start of each segment or take, where the first word or sound
is easy to match. Then I back up an equal number of seconds from each take
and set my in point. It works, but simultaneous timecode is obviously
much easier to deal with.Dan
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