Re-capturing & Re-connecting lost capture scratch

[Shane Ross]

What exactly are you doing, and what are the exact timecode errors. Typically all you need to do is insert the PROPER tape into the camera/deck, highlight all the clips on that tape in the Browser and hit Batch Capture. If you captured using UNCONTROLLED DEVICE, then you’ll not have proper timecode. If you did a CAPTURE NOW and didn’t leave enough pre-roll on the tape (5 seconds) then recapturing cannot occur….as there is not enough room for the tape to back up and get a running start on the tape.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Andrea Dunlap]

Also, watch out for timecode breaks.

[Chris Mast]

Well that was helpful because it turns out I did “capture now” and didn’t leave enough pre-roll. Is there any other way to get back the footage?

What about if I skipped the first few edits, and tried to capture later in the tape, because that way there would be plenty of pre-roll tape. If that worked, I could just re-capture the first few edits/clips and get back the vast majority of the rest of my edits.

Chris Mast

[Shane Ross]

If you want the footage to RE-LINK to the footage you used in the cut, you need to have the clips used in the cut to have the media online. You cannot capture a new clip starting a few seconds later and have it relink to the clips in the sequence. If only it was that easy. FCP notes the Media TC start time and media TC end time, and the duration. If none of those match, it won’t relink. This is one of the BIG dangers of CAPTURE now, and why as a camera operator, you always ALWAYS give enough preroll at the head of a tape. The typical practice is to record 30 seconds of Color bars.

As to how you can fix this? Well…this is a toughie. Not sure how I’d approach this. Dubbing the tape to another tape with matching TC but trying to give enough pre-roll won’t work, because you won’t get the TC to backtime…you could have a tape roll for 30 seconds, then try a dub, but when FCP tries to backup and encounters different code, it won’t pre-roll…it will run into broken TC and not work. At least in my experience.

Well, I hope someone can offer good advice. I’ve never encountered this, so I have no solution.
Sorry.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Jan Joubert]

Well if your figuring this stuff out as you go along like me a mine like this is bound to remove a limb or two now and then, but i’ve found some re attachment techniques:

the easiest if you have a VTR is just to select all the offline clips on that specific tape, deselect the ones in the first couple of minutes on the tape (look for the media start column), and batch capture,
(don’t click add when the option comes up)
then recapture those two minutes at the start of the tape using capture now and using the timecode start / stop indicators in the project window re log them using markers.

another easy way to do it (but it takes alot more machine time but much less of your time) is to recapture all those tapes using capture now from as early in the tape as possible,
then follow this procedure with each tape:
look at the offline footage, at what timecode did the first shot on the tape start and what TC did the last one end?
using those two TC’s create a new sequence with those properties,that is,
make it start on the start TC you’ve just found in the sequence settings dialogue, insert the captured footage into the sequence, remove the frames or add slug or w.e. to make up the difference so as to match the timecode, put the sequence out point at the ending timecode of the offline tape that you found, and export. the new exported file will have the timecode of the offline tape.
just reconnect your footage to that, FCP will say ‘media length different’, but just click continue it works fine.

😉

building puzzles with timecodes.