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Rogue Quicktime ProRes 422 files Crash FCP and QT7 & X on Macbook Pro in OSX but not In Windows
Hi,
I have a drive full of Apple ProRes 422 Quicktime files. Almost all of them play perfectly, except 2. Those 2 files have played in the past, but not without problems. They’ve come back to functionality in the past, but now they are not working again and I don’t understand why.
Whenever I go to open the files with Quicktime Pro 7, Quicktime X, FCP 7, Adobe Premiere or Adobe Media Encoder, I get the spinning beach ball and not only does Quicktime crash, but the finder crashes as well. The finder crashes so badly that it won’t come back to life and I have to restart the macbook.
I’ve tried repairing permissions and on the Macbook Hardrive and have used Disk Utility and Disk warrior on the hardrive containing the 2 quicktime files. I’ve also tried copying the files from the drive to the laptop, but the same happens when I go to open them. The files are about 18 GB. Nothing has solved the problem.
At first, I thought the Quicktime files might have become corrupted, but I installed Windows 7, using bootcamp, on the same macbook, hooked up the external hardrive and was able to play the quicktimes perfectly in Windows with quicktime 7 (not pro, because I don’t want to buy it just for windows). So, there is some sort of incompatability between these two quicktime files and my Macboook.
Does anyone have any ideas as to what could be going on? Thanks for reading.
-Scott
Film Editor, London UK
http://www.scottclementseditor.com -
5 Replies
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I am going to guess a corrupt header in the quicktime files. Just for kicks try to open in MPEG streamclip.
“Think of everything in terms of building capacity.”
Kris Merkel
twitter: @kris_merkel
Product Manager, Flanders Scientific Inc.
http://www.shopfsi.com
Co-Founder, Atlanta Cutters Post Production User Group
http://www.atlantacutters.com2.2Ghz MBP core i7
16Gb RAM
CS6/FCP7
AJA T-Tap
AJA IO XT
FSI LM-2461W/CM-170W
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Thanks for the suggestion, Kris. Unfortunately, Mpeg Streamclip hangs as well. If the issues is a corrupt header in the quicktime files, is there any way to fix it? Since the files play on the windows side, I guess I’ll look for a (hopefully) free way to copy them that will hopefully fix the corrupt header so that I can use the files on a mac. You’d think that if the files were going to become corrupt, they’d do so in both operating systems. I even tried reinstalling Mountain Lion, but that had no effect.
Film Editor, London UK
http://www.scottclementseditor.com -
You could try the QT repair. there is a free trail to see if it would work for you.
https://www.digitalrebellion.com/promaintenance/
good luck
“Think of everything in terms of building capacity.”
Kris Merkel
twitter: @kris_merkel
Product Manager, Flanders Scientific Inc.
http://www.shopfsi.com
Co-Founder, Atlanta Cutters Post Production User Group
http://www.atlantacutters.com2.2Ghz MBP core i7
16Gb RAM
CS6/FCP7
AJA T-Tap
AJA IO XT
FSI LM-2461W/CM-170W
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Does Finder manage to create a preview icon of the file when it is in Column mode? If it does, does it create a preview when in Icon mode? If it does but still won’t play then I would say the file has suffered internal damage; something like a power spike such that part of the file has artefacts that trip the system – if the file doesn’t present a preview icon in the Finder window then it is most definitely corrupted but do try making a duplicate (if you can) and playing that on another system or just from another external drive.
If you get it to play make another duplicate and save it elsewhere before erasing the drive you have it and the others stored on it, keep everything on a fresh formatted drive since the original damage could have happened during “capture” to this drive or while resident on this drive.
I had files that behaved like this and assumed these files were corrupted but found that on another drive they were fine!
Pipphilip
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Thanks for the detailed response, Philip.
Regarding your questions…
Does Finder manage to create a preview icon of the file when it is in Column mode? If it does, does it create a preview when in Icon mode?
Yes to both.
What I had to do in the end was install windows on bootcamp, and get ahold of quicktime pro for PC. Then, I attached the drive and quicktime pro was able to open the files that quicktime pro couldn’t open in Mac. Then, I did a “save as” and saved the files with a different name. Obviously, it’s not the ideal fix, but it was the only way I could salvage the files. Luckily it was only 2 files, because the process took an extremely long time.
Film Editor, London UK
http://www.scottclementseditor.com
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