Weird Glitchy Area on my Footage

[Mark Suszko]

That to me implies that it’s an issue with trying to read directly off the cards, if you can transfer the file to the desktop and then import it and no longer see the issue.

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

It looks to me like it’s something a bit different. If you import into FCPX using “Import Media”, the glitch will show either if you import straight from the card or from the copy. If you just drag the .mts clip from the place you placed it onto the timeline, it will lag and slow down a lot, but look much better. I don’t know exactly what happens inside FCPX, but maybe if you use “Import Media” it will transcode the media, introducing the artifacts (in facts, it will show as a .mov file), while if you drag it it won’t transcode. Just a guess.

Fabrizio D\’Agnano
Rome, Italy

[Paul Binks]

I tried going via quicktime as suggested and it does get rid of some of the pixelation but doesn’t totally get rid of it. It’s a real pain but will keep trying different things

[Richard Ivey]

[Fabrizio D'Agnano] “It looks to me like it’s something a bit different. If you import into FCPX using “Import Media”, the glitch will show either if you import straight from the card or from the copy. If you just drag the .mts clip from the place you placed it onto the timeline, it will lag and slow down a lot, but look much better. I don’t know exactly what happens inside FCPX, but maybe if you use “Import Media” it will transcode the media, introducing the artifacts (in facts, it will show as a .mov file), while if you drag it it won’t transcode. Just a guess.

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy
“

Thanks for this suggestion Fabrizio – this is the thing that finally worked for me on my 27-inch, Late 2012 iMac!

To expand on Fabrizio’s method: Drag the .mts files that make up your raw video from the STREAM folder (YourSDcard>PRIVATE>AVCHD>BDMV>STREAM) directly into the Browser. To open the AVCHD & BDMV folder you have to Control-Click and choose “Show Package Contents.”

It takes a while to import and I get the Message “Validating File” for a long time, but it does finally load and then process. After trying this with several .mts files I didn’t have any glitches in my video like before when I imported from the “Import” options within the app. So far so good at least.

I’m sure this is a bug from the new version of FCX – I never had it happen with hundreds of imports from SD cards until after this update. It’s a frustrating glitch and hopefully they will fix it soon. It seems that all of the problems are coming from Canon users like me. I have a 2010 Mac Pro running High Sierra and FCX.4 and the problem doesn’t occur there.

Thanks for the original post and all of the replies.

Rich
Orlando, FL

[Michael Hancock]

I definitely sounds like FCPX is adding the glitches during its conversion process.

FCPX doesn’t natively support AVCHD files, so by importing them directly from the AVCHD card structure it’s doing a conversion to ProRes in the background. There’s no way to avoid this if you keep the AVCHD package structure in place. That’s why, when you pull the .mts files from the card structure and directly import those, you don’t see the glitches. It’s the raw file.

Do you have EditReady? If you do, rewrap your footage to .mov, so you can directly import it into FCPX without a transcode, and without having to dive into your package contents. See if the issue is still there. If you don’t have it, there’s a trial you can download so you can run some tests. You could also use EditReady to transcode your footage to ProRes to see if it’s just the conversion to ProRes in general that’s causing the issue, or FCPX’s conversion in the program.

https://www.divergentmedia.com/editready

—————-
Michael Hancock
Editor

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

[Michael Hancock] “You could also use EditReady to transcode your footage to ProRes to see if it’s just the conversion to ProRes in general that’s causing the issue, or FCPX’s conversion in the program.
“
Thank you Michael. I’ll try EditReady this morning.
However, I do not think is a problem with ProRes in general, but just FCPX latest version conversion. It’s now several years I’m using those Canon camcorders, and I never had a problem importing the clips from FCPX and having them automatically transcoded until the latest upgrade.

Fabrizio D\’Agnano
Rome, Italy

[Paul Binks]

I have tried to drag the mts file into final cut but it won’t allow me to do it, it just seems to reject the file.

[Michael Hancock]

[Fabrizio D'Agnano] “However, I do not think is a problem with ProRes in general, but just FCPX latest version conversion. “

I think you’re probably right too. Hopefully testing it with EditReady will let you know for sure if it’s FCPX doing the conversion that’s introducing the glitches, or something else.

—————-
Michael Hancock
Editor

[Richard Ivey]

What is your process for dropping the files into FCX? Are you pulling them from the Stream folder into the browser area?

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

I found I had a forgotten licensed copy of ClipWrap and tried to transcode the .mts files to Pro Res. I did it and relinked the files from the browser (I had already used the .mts files in an edit and did not like the idea to start it all over). It seems everything is playing fine, with no glitches or pixelation and not laggy and slow as with the .mts. I didn’t have time to check it thoroughly, frame by frame, but I’m almost positive it’s ok, and the problem is in FCPX 10.4. It’s still a pain, and I hope they fix it very soon, but at least I don’t have to toss the old Canon’s in the can like I was about to do, and I have usable footage from the B rolls of the latest two sessions that I was afraid I’d lost… Wounded is still better than dead ☺

Fabrizio D\’Agnano
Rome, Italy