[Graham Hutchins]

Thanks for the reply.

I updated to 9.0.5 shortly after posting and had a bit of success, but now it seems that the same error message is coming up and is somehow affected by toggling various preference settings relating to use of proxies in the “Proxies and Thumbnails” preference, well as having a problem connecting transcoded ProRes media to it’s “proxy” h.264 card master, as outlined in this CC forum post, about halfway down by Rolf Howarth:

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/278/308

I’ve set and reset the search paths, toggled off and on the QuickTime timecode track on export, off and on avoid pre-loading movie, avoid intermediate temporary files, use separate QuickTime helper process and scan entire file and the very confusing and frustrating thing that that all this changing of settings back and forth will fix things for a transcode or two, and then I try again with the same card data or with a different card, remembering to change the proxy search path, the whole thing falls apart and I’m either getting the above error or the ProRes media won’t connect or both or neither.

I’m also experiencing a bug where custom names of logged and then exported clips are truncated to 24 characters by default in the export dialog. The names can be longer, but I have to manually re-enter the last characters of the truncated names and this can only be done one file at a time. Batch exporting cannot be corrected until after transcoding.

I’ve tried resetting to default preferences, again with some initial success followed by the same errors and now something completely new. The transcoded media is now just solid white, with correct timecode and metadata. All this after not changing anything in preferences, but trying out custom names beyond MVI_0001, etc.

What I would like to accomplish is using CatDV as the ingestion step between acquisition via DSLR and initial ingestion of transcoded media into FCP. I would like to be able to drag a card into CatDV, custom rename the clip contained within, add a reel name to the clips, possibly subclip, mark, add comments organize in bins, etc, transcode to ProRes, have the clips in CatDV recognize the transcoded media as original media, and drag the clips or send an xml to FCP and have everything just work.

We’re using a single seat of CatDV at the moment, the idea being that we will use it to manage media for projects, ingest, and archive and really learn how to use it before moving up to a server based solution . A majority of what we’ve been shooting lately originates from DSLRs. This ingestion workflow, as I’ve experienced it, is pretty much broken.

If anyone out there is having consistent success with ingesting DSLR footage with CatDV and if you have the time, could you please post some screen grabs of your preferences and a brief explanation of your workflow.

For now, we’ll keep using FCP Log and Transfer. It retains TOD timecode, allows for unique Clip and Reel names, comments, etc., is about 30% faster to transcode, doesn’t transcode a gamma and chroma shift, allows the user to keep logging while transcoding, and just works. We’re very close to just giving up on the whole thing and asking for our money back.

When it works, it’s a beautiful thing, it’s just too seldom that this actually occurs.

Thanks for your time.

-Graham

OSX 10.6.8
AE CS5
FC Studio 3
Octo 2.26GB MacPro, 16 GB RAM

[Graham Hutchins]

From the CatDV support FAQ:

Sales and Support FAQ

Question
I get the message “Failed (eg. incomplete media, disk full, file exists)” when exporting movies with a timecode track. None of these suggestions apply to me.
Answer
This is a known bug in CatDV 3.0.7 and earlier which has recently been fixed. Update to the latest version.

I’m on version 9.0.1 and this is also occurring with ProRes files. I’m also seeing a significant gamma and chroma shift when transcoding from h.264 to ProRes in CatDV vs using Log and Transfer in FCP.

-Graham

OSX 10.6.8
AE CS5
FC Studio 3
Octo 2.26GB MacPro, 16 GB RAM

[Graham Hutchins]

We have had similar problems with deactivating because many times we have shoots in other states/countries and have to hire an outside person to ingest footage for us on rental computers. Sometimes they do not deactivate properly or poor internet connections have cause problems. Imagine Products has told us we have reached our limit on deactivations by them after 3 incidents. We don’t want to have to purchase another $99 license every time this happens.

Does anyone have any suggestions for alternate software?

Thanks!
Hallie

-Graham

OSX 10.6.8
AE CS5
FC Studio 3
Octo 2.26GB MacPro, 16 GB RAM

[Graham Hutchins]

We have had similar problems with deactivating because many times we have shoots in other states/countries and have to hire an outside person to ingest footage for us on rental computers. Sometimes they do not deactivate properly or poor internet connections have cause problems. Imagine Products has told us we have reached our limit on deactivations by them after 3 incidents. We don’t want to have to purchase another $99 license every time this happens.

Does anyone have any suggestions for alternate software?

Thanks!
Hallie

-Graham

OSX 10.6.8
AE CS5
FC Studio 3
Octo 2.26GB MacPro, 16 GB RAM

[Graham Hutchins]

Ok, so I’ve fixed the issue (sort of).

I uninstalled the the EOS plugin. Directions are on page two of the pdf here.

I reinstalled the v1.1 plugin that I happened to have on hand on the Mac mini. Everything works now.

I tried to update to v1.2 and it broke EOS L&T again. Uninstalled and reinstalled v1.1, fixed.

So there you have it. It’s a good thing I’ve abandoned trying to do a proxy offline/online workflow with the 5D.

-Graham

OSX 10.6.8
AE CS5
FC Studio 3
Octo 2.26GB MacPro, 16 GB RAM

[Graham Hutchins]

There you go. That did the trick.

Thanks!

-Graham

OSX 10.6.8
AE CS5
FC Studio 3
Octo 2.26GB MacPro, 16 GB RAM

[Graham Hutchins]

Yeah, test footage would be nice. Unfortunately we don’t own the camera and the space we’re using is rented.

I’ll see what I can get together between now and next week.

Right now I can work with some royalty free stock footage of some white screens, though they’re all photo-jpeg quicktimes, so not exactly the same as what we’re capturing.

Thanks.

-Graham

OSX 10.6.8
AE CS5
FC Studio 3
Octo 2.26GB MacPro, 16 GB RAM

[Graham Hutchins]

Hi Dave,

I’m on CS5 at the moment. Is there an appreciable difference between the rotobrush tool in CS5.5 compared to CS5?

I’m familiar with the tool, although I haven’t really dug deep into it just yet.

Thanks.

-Graham

OSX 10.6.8
AE CS5
FC Studio 3
Octo 2.26GB MacPro, 16 GB RAM

[Graham Hutchins]

Sorry to disappoint, but it’s a rental.

-Graham

OSX 10.6.8
AE CS5
FC Studio 3
Octo 2.26GB MacPro, 16 GB RAM

[Graham Hutchins]

Hey Gonar,

I’m currently in a similar situation and I was wondering if you ever found a solution to your multi-tape archive issue.

Any insight you might have would be helpful.

Thanks.

-Graham

OSX 10.6.8
AE CS5
FC Studio 3
Octo 2.26GB MacPro, 16 GB RAM