[Jim Coulter]

With regard to the grey preview screen problem in FCP. I have good news… at least with my problem. It went away…as if by magic. So that tells me that Apple (FCP) must have addressed the problem and the last time I did a software update the problem with the grey screen in the preview window within FCP just went away.

As a desperate last measure I had sent my HVX200 with all 3 P2 cards and my Duel-Adapter to Panasonic in New Jersey (at considerable expense with regard to shipping costs) only to have them check the equipment using the same workflow and the problem never reared it’s ugly head. I was perplexed because it happened 90 percent of the time with me. After the equipment got home the problem (to date) has not re-appeared. My only guess is that I did do a software update on my Macbook Pro while the camera was in New Jersey and that somehow fixed the problem because I have not changed my workflow or any of the equipment from before.

Hopefully those of you who wrote me saying you too were having the grey screen problem have also discovered that your P2 problems have magically gone away.

The interesting thing is…NO ONE (not Apple, Panasonic or Duel-Adapter) ever admitted anything was wrong on their end.

[Jim Coulter]

With regard to the grey preview screen problem in FCP. I have good news… at least with my problem. It went away…as if by magic. So that tells me that Apple (FCP) must have addressed the problem and the last time I did a software update the problem with the grey screen in the preview window within FCP just went away.

As a desperate last measure I had sent my HVX200 with all 3 P2 cards and my Duel-Adapter to Panasonic in New Jersey (at considerable expense with regard to shipping costs) only to have them check the equipment using the same workflow and the problem never reared it’s ugly head. I was perplexed because it happened 90 percent of the time with me. After the equipment got home the problem (to date) has not re-appeared. My only guess is that I did do a software update on my Macbook Pro while the camera was in New Jersey and that somehow fixed the problem because I have not changed my workflow or any of the equipment from before.

Hopefully those of you who wrote me saying you too were having the grey screen problem have also discovered that your P2 problems have magically gone away.

The interesting thing is…NO ONE (not Apple, Panasonic or Duel-Adapter) ever admitted anything was wrong on their end.

[Jim Coulter]

HI Chris,

I am the person that started this particular thread and I am indeed using an Intel Macbook Pro running the latest Leopard OS 10.5.5 to offload my files via Duel Adapter and external hard drive.

I am experiencing the same issue on my Mac Pro Intel as well so I don’t think that’s what’s causing the problem.

Although I’m sorry to hear that you’re having the same problem… maybe if enough of us speak out -Panasonic, Apple or Duel Adapter will do something about it.

It has to be something software related because as you said I never had this problem before. I was using the FINDER and just dragging P2 files over to my hard drive from the Duel Adapter and everything was working great… and one day BAM! I started having this problem. Like you I constantly update my software as new updates become available… so something happened.

Jim Coulter

[Jim Coulter]

Hi Jonathan,

Sorry to hear you’re having the same problem… it doesn’t seem to be a very prevalent problem as yours is the first response I have had to my post. It is a very frustrating problem because I cannot offline anything in FCP nor can I spot check footage in the field. I have to open the files in P2CMS and view them there. Plus I’m always afraid there might be something wrong with my files when I hand them off to my clients.

Here is some of the most recent things that have happened regarding the issue:

1.) The same grayed out preview window appeared on my friend’s Mac Pro system in FCP when I hooked my G-Raid to it trying to view some footage I shot for them. This means that the problem is then passed on to them and they in turn will not be able to offline their shots. It makes me wonder if somehow my camera or P2 cards are somehow “tainting” the media and therefore once it’s captured and transferred it will cause this gray screen on any computer using FCP… however I did a test recently by shooting some 720P 24P footage and copying it to a data DVD and I sent it to Jim Thomas (Panasonic’s tech rep) He tried opening it on his system and said he had no problems and no gray screen. It seems every path I go down has a different outcome!

2.) I have been trying to troubleshoot the problem with Jim Thomas, Panasonic’s tech rep. He has been trying to help but even he really doesn’t know what’s causing the problem.

3.) I bought a new transfer software called SHOTPUT and the first few transfers I tried everything worked great…I could see my media and they played fine in the preview window in FCP. I thought I had solved the problem only to be let down on my next shoot when the gray screen returned again and again even using the SHOTPUT software.

Here’s what I do know…

1.) Using the camera as an offload mechanism everything looks great and I have experienced no problems however that is irrelevant because if I used my camera to offload files during a shoot I would not be able to shoot again until the media was offloaded.

2.) The problem seem to happen mostly when shooting 720P 24P which unfortunately happens to be the format I shoot 99 percent of my media in. Other frame rates do not seem to cause the problem.

3.) The problem is intermittent.

4.) I cannot pinpoint if the problem is an issue related to some combination of hardware and software on MY system only and perhaps that is why so few other people have reported the problem. Perhaps by some strange coincidence your system has the same or similar variables as mine and therefore you too are experiencing the problem?

5.) None of my questions have been answered by Panasonic, Apple or Duel Adapter any of which could be responsible.

The reality is no one is stepping up to look into and solve this problem and my only options thus far have been to find work arounds and just deal with it… which really sucks- to tell you the truth.

Anything you know or hear about I would really appreciate if you could let me know also.

Jim Coulter

[Jim Coulter]

Hi Dan,

I recently experienced similar problems on my HVX200 and P2 workflow. As you mentioned I have used my camera and cards on numerous shoots and this is the first time this has happened. I shot 720P 24P and transferred my media using a Dual Adapter to a Mac Book pro then copied to a G-Raid. At the end of day at location I spot checked my footage using FCP 6’s Log & transfer window. As always I was able to “preview” the scenes without ingesting. When I returned to my hotel and sat down to look at each shot in detail I noticed the “preview” window was greyed out and it said “preview not supported for this format”
I was only able to see the clips if I put them in the queue and captured them. Then they played fine in Final Cut. I also experience the “exclamation marks” you mentioned when I tried to bring all the clips in at once. I had to delete them from the queue and try again one by one to get them in. Never had to do this before. I was very worried that the media had somehow gotten corrupted and I called Panasonic’s tech support for answers. (very hard to get a person on the phone because an answering service picks up and will only take your name and number-frustrating!. When I finally did get someone- they said they had never heard of this issue??? He said I should try several experiments to locate the problem. I tried most of them but the problem continued to appear intermittently. For example I tried reading directly from the P2 card (in the Dual adapter) in FCP’s Log & Transfer window. Some of the clips would play in the preview window while others were once again greyed out.

I also downloaded and tried looking at the media in Panasonics P2 Viewer for Mac and they played but only for about 10 seconds then it froze on the last frame but I could still hear the audio and the marker continued to move across the timeline for the duration of the clip.

I have still not gotten a definitive answer to this problem. I was told by Panasonic that it could be any number of things. For example…a defective Dual Adapter, a bad cable, I updated something since the last project I edited and that’s causing the issue. After speaking to the Support guy I was starting to loose faith in P2. He told me these horror stories that people had completely lost file after transferring them! I only have 3 cards so I have to offload and format them. It’s really a scary thought that even after copying them if I format my card I may not have viable media for my client! Unbelievable!

I’m still holding my breath that my client doesn’t call me up and tell me they can’t read the media I just delivered. This shoot just wrapped. On top of all that when I got home I took my copy of the media (on a G-raid) into my Mac Pro and tried looking at it on my edit station. I still had the same greyed out screen with”Preview not supported” but as if things could not get worse after I brought it in to FCP 6 and laid it on a timeline I tried watching the scenes on my Panasonic HD monitor and they were all “crunchy” looking. I freaked out! After settling down and thinking things through I tried looking at a project I still had on my drives that I knew were okay and they played back screwy as well so I know then that the problem was my monitor ( more than likely my AJA Kona card) that was the culprit. Besides the media plays fine on the computers screens.

So in conclusion I am at a total loss to understand this problem and Panasonic’s Techs have been no help either. if ANYONE out there can help me troubleshoot this please write me.

Thanks for your time.

Jim