[Roger Lansing]

Don,
Thanks for your suggestion. I did try what you said and a couple of clips did convert and when I went to try a third clip, the computer locked up and required a restart. That led me to return to Mac phone tech support. I may have an answer to the problem, although it requires some new additions to the computer. After very long phone conversations with Mac Tech Support, it seems that the XDCam files may be too robust for use with a RAID, or external storage. After running through some exercises with the Sony software and FCP, the suggestion has been made to upgrade the amount of local storage and saving the media and files to that drive instead of using the external RAID/XSan network. I have a handful of those media files now saved on my internal HD and can edit and scrub and such inside FCP using that media. I am hoping that this will solve the issues and I can at least complete this project and then rethink the whole set-up.

Thanks to all that provided some assistance. Gotta love The Cow!

Roger C. Lansing

Multi-Media Production Coordinator
National Baseball Hall of Fame

Cooperstown, NY

[Roger Lansing]

I may have an answer to the problem, although it requires some new additions to the computer. After very long phone conversations with Mac Tech Support, it seems that the XDCam files may be too robust for use with a RAID, or external storage. After running through some exercises with the Sony software and FCP, the suggestion has been made to upgrade the amount of local storage and saving the media and files to that drive instead of using the external RAID/XSan network. I have a handful of those media files now saved on my internal HD and can edit and scrub and such inside FCP using that media. I am hoping that this will solve the issues and I can at least complete this project and then rethink the whole set-up.

Thanks to all that provided some assistance. Gotta love The Cow!

Roger C. Lansing

Multi-Media Production Coordinator
National Baseball Hall of Fame

Cooperstown, NY

[Roger Lansing]

I do appreciate all of the responses, and I have read all of the other posters in this forum in regard to this issue and I have taken the advice about optimizing the system. This problem has been plaguing us for two and a half weeks now. I have trashed preferences, uninstalled, reinstalled, optimized, etc etc etc. I actually called in the guys who designed and built the systems because my next thought was an issue with the RAID volume and with XSan. We did end up having an issue with that, but once that work was complete, I assumed that everything would work fine, but it has not. I can edit all day and all night with archival footage, new HD footage ingested through our JVC decks, new SD footage, old SD footage… I can put the “pedal to the metal” on the FC systems with that kind of footage, making both systems, simultaneously, work as hard as possible and they perform in a stellar manner. But, open a project with XDCam footage and try to scrub through video, and it crashes. Try to drag a clip to the timeline and it crashes. Try to simply play a timeline with XDCam footage in it, and it crashes. I am beginning to think that my FC system is just fine…..not so much with the Sony XDCam software or the codec or the files themselves. I just can’t seem to figure out how to get this fixed.

Roger C. Lansing

Multi-Media Production Coordinator
National Baseball Hall of Fame

Cooperstown, NY

[Roger Lansing]

I appreciate the answers and have wondered if this was a solution, but unfortunately, the camera that was used was rented for the event and no longer in our possession. The files were transferred off of the cards to an external drive and then imported into final cut using the XDCAM transfer software from there. Is there any way to convert the files to another format that FC will not have such a problem with?

Roger C. Lansing

Multi-Media Production Coordinator
National Baseball Hall of Fame

Cooperstown, NY

[Roger Lansing]

I have been dealing with this same issue for a week now and am at my wits end. Good to hear that I am not the only one. I have two nearly identical, brand new edit suites and both are having the random crash problem as noted by all of you.

Here is what I have:
Edit One:
2×2.8 GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon
10GB 800 MHz DDR2 FB-Dimm
OSX 10.5.5
FCStudio latest release
QT 7.5.5

Edit Two:
2×2.8 Ghz Quad Core Intel Xeon
6GB 800 MHz DDR2 FB-Dimm
OSX 10.5.5
FCStudio latest release
QT 7.5.5

both suites sharing a 3.64 TB Apple XServe Raid controlled by a Dual 2.3 Ghz Power PC G5 and Xsan Admin 2.1.1

Neither machine will remain stable in any project using the XDCam footage. Sequences have been set to match the footage exactly, yet this hasn’t helped. I have tried creating new projects and starting from scratch by reimporting using the XDCam import within FC and the computer locks up while setting inpoints for subclips, it locks up while opening new clips, it locks up while scrubbing through clips. I have also tried importing the footage using only the Sony XDCam software without using FC and the same issues happen. When editing within FC, crashes happen while scrubbing, while rendering, when dragging clips to the timeline, at random times and on random clips.

I have completed three projects on both of these brand new edit suites in the past two weeks that did not involve any XDCam footage. The suites ran beautifully while ingesting, editing, exporting, etc.

It puts my mind at ease (a bit) to know that I may not have gotten two identically bad Intel Macs, but I hope that we can get some answers to these problems soon. I have a rapidly approaching deadline on the current project that I cannot even keep open.

Roger C. Lansing

Multi-Media Production Coordinator
National Baseball Hall of Fame

Cooperstown, NY

[Roger Lansing]

Walter,

Thanks for your input. Watchout, I understand, will be the best possible option, and the one that I am pushing for. Unfortunately, I do not control the purse strings on this and Watchout and all of the necessary license keys (potentially 17-24) may be out of reach of the exhibit’s budget. Is there other software, or a suite of software, that can do this kind of job? It will need to handle not only the monitor wall presentation, but also the assorted cues that go along with a multi-media presentation. I know that Watchout can do it all, it has been running our theater here non-stop for at least 3 years…it is a tremendous product…you get what you pay for. I know. But before I push hard for going over budget, just wondering if there might be something else out there. Thanks again for your time.

Roger C. Lansing

Multi-Media Production Coordinator
National Baseball Hall of Fame

Cooperstown, NY

[Roger Lansing]

Dave,

Thanks so much for your insight and your tips. I raise my glass of Ommegang to you.

[Roger Lansing]

I see now what you are saying and I understand the resolution problem. Thanks for the insight. It’s probably something that I should have been able to figure out……

My next question then would be, could I create this same animation if I create a smaller comp but use the larger photo? Or am I really way off base here?

Don’t sweat the lack of “Cave Aged” Ommegang out in your area….it’s difficult to get your hands on it here in Cooperstown…. Very limited edition and very popular amongst the craft beer crowd.

[Roger Lansing]

I am not sure if the image size is the problem. Watching Andrew Kramer’s tutorial on Video Copilot.net I see that his comp/image size is considerably smaller than what I am using.

Thanks for the tip on Ommegang, I was a fan of all of their products prior to moving here this past summer. The Hennepin is my favorite also, although they recently released their annual “Cave Aged” beers that take the flavor and quality up about 30 notches…..

[Roger Lansing]

Thanks. It took me awhile to remember what a great source of knowledge this forum is. After posting, I did a search to see other posts of the same subject and found answers to my problem. I really appreciate the rapid response and I have already used what I found here to solve my temporary brain-freeze.

Again, thanks to all the COWers. It’s great having this forum at our fingertips.

Roger C. Lansing

Multi-Media Production Coordinator
National Baseball Hall of Fame

Cooperstown, NY