[Steven Gonzales]

USB is not reliable for video capture. Even though its speed is comparable to firewire, USB is subject to interrupts which can cause problems for time sensitive applications such as video capture.

You might get lucky and have no problems, but generally you are better off using firewire to your hard drive if it is available.

[Steven Gonzales]

My first guess would be a drive that is failing or has directory errors. Try running disk utility (Applications — utilities — disk utility ) on your media drive.

I use Disk Warrior when I see such quirks. https://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/

Also, there is some maintenance that needs to be done periodically on OSX, and might not occur if you always shut down your computer. Macjanitor will run these scripts.

https://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/macjanitor.html

[Steven Gonzales]

I found a couple scripts to deal with timecode conversions at https://bbs.applescript.net/viewtopic.php?id=22304

******QuickTime time -> SMTPE:

Open this Scriplet in your Editor:
property TimeOffset : 10

tell application “QuickTime Player”
tell document 1 to set {currentTime, timeScale, theDuration, FrameCount} to {current time, time scale, duration, count (frames of track “Video track”)}
end tell

set FrameRate to (FrameCount * timeScale) / theDuration div 1
tell (currentTime / timeScale) to set {hr, mn, sc} to {it div 3600, it mod 3600 div 60, it mod 3600 mod 60 div 1}
set fr to (currentTime mod timeScale div (timeScale / FrameRate))
set SMPTE to addZero(TimeOffset + hr) & “:” & addZero(mn) & “:” & addZero(sc) & “:” & addZero(fr)
display dialog “TCR ” & SMPTE

on addZero(v)
return text -2 thru -1 of (“0” & v)
end addZero

*****SMTPE –> QuickTime time:

Open this Scriplet in your Editor:
property TimeOffset : 10
set SMTPE to “10:20:24:20”

set {hr, mn, sc, fr} to words of SMTPE
tell application “QuickTime Player”
tell document 1 to set {timeScale, theDuration, FrameCount} to {time scale, duration, count (frames of track “Video track”)}
end tell
set FrameRate to (FrameCount * timeScale) / theDuration div 1
set QT_time to ((((hr as integer) – TimeOffset) * 3600 + mn * 60 + sc) * FrameRate + fr) * (timeScale / FrameRate)

[Steven Gonzales]

I would just use Final Cut, but you might be able to use applescript to accomplish this if you have quicktime pro.

The applescript dictionary for Quicktime includes:

select?v : Select a range of time
select reference : the movie whose selection is to be set
[at integer] : starting time of the selection
[to integer] : end time of the selection

and

trim?v : Remove all content before and after the current selection
trim reference : movie

and

export?v : Export a movie or track to a file
export reference : the movie or track to export
to file : the destination file
as AIFF/AVI/BMP/DV stream/Fast Start QTVR Movie/FLC/hinted movie/image sequence/interframe compressed VR object movie/iTunes/MuLaw/MPEG2/MPEG4/picture/QuickTime media link/QuickTime movie/QuickTime TeXML/standard MIDI/System 7 sound/text file/ThreeGPP/wave : the desired file type
[using default settings/most recent settings] : the export settings to use
[using settings preset string] : the name of the export settings preset to use
[using settings file] : the file containing the export settings
[replacing boolean] : should the original file be deleted first?

Here’s a collection of quicktime scripts that you might be able to adapt:

https://www.apple.com/applescript/archive/quicktime/

I’m not sure how applescript handles time. Time is an integer, so some conversion will have to take place of your timecode numbers.

I think time is explained in the Quicktime Movie Internals Guide:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/QuickTime/MovieInternals-date.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000433-TP30000546

[Steven Gonzales]

These characters have special meaning in Unix, and can cause problems in OSX, which runs over Unix:

\$ ; \ / & ! * | ` ‘ ” < > ? ( ) [ ]

They should be avoided in file or folder names.

Avid has its proprietary media database as the heart of its file organization. Final Cut is running using Quicktime programming interfaces.

The advantage is that Final Cut can import and export quicktime files to other apps easily, and as features are added to Quicktime, they easily integrate to Final Cut. The downside is that Final Cut does not have a separate database of files used only by itself.

Cinema Tools is a computer program, and it doesn’t have any malicious intent, though it may seem that way when there is a problem with file naming.

[Steven Gonzales]

I don’t think a firewire hub is the answer.

Your firewire bandwidth is being divided by too many devices connected at the same time.

You should consider getting an ExpressCard expansion slot firewire card. Then you will have 2 firewire paths.

I don’t have experience with these, so I can’t suggest a brand, but here’s an example of what they look like:

https://www.sonnettech.com/product/fwusbexpresscard34.html

[Steven Gonzales]

I tend to agree with Walter on certification.

When you go to get a job, if your boss is smart, they will be able to check your FCP knowledge before they hire you.

If your boss is not smart, you probably don’t want to work for them.

There are a lot of great learning materials out there, and I don’t think the official Apple Pro Training Books are the best of them.

A good place to start: search postings by this forum’s leaders, read their posts, and see who has clearly written answers. Then see if that cow leader has any training materials available and buy those.

Think of it as a kickback for all the answers they give away free.

[Steven Gonzales]

I figured that fit to fill trick working with film students, who originated in film, edited on telecine video, went to Protools and back, and finished a DAT out of Protools for film finish.

No matter how many times I explained it, there as always some pulldown mistake they had made, and for emergency screening purposes this did the trick.

[Steven Gonzales]

Horita makes a device which translates rs-422 timecode to LTC (the RLT-50) https://www.horita.com/

The simplest way to do this might be to find a video deck with LTC, stripe a tape black with timecode.

Then set the decks timecode display to on, record picture from the decks monitor out while also recording the LTC output into final cut.

Then you have a clip which has timecode display as its video image, and LTC as it’s sound. You could then cut this in sync with your sequence, and output the audio tracks to the appropriate channel.

When I’ve had to do this, I’ve used a device MOTU Digital Timepiece. However, this timepiece’s software was never moved to OS10, so I use a quicktime output and an OS 9 machine, using an old audiomedia card to get sync to the Digital Timepiece through the spdif out. It’s a bit of a hack, so I’m glad I don’t have to do it very often. It’s a little old fashioned now.

[Steven Gonzales]

I think you explained yourself fine. I gave you a way to easily speed change the audio so that it does sync.

Okay, let’s start at the beginning. This problem master audio: within Final Cut Pro, select this audio in the browser, and then go under the Edit pull down menu, and select item properties, then format.

What are the properties of this master audio clip?