FCP is Killing Me! PLEASE HELP!!
 

I'm just learning to edit HDV from my Canon XH A1 in FCP 5.1.4. It's doing two things that are driving me insane, and I need to know how to stop it, or I will miss a deadline.
First, when capturing video, it seems to be breaking up my video into seperate clips when the shot changes, instead of waiting for me to hit the escape button as it used to do when I was capturing standard 720 x480 video. Sometimes, it even creates a clip at a random point.
Secondly, when I go to export a quicktime movie, it gives me an error message and tells me the disk is full, when there is still 92 GB left. I am not running Norton Virus software either, which I believe has been a source of a similar problem.
What is the problem? I'm at my wits end!!!

Dana, In the log and capture window, turn of the under the clip setting tab 'Create new clip on Start/Stop'.

As for the disk full, render your project then, try exporting as a quicktime reference file, uncheck 'Make movie self contained'. Then open this file in compressor as normal.

James

Thanks for the speedy reply, James Miller. Your first suggestion seemed to fix the capturing problem. I had tried that once before and got an error message, but it worked this time. Thanks!
As far as exporting, my clips appear to already be rendered. I've clicked on render all, render video, render audio, etc., and still get the error message that the disk is full. I don't see the option to export as a "quicktime reference file" If I export under the FILE menu, USING QUICKTIME CONVERSION, that will give me a quicktime file, but I'm not sure I want to do it that way. Are you normally not supposed to be able to export to a quicktime movie?
I did a test with HDV editing when I first got my camera a few months ago, and didn't have the problem exporting, and I did one last night without a problem, why is it not working now? AAAAAAARRRRGHHH!

See attached pic for quicktime export window and check box at the bottom for 'Make movie self contained' (turn this off). Is no problem to leave it on but it's quicker to turn this off when going into compressor etc as it save alot of disk space if your working on a long project.

Also what system/spec are you running on? how many drives? is your boot disk also your capture/scratch disk?.

Yes, I use that window normally, but it doesn't allow me to export quicktime files anymore - even with self-contained movie off. I'm running FCP on a G5 single processor with 2 GB of Ram. 2 drives. My capture drive is not my boot drive.

Okay, I did some more tests - so I can export under FILE using COMPRESSOR, and I can export USING QUICKTIME CONVERSION, but I still can't export using export to QUICKTIME MOVIE. Is that normal? If so, why did it used to work before? It seems strange.

I would trash the standard FCP prefs and reboot.

Okay, i'll try it later. I have to head out for a couple hours. I''ll let you know if it works. Thanks for your help.

Okay, I'm back at it sooner than expected. I trashed Final Cut's preferences and everything is working great. THANKS!!! I REALLY appreciate all your help, James Miller. Have a great day - You made mine a whole lot better.

You're telling that you have enough space. Now tell it to FCP too.
Go to menu / Final Cut Pro / System settings.
Aha! there you find an option to point extra scratch / render disks.

Thanks, Klass. I'll check that out.