P2 frame rate problem w/FCP
 

I posted this over at LAFCPUG, but to no avail...

I have some test footage shot with the HVX in 720pN24. I imported about 10 clips we shot using the PCMIA slot in my powerbook with no problems using FCP 5.1.4, and then backed up the P2 card into a separate folder.

All of the clips play back fine except for 1, which imports into FCP at 2fps.

The others all play back properly at 24fps, but this one clip just steps through... In the import window, the clip plays just fine, like all the others. When I import, the light blue "Media Map" button designates the clip as "partially imported."

The file that FCP is creating in the Capture Scratch folder is not as big as it should be - so FCP is scrapping all but 2 frames from each second of footage. The file on the P2 card is as big as it should be, and, as stated, plays back at full 24p. Does anybody know anything about this?

Of course, I can't find any information online about this - if it's out there, it's burried under hundreds of forums posts about the in-camera "2fps hack." We start shooting a feature with this setup in 10 days, so I'm a little nervous now...

Have you tried importing the card with another FCP machine?

Have you tried copying the file to your harddrive and then importing with FCP?

Yes, I tried probably everything you could think of - in the end a utility called P2 Log Pro was able to strip the quicktime out of the MXF wrapper and the result plays fine in FCP - so I guess I'll just have that program standing by in case this happens during production.

Alexis,

Many people are still complaining about inconsistent import results even when using the latest update to FCP for MXF ingest/convert. As you noted P2 Log Pro (and it's big brother, HD Log) does a great job and in fact is the ONLY method I have been recommending to my clients for MXF conversion into QT files ever since HD Log was released about a year ago, and will continue to be my preferred workflow.

I would hope that here at NAB Apple will announce native MXF support for the next version of FCP, but rumors from the last few days have suggested less-than-favorable info coming from Apple about FCP, but the press conference is tomorrow, so hopefully we'll get some good news.