Can't import into FCP
 

Well I've been testing this camera out and looking at 35mm adapters, menus, gammas, etc and I finally got to workflow today and got stopped cold.

I'm on a G4 Powerbook 1.5MHz, with 1.5 G's RAM, FCP 6.0.2 , OS10.4.11, QT 7.3.1, I downloaded and installed the Sony XDCAM File Transfer Plug In v 10.2.1

I plugged my camera in using the USB cable, an untitled icon mounted and I copied the folder in it (BPAV) to my hard disk. I even made a duplicate of that and put it in an empty folder and titled it "EX file test".

I started FCP , started a project using easy set-up as an XDCAM 1080 24p project. I opened the import window and hit the XDCAM button and the XDCAM Transfer window opened. It saw the EX File test folder and opened it in the source window which says "1 clip" which is correct - it should just be a very short test clip (6 sec) .- - So far so good - now it goes bad.

I cannot see an image. The video preview window says "no Media" and is black and runs sort of for 6 seconds but doesn't show anything. Though it does show the time code on the side. The "filter by status" window shows a clip with the correct time code - but it also says "no image".

The information window shows a clip with all its info.

The import button is greyed out.

If I try to start a new project I get the message "codec not found. You may be using a compression type without the hardware corresponding hardware card,"

My partner has done this successfully using just a slightly faster computer - a 1.67 MgHz powerbook with all then other stats the same.

What's wrong?????

Lenny Levy

I actually had one spanned clip which gave me the same results on my G5. I thought maybe it was because the clip was in 3 parts, 2 on 1 card and a 3rd on another card so I'm not certain my situation is the same as yours.

I selected the ghosted clip in the XDCAM Xfer software and click on Fetch Meta Data (or something like that). While I still couldn't see video in the xfer software, the clip did beme "unghosted" and I was able to import it into FCP.

my clips are extremely short. My test card had only 1 six second clip on it.

Regardless. Fetch/Get Metadata and see if you can then import even if you can't see video.

Craig,
That didn't help but I did reinstall FCP 6.02 upgrade and cinema tools updates and pro apps updates etc and that has apparently installed the codec in FCP and it will now allow me to import, and it plays in FCP though I still can't see the files in the transfer window. That makes it all usable though.

Craig,

Well I downloaded a new card and this time I did have to use the fetch metadata button, so i think it worked before because I had previously hit that button. I still needed to the installs though.

Thanks for the tip I never would have thought of that.

So i'm wondering now - why can't I see the images in the transfer window. Is something still wrong, or is this due to using an old powerbook G4?

Lenny,
I had a problem not seeing the clip icons in the viewer software. The one thing I see in your setup that is different from mine is the QuickTime version. I upgraded to 7.4
My hardware is not the same though, I am running a G5.

Chip, Do you still have that problem. I avoided QT 7.4 because I heard it had big problems with Final Cut Pro. Actually I installed and then went crazy screwing around to get rid of it. I don't know if what I did to get rid of it may have affected my system. This is the only glitch so far.
There is a new update to 7.4 though maybe that has stabilized it.

Leonard, 7.4.1 is out now and it fixes a lot of the stuff that 7.4 broke.

I'd give 7.4.1 a try.

-gb-

Leonard -- I had pretty much the same problem when I first started. I installed the clip browser, and couldn't see the clips in the browser or FCP. I then ran the FCP upgrades and could see the clips in FCP, but still not in the browser.

I then uninstalled the browser and reinstalled it, and after that I could see the clips in the browser as well as FCP.

Henry - Are your talking about the clip browser software rather than the XDCAM transfer plugin?. I'm dealing with the transfer software. i can't use the browser at all on my old computer

Have had no problems with QT 7.4, done some editing, but don't know what problems to look for. But the browser sure enough works. Pretty sure QT engine is involved with all this voodoo.

Hey its fixed. Still on 7.3.1 though. it turns out I hadn't installed the Sony SxS driver. I also re-installed some other software but I'm guessing that made the difference.
Good news as it means you can work in the field with an older powerbook and still download and view files. I thought I would need a macBook Pro - of course now I'm lusting for one anyway.

Thanks everybody.