FCP Splitting HD Clips on Capture
 

I'm having an issue where FCP will take a clip (say a 30-minute straight recording of a wedding ceremony) and will split it into 3 or 4 clips. There is usually a loss of a second or so of the footage, and the splits are not at all proportionate. Has anyone else ever had this happen? Anyone know why it happens or how to fix it?

This used to happen a lot with the JVC and other HDV formats IIRC. The fix was to send the clips through MPEG Streamclip using the 'fix timecode breaks' function before importing them into FCP.

This may not be what you are experiencing, but it's something I dealt with a few years back.

Just a thought,

-gb-

Travis, is this from a Sony camera? If so, have you got QUICKREC = ON or OFF?

I'm shooting in 24p on Canon A1's and capturing through a Canon HV30. What concerns me most is not that it has split a clip, but that at the split points there is always a second or more of 'missing' footage. Not sure if MPEG streamclip would help in that case.

What you're describing sounds like the dreaded HDV dropout- have you ruled this out?

I've never heard of HDV dropout. What's that, and is there a way to prevent it?

In the HDV capture window in FCP do you have the "make new clip on start/stop" un-checked?


-A

Okay, that brings up another thing. I don't ever get an 'HDV capture window'. When I go to log and capture all that comes up is a tiny window with a field for a reel name. When I switched from SD to HDV footage, my log and capture window no longer appears.

IIRC if you are capturing via FW into the AIC or ProRes codec you don't get the normal capture window you just get a name field. If you capture HDV natively you'll get a more familiar looking Log and Capture window.


-A

Someone else could provide a more scientific explanation but basically a dropout happens when something- e.g. dust particle- interferes with the cameras ability to record the signal onto the tape. Dropouts can happen with any tape format but in HDV, due to the nature of the codec, a miniscule dropout can result in a good half-second interruption on the tape- which can turn into a few-second break on FCP capture, thus resulting in a new clip and a gap in your footage.

You can confirm if it is a dropout by playing back the tape and seeing if the error happens at the same spot.

Strategies for reducing dropouts include keeping your camera and case clean, and using the highest-quality tapes you can afford.

Thanks guys, that explains a lot! I'll have to watch the tape and see if I can catch an actual dropout on the tape.

I have the exact same problem. XHA1 and I have a live performance of a show that is 50mins long.
FCP always makes clips of about 10 mins when capturing.
It's extremely annoying that just putting the clips together introduces gaps between te clips.
Hope anyone can help us out.
I'm 100% sure that it are not tape drops.

I had the same problem when I was trying to capture footage from my FX1000 via the HV30, capturing ProRes. The tape capture would break into pieces and I would lose frames.

So I started capturing simply HDV and when the log and capture window pops up, go to
Clip Settings tab on the right and UNclick "Create new clip on start/stop". I was then able to capture an entire tape with NO breaks.

I did have 2 tapes that had a drop-out, but capture simply stopped and started again..yes I did lose a couple of frames, but it only happened once on each tape.

I thought I was going to lose my mind with the previous scenario. Very frustrating.

So far the HDV capture is working great.

Ok, I fixed my problem.
What actually happens is that about 1-2 frames at the end of each clip were black.
When I removed those black frames from the clip I was able to get a smooth transition from one clip to the other.
I don't know if those black clips are 'lost' frames or just added by FCP. But I don't see nor hear any problems after removing those frames, so my first guess is that FCP adds them at the end of each clip.