Sync problem
 

I've just captured 30 min of video using capture now.about halfway thru the video the audio starts to go out of sync when viewed in the canvas etc.When i preview the QT file from the folder in column view (10.2.4) the audio is in perfect sync. I'm thinking FCP is not correctly syncing. I do have the sync adjust movie over 5 min. checked. i tried unchecking etc but nothing has worked. Any suggestions? I'm running all up to date software.

Matt

Matt,
Sorry to bear bad news but this sounds like it may be a documented FCP 3.0.4 "synch adjust" problem. Quicktime 6.1 seems to have a hand in the matter.

Here's the MacFixIt article on the problem. (If you can't access it let me know.) The key statement in the article: This only affects Canon camera users (presumably those capturing from a Canon camera). So if you have a deck or a different brand of camera to capture from that might provide a temporary work-around.

Matt,

Have you tried this? Importing the clip into QuickTime, then resave the clip. Then re-import the saved clip into FCP. This works for many people. If it does not, then you can try recapturing the clips, but always keep them under 20 minutes in length. Sync Adjust Movies (SAM) should be on, only if tape was originally recorded by XL1(S). Even if you're capturing with a deck or another camera, set SAM ON if XL1 recorded the tape.

Also, keep in mind that SAM works only during capture. It doesn't have any effect when later playing the clips.

As Jeff mentioned, keep the clips shorter. you can always break them up and do a frame-accurate trim in the Timeline.

I don't know if you have this camera, but wasn't there also a
problem with the Canon XL1 timing chips? That they produced
a slightly off signal? I think I read about it a while back that
when importing for this camera on a MAC (not on PC) the audio
would start to drift after a certain amount of minutes....

Anyone know about this?

The default mode for FCP is not to count samples. Most camera manufactures use audio chips that produce exact numbers of audio cycles (48KHz or 32KHz). Canon chips can vary over time and produce rates such as 48.002KHz or 48.032 etc. The sync can be checked by opening up the clip in QT after the capture. The exact rate can be checked in FCP>Tools>Analize Movie Clip. If the rate is below 48KHz you should not lose sync. SAM was developed by Apple to force FCP to count frequencies, not assume the audio is correct. From time to time, certain updates have broken the SAM feature.

Thanks again guys for the solution ideas i'm going to give them a try.just for your info, i should have posted all this in the previous. I am shooting with a VX2000 and capturing with a PC110.So i should turn SAM off before capturing?

Ken- i could not view the link you had posted.

Thanks,
Matt

I opened the file in QT saved then imported back into FCP. everything is back in sync.

SAM is only for tapes recorded by a Canon camera.

Matt,
Glad to hear that you're back in business.

Just to respond to your inability to access the MacFixIt article (which is apparently restricted to subscribers), here's an excerpt from the January 24, 2003 article:If you're a Mac user, MacFixtIt is a tremendous resource and well worth the miniscule annual subsciption fee. It's enabled me to pull my caboose out of the fire several times and features some excellent instructive content.

There's some more info on this problem in another thread in this section. Apple needs to get its act together and get the problem fixed. "Real soon now", as Dvorak used to say in Byte magazine!

Keeping the captured Canon clips relatively short makes it bearable, though.

I think the sync issues will be addressed in FCP 4. All the rumors point to a release just before NAB. So we have about a month.

I agree, Jeff. The only thing between this problem and the fix is time and our wallets.

Unfortunately, though, Apple has been remiss in not fixing it in the current version of FCP/Quicktime. You shouldn't have to spend more money to get a currently advertised feature to operate correctly.

Rant, Grumble, etc....... :)

Vic,
Yes, it's always troublesome to discover that long-dried puddles have again become hazards. But, to be fair to Apple, this is really Canon's sloppy engineering problem. If Canon would put more earnest attention to its audio processing, as it should have many years ago, Apple would not have to maintain such a 1-off accommodation.

It may be fixed by an upcoming update to QuickTime. It is due to be released in the next week or two. It may be a major update, tied to updates of iTunes and an updated iPod. It will probably contain DRM for MPEG-4 also. Hopefully the sync issue will receive fix also.

That's good news. Since Quicktime is apparently the culprit, that just might do it. I'm not ready to be one of the first on my block to discover all the new bugs that will surely be introduced with FCP-4; I'll comfortable to let the hard-chargers do that!

I understand your comment about Apple, Ken. It wasn't really Apple's doing, but since Canon cameras have such dominace in the market, and Apple advertises their fix for Canon's sloppy engineering, one would expect it to work in all combinations of FCP/QT. Hopefully, they're making that happen.

So, how soon will you jump on FCP-4? :)

It will depend on the cost of the upgrade and new features introduced. But I expect to have it on at least one of my computers shortly after it is introduced. I agree that the first few weeks (months?) may be rocky going. That's true any time this type of software is introduced. Avid had bugs with there last intro of DV software. Apple has been testing FCP4 pretty thoroughly so let's hope the worst has been sorted out.

sync adjust disabled
 

I have just seen confirmation that sync adjust is now disabled with fcp3.04 and quicktime 6.1 , i have captured 2 one hr long video shot on canon xl1s and audio now shows up 48 in the brouser it had always previously been 48.0002 or something other than exactly 48 which means there is no sync adjust. This is totally unaceptable from apple since they had heard this LOUD AND CLEAR.

Try capturing in small clips, no more than 20 minutes. This helps for some people. The new version of QuickTime may contain a fix.

I'm a bit confused about this fix Jeff. I open my clip in Quicktime, but my Quicktime has no option to save anything.

Felix,
It sounds like you are using only the (free) Quicktime Player, not Quicktime Pro. If so, you'll need to upgrade to Pro.

No i just bought Quicktime Pro, but still nothing. I registered it and it says Quicktime Pro 6 on the registration too.

Hmm. So when you open the Player, and then go to Preferences -> Registration it shows your name, serial number and "Pro Player 6.x"?

Then something's funky. You should see a File menu with Export, Save As, etc. . A visit to Apple's Quicktime support page may help.

Just rebooted for the third time and its working properly now.

Ok.

I tried re-saving in quicktime pro. Still the audio iis out of sync. This is also happening to me on premiere or FCP. I'm filming with a GL2, but capturing with my ZR40. Now if I used a different minidv camera to capture with (non Canon) the sync problem should go away? Also is there any reason why using say a Panasonic to capture my Canon's footage would be unadvisable?

I've figured out that the audio sync problems happen on the "record now" function of capture. Once I logged the 5 minute clips as a batch capture it worked fine. Im sure someone has mentioned that , I'm probably just blind :)