FCP 6.0/HVX Log and Transfer trouble!
 

Hi all. . .

I'm in a pickle. A friend of mine used his HVX with a new 16 gig card to record a interview that can't be reshot. The footage looks fine when I PLAY it on the FCP 6.0 "Log and Transfer" window and it plays without a glitch of any sort. HOWEVER, when I go to actually import that footage into FCP, it just stops on me. The file is 28 minutes long and it says "spanned" next to it on the import screen, but it plays PERFECTLY on the Log and Transfer window. I just can't seem to get it into FCP itself.

I really need this footage, since the B-camera didn't have any audio recorded on it.

What can I do???

Thanks very much.

Stephen

Try any tool other than FCP to import the footage. You can use P2 Log, you can use Raylight, etc. FCP's import window is the least robust import option available to you. Try downloading a demo of P2 Log from imagine software, or dvfilm.com's raylight; they should both be able to properly import that file.

Thanks, Barry. . .

. . . I'll give those a shot. BUT, having never used such software before, I'm sure I'll run into trouble trying to make it work. Stand by for future questions.

:-(

Stephen

I second that- P2 Log is great and is very user-friendly. Easily worth the money for what it does.

But what does it do that's worth $200??? I am certain that my troubles are due to the 16 gig card. I'm betting that FCP 6.0 cannot natively handle 16 gig cards. Any thoughts on that?

Stephen

Raylight/Mac http://dvfilm.com/raylight/mac is (for now) $95 and is worth it because you won't have to reshoot. Plus it will will speed up your editing process in general because you don't have to duplicate every clip.

Also you can read the metadata from the timeline.

Stephen: I've been using 16g cards for over a month, almost daily, have shot and ingested well over 20 hours of material into FCP6 and have never had a problem... Although none of my takes are as long as what you describe, some are interviews and several of those are over 10 minutes...

Here's a point... I copy files from my P2 cards in an older G4 PowerBook that is running FCP 5.1 (for the DVCPRO HD codec) to an external FW drive - I do have P2Log Pro in the PowerBook, but mainly to check the content of the files before reformatting the card - Then I Log and Transfer from the file in that FW drive to a G5 Quad, so I'm not working directly with the P2 card at that point.. don't know if that matters..


Also, a month or so ago there was a post here that warned against updating FCP 5.1 to the next generation (sorry, don't remember the #) because it (the upgrade) was glitchy with P2 cards - sounds like you're running 6, so that shouldn't be an issue for you, but who knows...

MAN, what a bear. I had to try over 20 times to ingest each of these long, "spanned" files. Next time, I'll NOT use a 16 gig card. I finally got it in using FCP's "log and transfer" function, but I had a terrible time doing it. Sometimes it would blow early. . . sometimes right at the end. . . sometimes near the middle.

But at least it's in and I can proceed onward from here.

Thanks so much for the suggestions.

I'm curious as to what P2 Log does that the FCP logger doesn't.

Stephen

I'm using an HPX500 and, as I said, the 16g cards have been bullet-proof (knock on wood) - I wonder if there could be a firmware issue with the HVX that you used...

Also, I wasn't clear on how you were ingesting... are you copying files from the card to dedicated folders on a hard drive before the Log and Transfer? Or are you ingesting directly from the P2 cards?

Steven,

It would be helpful if you could carefully detail the exact steps you are taking - i.e.

Are you first copying the P2 card onto a hard disk and then trying to import to FCP from there or are you going directly from the card?

Are you copying to the internal disk or a separate hard disk?

Do you write protect the card first ( not relevant to youir problem but important to do?)

Have you downloaded all the drivers and software for the 16 GIG cards?

When you say the file says "spanned" did you continue to record onto a another card? If so what was that card? Was that downloaded on a hard disk and so available to FCP when you were importing?

If not why does it say "spanned"? Did you run out on that card?

Are you only having the problem with long takes that span cards?

It isn't possible to help with the limited information you've provided.

Lenny levy

Well, eventually, on about the 25th time for each long file, I succeeded. What a chore!

In answer to Leonard's specific questions:

1. Data from a 16 gig P2 card was either copied to a hard disk via Firewire cable and then to another hard disk (my scratch disk) or directly from the camera to my FCP scratch disk. I ended up with the same problems regardless of what procedure was followed.

2. Data from my scratch hard-disk was then imported via the FCP "log and transfer" function window. The smaller clips (a couple of minutes) transferred perfectly. The larger clips (over 10 minutes or so) did NOT transfer well at all. When viewed on the FCP "log and transfer" window, the clips played just fine. The upper left hand box of the "log and transfer" window showed that the long takes were "spanned". There was, however, ONLY ONE P2 card used for these takes. No takes cut across two or more P2 cards.

3. As far as I know, no write-protection was employed anywhere.

4. I did not download any new P2 drivers since the 16 gig card was from a friend's HVX. He did download the new drivers. My HVX used my two 8 gig cards. I don't think that FCP needs new drivers to operate, does it?

5. Again, no long take was recorded on more than one P2 card. The super long takes (28 minutes straight) were completely recorded on the ONE 16 gig card. I don't know why it said "spanned," but it did. There was only one 16 gig card ever used. My camera (not-16 gig updated) only used my 8 gig cards. His camera only had one card (16 gig).

6. No problems at all with short takes (non-spanned takes) on either the 8 gig cards or the 16 gig cards. Just the long takes, that, despite staying on one card, mysteriously state that they are "spanned."

What all this leads me to believe is that FCP and the new 16 gig cards don't play well together. But Steve Rosen's comments seem to refute that hypothesis, except that he isn't using FCP's log and transfer function.

My gut tells me that there is some sort of bug in the FCP log and transfer function.

Anyway, in this case, all's well that ends well. One thing's for sure. Anytime we use the 16 gig card, we'll be putting breaks in to keep this from happening again!

Stephen

Stephen: No, actually, I am using Log and Transfer.. I only use P2 Log Pro to verify footage when I'm in the field... Although I don't much like Log and Transfer (for reasons of convenience in labeling etc) I have not had a problem like the one you described... I did have a clip marked SPANNED in the middle of a card once, but when I renamed it, the name didn't show up on another clip (which happens when clips span cards) - I don't know what that was all about - but was fine when I captured/ingested it...

Someone, maybe Barry who's a PC guy, once stated that FCP doesn't like long clips on P2s, so maybe that's the problem... I'm surprised someone else hasn't chimed in though, you can't be the only one shooting 20 minute takes...

Work.

Yes it sounds flippant and facetious, but I see reports just about every day from users on every single version of FCP complaining that it'll import these clips but not those clips, etc.

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever do I see reports like that from Avid users. Or EDIUS users. Or Raylight users. Only FCP users. And every single P2-enabled version of FCP -- from 5.0 (which only supports SD) to 5.0.4 (which can't import repaired clips) to 5.1 to 5.1.1 to 5.1.2 to 5.1.4 to 6.0 to 6.0.1. Every version of it. Sometimes we see guys who found that clips that imported fine in 5.1 now won't import into 5.1.4 so they had to downgrade. Others have found that clips that wouldn't import in 5.1 will now import properly in 5.1.4 or later.

But they *always* can be imported through Raylight or through P2 Log. Always. I don't think I've ever heard of a report of someone saying that a clip that plays in the camera, can't be imported in those products.

"Work."

Hard to argue with that.

How, exactly, does it work? I mean, what do you do? The stupid "free download" only let's you import one clip! And the first clip at that!

Exactly what do you do to get it to "play" with FCP?

On the other hand, until I used my friend's 16 gig card, I never had any trouble importing clips into FCP. Very strange.

Thanks so much.

Stephen

P2 Log can import files from P2 and export them as Quicktime movies, which is the same process that FCP's Log & Transfer function does.

Raylight is a much faster, simpler, and more elegant implementation because it does away with the import process entirely. You can edit the footage directly off the card, or directly off the hard disk that you copied your cards to. No importing necessary. And Raylight's only $95.

re:
 

one workaround (albeit a slow one) for getting those pesky clips that log and capture didn't work on.

Use P2 Log demo as recommended and copy the files you want to a different folder (one folder for each movie file). Then create the subfolders for each individual folder to mimic to standard P2 structure. If you do that for each clips, they will always be the "first clip". Ex:

you have the following files:

2779BW, and 2762MW.

1. Create a new folder for each called CONTENTS.
2. Create the subfolder structure: AUDIO, CLIP, ICON, PROXY, VIDEO, VOICE.
3. Copy the appropriate files over. There should always be audio file, clip file, icon file , and video file.

Now when you're in P2 Log you have to seperate folders and the videos you want are the first one.

I only had three files i had to capture when doing this, so I was happy just to have a workaround. If you have tons you might not find it worth it.

Just a temporary workaround.