HDV File Corruption Issues

That is really strange.

So you add an effect on the timeline to the clip, render it out to something like a QT file and the problem is there.

What about when you add an effect and play it on the timeline?

Mark I understand you don't like computers but the point is if you want to find out what is wrong, you are going to have to troubleshoot.

As I said before, check the output to monitor after the render. Is it doing it there as well? Then render the file completely (QUICKTIME independent movie) onto your main drive in the computer. Make sure the main drive is no more than 70% full and defragmented.

If it is giving you problems then, then you need to reinstall FCP and Quicktime. from scratch and update the software.

Thats about the size of the problem yeah. The clips capture and play fine once I have done the 'Capture Now' operation. I can store them on my hard drive, play them straight from the drives and no problem. Once I start sourcing effects to the clips thats when I get the corruption. Really frustrating as you can imagine to sit through a 2 hour render and then have dropped frames and frames that are littered with artifacts etc.

Some other things I have seen (in addition to the above) for the issue

The render files themselves could be corrupted, use tools - render manager to remove them

If you render the timeline first then export the entire timeline that can also help (also make sure that you have settings for the timeline set up for best and the highest quality rendering) or reverse it if you were intially doing it that way (delete render files than export without rendering first)

Repair disk permissions/run diskwarrior and delete FCP preferences if needed

And another one that can issues - bad hard drives, fire wire cables and firewire enclosures, the ports can be having issues. Can be real pain since the drives seem to work still. Try swapping out the elements to see if it helps. I had a few drives do this on me.

As Drew mentioned I do not think it is your system per se (meaning a G5 computer) I have run FCP on a tiBook and a older G5.

Tell me about it. Its a tale of both situations.

Once I render out the clip I check it immediately on the time line. The errors are there at that point. Sometimes too its the other way. Runs fine on the time line once effects have been rendered and then once its been allocated a name and saved to a directory the problems arise during all subsequent attempts to play the clip. Full of lumps, jumps, cuts and green or red artifacts everywhere.

Gee Mark I think you have a strange one indeed.

When and if things go strange for me, I put my custom Ghost boot disk in, reboot off it and bring my mirror image back while I go and make a coffee. Restart the computer and bingo it's perfect again never having to worry about what caused the problem....but then Im not normal and I have a PC

Good luck.

...but then Im not normal and I have a PC

 

Good luck.

LOL

Usually it is not as bad as it sounds Wagsy. Very often it is the render files somehow becoming corrupted and clearing those out does the trick.

But the most important part - PC or Mac is

Mark

The issue is that IF it were just any of your harddisks etc, the problem would show in DV. It is impossible to judge where the problem is until you troubleshoot and eliminate the obvious ones.

Since you can work in DV but not HDV, I suggested you convert a few clips to Apple Intermediate Codec to see if it is a corrupted codec issue. There is less compression in AIC so it is more demanding on drives, which will test the system.

If the machine passes that, then you know it's a software and not hardware issue. Of course if you don't wish to troubleshoot and want to stick with DV, that's also an option.

The up-shoot at the moment guys is that the system 'seems' to have settled. I'm trying out some things here and will get a buddy to look at it soonest.

Cheers for all.

Mark.