Final Cut Pro Crashing when Log and Capture

Has anyone had a problem with FCP crashing when capturing HDV footage:

I'm using an intel iMac 2G ram, with Final Cut Studio (software has been updated)

The problem occurrs when capturing footage and there is a gap in the footage and the timing restarts.

I understand that that it may stop capturing when this happens as it would cause issues but is it usual for FCP to crash?

Settings are Easy Settup HDV 50i, capturing via firewire directly from the camera onto an external HD (7200 rpm 300 gig about 200 gig free)

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jon

Go to PC world...

Dive safe

DeanB

Funny!!!!

Sarcastic b'stard...

You Windows bigot Dean (Having said that I'm just about to invest in yet another PC - with Vista this time - but not for NLE)

Jon - I use FCP and a Mac Quad for HDV capture, and yes it is not entirely unknown for FCP to crash. It seems to me that as you say, when timing restarts it sometimes has a spaz. I just came back from the Sardine run with precious little footage taken underwater and had an issue capturing a particularly precious clip - very frustrating. FCP crashed first time round and then afterwards every time that clip was captured it was corrupted! After taking a few deep breaths after an hour of no luck, I switched everything off camera and Mac etc; started from scratch, and started capturing right from the beginning of the tape. This worked thank goodness, but not a nice experience.

Having said that, I've found the FCP/Mac set up much more stable than all the Windows systems I've had (Dean!) and I still have 5 PCs at home so you should be ok IMHO.

If all else fails deleting the FCP preference files, and resetting, should solve any repeat issues that cannot be solved by other means. Check out the LAFCPUG forums if you are not sure how to do this.

Good luck!

thanks Nick, I will try that.

5 PC's.... you sound like you are PC world!!!

Crazy I know, we are squirrels!

1) Win 98 - v old, for old games

2) Win 2000, current for accounts and some games

3) Win XP, current for wife's editorial work

4) Win XP Laptop, old, wife's editorial work

5) Win XP Laptop, current, my software/business work

(6 - Mac Quad, and terrabytes of storage, internal and external, for FCP and multimedia)

This weekend I buy my wife a replacement laptop for her work, and myself a screamer Vista PC (to play Oblivion - don't ask)

I realy need to consolidate, but hate chucking stuff out. You should see all the old 35mm cameras and Hi8 video stuff I have - but that's another tragi-comedy...

I thought I was a geek.....

You are the Ultimate geek!!!!

May we should start a thread of who really is the biggest geek on wetpixel.

J

Hiya Jon

Are you capturing the footage as native HDV or as the Apple Intermediate Codec? I've found that FCP doesn't particularly like native HDV and I've had a few crashes when trying to capture it. So far I've found the Intermediate Codec a lot more stable and it's easier to work with, although I'm still new to FCP so maybe someone with more experience should either confirm or deny that for both of us!

Cheers, Simon

I capture in AIC because it is really more practical for editing in that HDV (see other threads). However, I've found AIC neither more nor less stable for capture that native HDV. In my experience FCP is pretty stable overall, but I have found that sometimes if you use two monitors it seems to crash at certain settings (Motion does this to me more until I changed playback settings).

If you really are having stability problems I do recommend deleting the FCP preference files and starting those fresh. Some users recommend this as a regular (6 month) spring clean....

If you really are having stability problems I do recommend deleting the FCP preference files and starting those fresh. Some users recommend this as a regular (6 month) spring clean....

Repair permissions is another one that can often help.

Bad RAM can also lead to more crashing.

FCP (knock wood) has been very very stable for me.

Jonny which version of Studio are you using? If you upgraded to Studio 2 a full clean install of the software (get rid of all the old versions) and if possible (though more a PITA on an iMac) just do a complete install of the OS and the software.

Thanks for all the help guys,

Yes I was capturing via native HDV, so I will try AIC.

I've been away all weekend so not had a chance to try any of this, I'll give these ideas a go and see if it makes any difference.

Jon

Using Final Cut Studio 2 and have used every version since 1.5 originally on a G3. Since the G3, I've had a DP 800 G4 and my current DP 2GHz pre intel G5. I must be lucky as I have never had a crash of the computer when using FCP. I do know that poor ram can do so but have been particular about who I get my ram from. Perhaps the iMac is just not powerful enough for Studio. Never thought much of those eMacs and iMacs anyway.

Steve B)

The problem occurrs when capturing footage and there is a gap in the footage and the timing restarts. Jon

Hey Jon,

Are you using Batch Capture or Capture Now? It also sounds like you have the camera set to Fast Start, as you mention "when there's a gap in the footage and the timing restarts". I used to have a lot of hangs when I was using an old VX1000 when on Batch Capture as the camera had developed a bad habit of resetting the timecode at any given time during recording! I changed to Capture Now and the system quit hanging and just created a new clip at each of the timecode re-sets. I could live with that.

Cheers,

Mark.

Hey Folks,

I recommend NOT capturing directly to AIC. Final cut does not store any Reel Info (source tape) when capturing to AIC. That means your clips have no source for future reference (hence no ability to recapture if data is corrupted or you want a different format).

Capture to HDV native the convert to AIC using Media Manager. You will then retain all your reel info. Also, don't worry about creating a second generation by using two steps. My understanding from the Apple folks is that native HDV capture is jus that, "Native". There are not modifications to the format so no generation loss issues.

Shawn

Hey Shawn,

How's things? OK, so here's my painfully slow way of doing things. I recently captured the stuff from Lembeh to the G5. Now I have a lot of hours of captured files using HDV as the capturing preset. On an HDV timeline I am now going through those hours and selecting the clips to archive. Once I have set the I'ns and Out's I then:

Export > QuickTime Movie > Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i60 > Video Only (my choice) and then set the folder and Save.

Apples and Pears, either way you look at it archiving is painstakingly long, I'm averaging 3 hours to snip and save the individual clips from each 1 hour of footage! By taking the Media Manager route I saw that in order to select AIC as an end file format I would have to select "Recompress" from the drop down menu. So either way, whether through Media Manager or Export, are we then further compressing an already (mpeg2) compressed image?

Cheers,

Mark.

Guys,

I have tried most of what has been suggested except for the clean install as I haven't had time as yet. I tried capturing via AIC and no difference, and I agree with Shawn that it is best to capture in HDV then convert via media manager.

Mark,

I capture via 'capture now' it is fine as long as I keep a close eye on the camera and hit escape as soon as the footage stops, but to be honest I just wanted to be able to set it running and bugger off do something else for 40 mins instead of keep have to hitting escape.

I have thought about switching to FCS 2 however there will be an expense and I'm sure that FCP should be able to do this without crashing.

Someone mentioned about repairing preferences... how do I do this?

Hi Jon,

So can you opt for the slower spin up time on the camera and disable the "Fast Start" feature? I'm only speaking from Z1 experience, with that feature enabled Z1'ers have a faster spin up time after periods of inactivity on the camera heads but the down side is the resetting of the time code. This is obviously whats happening here. Wondering why in the first place your camera keeps resetting time code? It may just be that FCP gets all in a lather because of a non continuous time code? just an idea.

Cheers,

Mark.

I know when I'm sucking in HDV on my PC I can tell it to ignore any time breaks or gaps and it just keeps on sucking it in till the end. Thats either with DV, raw m2t or if it's converting the m2t to another HDV codec on the fly.

Maybe there is a setting were you can tell it to do the same.

Hi again Jon,

In FCP have you gone to:

Final Cut Pro > User Preferences > General Tab

Take a look at the options on the right hand side. It has a drop down menu box for 'On Timecode Break' and the options are:

i) Make New Clip

ii) Abort Capture

iii) Warn After Capture

Check whatever you like except 'Abort Capture'.

Any better?

Mark.

Jonny,

I think you are confusing 'trashing preferences' with 'repairing permissions'. Trashing preferences need only be done if you are having serious difficulties with your NLE(FCP) such as multiple crashing, problems caused by 3rd party plug ins and such. I may have trashed preferences perhaps twice in all these years. However, repairing permissions I do with great regularity, almost every week or so as part of good maintenance. Most need only do it once a month tho. You should repair permissions both before and after every download of a new application, installation of 3rd party plug ins and software updates. Go to your applications folder and find your Utilities folder, open it up and click on Disk Utility. For your internal drive just highlight your boot drive listed on the left and click on the repair permissions button at the bottom. If you have not done this in a long while it may take some time. For me, it is a matter of just a minute or so. You can also use the Repair Disk for your other external drives or additional internal drives and I always do it once I am in Disk Utilities.

I have to differ with Mark on his capturing method, not because it is a wrong way to do it, but as a matter of preference. I know several videographers who use his method. As he said, Log and Capturing is the one thing about editing I do not like, it is time consuming and tedious. This is probably why he and others capture an entire tape at one time and then use the 'make subclips function'. However, then you need to go back to name the various clips and do whatever labeling necessary or desired. Especially, if you are archiving footage by species or behaviors, this will just take even more time. Since day one I have always preferred to set the in and out points of each individual clip on a tape, log and name it(F2) and then proceed through the tape. I then use the Batch Capture function and when all is captured I have every clip already labeled. Batch Capture should only be a problem if you have time code breaks, something I always avoid. I can then move them around to separate bins of species if I want tho I usually give each tape its own logging bin and then copy over the clips from the capture scratch to my archiving externals. Every one has their own preferred workflow. That Mark uses the Media Manager is scary to me. Apple's Media Manager has long had the reputation as being incredibly buggy and I have avoided it like the tax man. Wow Mark, you're braver than I thought. I do use the Render Manager a lot though as I always prefer to work in high resolution and thus have frequent renders of the same things. Once I am done, I delete all the renders and then rerender which saves me a ton of hard drive space.

Steve B)