Importing into FCP-Corrupt file solution

Mathew Knight

Mathew Knight

Active member
Hi all. I have managed to make a change to my importing into FCP workflow that may be the solution to a previous problem I had. On my first P2 job I had a problem at the importing to FCP stage that resulted in a FCP message 'one or more clips failed to import due to corrupt files'.
Anyway just did another job and this time tried my backup hardrive first (also have everything on firestore).
Plugged the USB 2.0 hardrive into the mac G5 and imported into final cut (version 5.0.4). Straight from the external drive.
On the external drive I had 4 folders (from 4 P2 cards) So we import each card (or folder) one at a time and at the end of each import comes up the message "Corrupt clips..."
We checked the footage carefully and everything was fine. So carried on importing the other cards.
Every seperate card (folder) import came up with the same 'Corrupt' message, and all footage was fine.
So this made me realize there was nothing wrong with the footage.
So i tried this; (and yes I have read you should do this but I didn't because it takes twice as long)
I copied the contents of the external drive onto the G5 desktop and tried importing the cards from there..
and bingo !! It comes in with no corrupt message.

I need to test some more tomorrow but I think this could be a serious step in refining the workflow. The downside is the extra time, first to copy then to import. But the corrupt file messages were really getting me down.

i was running out of options because when i had this problem before there were some other (I think seperate) glitches that really confused the whole thing.

So maybe there is light at the end of the P2 tunnel. Fingers crossed

PS. Is Final cut studio HD version 5.0.4 fine or should I update the version. (Everything else for the 1080/25p in FCP has been fine)
 
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5.04 or 5.1...

5.04 or 5.1...

The whole 5.0.4 vs 5.1.1 thing is really up to you. There are posters to this forum saying they have had no issues using 5.0.4 at all. However, Apple themselves state an issue with 5.0.4 and P2 media. So to me that's a no brainer, that just incase my production eventually runs across that and I don't want it to affect me, I upgrade to 5.1.1. But that's just me...

Not sure about the whole corrupt error message you're getting. Can't find the post, but there was a post around here quite recently about someone talking about the whole file structure path and how it seems to affect P2 workflow. In the end they basically said things worked best when the imported off the desktop. So if you can track down that thread, it might shed some light on the matter for you.

cheers.
 
Thanks for that. I think importing off the desktop will be for me. But why would final cut think it had a corrupt file when all the files seem fine. Could it be anything to do with the speed it is coming off the drive ? This was a USB drive, and I had the same corrupt message when importing directly from the firestore (also coming via a USB cable).
And I think upgrading to 5.1.1 does sound safer.
 
I don't think USB would matter...

I don't think USB would matter...

The speed limitations shouldn't create the error message as far as I would think. It is simply importing the footage as quick as it can, but its not like you're playing back something in real time and getting dropped frames. This is mainly just a swap of wrappers and a file transfer (primarily just the latter). But then I'm no engineer. That's just how I see the situation.

cheers.
 
Actually it turns out i still have the same error message. Just shot 40mins of footage (1080/25p) onto a firestore. Copied the firestore to the desktop (previously imported straight from firestore) then imported the desktop folder into final cut.
And same as always i get the "one or more files failed to import. they may be corrupt' But everything seems to be O.K

I am wondering, is final cut looking at some of the other files in there (metadata etc) and thinking it can't import them ? Could that be what this error message is refereing to ?
because my footage is fine, but final cut thinks it couldn't import something because 'maybe' its corrupt.

Now i just had a thought. When importing I have the option of 'import all' or selecting the individual clips and going 'import'. is there any possibility that 'Import all' thinks it can't import the metadata, but selecting individual clips and importing is only taking the actual video & audio clips ?

Could this is the cause of my error message. because i think the one time my test came in with no error was when I just selected certain clips and imported them ?

I'm grasping at straws at this stage. All my footage is fine but corrupt clip message give me a real bad feeling.
 
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I've only ever used the Import All function myself. Never had any problems with it. But well if you're thinking that might be a potential spot of the issue, I guess all you can do is try. The length of the clips shouldn't matter, so shoot like a bunch of quick 5 sec shots around your place real quick. Then try loading them in small bunches instead of using the Import All button.

cheers.
 
HOLY CRAP IT'S WORKING THANK GOD!!!

Ok my terror story.

Just did a shoot in the city (NY) with a guy from Philly. Only had one shot at this. Recorded about an hour of clips. Had two 4gig cards, offloading to a portable OTG Harddrive.

Got home, not only can I not import from my OTG drive, it doesn't even show up on my G5...says disk is not readable on this computer. Initialize? Umm?? So I plug it into my PC and it shows up fine...albeit with some hiccups. Have PC's ever been true plug n play? Anyway...I try importing over the network from my OTG drive hooked up to my PC and importing in FPC 5.1.1 and the clips show up in the importer but I get the CORRUPT message....crap...what do I do? Copied files to PC hard disk and tried import again...CORRUPT. Now after seeing this thread I tried it on a last whim...copied over network to my G5 desktop, import with FCP...VIOLLA!!!:D I don't know why or how it work but I really don't care at this point. :D

THANK YOU!!! :D
 
I had an issue like this before with a LARGE CLIP.. If your clip takes up 4 gigs or close to it you will have an ISSUE when using a drive formatted FAT 32.. 99.99% of PC's are FAT 32 and 99.99% of EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES are formatted FAT32 so you can use them on MAC and PC's..

The largest SINGLE file size you can have on a FAT32 drive is 4GB.. Even though the P2 card is FAT32, when you import it into FCP it expands it to a size that is larger and not readable by the FAT32 drive, therefore you will get that error message.

When you copy it to your MAC you will not have that problem.. Because MAC drives are not FAT32.

What you should do is FORMAT an external DRIVE from your mac to use for your imported clips via FCP. Make sure you format it FOR MAC (Journeld)..

Any questions, feel free..

- - Justin
 
I thought the drive needed to be FAT32 for the HVX to work with it. Also, all my clips were 30 sec max each. Oddly enough, I am missing audio on like half of them. :(
 
The drive you are backed up to can be fat32 with no troubles, all of mine are. Where you run into trouble is if your capture scratch drive is fat32. The camera will split your video clip to just under the 4gig file size limit which is fine to store on a fat32 drive (like the p2 card, p2store, and any drive formatted by the camera) but when you import that file into FCP, the video file is combined with the 4 audio track files resulting in a new quicktime file that now exceeds the 4gig size on the capture drive. It your capture drive is formatted fat32 it will not be able to perform the import.

-filmstox
 
I'm not sure I get what you mean. I've used my FAT32 OTG Portable drive to dump from my HVX and then import from it to FCP with no problems. I do it all the time.
 
JesterJJZ said:
I'm not sure I get what you mean. I've used my FAT32 OTG Portable drive to dump from my HVX and then import from it to FCP with no problems. I do it all the time.
Click to expand...

Why you loose sound on some clips is beyond me?? Are you shooting at a non syncable frame rate?

The only time you will run into this problem (for me at least) is when you record a clip that takes up around 4 gigs (per ONE SINGLE CLIP) and import it into FCP where the capture scratch is a FAT 32 drive..

Oye.. its stupid.. Just don't go over 4 gigs (around 10 min 720pN on 8GB P2, or 4 min @ 1080 w/8gb P2) unless you plan on importing ur FCP files to a MAC formatted drive..

Good luck.. ;-)
- - Justin
 
Justin Marx said:
Why you loose sound on some clips is beyond me?? Are you shooting at a non syncable frame rate?

The only time you will run into this problem (for me at least) is when you record a clip that takes up around 4 gigs (per ONE SINGLE CLIP) and import it into FCP where the capture scratch is a FAT 32 drive..

Oye.. its stupid.. Just don't go over 4 gigs (around 10 min 720pN on 8GB P2, or 4 min @ 1080 w/8gb P2) unless you plan on importing ur FCP files to a MAC formatted drive..

Good luck.. ;-)
- - Justin
Click to expand...

The clips had sound, I remember playing them back on location. I get home and there is no sound and nothing in the AUDIO folder.
 
JesterJJZ said:
The clips had sound, I remember playing them back on location. I get home and there is no sound and nothing in the AUDIO folder.
Click to expand...

Did you make a copy of the card/the contents folder and lastclip.txt? If so, copy those back to the P2 card, and see if it plays on the camera..

If not I would start to always copy the card FIRST, then import into FCP, this way you always have the original of everything..
Shoot, Copy P2 (1st hard drive), Import (2nd hard drive) then if you have a budget, get it all on digibeta..

- - justin
 
I am having the same problem with importing files from my FS-100. When I go into FCP 5.0 and click import>panasonic P2 the thumbnails for all my clips appear but when I click "Import" I get the message "One of more P2 clips failed to import; probable incomplete or corrupt clips". I'm afraid it may be a space issue because I only have 3Gs of space on my G5, but I have FCP set to a 1TB scratch disk.
 
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