P2 Dropouts

V

VR_Productions

Active member
Hi,

Some of my recent 720 24PN footage has what looks exactly like "tape dropouts" that last a frame or so. It is ruining quite a few of my shots.

Has anyone else experienced this? Why does it occur? I was hoping that tape dropouts were a thing of the past now that I am P2 all the way!

It does not happen all the time, but on this particular day, it happened quite a bit.

Any thoughts?
 
Doesn't sound good- I've seen a couple of other users post this same problem- but I don't remember what / if there was a solution. I'll be interested to hear what others have done ..... good luck.
 
It's the way you're importing it into FCP.

I'm between Macs right now so I can't give a definitive answer, but it's my understanding that FCP apparently has a bit of a bug regarding importing directly from the card, and that Apple recommends that you make a "disk image" of the card before importing the footage into FCP.
 
Hi Barry,

Okay. I have burned copy of the original P2 folder on DVD. Is this just as good as a disk image? I also still have the folder on my hard drive.

I just re-imported the footage because I did the 5.1.1 update from 5.0.4 to fix the duplicate frames issue. Wouldn't this be fixed during this reimport?
 
Apple recommends that you make a copy of the Contents Folder on your Media drive and then import from there. This should resolve your dropout problems.

Best,

Jan
 
dropping frames

dropping frames

I too am having the same problem which I described under the post " FCP playback problems". Just tryed the suggestion above but it did not help. Any other suggestions?
 
if you are recording to a FS-100 drive rather than P2 cards, that is more likely the problem. The FS-100 drives need a firmware upgrade...free from site to help with this problem...however, even after the firmware upgrade, some dropouts do show up. P2 cards on the other hand have been flawless for me. MAC owner. Multiple MAC FCP suites without any issues when using P2 cards...although the FS100 seems to demonstrate the dropouts on all machines.
 
image works said:
I too am having the same problem which I described under the post " FCP playback problems". Just tryed the suggestion above but it did not help. Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Not trying to be funny, but switching to a PC will get rid of the problem....
It's a mac file system problem. (HFS +)
 
I had an interesting thing happen today.
I loaded in a P2 card on my Mac 17" Powerbook.

I opened it up in P2 Log to check out the clips etc before I imported the card via P2 Genie.

On playing the clips, several of them had drop outs in the first few frames.

I could scroll through frame by frame and stop on these dropped out frames.

After a bit, I played them again and all was fine.

So, now I'm beginning to wonder if it's something in the PCMIA slot and not just a FCP import issue.

If it happens again I'm going to try and dump it to the hard drive right away and see if it copies over or not.
 
Green Hornet said:
Not trying to be funny, but switching to a PC will get rid of the problem....
It's a mac file system problem. (HFS +)
Click to expand...


True.. but then we'd be working with the dark side
 
Justyn said:
True.. but then we'd be working with the dark side
Click to expand...

Perhaps.

But it'd WORK.

I've shot hundreds of cards, maybe thousands. Terabytes of data transferred. NEVER seen anything like a dropped frame or a corrupted clip or anything like that. All these complaints always come from Mac users.

There's something wrong there. Apple or Panasonic needs to fix their drivers or something.
 
What's been the on-going prob? I just use the P2store as I don't have a PCMCIA slot on the macbook or on the G5. Haven't had any issues thanks to your info Barry.
 
Ongoing problems include glitchy sparkly "dropouts" when importing the footage, and G4 powerbooks locking up when cards are inserted.
 
Yes my powerbook locks up frequently when I insert P2 cards as well. Never did fix those dropped frames. I just had to cut that frame out. It looks a little jerky but better than seeing a grey checkerboard flash on the screen.

Too bad there ae so many bugs with P2's and Macs.
 
Barry_Green said:
Perhaps.
Terabytes of data transferred. NEVER seen anything like a dropped frame or a corrupted clip or anything like that. All these complaints always come from Mac users.
There's something wrong there. Apple or Panasonic needs to fix their drivers or something.
Click to expand...

I think that many folks import to the MAC off of the P2 card and this is not the recommended method. It is recommended to make a copy of the file on the Media drive and then import. My G4 does not crash with the import and there are just as many customers out there like you Barry that have been using the MAC with absolutely no problems, TeraBytes worth. Each one on closer inspection tends to become defined in various ways. I had one guy that had us chasing our tails on his problem when he finally slipped and mentioned that he was running the 1394 through a splitter of sorts. He removed that and the problem was gone. I think the MAC guys also have a tendency to not save the MXFs because of the conversion to QT, thinking that this is their new master, and it is not. Always save the MXF.

People rename the CONTENTS folder, don't do that.

Anyhow I don't see that there is any particular driver rewrite required, I think that more care needs to go into the process. For those that are having a crashing issue with the G4, you might want to take a closer look at the hardware. My G4 does not crash. What is different? Don't know, but I have a very clean install and i do not have alot else going on on my machine.

Hope this helps,

Jan
 
Jan_Crittenden said:
My G4 does not crash with the import and there are just as many customers out there like you Barry that have been using the MAC with absolutely no problems, TeraBytes worth ... For those that are having a crashing issue with the G4, you might want to take a closer look at the hardware. My G4 does not crash.
Click to expand...

For the most part I agree with Jan. I have been using my PowerBook G4 with almost no problems. I have only had the laptop freeze twice when transferring my P2 cards. And once was due to opperator error. (I've probably transfered at least 200 - 300 GB of content.) I'm not sure why it froze the other time, but it is working well none the less.
 
And on top of that, my PC crashes on occasion when I forget that I cannot tell it to simply copy the files, instead of copy the files to a new folder. This one assures the "Deer in the Headlights" look from the screen. It is all about the workflow and with that a certain amount of respect for the fact that while they are files, they are huge files.

Best,

Jan
 
Isn't using P2 Genie making a copy of the file? I view my P2 card with P2 Log then copy the card using P2 Genie and erase and eject. After about three cards, it freezes.

I never import into FCP or convert to QuickTime. I just copy over the card erase, eject and crash.
 
I would say always copy the card before looking at it. Then look st it from the HDD you have transferred it to. I guess because this is the way I work, I do not have the freezes.

Best,

Jan
 
n8ture said:
Isn't using P2 Genie making a copy of the file?
Click to expand...

Yep- it automates what you would be doing by hand- copying the files to you hard drive. Making a duplicate set, and then erasing the card.

n8ture said:
After about three cards, it freezes.
Click to expand...

The only time I consistently have problems, is if I do not power off the card in the menu bar before ejecting using the button on the slot. Then my PB will freeze for sure.
 
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