P2 footage arbitrarily segmented and an un-importable file error...

cdbourbon

cdbourbon

Active member
Odd thing I just encountered. Mistakenly shot in 1080i/24p (vs. 24pA) an interview situation consisting of three takes on an HPX170. Two takes were only a couple minutes long. Interview itself about an hour or so.

Check the P2 Cards in-camera and see the appropriate three thumbnail images representing the three takes. Excellent.

Problem 1: Go to log & transfer in Final Cut Studio and wind up with 14 different files, most of which weigh in at exactly 4:55 each. They play seamlessly when placed back-to-back in the timeline, but why did L&T break them up? Is it because FCS doesn't have a 1080i/24p preset? It also arbitrarily changed 24fps to 29.97.

Problem 2: One of the 4:55 segments plays fine in L&T preview. However, despite multiple attempts on two different systems that particular file shows an error and doesn't import. Is there a workaround to retrieve this file?

Solutions majorly welcome!

--msg
 
First, it didn't change it from 23.976 to 29.97. That's how it's recorded -- in a 60i (29.97, interlaced) stream, with pulldown added. Both 24pA and 24p standard are recorded that way, but FCP can remove the pulldown from a 24pA stream automatically. It can't from a 24p standard stream. So, no pulldown removed, it's 29.97. This is why you always want to shoot 24pA if you want to edit as 24p, especially with FCP.

Second, those clips are going to be about 4GB each, which is the maximum file size for FAT32 format, which the P2 cards use. The camera automatically divides long takes into 4GB files if they run over. They appear as a single clip in MCR mode, so that's why there's only one thumbnail. But if you explore the folders of the P2 card, you'll find multiple MXF files in the VIDEO folder.

Offload programs like P2 Viewer or ShotPut pro can stitch the individual files into a single long take.

Don't know about the error you're having.
 
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