P2 - Ready to Kill Myself - Incompleteness in the Clip!

B

bobester

Member
This is just not working. I shot some footage, 24pn 720p. Hook up my HVX200 to my Macbook Pro (OSX 10.4.11 2.2GHz Intel Core 2), follow Barry's Mac P2 Offloading Guide to a T.

Clips playback in camera fine, but when I try to right-click to use P2Viewer to play them in P2CMS I get this error: It is not play back.
It was not play back because there was incompleteness in the clip.

I have extensively googled and not found anything usable. To make matters worse, now all of a sudden some of the clips have red x's, but this hadn't happened at all up until now.

I checked the contents of the Clip and Video folders and the same file names match up in each.

I preserved the file structure exactly, sticking my "CONTENTS" folder inside another folder, without any special characters in its name. Even moving the "CONTENTS" folder to the parent folder (the "Movies" tab in finder) doesn't fix this.


I have no idea what to do, please help me fix this.
 
to which NLE will you be going? You can try a direct import there instead of P2CMS- which is not that great unfortunately...

Noah
 
its sounds like there may be some fundamental nuts and bolts knowledge missing here... ; )

as noah asked - lets start from the top. what editing package (NLE "non-linear editor") are you using?
 
no. according to what i read the lastclip file is only important if you have clips that span cards, since the information it contains is the last clip on recorded on the card. it also does not get copied when you use p2cms to export the clips from the p2card. please correct me if that's wrong.

the files seem to play in fcp fine, so i think a log and transfer (after clicking the cog wheel and unchecking "remove pulldowns") should work fine...but this p2cms thing is really annoying. does it mean i'm going to have problems further down the road? what should i look out for?
 
Do not erase the lastclip file. Copy everything. It should open fine. Also make sure you have the latest version of P2CMS, since early versions were only compatible with PowerPC macs.
 
could you write out exactly what your process is for getting the files from the p2card, because at this point they diverge from barry's quite a bit.

in terms of having the latest p2cms, if it was the power pc version i couldn't open it, correct? i'm pretty sure i have the latest version.
 
with VERY MUCH due respect to barry. hes a pretty non-mac dude. and i consider a lot of his mac-based information dubious.

from what i gather, in your case bobester - installing P2CMS has only one use:
downloading and installing it enables you to play MXF files from the VIDEO folder of a P2 volume at the finder level (without audio) using the quicktime player. it has other valuable uses. but for where you are now. this is all you need to worry about. you dont even need to open it. installing it is enough. and unless you need to view mxf fikes at the finder level, you dont even need P2CMS at all.

here is the process ive used for 3 + years:

connect your camera (make sure its turned off) to your computer (or P2 card to your laptop or card reader, etc...) - however you move content to your computer.

once the P2 card icon appears on your desktop/finder:

1- create on your computer (or external hard drive) a new folder. call it PROJECT.
2- in that folder create another folder. call it P2_SOURCE
3- in that folder create another folder. call it CARD_01
4- at the finder level (or desktop) open the P2 card icon. its probably called NO NAME
5- do a select all (edit > select all. or command a) then drag and drop (or right-click, copy/paste) both the CONTENTS folder and lastclip.tx file onto that CARD_01 folder. you may need to open two finder windows to see both the card and your new folder
what you are doing is basically making CARD_01 a duplicate of your P2 card.

once its done copying. power down your camera and or eject the card from your reader.
(this is to assure you do the log and transferring from the copied card folder and NOT the live P2 card)

IN FCP, go to FILE > LOG AND TRANSFER.
once that window pops up click the icon in the upper left (folder with a plus sign) and navigate to the CARD_01 folder.

BOOM! your video files will appear in the list.

at this point. im assuming you know how to use the log and transfer window... if not, we can talk more...

if you have multiple cards, repeat steps 1-5. creating a new folder for each card in the P2_SOURCE folder. naming them sequentially for each card. CARD_01, CARD_02, CARD_03 and so on.

be sure to ALWAYS make sure your camera is powered down before you plug or unplug a firewire/usb cable from it


- NOTE. the folder names i mention above are only suggestions based on my workflow. i choose all caps and no spaces, dashes or special characters because it circumvents most system level problems.
you can call your folders whatever you want. but this process has NEVER failed me.
 
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I agree with wgzn.

Do Finder copies with a write protected card.

Why add another utility to the mix to accomplished what?
 
as a side note. i have NEVER EVER write protected a card. i have a loosely defendable and wholly untested theory that write protecting might be at the root of some peoples problems...

again, just based on my own observations - and some, like david may have completely opposite experiences ; )
 
and BTW bobester, the "movies" folder at the finder level has no real use in what youre doing. its just an automated place that movies go when youre using some of apples "i" apps (imovie, itunes, etc...) you dont need to bother with it.
 
My advice came after dozens of reports of corrupted clips, and confirmation from those who had previously suffered corruption, no longer having corruption issues after employing the two-pronged approach of write-protecting and of using a data-verified copy.

I would be pleased and delighted to remove my article and replace it with one that absolutely, positively guarantees our users will not be hit with the dreaded glitch. If you have that workflow, please share it. And saying "well, it doesn't happen when *I* do it" doesn't count, as that helps nobody. I applaud anyone who is willing to work through the issues and figure out exactly what is causing the problem. I would love it if it was as simple as saying "do you have XYZ installed? If so, uninstall it, as that causes the glitch" or something like that.

Until then, we have plenty of people who have said "I used to have glitches, now I don't" so I'm comfortable in leaving my article up. But I fully admit that it is a "patch" or "workaround" and I would much rather someone figure out what the real root cause is.
 
i spent some time with a forum member off-forum last weekend and we solved his problem. there were three potential culprits. option+drag as opposed to open+select all+drag, FCP/pro apps versions and or folder naming. im still trying to duplicate the problem on my machine in hopes of nailing something down...

im not saying your process is wrong barry. not at all. but i also dont buy it as THE right way.

the way its presented is as if its the ONLY way to do it right. and thats simply not true. i wont buy that the 3+ year success of my process (strewn out over at least 4 macs, a dozen or more hard drives, at least 2 major FCP versions, 3-5 cameras and at least a half dozen P2 cards) is simply a matter of luck.

and im also not trying to argue yours vs mine. im more than happy to be called out as full of crap - if that eventually proves to be the case. i just think that presenting yours as you do is misleading and overcomplicated to new, less experienced users.

there is something, a formula that people are doing to create the problem. and im gonna go to my grave trying to figure out what it is ; )
 
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Hey Everyone,

Thanks so much for all your help, a couple questions, and then the method I will be using:

1. Do we know the data verification in P2CMS works? How?
2. Does the Finder method offer any data verification at all?

Given what I (don't) know, I will be:
1. Write-protecting my P2Card
2. Using P2CMS vis-a-vis Barry's recommendations, enabling data verification, not ingesting and simply exporting to a location on my macbook pro's hard drive.
3. Use Finder to copy the LASTCLIPS.txt file to that same folder.
4. Use Finder to copy the entire folder from my local hard drive to an external.
5. Use Finder to copy the entire folder from that external to a second, backup external.


Do y'all have a preferred method of deleting the contents of a P2 Card?

Thanks again,
bobester
 
2. Does the Finder method offer any data verification at all?
Click to expand...
nope. i have my camera assistant randomly open about 3 mxf files. and if they play. we are happy. and again, ive never had a drag and drop finder transfer fail.

Do y'all have a preferred method of deleting the contents of a P2 Card?
Click to expand...
i just reformat in camera
 
How do I reformat in camera?

Also, my quicktime (Version 7.6.4 (518.35)) won't play the MXF files... :( Changing the file from "Locked" to "Unlocked" (via selecting it in Finder, then clicking Get Info (Command+I)) doesn't change this. Should I be leaving these files Locked or Unlocked?

Thanks again for all your help, I don't know what I would have done without DVXUser...
 
How do I reformat in camera?
Click to expand...
switch camera into playback (MCR) mode. go into the menu > operation > format

my quicktime (Version 7.6.4 (518.35)) won't play the MXF files... Changing the file from "Locked" to "Unlocked" (via selecting it in Finder, then clicking Get Info (Command+I)) doesn't change this. Should I be leaving these files Locked or Unlocked?
Click to expand...
as i said in post #9... downloading and installing p2cms enables you to play MXF files from the VIDEO folder of a P2 volume at the finder level (without audio) using the quicktime player."
 
thanks

i'm confused about the last part of your post, by p2 volume do you mean only a p2card, mounted via a card reader or the camera? not a copy of the card (or the card's contents) onto a hard drive?
 
"P2 volume" = referring to a container (in this case a folder)

whether its the live connected P2 card or a folder on your hard drive containing the CONTENTS folder and lastclip.txt copied from a P2 card.

remember this:
every properly transferred P2 card will need to be in its own folder on your computer. and in that folder will live the CONTENTS folder and the loose "lastclip.txt" file

my typical folder system for a full days shoot will look something like this:

CLIENT_NAME
-- PROJECT_NAME
---- P2_SOURCE
------ CARD_01
-------- CONTENTS
-------- lastclip.txt
------ CARD_02
-------- CONTENTS
-------- lastclip.txt
------ CARD_03
-------- CONTENTS
-------- lastclip.txt
and so on for every filled P2 card
 
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