Using P2 Footage with FCP6

J

jkaz

New member
Hello,

I just installed FCP6 and I have some footage on a hard drive from a P2 card and I don't know how to get the footage to interface with fcp.

Each card has it's own folder and in each folder there is a contents folder containing folders for audio, clip, icon, proxy, video and voice.

Every attempt to import has not yielded a result and I'm not even sure which files I need to be working with.

I haven't worked with p2 before and as I said earlier, just installed fcp6

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
How are you trying to go about the import exactly? What command/feature are you using to attempt the import?

This is from Noah from a couple of days ago:

"Been slighting reorganized in FCP 6. Now it's File>Log and Transfer."

If that's not where the problem was, let us know, sure someone can chime in to sort out whatever else is being overlooked.

cheers.
 
thanks for the response!

my feeling, though i'm not sure at all, is that log and transfer would be a process to go directly from a p2 card.

my situation is that the clips from the p2 cards has already been dropped onto the hard drive via a different computer and now i'm on a 'fresh' computer and need to figure out how to work with the clips from an external hard drive.

i hope that made sense.

thanks!
 
Does File > Import > Panasonic P2 work? Click the little folder in the top left and select the main root folder where the P2 files are located. This works for me?
 
thanks for the response!

the only options i hav under file and import are: files, folder, batch list, cinema tools, edl and xml.

and just to reiterate, i have no access to the p2 cards or a deck or camera, just a hard drive where the files extracted from the cards.

thanks!
 
You don't need access to the original cards. That's not a problem. But what you do need is that all the cards originally shot are organized into individual folders (card 01, card 02, card 03, or whatever) and have both the lastclip.txt file and the full contents folder in each "card folder" as it were. If the materials are at least organized to that extent for you, then you should be just fine.

Again, use that command that I quoted from Noah. That ought to bring up a dialogue window that will allow you to chose the source for the clips (so from what you said, the external hard drive). The P2 card is not a tape, so just because its called Log and Transfer don't think that you need the card. It in itself is basically an external hard drive. You've just moved files from a small external hard drive to your big external hard drive. FCP should read it just fine, again as long as all the cards were given their own discrete folders.

cheers.
 
I'm having a similar issue...even though 6 says it supports P2 I cannot directly import...my media was transferred/backed up the DVD so each file exists in their folders as MXF but in log and capture it won't let me import because of 'invalid director structure'. The files are there, just cannot be added.
 
Joe,

Do you still have the original lastclip.txt file as well? If you have that and the original contents folder (not just the simple MXFs), then you should be fine. I would copy the materials from the DVDs to your local computer (or an external drive, SAN, whatever). Make sure each card has its own master folder with the lastclip.txt and the contents (now a sub-folder) inside. Then you should be able to load into FCP.

If that situation is not possible, then you might have to go to Avid or to a PC. Import the raw MXFs that way and then back out to QT one way or another. Really not ideal, but might end up being something you have to do if the data management has gone awry at some point.

cheers.
 
In order to work with P2 and FCP you must preserve the entire P2 directory structure onto your transfers- be they to FCP or to DVD. That means everything in the Contents folder and the Lastclip.txt file. Just dumping the MXF files alone won't cut it.

Noah
 
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