IMPORTING FROM TAPE BASED CAMERA

HI GUYS,
I HAVE FCP X AND HAVE JUST ARCHIVED 20 MINS OF VIDEO TAPE FOOTAGE. UNFORTUNATELY FCP HAS GIVEM ME NEARLY 2000 CLIPS AT AROUND A SECOND A CLIP!! NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE. PLAYING FOOTAGE BACK VIA MY CAMCORDER AND THERE ARENT ANY GLITCHES, TAPE IS NEW SO IM PUZZLED. TRIED AGAIN 'MANUALLY' IMPORTING AND THE 5 SECONDS IMPORTED HAVE BEEN REDUCED TO HALF A DOZEN 1 SECOND CLIPS. ANY IDEAS??
:S :S :S

What kind of camera are you using? What is the format of your footage?

Hi, im using a Canon XM1 (mini DV)
Ive had no problems using it before.
Ive attached the clip list showing each duration, nearly 2000 of 'em!!!

This sounds like a problem that i had years and years ago using Adobe Premiere 5. (I told you it was years ago.)

The problem turned out to be a faulty Firewire Connection.
I would first try another cable. If you have access to another mini DV camcorder, i would try the same tape in the other camera.

I hope you can get to the bottom of it.

Yes, eliminate any possible hardware issues first. Starting with a new cable is a good idea.

If this doesn't help: try capturing your tape using QTX or QT7. Does that work?

Yep, them cables have always been troublesome. We ended up with each camera having its own, specific cable, as it wouldn't want to work flawlessly with other cables. That seemed to have been a problem specifically with Canon (XL1) cams. Sonys would work with any cable you plugged in.

Did you clean your heads? I had the same issue when I got a tape from someone whose heads had to be cleaned with hammer and chisel.

THE FIREWIRE CABLE HAS HAS HAD ABOUT AN HOURS USE SINCE I PURCHASED IT, IVE TRIED DIFFERENT TAPES, SAME ISSUE. ILL BUY ANOTHER CABLE TO BE SURE.
WHAT I HAVE NOTICED WHEN IMPORTING, IS THE FLICKERING OF THE IMAGE ON THE SCREEN. I PRESUME THIS IS A BY PRODUCT OF THE IMPORT?
RONNY, TO IMPORT VIA QTX, SHOULD IT GIVE ME THE OPTION TO IMPORT VIA EXTERNAL SOURCE (FIREWIRE) CUZ I CANT SEEM TO GET ANY OPTIONS UP?
THANKS GUY IN ADVANVCE FOR THE TIPS

Hi Kaj,

It's better not to write in ALL CAPS

Here's a little explanation on how to use QTX to record video: support.apple.com/kb/PH5871

To select your input source just click the small triangle bottom right of the record window. If you don't see your cam listed as an option there is definitely something wrong with your setup or your cable.

CHEERS, aherm, cheers Ronny
Yep, importing via QTX seems fine, thanks for the tip.
Still bemused by my initial problem though. If my cable is allowing hassle free imports via QTX, then I suppose we can cancel out the cable?
I shall let you know if I find a solution. Thanks again.
Kaj

Glad it works via QTX. I have no clue as to why this doesn't work when importing in FCPX. Just out of curiosity: have you been able to import from tape with the same camera in FCPX before?

Yes, Ive had FCPX only a month or so and used it no problems for a project. Its as if the in/out points have been set to 1s clips when importing. Silly question, but one cannot unknowingly set these in/out points can one?
R.e QTX, is there much loss in quality compared to importing via FCPX?

Set QTX recording quality to "Maximum", capture your video and save your captured video as a "Movie". You will get exactly the same quality and format as if you capture using FCPX or QT PRO. In your case the captured file will be a QT DV movie. You can import this file in FCPX and work natively with it.

No, there is no setting you can change in FCPX that would lead to capturing single frames from a tape. Nor have I read any other reports about similar issues. This is an exceptional problem, especially since you have already imported successfully from the same camera before.

What you ca do to further troubleshoot this: take a tape that you have been able to capture without any problems before and see if it captures normally now.

Make sure to be very, very careful when making the cable to camera connection. The small firewire ports on camcorders are prone to damage easily. I would also inspect your cable very carefully every time your about to make this connection. A bent pin on your cable can cause serious damage to your camera's firewire port. Inspecting your cable every time can prevent costly repairs to the camera.

Hopefully this hasn't happened already in your case. But check out the pins at all connection points with a magnifying glass.

Because of the symptoms, I would be most suspicious of the firewire connection port on the camera itself.

See if you can get a hold of another camcorder (and another cable).

Just thought I'd post to say I'm having the same issue and am grateful for finding this post.

FCPX was importing and archiving just fine... tape by tape it started breaking it into more and more clips. I finally became aware of this on Tape 31 which imported one 47 minute clip and the duration broken up into 100-200 1 second clips! That's when I started searching for an answer and was lucky enough to find this post. (Thank you!!)

After discovering this, I tried re-importing Tape 1 that had previously imported fine. It imported fine again. So then I took Tape 31 and tried importing it in iMovie-- same problem with the 1 second clips again. Pondered the cable being the problem which wasn't making much sense, and decided to try Tape 31 again but this time with QuickTimeX. QTX imported one solid clip with no breaks or blinks. What's up with FCPX/iMovie and this issue?? Are there any other solutions that anyone has come across?

At this point I'm thinking I've found a "work-around"... I'll import with QTX (since the quality is the same as FCPX from what Ronny has said) and export/archive the footage to an external hd until I get around to editing the footage with FCPX.

Ugh, how frustrating! On the bright side, at least I found another person out there that has experienced the same issue and wrote about it, and others have offered their expertise to find a solution. Thank you for that!