Does FCPX have trouble with .dv files?

Does FCPX have trouble with .dv files? I imported some VHS tapes into iMovie. Then pulled those .dv files into FCPX. I tried to add a few filters and everything came came to a complete stop? Got the spinning beach ball of death that would last for a minute or so every time I tried to do something. I’m on a new rMBP using an external drive. I haven’t had any issues with speed or slowdowns editing anything else. As a matter of fact, the last GoPro footage I edited was really fast! Love this new laptop! But the .dv footage just killed it. Is this normal? I would think it was my setup except everything else I’ve done has been so easy/fast?

Any thoughts?

JT

Can you open one of those in quicktime 7 and take a screen shot of the movie inspector?

If they were captured 'wild' from vhs to dv, it's possible they have odd frame rates. Look for files that say anything other than 29.97fps in the inspector. If that's the case, you may have to run them through cinematools (if you have it) and reconform them. I'm not sure if anything else does that.

The second option would be to transcode them in FCP X, DV is the only codec that actually looks much better once it's been transcoded. That will likely solve the problem as it will fix any frame rate anomalies.

They are 29.97. I captured them in iMove 9. I ran it through StreamClip to convert to ProRezLT and they work fine like that. Just wondering why FCPX on my machine is having some much trouble with a .dv file? iMovie plays them just fine.

JT

Darren Roark wrote: Can you open one of those in quicktime 7 and take a screen shot of the movie inspector?

If they were captured 'wild' from vhs to dv, it's possible they have odd frame rates. Look for files that say anything other than 29.97fps in the inspector. If that's the case, you may have to run them through cinematools (if you have it) and reconform them. I'm not sure if anything else does that.

The second option would be to transcode them in FCP X, DV is the only codec that actually looks much better once it's been transcoded. That will likely solve the problem as it will fix any frame rate anomalies.

Which version of iMovie are you using?

Did you capture using a Canopus by any chance? I ask only because I've been working on a massive doc that has vhs tapes captured through one of those. FCP X hates those files. I had to render all of them to prores in order to work correctly.

My guess as to why FCP X doesn't play well with DV files is partly that it is no longer Quicktime based like 7 and back were. DV was introduced in 1995 (nearly twenty years ago time flies!) so I don't think it's a priority to make sure all the different incarnations are working perfectly. Dealing with P2 disk images of DVCPRO-HD is a major pain in X and that came out in 2004.

This is what Philip Hodgetts had to say. (In fairness this is where I stole my 'theory' from)

www.philiphodgetts.com/2013/11/quicktime...at-mean-in-practice/

Ahhhhh, that makes sense! Yes, I was using a Canopus ADVC-55 with iMovie 9 (Did a few with the ADVC-55 and Vidi as well). And I agree, FCPX hates those files. When I use StreamClip to convert to PreRez LT they play great in FCPX. Just wondered with the problem was. I'm sure you are correct.

Thanks for the help!

JT

Darren Roark wrote: Which version of iMovie are you using?

Did you capture using a Canopus by any chance? I ask only because I've been working on a massive doc that has vhs tapes captured through one of those. FCP X hates those files. I had to render all of them to prores in order to work correctly.

My guess as to why FCP X doesn't play well with DV files is partly that it is no longer Quicktime based like 7 and back were. DV was introduced in 1995 (nearly twenty years ago time flies!) so I don't think it's a priority to make sure all the different incarnations are working perfectly. Dealing with P2 disk images of DVCPRO-HD is a major pain in X and that came out in 2004.

This is what Philip Hodgetts had to say. (In fairness this is where I stole my 'theory' from)

www.philiphodgetts.com/2013/11/quicktime...at-mean-in-practice/

I've had no issues with FCPX and DV files from a Canopus ADVC-55 since 10.0.3. Before that I'd crash about 20 times/hour. I also captured using iMovie 9. iMovie 10 did not work well at all. My big issue what that the video was probably 4th generation VCR to VCR copies that were mostly shot in low light!

Hmmm, come to think of it I haven't played with any of that video since upgrading to 10.1. Never mind!