XML and footage provided. XML works but can't connect media.

Hi all - using 7toX for FCPX 10.1.2 I have imported a series of timelines from Premiere. All is well - I see the offline clips in the browser and timelines. So now I just grab the footage and perform a simple relink, correct?

2 problems:

1) FCPX won't search for media recursively. I was under the impression fro Alex4D's post that there is now... "Much better relinking of missing files. Select the parent volume or folder and Final Cut will now search all sub-folders until it finds the correct files". Searching a folder just comes up with nothing even thought there is definitely the correct file(s) within the folder structure.

2) when I go into the file structure and manually select the correct footage it throws up an "Incompatible Media: Error: The original file and new file have no shared media range. Relinked files must have the same media type and similar audio channels as the original files, and must be long enough to cover all the clips that reference the files.

The footage is definitely correct. Any thoughts on either issue?

Have you tried to import one of the files and export as XML, find the asset and format in the big XML and compare those?

- Andreas

Just an idea: if the timelines were created in an older version of Premiere (pre July 2013) and MXP was not disabled in Pr this can lead to relinking problems in FCP X because stupid MXP modifies the file metadata which makes FCP X think the files are incompatible for relinking.

- Ronny

Ronny,

I think that's the "solution".

- Andreas

P.S.
Doug you can send me the XML and can try to make "metadata clean up"

I just did a fresh edit with 10.1.2 on Mav 10.9.4 and my timeline has lost the media and will not relink no matter what I try. I have a mid 2012 MBPr with 16GB Ram. It seems to be wonderful for quite a few people but it's been an utter nightmare for me. I just can't figure it out.

Thank you for the replies so far - I thought that Ronny's answer sounded interested so I opened Premiere CC 2014 and opened the XML provided. Then I created a new XML from Premiere hoping it would negate the XMP metadata issue but unfortunately it did not.

Instead now I have black clips. I can relink these in FCPX and they do not throw the incorrect media error, but the clips simply remain black.

It looks like this:




If I drag the same R3D file in from the finder, no trouble at all:

Ronny's answer is correct, but what has happened is that Premiere has been set up incorrectly and has hosed your media. I don't know of a workaround for it, XML cannot to it AFAIK. Maybe someone like Andreas Kiel or Alex Gollner could tweak, but I don't know if that's possible.

Thank you Tom - any thoughts on the first point - the fact that FCPX wasn't looking for media recursively (as in folders within folders)?

Hi Doug,

FCP X 10.1.2 looks for compatible media anywhere on any connected drive. If it finds compatible media it will point to the correct folder no matter how deep this folder is inside other folders.

When it does not see any compatible media on any drive (as in this case) it is quite logical that it will not point you to any folders and it will ask you to manually select compatible media.

Tom is correct that recreating an new XML with the media that has been corrupted by Pr will not solve the problem. You might take up Andreas' offer and send him the original XML so he can see if he can fix this. Only an XML wizard can sort this out. Adobe's XMP is :evil:

- Ronny

Thanks gentlemen - that's cleared it up for me. Luckily the project wasn't very far advanced so i just started from scratch in FCPX but learning this has definitely been valuable to me - much appreciated.

Doug,

Just out of curiosity, could you try the below little app and let us know what happens.
I will simply remove all metadata from the PPro XML and save a new one at "/modXML.fcpxml"
In case it works that could be a simple solution for other people who run into the problem as well.

- Andreas

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/63959366/mdRemove.dmg

Thank you Andreas - I am trying it out but it is asking for an FCPXML so i can't provide it with a PPXML. I did export an FCPXML out of FCPX of the offline version but the app didn't seem to do anything.

Doug,

I was assuming you used 7toX to get the xml into FCP X. So you should have an fcpxml file somewhere.
Make a copy of it and open that one with the app. In an blink of an eye all metadata inside the file are removed and the fcpxml is saved. Then import this XML into FCP X.

- Andreas

Yes - I used 7toX. But that does not create a FCPXML that I can see, it creates a new library based of the PP XML. I can export an FCPXML from that but that is what I described above. If you can give me some instructions to follow I will be happy to run the test for you.

Doug,

When I said you should have a fcpxml I implied that you create one from the 7toX. Sorry my bad.
Otherwise it's the procedure I described. Make a copy and run the little app.

- Andreas

Thanks for the update Andreas - when you say "save a new one at "/modXML.fcpxml" where might that be? I followed your instructions but nothing seemed to happened.

"/modXML.fcpxml"
means that it is a file named "modXML.fcpxml" on the root level of your boot volume.

- Andreas

Ok - found it So - interesting result. FCPX can now find more than one file at a time through the relinking process although not all of them. Unfortunately I still cannot link to them. I still get the error:

"41 name matches were found, but 41 files are not compatible.
Relinked files must have the same media type and similar audio channels as the original files, and must be long enough to cover all the clips that reference the files.
Select a single item at a time to get information about why it is not compatible."

I had also a problem with relinking files and got also this message:

".. name matches were found, but .. files are not compatible.
Relinked files must have the same media type and similar audio channels as the original files, and must be long enough to cover all the clips that reference the files.
Select a single item at a time to get information about why it is not compatible."

This was our workflow: about 80 XDCAM disk were imported on 2 hard disks, both disks have the same material.
The director worked in FCP 7 and sent me the project.
I relinked it in FCP 7 to check everything and exported the XML.
I copied my hard disk to a Pegasus2 R4 and here comes the strange thing:
Importing the XML (7toX) on an other Macpro with the Pegasus hard disk I got that same error massage as above.

When I connected the original hard disk, were I created the XML from, all files could be relinked!
Copying the Library to the Pegasus and relinking was also possible.

On both machines Premiere Pro is not installed.
On both machines FCPX 10.1.2 is installed and the latest version 7 to X.

I think it has to do with the new xml version in 10.1.2.

-Hans

As I offered earlier you can send me XMLs.
First one the XML not working, second one with a clip from the "bad one" dragged to a timelime (which works on re-import).
- Andreas

kiel(at)spherico(dot)com