Compact Flash import problem

[Paul Budline]

This is my conundrum wrapped in a dilemma. I have been shooting 1 hour lectures on both tape and Compact Flash with my Sony HVR-z7u. The CF is a Transcend 32gb 400x, which holds more than 2 hours of HDV footage.

After transfer to my hard drive, the AVI video files on the card play fine in Windows Media Player. But when trying to import them into Premiere Pro CS6, maybe one or two of the files imports properly, the others are flagged with the "damaged or unsupported file" error message.

After doing some research, I downloaded something called Enosoft AVI repair tool and used it to repair the "damaged" files. Amazingly enough, they imported with no problem and look just like I'd expect the original AVI file to look. So while it's a workaround that enables me to avoid a full tape digitization, I am wondering whether someone might know why the files are supposedly "damaged" to begin with. I've used this unit to record on CF many times before, usually with a 16GB 133x Transcend CF.

Any clues will be greatly appreciated, and I will also post this on the HVR-z7u area. Thanks very much.

[John Wiley]

Do the files play ok inside the Premiere media browser window? I often find that card-based formats such as DVCProHD on P2 or AVCHD will play fine as individual clips in the media browser but when I try to import them to my project it will import the broken down folder stucture instead (ie seperate thumbnail, video, broken file-spanned clips, metadata, etc files). However if I drag and drop the clip straight from the media browser to the project window it will import perfectly.

[Leslie Wand]

try using the sony ru-utility to import the files.

[Paul Budline]

Thanks for the suggestions. The "damaged" files would not import from the Media Browser in CS6 - the browser didn't even put up a thumbnail. Also, I tried transferring the files using the Sony HVR-MRC1 unit and firewire instead of the built-in CF reader on my computer, and the same problem resulted. So it's not the card reader, and I have now used 3 different CF cards. Any possibility that the 400x is giving me a problem that never occurred with 133x cards?

[Leslie Wand]

can't answer for the card (i use an adata 32gb 'cheapie' with no problem). however, are you importing with the sony software (ru-utility)?

i usually use vegas and haven't tried importing to ppro, but i do experience some 'glitches' if i simply drag files in from the card rather than use either the above utility or vegas's own device import facility.

[Paul Budline]

Can't say I even know what the RU utility is. Did a quick search and came up empty. Is there a more formal name??

Thank you

[Leslie Wand]

sorry paul, it's actually rt-utility.....

Digital HD Video Camera Recorder - Memory Recording Unit

[Adam Gold]

No, it is the ru-util.exe (Recording Unit Utility) and it should have come on the CD that came with your Z7/ MRC, or is available from Sony Support. It is the only reliable way to transfer the files to your PC. Where it says "rt_util" on the link below is a typo.

Just copy the file to your desktop and click on it when you want to use it. No actual install is necessary or even possible.

http://pro.sony.com/bbsccms/ext/hdv/...ftware.html#A1

Your files are fine and are not damaged at all. They're just in several pieces and the metadata is stored in different directories. The ru_util program just puts everything together for you. The worst thing you could do is use Premiere's media browser. The second worst thing you could do is just dragging the files from the card to your PC. Just use the ru_util program, and set the target directory to your project folder (or whatever scratch disk you want your raw video to go). Then Import into Premiere using File > Import. Foolproof.

[Leslie Wand]

thanks adam, was getting a bit confused there for a bit ;-)

btw. vegas imports correctly IF you use the built in device explorer, NOT if you simply drag and drop.

[Adam Gold]

Being a Sony product, that makes sense. I would hope they would have built in that functionality.

Those of us in Premiere-land really need to rely on the ru-util. Thank goodness it works flawlessly and simply and adds no overhead to the system.

I leave my system on all the time but do a fresh reboot every morning just to clear out the cobwebs. This helps prevent the occasional ru-util stall.

[Paul Budline]

Thanks very much for the suggestion - I never knew that utility existed. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to solve this particular problem. The Sony software imported four files from the CF card reader and kept them as four separate files, even though the camera had never been turned off. And as before, one of them imported into PP CS6, the other three were called "damaged or unsupported."

Doing a similar shoot today and will try a 133x 32GB card instead of the 400x. No real reason that should work, but it's worth a try.

Thank you.

[Chris Duczynski]

When you import, do it one file at a time.
Often whern you try and import the folder it says all the idx files are unsupported.
So, what I do with MRCK files straight off the card is:
Save into a folder on the desktop or a specific location.
When you open a new project in PPro make sure your settings in scratch disks are "same as project".
When that is open use the media browser to open the folder first and you will see individual files - try importing one of those - not the whole folder.
See how that goes.

[Eugene J. Kulak]

Just a suggestion as I don't know how you are importing your files. Try copying the entire file structure of the card to your computer, then use the media browser to bring the files into Premiere.

[Paul Budline]

One more interesting wrinkle - I have PP CS5 on my old computer and ran a test. The files listed as "damaged" in CS6 imported perfectly. So it could be a PP issue.

[Paul Budline]

To elaborate: Soon after upgrading from CS5 to CS6 I shot some footage with the HVR-z7u, on both tape and Compact Flash. As I had always done before, I used the computer's built-in card reader to transfer to the hard drive, then imported into CS6. Everything was perfect, BUT all of these files were smaller than the 4GB at which the CF recorder starts a new file.

But this week I was shooting one-hour lectures in the same way and the attempted import to CS6 results in a "damaged or unsupported" message. I have transferred to my hard drive using the built in CF reader, also via firewire using the Sony MRC-1 unit, same error both times. At someone else's suggestion, I tried to import the files using the Sony Recording Unit Utility software, but same problem resulted. The only solution was to run the "damaged" files through a program called Enosoft AVI repair ... which makes them good to import.

Then, just as an experiment, I tried importing the very same "damaged" files to CS5 and it worked perfectly. It seems as though CS6 may be the issue.

I hope this information helps.

Paul