Hi all,

I have been using the Flash XDR with the EX3 for quite a while but only recently got a decent macbook pro and FCP.

Can anyone please let me know what should be the settings in FCP and what is the workflow for editing these files? Nothing fancy – just the very basic editing.

I tried to play a few QT files I got today and a few don’t play properly – as if they are stuck. Some others play fine.

Thanks,

Ofer Levy Photography (http://www.oferlevyphotography.com)

Dear Ofer,

I would love to help, but I am not an expert in Final Cut Pro.

I would not know how to get you started with Final Cut Pro, sorry.

Can anyone please let me know what should be the settings in FCP and what is the workflow for editing these files? Nothing fancy – just the very basic editing.



There are many FCP users groups all over the world. Join one, and you'll get all the help you need.

Thanks Dan, I had another look at the clips and it seems to me that the few that won't playback properly are actually corrupted. They playback fine half way and then they jam. When I try to drop it on the timeline I get solid green screen where the corrapted part is.
Any idea as to what could cause this?

Thanks John but I was hoping to get advice from a Flash XDR user.

Cheers,
Ofer

Dear Ofer,

Would you like to send them to us? We will be happy to analyze them.

If so, I will have Tommy set it up for you to send them to our server.

Dear Ofer,

I have sent you a personal email to put you in touch with Tommy, in our support department.

Are you sure that the files might be too large for the hard drive's capacity for playback?

Are you sure that the files might be too large for the hard drive's capacity for playback?

Thanks David, I got the latest Macbook pro and other clips which are way bigger playback with no problems.

Cheers,
Ofer

Hi Ofer,

First off, try playing your files in Quicktime. If there's a problem with them, they won't play correctly. If they're okay, then they'll play properly. Then you can move on to Final Cut.

As for your FCP question, if you drop a file into a new sequence, FCP will prompt you to let it set the correct sequence settings that match that file. After that, you'll be set to add more clips. If they're of the same file format as the sequence, you won't have to render them for playback.

Hope that helps.

Hi Ofer,

First off, try playing your files in Quicktime. If there's a problem with them, they won't play correctly. If they're okay, then they'll play properly. Then you can move on to Final Cut.

As for your FCP question, if you drop a file into a new sequence, FCP will prompt you to let it set the correct sequence settings that match that file. After that, you'll be set to add more clips. If they're of the same file format as the sequence, you won't have to render them for playback.

Hope that helps.

Thanks John, I have tried to play them in Quicktime and unfortunatly they are not playing properly.

Thanks again,
Ofer Levy Photography (http://www.oferlevyphotography.com)

Ofer, has this problem been rectified now?
Steve

Ofer, has this problem been rectified now?
Steve

Hi Steve, CD are very helpful and really go out of their way to help. Looks like there are two reasonable explanations to my problems - 1. Faulty 4-pin XLR connector that connects the camera with the battery. The second is that I use the cards that are no longer recommended by CD - the Transcend 32GB 133x. I have ordered the new recommended cards and CD will send me a replacement connector so I am very optimistic.
Cheers mate,
Ofer

Good to hear. I'm looking into the possibility of putting a Nano onto my PDW700, as to get slomo from thr XDCam 720 is a bit of a pain. With the Nano it should be a lot easier as well as being able to go to 220 mb/s I-Frame.
Steve

Dear Ofer,

Thanks for Posting.

Dear Steve,

To elaborate on Ofer's post:

In private emails with Ofer we found the following:

1. Two screws holding the 4-Pin XLR input power connector were missing.
(But, this did not seem to cause any problem, but the screws are definitely desirable.)

This appears to be a problem that occurred when we built Ofer's Flash XDR.

2. The 4-Pin XLR connector that mated to Ofer's Flash XDR did not seat securely.

Ofer found that if he put slight pressure on the side of the connector, the Flash XDR would power down.

This was not a connector that we provided, but we are replacing it for free for Ofer. Ofer uses an Anton Bauer Elipz battery, and he sourced an Elipz to 4-Pin XLR cable locally.

Frankly, I am surprised that the two connectors do not mate properly, but this is actually the case. We use Neutrik connectors on both ends, and never had this problem.

Ofer placed some Teflon tape on the connector and it solved this problem. But, we are replacing this connector for Ofer.

3. Ofer had some corrupted files. He has placed the files on a DVD and has sent them to us for analysis and recovery.

We set it up so he could FTP us the files, but we could not get he FTP link to work for him. The connection would time-out. Ofer is in Australia.

4. Ofer was using Transcend 133x 32 GB cards. These work with all of our modes and bit-rates up to 140 Mbps.

But, if the files were recorded at 160 Mbps, then the 160 Mbps option would cause this problem. This is guaranteed to fail as the card can not keep up with the data rate, thus resulting in corrupted files.

I just reviewed all of Ofer's emails, and I did not find an reference to using the 160 Mbps mode, so this may or may not be the cause of the three corrupted files.

Ofer has been using the Flash XDR for some time now. These corrupted files could have been recorded month ago.

5. In the Flash XDR and nanoFlash, we make every attempt to determine the card brand/type/speed so we can limit the bit rates to ones that will work with the cards.

However, some early Transcend cards do not provide us with enough information. As such, we did not limit the speed to 100 or 140 Mbps, thus allowing for the possiblity that an improper bit-rate could be used.

Thanks Dan,
Really just trying to find out where we are in terms of being bomb-proof reliable. I know there were (and are bound to be) teething troubles, and also know that you guys are working like crazy to iron them out. Of course we all want something that we can depend on entirely and that won't give us surprises when we get our precious material to the edit. In the early stages of course you have the option to record simultaeously to tape/disc just in case but obviously you'll be hoping to get to a stage where that won't be neccessary, and maybe already have?
Steve

Dear Steve,

We expect to post a major new release of the firmware, possibly as early as next week.

It is in final testing.

We suspect that most of the problems that people have reported we due to cable problems and/or a glitch in the HD-SDI signal.

We could handle, in recent releases, the loss of the HD-SDI signal, for example if one powers down the camera while recording, or unplugs the HD-SDI cable. We just close the file, and it the power or signal is restored, we start recording again automatically.

But, we could not gracefully handle very slight glitches in the HD-SDI signal.

I was testing the new release candidate yesterday and I could not make it fail. If we detect a glitch, we close the file and start recording again. But, it does take us some time to resync to the incoming HD-SDI signal and restart the recording.


Two other recently reported problems involved race cars. One involved stunt jumping a card over 100 feet.

In both cases, depending on the setup, very high quality, double and triple shielded HD-SDI cables should be used in an attempt to prevent very serious EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) from interferring with the HD-SDI signal.

Now, in recent months, we have had major productions which have used the Flash XDR without any major problems. One was in new Zealand, a 13 week dramatic series for television, and the other is Cash Cab (Discovery Canada). Another one was an episode of Mighty Ships. This was an interesting one in which they would have never gotten the shot without the Flash XDR (This is according to the crew.)

At trade shows, I get a lot of people coming up to me reporting how much they like using the Flash XDR.

The nanoFlash builds upon the field experience that we have with the Flash XDR.

Just read in the manual that it's advisable to warm the unit up for 5 minutes before use - what's the story there?
Steve

Dear Steve,

In normal weather conditions, normal ambient temperatures, this is not really necessary.

In extreme cold conditions, we recommed this to allow the unit to come up to a reasonable temperature.

While this has not proven necesary, one could easily turn on the Flash XDR when one first turns on their camera.

For example, if it is -40 outside, I would recommend placing the CompactFlash cards in the Flash XDR and then powering it up. There is an internal temperature display on the LCD. One could monitor this to ensure that a reasonable working temperature has been reached.

Some CF cards may not work below -25 degrees celsius, but the Flash XDR will warm the cards.