Quicktime movie freezing

[Nathan Allard]

I have had 3 different projects freeze after exporting them from FCP.(quicktime movie)
If i play project from the computer or the burned disc it will freeze. Audio continues to play.

I ended up switching the burn time to 1x in iDVD, it worked on the 1st disc.Thunder/Lightning storms stopped my 2nd burn now trying 3rd burn. ARG!

Just curious if anyone else has had this problem before?

Never had a problem like this before. I have been using HP DVD-R 16x (lightscribe) discs, burned from Imac and external drive. Lots of GBs on computer. Any other possibilities?
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[Jonathan Jones]

I've always found iDVD awesome for quick 'n' slick authoring, basically decent for encoding, and lousy for burning. First thing I'd do is figure out whether this is a problem with iDVD, or with physical problems with either the burner or the blanks.

With your iDVD project open, check it out in preview mode, especially the areas in which you are finding the content to freeze up.

If everything checks out okay in preview mode, give a quick double check of the project info pane (under the 'project' menu) and see if it gives you any red zones that indicate potential problems with the project. - this will probably check out okay.)

Instead of trying to burn to a disc, I recommend instead burning to disc image. (This eliminates a bad burner or a bad blank for this stage.)

But first, select "Delete Encoded Assets" under the "Advanced" menu to force a complete re-render of the content. There is a strong possibility that you have corrupted content in the render that is being retained in the project cache and affecting subsequent burns.

Under the "File" menu select "Save as disc image" and designate a location for the resulting disc image file.

It will have to completely re-render your DVD file which may take a while. After this is done, double click the disc image to mount a virtual DVD onto your desktop. After it has mounted, you can open up your Mac's DVD Player and play the virtual DVD as if it was a real one. Check it out to determine if it plays correctly, especially in the problem areas noted earlier.

If it plays correctly, you can try to burn the disc image to blanks using burning apps such as Toast or other apps. You can also use Disc Utility to burn the disc image to the blank but the method is not as straightforward. (Let me know if you would like me to outline the process.) - I prefer Toast.

If the burn fails or produces a faulty disc, you are likely dealing with a bad batch of blanks, or a potentially failing burn laser.

[Nathan Allard]

I have not had a chance to work on my projects, I will post the outcome when I have a chance.

I dont believe the problem is with iDVD, for some reason when I export from FCP it freezes. When I go back to the timeline it freezes as well. so i had to delete clip and import it againto the timeline to allow it to play.

I did read about DISC IMAGE burning, is that what most people do?- I will try that when I get a chance to and report back.

Not too sure if this is relevant, but when I import my XHA1 clip to FCP it breaks into many clips, this has happened every time I capture to FCP. pain in the you know where.




Thanks for the advice J.J.!
__________________ much appreciated.



-Nathan

[Battle Vaughan]

If you don't want your log and capture to break out into individual clips, just turn off the feature in the capture setup window in log & capture...although I've always found it much more convenient to have the individual clips than going through one houmoungous clip and making subclips...courses for horses, as they say.../Battle Vaughan

[Jonathan Jones]

Originally Posted by Nathan Allard

I dont believe the problem is with iDVD, for some reason when I export from FCP it freezes. When I go back to the timeline it freezes as well. so i had to delete clip and import it againto the timeline to allow it to play.

I'm not really sure what is causing the complications here, but I think you are right. At this point, I think it is safe to rule out iDVD as a factor.

You mentioned that you are using and external drive, and that is definitely a recommended element for a smooth running FCP workflow. With that in mind, I would suggest double-checking the following:

1.) Make sure your capture and render file allocations are correctly set to use your designated external drive. I think that by default, these settings will use your User/Documents folder on your main drive. This can produce complications with having such activity take place on the same drive that hosts the running OS - potentially introducing corruption into the OS or to the media content, possibly due to drive overtasking.

2.) If your capture and render files are correctly set to the external drive, make sure that the drive is healthy and running smooth and speedy. It should be a minimum 7200 RPM. A fragmented drive or one that has a propensity towards failing can play havoc on your media project. Make sure also that the connectivity is solid and using the fastest connection option you have available to you. Most drives these days use USB 2.0. This is generally workable, but not as much if daisy-chaining. If you have Firewire 400 or 800 or even faster options), either of those would be preferable to USB 2.0 - especially if you are capturing from tape-based media. If your connection is USB 1.1 (which I doubt) than you are S.O.L. and are in serious need of an upgrade.

3.) Is there a possibility that your content needs to be rendered? In other words, are your sequence settings different from your capture settings or your original source format? Or have you possibly applied any effects or filters to your content that require rendering? If so, the point at which it is 'freezing' may represent the point at which the rendering is incomplete and the playback is stuttering because it is attempting to play back un-rendered content. (the color code above the timeline is designated to show the render status.) Apply the render command before attempting to export your final timeline and see if it performs a required render.

Originally Posted by Nathan Allard

I did read about DISC IMAGE burning, is that what most people do?

I don't know what the common practice is or what others do, but I have created disc image files from iDVD and DVD Studio Pro for many years. Both of those apps are designed to reference their source content, so if further discs of a specific project needs to be rendered in the future, the applications will usually expect to find the source content in the same locations as they were before. (If that source content has been moved or erased, or even re-named it can potentially cause problems with the DVD project file.)

If a DVD project is sourcing...say...24 gigs worth of content, but the DVD is completed and won't ever need any further changes, edits, or even menu tweaking, I can burn the project to a disc image and archive and clear off the source content. The disc image contains the formatted DVD content with all the menu and interface data intact for future burns when needed. It is a logical economy of drive space.

Plus, in my experience, burning my disc image to a quality blank using Toast provides a far more stable burn than burning directly out of iDVD.

Originally Posted by Nathan Allard

Thanks for the advice J.J.!
__________________ much appreciated.

My pleasure. I hope it helps.

-Jon

(or J.J. as I was called in the old days.)

[Nathan Allard]

Originally Posted by Battle Vaughan

If you don't want your log and capture to break out into individual clips, just turn off the feature in the capture setup window in log & capture...although I've always found it much more convenient to have the individual clips than going through one houmoungous clip and making subclips...courses for horses, as they say.../Battle Vaughan

I am trying to log my XHA1 clip as a continuous clip; approx 45 minutes - 60 minutes for weddings, i would like it to be 1 clip to edit. instead of being broken up. I do agree on the individual clips for other projects. as it is nice, my HV30 does that and it is a time saver.

[Nathan Allard]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Jones

I'm not really sure what is causing the complications here, but I think you are right. At this point, I think it is safe to rule out iDVD as a factor.

You mentioned that you are using and external drive, and that is definitely a recommended element for a smooth running FCP workflow. With that in mind, I would suggest double-checking the following:

1.) Make sure your capture and render file allocations are correctly set to use your designated external drive. I think that by default, these settings will use your User/Documents folder on your main drive. This can produce complications with having such activity take place on the same drive that hosts the running OS - potentially introducing corruption into the OS or to the media content, possibly due to drive overtasking.

2.) If your capture and render files are correctly set to the external drive, make sure that the drive is healthy and running smooth and speedy. It should be a minimum 7200 RPM. A fragmented drive or one that has a propensity towards failing can play havoc on your media project. Make sure also that the connectivity is solid and using the fastest connection option you have available to you. Most drives these days use USB 2.0. This is generally workable, but not as much if daisy-chaining. If you have Firewire 400 or 800 or even faster options), either of those would be preferable to USB 2.0 - especially if you are capturing from tape-based media. If your connection is USB 1.1 (which I doubt) than you are S.O.L. and are in serious need of an upgrade.

3.) Is there a possibility that your content needs to be rendered? In other words, are your sequence settings different from your capture settings or your original source format? Or have you possibly applied any effects or filters to your content that require rendering? If so, the point at which it is 'freezing' may represent the point at which the rendering is incomplete and the playback is stuttering because it is attempting to play back un-rendered content. (the color code above the timeline is designated to show the render status.) Apply the render command before attempting to export your final timeline and see if it performs a required render.



I don't know what the common practice is or what others do, but I have created disc image files from iDVD and DVD Studio Pro for many years. Both of those apps are designed to reference their source content, so if further discs of a specific project needs to be rendered in the future, the applications will usually expect to find the source content in the same locations as they were before. (If that source content has been moved or erased, or even re-named it can potentially cause problems with the DVD project file.)

If a DVD project is sourcing...say...24 gigs worth of content, but the DVD is completed and won't ever need any further changes, edits, or even menu tweaking, I can burn the project to a disc image and archive and clear off the source content. The disc image contains the formatted DVD content with all the menu and interface data intact for future burns when needed. It is a logical economy of drive space.

Plus, in my experience, burning my disc image to a quality blank using Toast provides a far more stable burn than burning directly out of iDVD.



My pleasure. I hope it helps.

-Jon

(or J.J. as I was called in the old days.)

still havent done any editing hopefully in a couple more days i will try your suggestions.
thanks for the info again J.J. appreciate the response.

[Nathan Allard]

Finally I had some time to try and figure this out.
I re-exported from FCP using Quicktime movie, all projects play without freezing. Ended up making a DISC IMAGE in iDVD, 1st and 2nd discs seem to work, I am burning the 3rd one right now.

I still have a hunch that FCP caused the freezing for whatever reason.

I will have to check my sequence/capture settings to see if they are messed up.
I never even thought about render problems, thanks for that. When I play my project in my timeline the play head stops over any fades. telling me i have not enough room, the rest of the project plays fine. the colour code is green.
The parts that froze during play back were shots with out any fades.

Hopefully this post makes sense.
Thanks again Jon for the time to help out.

If there is any problems with my projects I will consider starting from scratch!!

I am about to start another project so we will see when I am finished what happens.

Cheers!