Bad files on DR-HD100

[Bill Parker]

I just test recorded some shots using my HD100 (A version) w/ the DR-HD100 and two out of the four clips I recorded (in 24p) wouldn't open. They show up as clips with the appropriate file size, etc., but when I go to open them, I get a message that says "Error opening movie - the movie could not be opened".

I had this happen before when I was shooting 30p so I doubt its a 24p thing. Fortunately, I have the tape as a backup, but I'd rather not run into this problem. This will be my second shoot with the DR-HD100 and I've had the problem twice forcing me to digitize a number of clips.

Is there something I could be doing wrong or are other people running into this problem?

My setting on th HD100 are 1394 rec. trig. - synchro, back space (hdv) - p-1394, DR-HD100 A. OFF - ON
(I'm not sure what that last setting means - it sounds contradictory!)


Thanks.

[Kit Hannah]

Did you try the "repair" function on the Firestore? If you go to the utilities menu, you can repair the disk and it should fix those clips.

[Bill Parker]

Hannah,

I did that, but not until after I'd erased them, so I don't know if that would do the trick. I did another batch afterwards and they all were fine. Maybe that's the way to go. Next time, I'll try repairing the disk.

Thanks.

[Kit Hannah]

If you erased them from the drive but still have them on another drive, transfer them back over and repair it, leaving the file names the same (or at least as a timecoded file name). Many times we will get the files that are 0KB files and we just erase those, but we have never had a problem once we repaired the clips.

[Andreas Nistler]

Posted this some days ago:
"I'm using the DR-HD100 with the GY-HD100E, latest firmware (2.1). Thanks to the upgrade it records QuickTimes 750p25. Until then I've never had any problems with the firestore. But now it starts writing files that have the estimated size, but they seem to be broken. I can't access them. Tried everything. The "funny" thing is, that this issue appears randomly. I can take 30 clips on a long shoot (without powering the unit down) and 3 of the files are corrupt. Next time everything's just fine and two hours later 3 of 5 files are broken. Tried the build-in disk repair (under UTILITIES), but no luck."
When recording m2t, everything is fine. So I think it must be the QuickTime wrapper. I've noticed, that the downloadable upgrade and that one on the CD I purchased have different md5 values. I booted the DR-HD100 from the factory image (reset to vers. 1.0) and applied the downloadable upgrade. Haven't had time to do intensive tests, but now the QuickTimes are ok. (Knock on wood...)

[Fernando Hermoso]

It is not certain, in m2t is no problem, in dv either. It is as if the QuickTime container did not close well some archives.
In truth the Dr-100 if who has recorded clips, but he has closed them badly, but luckily he has solution: -)
To recover the corrupt archives, we connected the DR-100 in way “DV I/O” and opened the DVHScaps, from this gratuitous program we captured as if a magneto one was, m2t will recover the archives in format. Also we can use the DR-100 from our NLE (Premier, FCP, Edius, etc) and will capture the material like any magneto. Later with mpegstreamclip we turned them to HDV 25 without no problem. It is clear that it is a failure of the Focus but at least any paper clip is not lost, and that for my is reassuring.
greetings.

[Andreas Nistler]

It definitely must a problem with the QT wrapper. At first sight the downloadable upgrade seemed to do the job. But I did some testing, and some files are broken again :-(
It only happens when recording 720p25 as QT (.mov), not when recording .m2t.

Fernando, can you please describe step by step how you manage to capture those broken files directly to your computer? Tried dvhscap and Final Cut Pro, in both cases the device is recognized, but I'm not able to capture anything.

[Andreas Nistler]

I hopefully have solved the problem:
FireStore -> SETUP -> HDV TC TYPE -> REC TC (instead of TTC if you're editing in Final Cut)
Now all clips recorded by the DR-HD100 are fine.

FYI my FireStore settings:
RECORD -> NORMAL
HDD MODE -> HD RECORDER
HD FORMATS -> QUICKTIME
SETUP -> STOP NO VIDEO, EXT CTL OFF, TC EXT, TC / UB not set, HDV TC TYPE -> REC TC
FUNCTIONS -> FA JVC GY-HD

JVC GY-HD100E: OTHERS (2/2) -> 1394 REC TRIG SYNCRO

[Bill Parker]

Andreas, when you list for your settings "REC TC (instead of TTC if you're editing in Final Cut)", do you mean that TTC is proper for FCP or that REC TC is? I'm not sure what editing system you use.

Also, I just finished another shoot (after upgrading to 2.2) and everything was fine - audio came through, etc. - except one nagging problem: out of my eight clips, one of them is a file that won't open - "error opening movie - the movie could not be opened". This happens on almost every shoot I go on. One of two files simply won't open. I shoot interviews, so these files usually represent minutes of lost interviews. Obviously I have the tape as backup, so it's not a disaster. Just an annoyance. Has anyone else had this problem? I'd love to know what - if anything - I'm doing wrong.

Thanks.

[Andreas Nistler]

Hi Bill,

I'm cutting in Final Cut Pro 5.1.4. I do news and documentary, so I have to be fast and have to rely on my data.
According to the user manual of the firestore you have to set HDV TC TYPE to TTC. I just tried setting it to REC TC to get around this bad files issue. Now all of the files are fine without any hassle inside Final Cut. Just works. Have to do some critical shots tomorrow, will let you know if it works.
Hope that helps.

Andreas

[Bill Parker]

Thanks. I'll be curious to see how it turns out.

I just did a quick search and discovered that REC TC makes the Firestore generate its own timecode. I can't do that as I need the timecode from the tape to match the timecode on the firestore. Is that not an issue with you?

[Andreas Nistler]

Hi Bill,

while playing around to find a solution "REC TC" worked.
But today, in a real world situation on a real shooting, it failed. Again those bad files.
Seems that the firestore is reliable - until you really have to rely on...

Sorry about the bad news.

Please post, if you find a solution!

[Damien Belleville]

I noticed the same problem while recording QT25p.
This is already a serious issue, but I noticed something else :
Again, in QT25, some gaps of 12ms (no more, no less) appears randomly in the middle of a file. Never happened before I began to shoot with the 2.1 upgrade.

I hope Focus will manage to fix theses problems asap, since it's basically making the DRHD100 unreliable (And tend to make my editor act paranoid)...

[Andreas Nistler]

Got a message from Focus Enhancement. They think it could be FCP 5.1.4 or Apple made some changes in QuickTime. The development team takes a look at the issues. And BTW, I was surprised about their quick answers. Great support!

[Steve Benner]

I had this problem with 2.1 and never with 30P clips. Since 2.2 came I have been fine. They did address an issue with HDV 2P, but not sure if this was it or not. So far so good though.