audio Dropouts on Capture

Hi Paul,
We have the very same problem. As we capture, about every 2 to 3 minutes, I'll hear a a loud "ssst" sound artifact lasting only 1 tenth of a second. It seems intermittent - NOT on the original tape. If we recapture the segment again - the artifact will occur in different place in the capture - but still there every few minutes. We have FCPro 5, a G5/2.7 gig machine. Everything upgraded, Tiger, etc. We use a Canon XL-2 with a Panasonic ADJ-250 deck. It's making us crazy.

Can anyone help us?

Thanks,

Larry

Just one suggestion, though it may not solve a bigger issue...

If it's not on the original footage, it could be dirty tape heads...have you cleaned them lately.

Hate to see you have a conversation without any type of suggested help... ;]

Kevan

Hi TV Show guy!

Actually, No, we haven't cleaned the heads recently. We produce programing for PBS - and are not exhibiting any tape head problems. Using abrasive tape cleaners is something we don't usually do unless we're having problems. But we NEVER get this "ssst" sound directly from the decks or cameras - ONLY after it's captured, indicating to us, it's a capture issue or a computer issue. Also, if heads were the issue, why would we get the artifact from different decks and cameras like the other gentleman?
Thanks, though

Larry

Well then, have you checked this thread...

Jerry Hofmann, "Crashing in the middle of work" #5, 04:56pm Aug 28, 2005 CDT

I can't speak to issues between OS versions/FCP versions/QT versions, but there have been numerous posts with various issues/solutions, often regarding QuickTime versions and how they interact with and possibly cause problems with other OS/Apps.

Post back if it helps, or need more assistance.

K

Hi Paul,
We have the very same problem. . . .We use a
Canon XL-2 with a Panasonic ADJ-250 deck.

Larry

Our office has experienced this on a regular basis for the past several years. Nothing seems to help, except physically changing location (like taking equipment home with us). We have experienced this under all of the following variations:
- footage - consumer JVC (miniDV), panasonic EZ-30, XL-1, XL-1s and Panasonic AJ-D700 (DVC Pro 25).
- Macs - G4 1.5Gig DP, G5 2.0Gig DP
- 3GB RAM (All apple), and 3GB RAM all non-apple
- FCP 3, 4.5, and 5.0
- OSX 10.2 through 10.4.3
- G-Tech (Adaptec OEM) Fire Connect 4300 firewire cards.
- Capture Now, Clip Capture, Batch Capture settings
- capturing to internal drives as well as external fw400 and 800 drives.

we use Panasonic master quality tapes.
If we capture analog, we have no problems. If we capture to our Cinewave G5, no problems. If we capture to Windows Movie Maker on a PC, no problems (sorry Apple).

Dropouts can be between 1/2 to 2 frames and appear as spiked/clipped waveforms. they can be as many as 5 or 6 per minute to 1 to 2 per clip. they also change position from capture to capture. There are no TC problems on the tapes in question.

All of our systems run on APC Backup supplies, decks and all.

we have talked to Don Peebles from Apple and reps from Panasonic, and have posted a similar comment on kenstone.net. No one has come up with an explaination.

For the most part we capture again and again to hope we get the clpi we need without glitches. Our main editor also has developed a work-around routine by capturing the audio analog and re-sync'ing it (it goes out a consistent number of frames doing this) one clip at a time. this is a pain.

Anything that you all find out would be wonderful.

Aaron
BBC&S Communications
Pennsylvannia

Paul,

I've seen this problem also. Look VERY CLOSELY at your video right where you have the audio drop out. Chances are you'll see a slight glitch (sometimes very subtle) of some kind in the video. What I've done to get around the problem is to export the actual section of video (where the audio drop out occurs) as a QT movie (using QT conversion, animation codec, VIDEO ONLY) and then reimport that and place it over the "bad" video. You might try this even if you don't see any obvious glitches.

For some reason, when FCP encounters a video glitch on capture, the audio drops out. This is the only way I've found to get around the problem, and in my case I know it's not dirty heads as I can see the glitch in the video on the original tapes. I suspect that this is a problem inherent with the H264 codec, as if you try the same thing by exporting an FCP self-contained QT, the problem persists, but if you use another codec (like animation) and place the clip over the bad audio it generally plays back OK. Hope this helps.

Jeff