Final Cut Stopped Recognizing my Source Files Timecode

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Level 1

4 points

Final Cut Stopped Recognizing my Source Files Timecode

I'm working a project for the first time in a few months and I noticed all of my source files stopped playing in FCP, no audio or video. When I skimmed over them they were black. I tried to manually relink them but FCP gave me the following error: "The original file and new file have no shared media range." After a lot of digging I found that FCP no longer recognized the starting timecode of my source files. I exported the library as xml and read through it. The media is still set in the project correctly with starting timecodes, but when I open up the Media Import window all of the files show with incorrect starting timecodes of 00:00:00:00. None of the source files have been modified in 2 years. I confirmed the files aren't considered "missing," if I click on a file and click "Reveal in Finder" it takes me to the correct file.

I'm running:

MacOS: Ventura 13.6.1
Intel processor
FCP: 10.7

I've tried:

Deleting preferences
Restarting the computer
Deleting generated library files
Deleting the cache
Relinking files (see error above)
Exporting the whole library as an XML and reimporting it into a new library in the same location (FCP gives me a ton of the following error messages along with all of my synchronized clips having missing video: "Invalid edit with no respective media")

FCP with incorrect start timecodes:

MediaInfo confirming the source file does have its timecode set:

What's confusing is I tried importing one of the renders I made (custom starting timecode) and FCP properly recognizes it. If it helps this is the MediaInfo report on it:

If anyone has any ideas I'd greatly appreciate it.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 13.3

Posted on Dec 10, 2023 9:10 PM

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Answer 1

ProustGiulio

Level 10

209,808 points

Dec 11, 2023 3:14 AM in response to ArmedChef

.

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Answer 2

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

73,080 points

Dec 11, 2023 3:52 AM in response to ArmedChef

It looks like there was some corruption in your library.

There is no guarantee that the following will work, but it may help. In any case, I suggest that you try it in a copy of your library, just in case.

Quit FCP if it is running
Control-click the library in the Finder and choose Show Package Contents
Drag the CurrentVersion.flexolibrary out of the package; you can put it in the trash or park it on the Desktop, if you like
Close the package
Start FCP and let it rebuild the library database. Hopefully it will capture the timecode from the clips and rebuild correctly.

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Answer 3

joema

Level 4

1,137 points

Dec 11, 2023 7:24 AM in response to ArmedChef

The library is probably OK -- your XML export indicates the media references in the library are using the original starting timecode values for those clips. Under some conditions, FCP will not read clip timecode from certain formats, but I've only seen it for MP4 files. However, under those conditions, when those files are imported, the library starting timecode value is 00:00, so there is no conflict.

What camera are these files from, and what is the complete metadata from MediaInfo?

In some cases, it's possible to rewrite the timecode using the 3rd-party utility QTChange. After that the files will relink. You could try it on a single test file. In this scenario the file has the correct starting timecode but for some reason it is in a format that the underlying AVFoundation framework cannot read. Just running that utility with no other options set will rewrite the timecode in a format FCP can read -- assuming that is the problem.

Another diagnostic step is to try relinking a single file. Unlike multi-file relink, when single-file relink fails, it may give more specific information about the failure. However it sounds like you've already done that.

You can check the version of Apple Pro Video Formats you have installed. Hold the OPT key while clicking the Apple menu in the menu bar, then select System Information>Software>Installations, then scroll down on the center pane to see the latest installed version of Pro Video Formats. It should be 2.3. If not it can normally be updated as part of System Settings>General>Software Update. You can also Google "Apple Pro Video Formats" and it will take you to an Apple page for manual installation.

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Answer 4

ArmedChef Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 11, 2023 8:33 AM in response to joema

Thanks for the info. The files are Black Magic BRAW that were transcoded (via Color Finale Transcoder) to Apple ProRes 422. The latest version of Pro Video Formats is 2.3, looks like there are 2 copies of it if that makes a difference.

The full MedaInfo report on one of the files that used to work correctly is attached.

MediaInfo - Original Source File

I just did a test with the QtChange demo and when I loaded a file I got a warning that the file had "unidentified data at the end." I'm not quite sure what that means yet. However, the file it converted relinked in the library! I noticed that in QTChange the source file's tracks are V TC A and it changes them to V A TC, if the track order matters.

Any idea why MacOS/FCP randomly decided to not like the timecode it was perfectly fine using for a year and a half? I'm going to back everything up and run everything through QTChange and see what happens.

If you're curious I put the converted file in MediaInfo and all the attributes are identical except in Other the Title changed from 1 to Color Finale Transcoder / 1 and both the Encoded date and Tagged date attributes were removed.

Thank you so much for the help!

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Answer 5

joema

Level 4

1,137 points

Dec 11, 2023 9:07 AM in response to ArmedChef

"Any idea why MacOS/FCP randomly decided to not like the timecode it was perfectly fine using for a year and a half?"

Unfortunately, I don't know.

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Answer 6

ArmedChef Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 11, 2023 7:42 PM in response to joema

I would love to know because that was pretty darn aggravating. So after a lot of testing and backing up it seems like running everything through QtChange fixed it. After modifying the source files FCP picked them back up and I only had to relink the one file I deleted/reimported during testing. All the spot checks passed, and I'll be diving back into actual editing tomorrow. Hopefully everything stays good between now and then. Thanks again for the software recommendation! That was $30 very well spent.

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Final Cut Stopped Recognizing my Source Files Timecode

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