Firestore FS-5 video with Final Cut X

I asked the authors of ClipWrap if this was something they might like to take a crack at, since the problem is obviously related to the packaging of the data. They indicated that they're looking at MOV->MOV rewrapping in a future release.

They did suggest something I hadn't tried before: using the command-line "ffmpeg" tool (available via several Unix packaging systems; installation not for the faint of heart).

The command line:

ffmpeg -i <inputfile> -vcodec copy -acodec copy -f mov <outputfile>

yields results identical to those reported in another thread by someone who used MediaConverter (which makes sense; they share the same internals): a file that plays perfectly but whose keyframe pointers appear to be messed up. Image quality is terrible when scrubbing around within the file, but the playback (including sequences with rapid motion) appears flawless.

Phil

That would be great if Clipwrap had mov conversion to wrap it for us. I tried Media Converter and did experiment but just could not find the right format that would equal the quality of original. . FFmpeg sounds promising. You just install it and use that program as command line or terminal. Would have to have batch conversion . Every event I do has at least 30 clips. Very time consuming. Let me know how you do with FFmpeg. ffmpeg -i <inputfile> -vcodec copy -acodec copy -f mov <outputfile>

To clarify: I already tried ffmpeg and it mostly worked. There are keyframe problems visible when scrubbing around in the clips, but it looks to me like the problem is most likely with an index table that indicates the location of the keyframes, not the keyframes themselves. The result (for me) is a file that looks ugly when scrubbing around in an editor but that otherwise works fine.

Phil

Hey Phil. Was there a setting in Media Converter that worked for you. I see the have an advanced ffmpeg option at bottom. I can get it to convert fine with container set to MPEG-2 PS format (DVD VOB) and format set to MPEG-2 Video but FCP X will not except this.Any help would be great.It's that extension that puzzles me It never changes and I think it wants me to set it which I set mov and fails.

Crossed my fingers that today's Final Cut 10.0.1 update would fix the problem - it did not 😟.

The new Security Update (2011-006) has rendered by iMac unable to do the workaround I've been using, which is to transfer Focus Enhancements clips to the iMac, Open as QuickTime movies, "Save as..." Movie, which enables me to import to FCP X as we have discussed in this thread. I have not installed Lion because of this thread's warnings about the workaround not working anymore once Lion was running.

I didn't know what was going on when I started getting the "Cannot open file" messages about the public movie atom, or some such, but when I tried on a different iMac that hadn't had the new Security Update installed it worked as it always had.

So I've had to restore the iMac from Time Machine back to Tuesday's System, which took three hours of down time.

Curious why a Security Update would put the iMac in that Lion incompatibility mode, but I'm not a programmer, just a video editor who depends on my three iMacs being able to use footage captured with my Focus Enhancements FS-4 Pro HD recorder. It seems like the walls are closing in....

Looking at the info they've posted about the security update and see that it lists QT 7 as one of the affected apps so clearly whatever they did to that busts the ability of QT 7 to open FS-4 files.

We use: 2 Focus-HD-100s version 2.2.2 on a JVCGV250 (A) and JVCGV100 (A).

Tested problem on fully updated Leopard, Snow Leopard, and Lion.

The public atom throw or possibly corrupt file throw now shows on all three recently updated OS's.

Solution that works for Snow Leopard (SL) only: Copy the folders from a SL computer that hasn't been updated in the past month or so that are in the directory: Macintosh HD/System/Library that are called Components and Quicktime. Those 2 folders are about 90 MB when copied to a thumbdrive. After acquiring those two folders delete the contents of the same folders on the newly updated SL. Paste the copied files. Finally, reboot.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3273077?answerId=16377673022#16377673022

I posted a long version of this reply last night at that thread URL.

correction it says version 2.2.2 but its 2.2.1

P.S. And I tested this two folder copy and paste fix on my lion machine as well as my leopard machine. Does not work, not surprised. If I really wanted it to work on the Leopard machine I would try to find those 2 folders again from a pre-August 2011 or so Leopard machine and then copy and paste with those.

Thanks for the update... I have been very cautious when updating my Snow Leopard machines, always making sure I have a clone of my current install before proceeding. Looks like I will be sticking with my current level of everything on my computer, running no updates until I either figure this out, or figure out a new workflow.

I've been exploring some different workflows, and ran across a couple of interesting threads last night via Google. Here's one about someone wanting to encode to HDV using FFMPEG:

http://ffmpeg-users.933282.n4.nabble.com/Encoding-to-HDV-almost-there-but-not-qu ite-td3325008.html

There's a post part way down that page that intrigues me, about the command line tools called "mdls" and "SetFile" that are included with developer tools.

I ran mdls on a file from my DTE and got this output:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

kMDItemAudioBitRate = 1536

kMDItemAudioChannelCount = 2

kMDItemCodecs = (

"MPEG-2 Video",

"Linear PCM",

Timecode

)

kMDItemContentCreationDate = 2011-05-04 11:41:42 -0500

kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2011-05-04 11:41:42 -0500

kMDItemContentType = "com.apple.quicktime-movie"

kMDItemContentTypeTree = (

"com.apple.quicktime-movie",

"public.movie",

"public.audiovisual-content",

"public.data",

"public.item",

"public.content"

)

kMDItemDisplayName = "20110504-163700G01.mov"

kMDItemDurationSeconds = 22.02202202202202

kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2011-05-04 11:41:42 -0500

kMDItemFSCreationDate = 2011-05-04 11:41:42 -0500

kMDItemFSCreatorCode = ""

kMDItemFSFinderFlags = 0

kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon = 0

kMDItemFSInvisible = 0

kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = 0

kMDItemFSIsStationery = 0

kMDItemFSLabel = 0

kMDItemFSName = "20110504-163700G01.mov"

kMDItemFSNodeCount = 0

kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID = 20

kMDItemFSOwnerUserID = 501

kMDItemFSSize = 80044032

kMDItemFSTypeCode = ""

kMDItemKind = "QuickTime movie"

kMDItemLastUsedDate = 2011-10-16 13:52:22 -0500

kMDItemMediaTypes = (

Video,

Sound,

Timecode

)

kMDItemPixelHeight = 1080

kMDItemPixelWidth = 1920

kMDItemProfileName = "HD (1-1-1)"

kMDItemStreamable = 0

kMDItemTotalBitRate = 1536

kMDItemUsedDates = (

"2011-10-16 00:00:00 -0500"

)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey, look at that, kMDItemFSCreatorCode, and kMDItemFSTypeCode are blank.

I then ran:

SetFile -c KeyG -t MooV /Path/20110504-163700G01.mov

and then ran mdls again and got:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

kMDItemAudioBitRate = 1536

kMDItemAudioChannelCount = 2

kMDItemCodecs = (

"MPEG-2 Video",

"Linear PCM",

Timecode

)

kMDItemContentCreationDate = 2011-05-04 11:41:42 -0500

kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2011-05-04 11:41:42 -0500

kMDItemContentType = "com.apple.quicktime-movie"

kMDItemContentTypeTree = (

"com.apple.quicktime-movie",

"public.movie",

"public.audiovisual-content",

"public.data",

"public.item",

"public.content"

)

kMDItemDisplayName = "20110504-163700G01.mov"

kMDItemDurationSeconds = 22.02202202202202

kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2011-05-04 11:41:42 -0500

kMDItemFSCreationDate = 2011-05-04 11:41:42 -0500

kMDItemFSCreatorCode = "KeyG"

kMDItemFSFinderFlags = 0

kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon = 0

kMDItemFSInvisible = 0

kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = 0

kMDItemFSIsStationery = 0

kMDItemFSLabel = 0

kMDItemFSName = "20110504-163700G01.mov"

kMDItemFSNodeCount = 0

kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID = 20

kMDItemFSOwnerUserID = 501

kMDItemFSSize = 80044032

kMDItemFSTypeCode = "MooV"

kMDItemKind = "QuickTime movie"

kMDItemLastUsedDate = 2011-10-16 13:52:22 -0500

kMDItemMediaTypes = (

Video,

Sound,

Timecode

)

kMDItemPixelHeight = 1080

kMDItemPixelWidth = 1920

kMDItemProfileName = "HD (1-1-1)"

kMDItemStreamable = 0

kMDItemTotalBitRate = 1536

kMDItemUsedDates = (

"2011-10-16 00:00:00 -0500"

)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm curious to know if this will work, but my drives with either FCPX or Lion on it are at work, so I'll wait until tomorrow to test things out. This could be promising.

I also checked mdls on a file from my DTE that I opened and resaved using my version of Snow Leopard (without the security update) and Quicktime 7:

mdls /Path/20110504-163700G01-resaved.mov

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

kMDItemAudioBitRate = 1536

kMDItemAudioChannelCount = 2

kMDItemCodecs = (

"MPEG-2 Video",

"Linear PCM",

Timecode

)

kMDItemContentCreationDate = 2011-10-16 14:12:06 -0500

kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2011-10-16 14:12:11 -0500

kMDItemContentType = "com.apple.quicktime-movie"

kMDItemContentTypeTree = (

"com.apple.quicktime-movie",

"public.movie",

"public.audiovisual-content",

"public.data",

"public.item",

"public.content"

)

kMDItemDisplayName = "20110504-163700G01-resaved.mov"

kMDItemDurationSeconds = 22.02202202202202

kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2011-10-16 14:12:11 -0500

kMDItemFSCreationDate = 2011-10-16 14:12:06 -0500

kMDItemFSCreatorCode = "TVOD"

kMDItemFSFinderFlags = 0

kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon = 0

kMDItemFSInvisible = 0

kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = 0

kMDItemFSIsStationery = 0

kMDItemFSLabel = 0

kMDItemFSName = "20110504-163700G01-resaved.mov"

kMDItemFSNodeCount = 0

kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID = 20

kMDItemFSOwnerUserID = 501

kMDItemFSSize = 74622536

kMDItemFSTypeCode = "MooV"

kMDItemKind = "QuickTime movie"

kMDItemLastUsedDate = 2011-10-16 14:12:11 -0500

kMDItemMediaTypes = (

Video,

Sound,

Timecode

)

kMDItemPixelHeight = 1080

kMDItemPixelWidth = 1920

kMDItemProfileName = "HD (1-1-1)"

kMDItemStreamable = 0

kMDItemTotalBitRate = 26535

kMDItemUsedDates = (

"2011-10-16 00:00:00 -0500"

)

kMDItemVideoBitRate = 24999

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

There's only two things I notice in the different mdls lists, the first being that the CreaterCode on the resaved file is "TVOD" instead of "KeyG", and there is an added line at the end, kMDItemVideoBitRate = 24999. The first is simple enough to change, just say -c TVOD intead of KeyG. The second part, I'm not sure how to insert that, however, I'm also not sure if it's needed.

The SetFile process above doesn't work in any way shape or form. I tried it with multiple scenarios, setups, et cetera, and the files from the DTE still throw the same errors.

I'm about ready to set up automator scripts to find all my DTE footage, open it, and re-save it, and then just trash this DTE workflow I've been using for the past 2 years, including the hardware. If I'd keep the DTE, I'd probably end up recording to M2T files, and then figuring out what to do with them from there.

Hi all,

whilst an amount of this is over my head (thanks for the interesting reading though), I thought I'd share my experiences with this issue. I've just gone to open some files from my FS5 for editing with FCP7 and both FCP and QT 10 say the files aren't recognised. I've tried this now on both FCP X and FCP7 on both a Mac Pro and MacBook Pro both running Snow Leopard. I take it then, that Apple have nobbled the codecs within a ProApp udate, rather than with the OS?

After having a massive panic, I've just plugged the FS5 back into the camera and happily replayed all the files without problem.

For info, the files also wouldn't open in Compressor or MPEG Streamclip. They will open in VLC, but I haven't managed to successfully get that into FCP from there. If VLC can play them, what gives?

Now I just need to find a method of getting the files to an edit-ready state. Any ideas??

Aaron

Panic is what we all went through with this sudden onset of the New Normal with FCP X. Here's what I'm doing to retain some workaround possibilities until the incompatibility of FS device files is resolved, and I'm not holding my breath that those incompatibilities will be resolved any time soon.

First, files from FS5 don't work with Lion.

Second, they will work with Snow Leopard AS LONG AS YOU DON'T INSTALL SECURITY UPDATE 2011-006. I installed that security update on two of my machines and suddenly none of the FS files would open. I painstakingly restored my Systems to PRE-Security Update 2011-006 and all the FS file would open again. This happened on two machines, an iMac and a MacBook Pro.

Third, even though a pre-Security Update 2011-006 Snow Leopard machine will open FS files with QT Player, FCP X will NOT recognize those files. This is the way FCP X launched and it hasn't been addressed, to my knowledge, by either Apple or Focus Enhancements, the FireStore company.

Fourth, the WORKAROUND is to open the files with QT Player, and "Save As..." Movie. The file that is created by saving as a movie IS IMPORTABLE to FCP X.

So, you end up wasting a lot of time opening and saving footage and creating double the number of files, but at least it works without any noticeable diminution of quality in the footage.

When I took my machines back to their pre-Security Update 2011-006 status I used Time Machine Backup on one, and re-installed Snow Leopard from a disc on the other. Both methods cost me several hours of down time.

Welcome to the New Normal.

-BH

Thanks Brad,

what a massive pain, eh? What irritates me the most is when you blindly install security patches and updates in the name of 'stability' to be caught a cropper in a big way further down the line.

As I mentioned, not even Quicktime will open the files, so it looks like I'll be spending my morning tomorrow reinstalling the OS so that I can do exactly what I was doing previously. Yay, now that's progress!!

A

ps. Anyone who has had enough of the FS5's curiousities could do worse than looking at the Atomos Ninja - if you have an HDMI out (or convert an SDI signal), I can't recommend them high enough. Let's see how long it takes Apple to nobble their own ProRes files... 😉