import failed the following clip encountered an error during import and is still referencing media on the camera

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Level 1

10 points

import failed the following clip encountered an error during import and is still referencing media on the camera

This is one of the many error windows I'm getting. This MVI_9935 is from 5DMIII. But I'm also getting the same errors for other files with the exact same error message for Panasonic AF100. All shot at 23.976fps.

* 5D is h.264. They're all about the maximum lengths (of ~30 minutes).

* Panasonic footage is AVCHD wrapped MTS files. Two clips of this kind are about 75 minutes long each.

I have dealt with this problem by doing ALL of the steps I've read so far for each shoot and it takes too long... I'm doing

1) making FCPX archives

2) copying the all of the contents from each card (with the file structure intact) and pasting them onto an external hard drive (eSATA with 3TB space... with a plenty of empty space ~ 1TB)

3) copying and pasting just the video files onto an internal hard drive (separate from the system drive but same as where the project files are)

And I click through each error window (which takes about a full working day or more) and then when I _still_ see missing footage indicated by

that little "video camera" icon on the bottom left (as you can see above). What I do at this point is to:

1) re-import from one of the FCPX Archives, and if this does not work, I

2) re-import from one of the directly copied files.

Sometimes, I need to create a new event and re-import if the clip is still **referencing** the media on the camera.

I did not have this problem **before** FCPX's import window combined both spanned clips and individual files (circa version 10.0.5 or 10.0.6).

Now I have an Evernote notebook dedicated this problem and just from Google Searching, I have gathered 7 notes from different discussion forums dealindg with the same issue.

Some things that are common to us who are having problems:

1) we deal with big files (for long shoots)

2) we either use Canon 5DMIII or mix and match different types of codecs / wrappers.

3) we end up wasting so much time because Apple support is not paying attention.

4) or maybe we don't know how to get support from Apple. I know this isn't a forum where an Apple employee checks. Where can we directly contact Apple about this?

Final Cut Pro X, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 10.0.7

Posted on Apr 11, 2013 11:02 AM

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Answer 1

Wan Park Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 11, 2013 11:36 AM in response to Wan Park

Correction: Actually the 5D footage, for this example, is from a 5D Mark II, not 5D Mark III. However, I did have the same problem in another shoot with 5D Mark III.

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Answer 2

pixnvid

Level 1

75 points

Apr 11, 2013 2:36 PM in response to Wan Park

For the 5D clips, copy ONLY the .mov files into a folder on your external drive or wherever else you want to put them and import from there. You can safely ignore the .thm files and other stuff. Pretty easy and you also will have an archive of your clips. For the Panasonic files, copy ALL the contents of the card and use import from camera.

If you want to import from the card to an event - with the 5D at least - you can use a card reader. Don't use the camera itself. It does work but it is slow and cumbersome and card readers are cheap.

Create an event, hit import from camera and the card should show up.

Sorry, not familiar with the Panasonics but some of the other guys at work use P2 cards and I have imported from them a couple of times with no problem using both a P2 card reader and importing directly from the camera via firewire.

I use the previously mentioned method with all my Canon files - 5D2, 5D3, 60D and 7D - and have never had a single problem.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 3

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,825 points

Apr 11, 2013 2:48 PM in response to pixnvid

Do you get all the metadata from the camera when you do this?

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Answer 4

Wan Park Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 11, 2013 2:51 PM in response to pixnvid

@pixnvid. I always imported using the card readers. In fact, I use 4 card readers since I usually have 5 cards (1 CF and 4 SD) for each shoot.

@Tom Wolsky. I've done what pixnvid has referred to, and I have gotten all of the metadata.

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Answer 5

Apr 19, 2013 12:09 PM in response to Wan Park

I appear to be having this problem - AVCHD footage on a GH2 (hacked) on both my MBA and Mac mini - agggg! Time to go back to 10.0.7 ???? Am using an image file of the card to import, but on my MBA I was using an actual SD card with footage on it. Very annoying.

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Answer 6

Apr 19, 2013 12:15 PM in response to Thabo Da Husky

Ok, looks like I can by pass the problem by not transcoding when I do the import - I just have copy files to final cut events folder checked (actually grayed out by default and checked bacause I am using a IMG file for my footage) Click import and the file gets copies. Then I right click the footage in FCPx and choose Transcode Meai and in my case I do optimized and proxy. Not sure that this will fit in to your workflow but a workaround none the less.

Seems to works now.

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Answer 7

Jul 10, 2013 12:42 PM in response to Wan Park

I still haven't seen a good answer to this issue, which I too have been having since one of the updates (can't remember which one). It definitely is related to long clips, and although workarounds exist it's still an issue with a basic workflow function that should not exist. This should have been corrected immediately. There's few bigger apologists for FCPX than me, but this problem is driving me nuts.

My clips are all 10-12 mins and coming from my Canon 60D.

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Answer 8

Jul 31, 2014 10:17 PM in response to Wan Park

I've found a solution to this problem. I had the same problem, and error message, in iMovie v10

I've discovered that for me it was an issue when importing to a library that is stored on a drive connected via a wifi network

If I import to a library on a local drive no issues. I can then transfer the event or clips to the wifi connected drive

My setup:

iMovie v10.0.4, OS X 10.9.4, Airport Extreme

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