Why the duplicated clip when importing from Panasonic AG-AC160AP?

I run my AC 90 in dual card or Backup mode and do not experience this issue.

The reset recommended by Pana may be a good place to start.

There is also some new firmaware available for some cameras.

I got an email about a week ago, one for my AC90 and there was another update regarding another camera but can't recall the details.

I know a few Pana users have experienced some quirky issues with card recording but it seems to one of camera rather than the whole batch.

Al

I have recently run into the same exact problem. I have been using this camera the same way for 2 years now and this just happened on my last shoot. It has happened in multiple cards so I am not sure what is going on. I was wondering if you had any luck figuring this out. Thanks

When you import from a camera card, or camera, or camera archive, anything the application perceives to be in a camera structure, the media is always copied from there to the designated location.

I have the panasonic Ac-130 and I have had the exact same problem. It has happened three times in the last two months but never in the six months prior.

The first two times I was able to open private up on the card and import files on to my mac and move them to fcpx and they showed up. This last time they did not show up when I opened the card but did show up in camera they were fairly large files about 2 hr. I was able to import the files on a windows machine it broke the two hour file into two one hour segments but it imported fine I did use clip wrap to import the last one i was having problems with and it took care of it But this is extremely frustrating to be having this problem Panasonic says it's not us and Apple says the same thing

You shouldn't be opening up the card or doing anything to it or inside it. The standard procedure is to make a duplicate of the complete card, the entire structure, which remains as the archive for your production. You can do this manually; you can do this by making a disk image, or you do this by making an FCP camera archive. This is your camera backup. You then import from the archive to your media drive to work on your production. You can either import into the library itself, or you can import into a separate location assigned in the application. You cannot leave the media in the archive, however you decided to create it up. That's the basic operational procedure for professional video production. Some companies use more complex archival procedures beginning on location and proceeding through production and post until everything for the production is stored and backed up digitally on disk or tape or both.

Tom,

Thanks for your reply but I am not seeing the answer to my question. Maybe you can clarify. I go to FCPX to import the SD card. There are 2 clips, numbered 1 and 2. Final Cut is showing that there is 2 clips but they are duplicated. Same start time same end time same length. This has never happened to me before. I do this professionally and over the last 2 years never had a problem. The camera shows that there are 2 different clips in the private folder I am able to see 2 different clips. FCPX sees 2 clips BUT they show up as being duplicate and final cut will not import the 2nd clip because it thinks it is already imported. I was using the panasonic 160 A. I recorded on 2 sd cards at the same time. Both cards have the same issue.

Thanks

Domenic

You see two separate clips that you can preview in the import window? And if you select them both and click import, you get only one clip?

Any chance you could copy the contents of one of the cards, zip it and send it to me using WeTransfer or Dropbox or something?

Thanks.

I've recently seen this same problem with long AC130 clips in FCPX. The AC130 is the pared down sibling of the AC160. Has the actual problem been identified yet?

Tom,

The footage was shot for a medical client. I have to see if it is ok to release the footage. If I cannot do that, maybe I can recreate it again with test footage.

-Dom

Mark,

I haven't been able to find a solution. I do not own Premiere to see if it does it on non-Mac based programs. I do know it does it in iMovie as well but I don't think that will surprise anyone.

-Dom

The preview shows 2 clips however they show up as identical clips with different names ex: Clip #1, Clip #2. When you select them to import, it will only import the first one because FCPX believes they are the same file.

-Dom

That's the same thing I encountered with FCPX and iMovie, Dom. Clipwrap seems to recover the files, though. I'm just wondering what's causing the issue. Interestingly enough this issue has yet to happen on spanned clips with any of my other Panasonic AVCHD cameras.

Same problem with Panasonic AGAC160AP and FCPX 10.1.4 on Yosemite 10.10.1.

Panasonic technical support left it as software issue so they are not looking into it.

Apple really tried to help find a solution. The best one we came up with was opening the avchd file from the SD chip directly in QuickTime and converting the particular clip. My only concern was it about halved the file size and there were no options for export in QuickTime other than selecting the 1080 vs 720 etc. But I don't think that I can tell a difference in quality from the other files imported directly into FCPX. Still not that happy with the work around but it will have to do. I suppose Clipwrap mentioned above may be a better solution. Since this is the first time I've come across this problem I'm not really willing to spend $50 on Clipwrap.

I tend to think this is an issue with something the Panasonic AGAC160AP is writing the metadata in the AVCHD file though. I'm guessing of course. But my reasoning stems from the fact that though Adobe CS6 Prelude does recognize the file but it lists it as clip 14 with no 13. Same with opening the AVCHD file directly in Quicktime.

So several different softwares treat this particular clip differently all having some sort of issue makes me think it's something Panasonic is doing with the metadata for the AVCHD file it creates. Total guess of course. I have no idea. A little frustrating Panasonic didn't seem interested in researching the issue though were as Apple made a big effort to try to find a solution.

One thing to note, I do have the Panasonic AGAC160AP set up for dual recording on the SD chips. However, this is the first time I have come across this issue.

It's definitely an issue with FCPX. I have been using the panasonic longer than I have been using X. I started out on 7 and then moved to X and have been working on X with the same panasonic camera without and issue. Than after an update with X I started to have an issue. I have never upgraded the firmware on the Panasonic. Therefore the only logical conclusion is that it is an issue with FCPX.

Personally I have not seen the issue on my equipment.

However since FCP X v10.1.3 I noticed a curiosity:

After re-visiting an AVCHD project (no Optimised files) I noticed some straight cuts with small glitches that (as far as I recall) were not there in previous versions of FCP X.

My theory is that in newer versions of FCP X some subtilty has changed creating issues to extrapolate I, B and P frames from the codec causing a "hiccup".

This could well transfer to the doubling up or confused clip issues reported.

Note: This is my theory, so don't quote me or get overly exited.

The idea is to start the right people looking for a solution.

Al