Black Screen on .MOV final Cut

Question

Level 1

8 points

Black Screen on .MOV final Cut

Dear Folks at Apple Support

I really hope you can help me with this issue. I saw that there was a post a while back raising this issue but it never seemed to really get resolved. I have never come across this problem before. I have imported my video files from my cannon D5 into final cut pro HD 4.5 (I know I'm using and old one and I need to up grade) My files are sitting in an external drive they are all .MOV files. They play fine in quicktime and I can see the image in the file on the Hard Drive. When I import the files into final cut all I have is a blank screen. The information is clearly there as the 'time runs'. The Audio was recorded separately so that is no issue. However I have no image on the video files. I imported these files a few weeks ago and have since wiped the flash card as I had more filming to do. These are now my only copies of these files. It's also not possible to do a re-shoot. Any help would be much appreciated.

Many Thanks

Kay

Posted on Aug 8, 2015 5:13 AM

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Answer 1

Meg The Dog

Level 6

13,902 points

Aug 8, 2015 9:53 AM in response to Kay Fi'ain

What computer are you running this on?

What operating system are you using?

Has this worked before and it is a new problem, or is the first time you are using footage from the D5?

Are you converting the files prior to ingesting them into FCP?

MtD

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Answer 2

Aug 8, 2015 3:18 PM in response to Kay Fi'ain

>>My files are sitting in an external drive they are all .MOV files<<

That really doesn't tell us much. A .mov file could be made of any number of QuickTime codec; only a few of which actually work natively in FCP .... especially in FCP 4.5. You'll need to convert the files to a codec that works natively in FCP prior to importing them into your project.

Another thing to check is to see if the Viewer and Canvas window are set to RGB.

By the way, Apple Support doesn't really monitor this forum ... we're all just a bunch of random users.

-DH

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Answer 3

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Aug 8, 2015 7:18 PM in response to Kay Fi'ain

FCP doesn't work with the format the camera shoots. The later versions (FCP 6 and FCP 7) would play them, but editing is rife with issues. Sync issues while editing, or when exporting...slow performance...etc. H.264 that the camera shoots is not editable in FCP without converting.

Typically it's best to convert to ProRes for editing, but your version is so old, that the best option for you is to convert the footage to DVCPRO HD. See if the version of Compressor you have will do this, or get MPEG STREAMCLIP and have it do it.

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Answer 4

Kay Fi'ain Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 10, 2015 12:47 AM in response to David Harbsmeier

Thanks for your help. I finally fixed it by converting them using Mpeg stream clip and setting the compression at Apple FCP Uncomressed 8-bit 4:2:2.

I know I really need to upgrade my final cut urgently.

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Answer 5

Kay Fi'ain Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 10, 2015 12:52 AM in response to Meg The Dog

Mac OS X 10.6.8

I've not had this problem before and even though the camera is new I have shot on it before and up loaded the footage before. However I have fixed it for now, but clearly need to upgrade, both operating system and final cut. Thanks for your help guys.

Kay

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