Long form FCP export to XDCAM failing

We are a small station with an even smaller budget, but it is nice to know that the Kona card could solve our problem. I will keep that in mind if we can't get this worked out.

Just to add a bit more clarification I have gone through the following steps.

I double checked my settings and all of my temp files have been directed to the external raid so I am not running out of hard drive space for the export. The export status window on the first export attempt generally fails at about the 30% completed mark. If I immediately try another attempt at exporting the sequence it fails at about 15%.

This got me to thinking and I did a test with the finished sequence where I cut the 26 minute length to 2 minutes. The export worked flawlessly. I then did an 'undo' on the sequence to restore the 26 minute length and then cut it down to 3 minutes and repeated the export process. When i worked up to 9 minutes the export finally failed.

All I got was the standard error that the export failed and I should check my settings. Since the shorter tests worked I can only assume that my settings are correct and the problem lies in some problem with the length (file size) of the sequence.

Once the test failed at the 9 minute mark, I cut the sequence down to 5 minutes and it failed. This keeps me going back to a buffer problem or memory leak problem. Somehow the system or the deck is being overwhelmed by the amount of data and it is not clearing its cache when an export fails. I am hoping that there is an 'idiot' setting that I am missing.

I am using a Matrox MXO for a HD monitor output but I can only use it for SD quality in a playback mode to a XDCAM deck. We don't have any other HD equipment in house so I can only archive 1080 60i to XDCAM and it must be by file transfer.

Thanks in advance,

Tim

Power Mac G5, 2.5 GHz, 8 GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Yep, have tried it with 4 channels of audio and even tried 2 channels.

I did go back and try another export just to make sure and I ran into another problem. I had the sequence set properly for 4 channel mono audio but on export I got the 'stereo' error box.

I created a new sequence and pasted my project and got the same error. Then just for grins I selected everything on the timeline and exported and the export started to work. Then as always the export failed at about 30% completed.

On the import side everything works great. I am not too impressed with the speed of the read and the import but it is livable.

What issues have you been experiencing?

By the way I will be on assignment next week so I won't be able to reply till the week after.

Tim

Power Mac G5, 2.5 GHz, 8 GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Man am I bad. For some reason the only thing that was sticking in my mind about the MXO was that it down converted HD to SD. Thank you Andy for catching my old-timers moment.

Throughout the entire edit I got the dropped frames warning. I still got it while playing back even after rendering everything in the timeline. This is where I think the video card upgrade will help. If the new card makes the dropped frames warning disappear I can then use the MXO to output directly to the XDCAM disk. It probably is a faster way to output anyway.

Thank you for the work around. I still would like to get the export problem worked out if possible. I don't know when I will get approval of the video card upgrade.

Power Mac G5, 2.5 GHz, 8 GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I did try an export to the desktop, but when I dragged it to the XDCAM disk it acted like it was working but after awhile it came back with a '35 error'.

I will try another export to the desktop and drop it again, in case I might have selected the wrong folder.

Thanks for the help.

Oh, see the reply below for the MXO answer.

This might show more of my ignorance, but the MXO only has RCA outputs. I am used to XLR connectors and I have always been told by engineers that they provide superior audio quality. If I use the MXO for output is there any noticeable audio degradation? See it even sounds silly when I read this back...


Power Mac G5, 2.5 GHz, 8 GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

You rock Andy...by the way I am trying the export to desktop right now. In about an hour I should be able to test the drag and drop again.

When I try the MXO method, I will need to change the XDCAM's audio settings to 'data', correct?

I think I will upgrade the MXO to the new 2.0 version before I try the playback technique.

I will keep you informed on my progress.

Power Mac G5, 2.5 GHz, 8 GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I am using a 30 deck. In the audio selection it gives me the option of selecting 'analogue' or 'data'. I am going to run downstairs and check to make sure.

I did try a 70 deck last week and if I remember right it also gave me the same options. Both decks are set to the 'enhanced' menu.

Power Mac G5, 2.5 GHz, 8 GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Okay, I looked at the 30 deck...duh...it is not a recorder. I forgot that they installed the 30 to save some money. My engineer thought that since I could do file transfers the 30 would work.

I looked at the 70 and found the setting you were talking about. I had made a MXO copy last week, but I could only make it by turning off the 'dropped frames' warning. I gotta push for the better video card.

Just a note. I successfully exported to the desktop. When I dropped the file into the Clip folder I got the following message.

"The finder cannot complete the operation because some data in 'Sequence 1.MXF' could not be read or written (error code -35)."

I got this error message last time I tried this. I got to thinking and changed the file's name from 'Sequence 1.MXF' to 'C0001.MXF'. The transfer is in progress! Only problem it says that it will take 3 hours to copy the 6.9GB file.

So if nothing explodes I will finally have my project on XDCAM. However, if all transfers take this long I am going to push that they get me a 70 deck and a new video card so I can do this in real time.

I will let you know if this finally works.

Power Mac G5, 2.5 GHz, 8 GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)