Re: Sped up project but is only 100% speed?!?!

Hi Everyone,

First time poster on Ken Stone's Final Cut Pro forums. Any advice on the following would be truly appreciated.

Today I completed an edit and exported to DVD Studio to burn. However, on viewing the DVD disc I noticed the film has entirely speeded up. I returned to FCP to discover that my speed settings are still 100%. However, the film was now speeded up in FCP also!

My compressor is DV - PAL (same as my footage). When I tried to click on a clip in my timeline to lessen the speed from 100% I received the error message: "unable to complete command a conflict occurred during a trim operation"

I have since properly trashed my FCP preferences but no joy unfortunately. I've tried importing fresh unrelated clips into new projects but am receiving the same 'speeded-up'ness on all of them despite speed only showing as 100%.

Here are my specs below.

iMac 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo 20"

Memory 4GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Western Digital MyBook External Harddrive 750GB Available 423.46 GB

Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Capacity 297.77 GB Available 136.32 GB

Sequence Preset DV Pal 48 KHz
Capture Preset DV PAL 48 KHz
Device Control Preset FireWire PAL

Panasonic GS230

Quicktime Version 7.5.5

Mac OS X Version 10.5.5

Final Cut Pro 6.0.4

The frame rate of my footage (25FPS seems to match the frame rate of my project - also 25 FPS)

I'll be happy to provide any further info if needs be.

Thanks for your help.

*****

Here is where I currently stand:

The playback in FCP is sped up? Fishy. Try playing the exported movie file in QuickTime Player and see if it's sped up. It helps rule out FCP bugaboos. If it's sped up in QuickTime Player as well, then there's something wrong in FCP.

* Yep I'm afraid that the exported movie is sped up in Quicktime player also.


Are you sure you didn't nest your timeline into a 29.97fps timeline? 25fps media played at 29.97fps would look sped up. Check all your Sequence Settings and list the information here.

* All seems to be showing as 25 fps okay:

Sequence Presets

Editing Timebase: 25 fps
field Dominance: Lower (Even)
Pixel aspet Ration:PAL - CCIR 601
Video Processing:YUV allowed (8-bit)
White Points: White

Compressor: DV - PAL
Millions of Colours (24 bit)
No Data Rate Limit
No Keyframes Set
Quality: 100
Audio Settings: 16-bit 48.000 fHZ Stereo

I find it unlikely that you could have applied the same speed change to every one of your clips in your timeline. And not notice it before the DVD burn, especially. So first thing I'd do is backup your project file and date- and time-stamp it. Then trash preferences and check the project again.

* Time stamped, trashed all preferences and checked it again, still fast unfortunately

A file or drive corruption can cause speed problems on playback. Are your media files in the Western Digital external? (Spread the word: Don't use MyBooks for editing -- they blow.) Move the full-quality movie file off your external drive and into the system drive, then play it back from there. Still sped up?

* Moved it onto my system drive and tried playing from there - still sped up unfortunately the same as before.

The next step would be to dump your render files and re-render. Use Tools - Render Manager to do that.

* Tried this also, dumped all the render files and re-rendered but no joy

Look at the clips in your timeline and see if they really are sped up. It's highly unlikely. But if their speed values are more than 100 per cent, then it'd be a lot easier locating a backup project file before this happened than to try to remove a speed change from hundreds of clips.

* All the clips still show as 100%

I've shifted some other video clips from my external 'MyBook' to my system drive and imported them into a fresh project. The message displays 'Would you like to change the sequence settings to match the clip settings' to which I always click okay. Shockingly, these clips, once imported into FCP, also now play at the same fast speed as the other project.

Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Here is some further info about my issue. Again, any suggestions welcome please:


Your settings look alright...

1. Did you happen to run any upgrades on FCP/QT/OS during the project?

* Yes I updated to Final Cut Pro 6.0.4 during the project. I also launched DVD Studio Pro and Motion for the first time since the update, just prior to burning the DVD with DVD Studio Pro. Can't recall if I updated the OS or QT during the project. Is there a way to check update history such as in Windows XP (I'm pretty new to Macs)? Perhaps the update during the project has caused the problems? It's unusual though that it has now affected any other videoclips I now import into FCP. Perhaps a complete uninstall/reinstall might do the trick?

2. Are the files captured to a different machine? If they are, check that they run off similar Quicktime versions (and preferably same OS and FCP versions)

The files are captured to the same machine, just the external MyBook hard drive. No other machines used.

3. Do you have more than 10-15% of free space on all hard disks?

Yes I have more than 15% free space on all hard disks.

4. Do the videos look sped up before rendering? Or does it only happen after the rendering. If it happens after the rendering, tag the scratch disk to your system disk and render.

Yes sped up before the rendering I'm afraid :o/

Any further ideas more than welcome. Thanks for all your help.

First two little remarks to remind people who read this:

1. Never do any video editing using a MyBook. These drives are quite good for strorage, but don't work well for editing.
2. Never, ever upgrade anything in the middle of a project.

I'm not saying any of these have caused your problem, but there is a big chance they did.

Now for the solution:

Close FCP. Open one of the files in your internal drive's Capture Scratch folder and simply play it in the QT player. Is the playback speed OK ?

- If it plays OK in QT player start FCP and create a new FCP DV-PAL project, import the clip in the new project and drop it in the DV-PAL sequence. If your settings are right you will not get a warning. Play your clip to see if it plays OK. If it doesn't the problem is with FCP, get back here for further advice.

- If it does not play OK in QT player, start FCP and create a new FCP DV-PAL project, capture a piece of DV-PAL tape and check if the captured clip plays OK in your FCP timeline. If it doesn't the problem is with QT, get back here for further advice.

Best wishes,

Ronny

Hi Ronny,

Thanks for the suggestions. Here is where I stand with my issue at the moment:


'The general rule of thumb is to avoid upgrading in the middle of a project. Only between projects.

Try repairing disk permissions in Disk Utility.

To rule out corruption in the WD drive, you mentioned that it affects clips that you import into FCP. Disconnect the WD drive, import a DVD via Mpeg Streamclip (save as a quicktime DV file) and import that into a fresh project in FCP. Does that speed up?

* Yep still speeds up showing as 100% speed I'm afraid - disconnected the 'MyBook', imported a fresh unrelated Quicktime DV clip into a brand new FCP project with DVPAL 25fps settings


Reconnect the WD drive, drop the footage into the drive and import that into FCP. Does the clip speed up now?

* Fresh Quicktime DV clip still speeds up despite played from the MyBook
After deleting my preferences, where it says "Choose Setup" I select Format: PAL, Rate: 25 FPS and Use: DV-PAL

Once the drive is ruled out, and repairing disk permissions, trashing preferences doesn't work, it may be an issue with a corrupted FCP component. Then it's time to go for that reinstall.

* Have tried trashing prefs, repaired disk permissions twice and can rule out the external MyBook as the cause

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

You said on another forum that you get an error message when you try to edit your material into a new DV PAL timeline, the request do update your sequence to match your clips. As I said this indicates that there is a mismatch between your media and your sequence settings. You should check the clips for their specifications both in item properties and in movie info of the QuickTime player to verify exactly what the media is. Also make sure you set new sequence settings that are exactly correct prior to editing your material into the timeline. There is obviously something going on with the timebase not being set correctly on the media or on the timeline.

* In Movie Info of Quicktime PLayer the Format of the fresh clip is DV, 720 x 576 (768 x 576), Millions DV, Stereo, 48.000 kHz, 720 x 576 (768 x 576), Millions DV, Stereo, 48.000 kHz

FPS 25
Playing FPS: 25
Data Rate 57.65 mbits/s

In Item Properties the format of the fresh clip is Vid Rate 25 fps DV - PAL PAL - CCIR 601 Speed: 100% Frame Blending Off

IN Audio/Video Settings I have the Sequence Preset previously setup (prior to importing the DV PAL clip) as DV PAL 48 kHz, Capture Preset DV PAL 48 kHz and Editing Timebase 25 fps (in Sequence Presets tab)

Once again, please confirm that the clips play correctly both in the QT player and that the clips opened from the browser into the viewer also play correctly.

* Clips appear to play okay (at normal speed) in the Viewer and play okay in the Quicktime player...the problem seems to occur once they are brought into the timeline. I have been sure to set up my sequence properties prior to importing new clips into a fresh project so that I no longer get the message about getting the sequence settings to match the clip settings.


Even new projects have a problem?

* Yes, play okay in viewer but speed up once in timeline / canvas

When you imported a clip into that new project to check, did you still use the clips from the sped-up project?

* No I used fresh new clips and not the sped-up project clips


Try this first. You already have the project file backed up, right? Take one of your clips and relog it. Don't use the pre-existing log; use Log and Capture to make a fresh clip entry under a different name, but with identical Reel Name and Media In/Out points. Recapture that clip from tape. Now check the new clip. Is it sped up? Edit it into a DV PAL sequence. What's the result?

* Recaptured identical clip afresh in a brand new project and it seems to play okay in viewer but speeds up in timeline unfortunately.


This step helps narrow the issue. If the new clip is fine, then there's either something wrong with the media files, or something wrong with the way the new FCP deals with those files. If the new clip is also broken, then you'll most likely have to reinstall FCP, because it's likely that all future clips will also be broken.

* I'm assuming I might need to reinstall FCP now yeah?'

Any further suggestions welcome.

Peter

Further info

Open the raw clips in QuickTime Player and press Apple-I and it will give you an INFO panel. The good money is predicting you don't have the simple video clips you think you do.

You know you have speeded up clips because (without going back and reading the whole post again)?

Hard numbers would be good. "I started with a 2 minute clip and it's now 1:37."

Also I don't remember you telling us exactly where the clips came from.

Koz


The clips came from a Panasonic GS230 camcorder firewired into the pc. The location of the clips is as follows:


* Source: /Volumes/My Book/Final Cut Storage/Capture Scratch/Capture Scratch/Capture Scratch/Final Cut Pro Documents/Capture Scratch/test/Untitled1.mov

* Format: DV, 720 x 576 (768 x 576), Millions
16-bit Integer (Little Endian), Mono, 48.001 kHz
16-bit Integer (Little Endian), Mono, 48.001 kHz

* FPS 24.99!!!?! - this is weird, should be 25.

* PLaying FPS 25 fps

* Data rate: 30.33 mbits/s


Any further suggestions appreciated. I must admit that the 24.99 FPS setting in Quicktime is strange, since the camcorder had its footage imported into FCP as DV PAL 25 fps. Also, I was able to spend an entire day editing the footage without any 'speeding-up' whatsoever. Everything had previously been at normal speed. The advance in speed was immediately noticeable.