TC drift while exporting to tape using HD

[Mr B]

Boy do I need some help. I am exporting a show to HD720p59.94 and when I look at the tape, it is slightly off on TC. It gets progressively worse from beginning to end. Near beginning, the tape is 2 frames ahead of the sequence, by the end (1 hour show) it is 1 sec and 5 frames. I am using a Panasonic HD 1400 deck. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

 

[LethalWolfe]

What type of Mac are you using (FCP and OS version as well), and are you recording to tape via FW or using a card like a Black Majic or Kona? Are you using the print to tape function or just crash recording from the timeline?


Lethal

 

[Mr B]

What type of Mac are you using (FCP and OS version as well), and are you recording to tape via FW or using a card like a Black Majic or Kona? Are you using the print to tape function or just crash recording from the timeline?


Lethal

Lethal,
I am away from that computer atm, but i believe it is FCP 5.1.2, didn't want to mess with upgrading until done with project. The OS is either 10.4.8 or 9. I am going to tape using the edit to tape function going through a Kona card to a panasonic HD1400 deck. The TC is very important, I am trying to get to tape to give color correction for a National geographic show, with a strict clock and the show is currently to time. The Sequence is 720p 30 (29.97) DF and the tape needs to be 720p 59.94 DF. The deck and playback (in FCP) are set to 720p 59.94. It was my understanding that the deck/kona could make this transition seamlessly.

I had an early problem, the show would drop a frame, I'd get the error message, and I would go back to a place earlier and edit to tape again. I was very careful with this, so f the deck is true to TC, shouldn't matter. Then I watched the tape. The color bars hits exactly right. The slate is a frame early, this continues until the end of the show which by then is 1 sec. and 5 frames off (1 hour show).

I ran it to tape again and problem was still there.

Any ideas if this a a deck problem, a throughput problem, or a settings problem? Thanks for the help!

 

[LethalWolfe]

I'm not familiar w/the Kona cards, but I'd suggest hitting up the FCP forum at creativecow.net. There are guys there that use similar setups to yours day in and day out and I'm sure they can get you goin' in no time.


Lethal

 

[PostShawn]

That sounds about the amount of time missing for a non-drop vs drop frame issue. Double check everything is actually set to DF.

You can also check the forums at apple.com. Do a search there and at creativecow. Best of luck.

 

[Mr B]

Thanks for the replies guys, I have talked to several editors today, we think it may be a throughput problem (using a g-raid drive with FW800) and that is causing to it to drop frames. I considered the DF issue, I don't think that is it because for a 51 min. show that would make closer to a 3 second difference I believe, but will definitely keep it in mind. I have a lot of video layers because I have some shots where I have blurred up to 8 faces, so this may contribute to the throughput / dropping frames problem. I am going back tonite, I am going to export as a self-contained quicktime, bring that back into final cut and try and use that to go to tape. I'll let you know how it goes.