Apple Final Cut Express HD: Getting Started - Manual (Page 148)

148 Appendix D Solutions to Common Problems and Customer Support
An error message appears during capture reporting a “Break in the Timecode.”
• When capturing clips for your program from source tapes that were shot in the field, or
from old source tapes that have been played to the point of wearing the media,
timecode breaks may appear, disrupting the computer’s ability to read a continuous
stream of timecode. A few timecode breaks are normal on any source tape, but these
timecode breaks should be avoided during capture whenever possible, as they can
cause audio/video sync problems and incorrect timecode in your captured clip. Incorrect
timecode can in turn cause incorrect recapture of the clips containing the breaks.
• To avoid capturing timecode breaks in any circumstances, make sure that the “Abort
capture on dropped frames” checkbox is selected in the General tab of the User
Preferences window. For more information, see Final Cut Express Help, Chapter 4,
“Specifying User Preferences, System Settings, and Easy Setups.”
• If you are experiencing excessive timecode breaks during capture, try cleaning the
heads on your camcorder or deck. Dirty heads can cause timecode breaks that don’t
actually exist on the tape.
An error message says “Servo Can’t Lock.”
• Try changing the protocol from Apple FireWire to Apple FireWire Basic in the Easy
Setup window. For more information, see Final Cut Express Help, Chapter 4,
“Specifying User Preferences, System Settings, and Easy Setups.”
DV video clips look fuzzy on the computer’s display.
• Older Power Macintosh G4 computers cannot process and properly play back DV in
real time when playback quality is set to High. As a result, these computers display DV
video at a lower resolution in order to maintain the full frame rate of playback for DV
clips. This lower resolution results in a softer image, but no information is lost. You can
see this when the picture is stopped. Final Cut Express HD can use a high-quality still
frame when it doesn’t have to maintain playback, so the picture snaps back into focus.
To view your DV media at full quality while playing at 25 or 29.97 frames per second
(fps), you need to connect the FireWire output of your computer to a camcorder or
deck. The camcorder or deck will decompress the DV stream using dedicated hardware,
resulting in smooth playback of your DV media on an attached NTSC or PAL monitor.
Note: You’ll see the same fuzzy effect with DV clips that are exported into other
applications as well. As long as the clip is compressed with DV, slower computers will
lower the resolution during playback, but the source media on the computer’s hard
disk still contains all of the information, at the highest quality.
Video does not play through to the computer display.
• Make sure cables from the video device are properly connected to your computer.
You experience poor playback and stuttering video when trying to edit.
• Make sure you are not editing with media that uses keyframe compression, such as
Sorenson or Cinepak.