Apple Final Cut Express 4 - Manual (Page 1109)

Appendix D Solving Common Problems 1109
XIII
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.
If you’re logging your source tapes manually in preparation for capture, it’s a good
idea to avoid logging clips along with the breaks that appear between shots, as
these are spots where timecode breaks frequently occur. If a timecode break appears
in the middle of a shot, it may be because the tape is worn, or because the media
simply failed on that frame.
 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.”
 If your device is connected via FireWire, try changing the protocol from Apple
FireWire to Apple FireWire Basic in your device control preset.
DV video clips look fuzzy on the computer’s monitor.
 Older Power Mac 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 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’ll 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 disk still contains all
of the information, at the highest quality.