[kevs]

I just captured mini dv material from a camcorder to FCP Express. And I see 10 quicktime files in the Project I made, which is in Capture scratch folder.

But when I click directly onto these files , I get,
"Alert -- Quicktime cannot open the file untitled 1 av, it is not a file that Quicktime understands (-2048).

I do have current quicktime on computer version 7, and it works for other stuff downloaded from web.

Any help appreciated

10.4.2

[osxrules]

Sometimes that error comes from the file having a bad extension and no type/creator codes. Rather than just read the header like most other players, Quicktime just gives up. I've seen it happen with files named .mpg when they are actually .avi - PC users aren't very consistent when naming files.

Now that might not be what's happening here. If you encode a movie clip using certain codecs in Quicktime and try to open the file before it is finished, it says it can't. So maybe since they are in the scratch folder, they haven't been finalised yet.

Why are you using files from the scratch folder and not ones you saved with FCP? Did something go wrong with the capture?

[kevs]

thanks OSX
Well a lot of things were going wrong in the capture. Every few minutes said 'looking for timecode" it was a real mess. Don't know why (FCP express) -- especially since I recorded the full dv tape night before with black cap on to not have timecode problems.

What do you mean save with FCP? Not sure how to "access" them outside of going to the HD for them.

Not sure what finalized means. Some of them do open ok. 8 out of 11 open ok. others have this message.

[osxrules]

Originally Posted by kevs

What do you mean save with FCP? Not sure how to "access" them outside of going to the HD for them.

I'm guessing the scratch folder is like the Photoshop scratch disk? In Photoshop, it uses some space for temp files before it is finished. You save finished files from the program to somewhere else on the disk.

Originally Posted by kevs

Not sure what finalized means. Some of them do open ok. 8 out of 11 open ok. others have this message.

All file formats need a header at the start of the file. Some file formats need codes at the end of the file too. What you can check is if the file opens in VLC or Mplayer because their support for broken files is better than Quicktime. If they can't open the files, open your console (not terminal) and Mplayer especially should tell you if there's a problem with the file.

Since you mentioned timecode issues, that may well be the problem. I came across this site:

http://comped.brown.edu/handouts/index.php/Final_Cut

At the bottom, it says:

Problem: When I try to capture, it aborts due to “dropped frames.”
Solution: Select Final Cut Express > User Preferences and uncheck Abort Capture on Dropped Frames’ It is best for the project to keep this checked if you can, but if your media has time code breaks, it may be need to be unchecked for this particular project.

Maybe it aborted the capture of some parts due to timecode errors.

[kevs]

thanks osx, that helps. Scrath disk with FCP actually holds the media files.

[stu1234]

I recently downloaded a simpsons movie file in MPEG-4video
quick time picks up the file the works audio but all i can see is a white screen.
does anyone know what the problem is.
please help id like to download more showes but i dont want to waste the time if i cant play them

[stu1234]

Ive donwloaded two video files in mpg. format and they'll play using quicktime, but sometimes ill get a file thats also in mpg format but quicktime says it cant paly the file or that it is not a file that it recognizes.

also can anyone give me any tips on how to get select movies that quicktime will play?

Or is there another player i should be looking for?

[SSharon]

Originally Posted by stu1234

Ive donwloaded two video files in mpg. format and they'll play using quicktime, but sometimes ill get a file thats also in mpg format but quicktime says it cant paly the file or that it is not a file that it recognizes.

also can anyone give me any tips on how to get select movies that quicktime will play?

Or is there another player i should be looking for?

http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/5758

[osxrules]

Originally Posted by stu1234

Ive donwloaded two video files in mpg. format and they'll play using quicktime, but sometimes ill get a file thats also in mpg format but quicktime says it cant paly the file or that it is not a file that it recognizes.

also can anyone give me any tips on how to get select movies that quicktime will play?

Or is there another player i should be looking for?

Usually that's to do with files named wrongly but it's just Quicktime being stupid. It should decode a file from the header alone and not bother about the file extension.

Try renaming from .mpg to .avi if you get this problem first. Then, if it tells you you don't have the decoder, get the divx component from divx.com and the xvid delegate from here:

http://www.insaneness.com/xvid.html

You may also need the ms-mpeg4 components for some movies but I forget where I got those.

I normally use VLC or mplayer. Mplayer plays more formats than VLC but VLC supports quicktime movies so I use all of the 3 players together.