ADVC-110 FCP audio dropouts on playout

[vallicadc]

Distressing audio problem in FCP 6 using ADVC 110. Video/audio captures just fine, but on playout (Firewire 800/400), I get audio skips, particularly when the computer/converter have been running for a while (like at the end of an edit, coming up on a deadline!). It doesn’t matter whether I’m playing in browser, timeline or print to tape mode, and it appears to happen mostly, but not exclusively, in places where I have audio transitions (rendered or not). Video is normal. When I give up for the day and restart the next morning, it nearly always then plays without audio problems, the first time or two, then starts again. When I plug in headphones and listen to the audio through the computer's built-in monitoring, no skips, which leads me to believe the problem is happening after the computer, possibly in the ADVC 110.

Configuration:
MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5.6 with 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB memory, Final Cut 6. Source video is recorded on a Sony DNW-90 (SX) NTSC 16:9, then played out to capture from a Sony DNW-A220 (SX recorder), composite signal converted through a Canopus ADVC-110 converter with RS-422 device control. Scratch drive connected with USB, ADVC-110 connected with Firewire 400/800.

Help! Thanks.

[kbosward]

If you have a DV camcorder that can record from Firewire (most do), try playing your Firewire out to that. That might tell you if the problem lies with the ADVC110 or your Mac's playback.

The other thing I'm not sure about is are you playing back the video from the USB scratch disk, or from the hard drive on your Mac? I would try unplugging peripherals such as external disks to eliminate them as a contributing factor.

Also, are you using a FW800 to 400 adapter? I've read that there are problems with such adapters and the ADVC units, although if that is the case it is surprising then that you have no troubles with capture.

Finally, make sure you have all updates to FCP 6 installed. I notice for example that you do not have latest Mac OSX 10.5.x (10.5.8) so I wonder if maybe you don't have the latest FCP updates?

Ken.