TOPIC:

Having a tough time again with this problem. 

I'm trying to collaborate with my editor on the other side of the world. Error window: "The media could not be imported. (The original media on asset with id r605: ...."

I've been down this road a few times and abandoned the XML exchange for consolidating libraries / events and shipping drives. Any ideas? this is huge right now. Thanks-

At first glance it appears that the filename for the reference media is corrupted:

34.C-CAM_MEM_April%2018

The "%20" is often interpreted as a space character. Do you know what the original filename for this media is? There is no filename extension, such as .mov or .mp4, it seems. Your filenaming convention may not be ideal...

I've also heard of people exporting XML files from FCP and having trouble importing them on another system. In some cases, it is due to having different date-time (or language) System level settings.

In general, there should be no issue sending XMLs back and forth.

It might be helpful if you could post the .fcpxml file you're trying to import. The screenshot you posted cuts off some of the neighboring lines in the file. It may be helpful if we could import the XML file or look at it in a text editor (no media is needed and there shouldn't be any privacy issue with making just the XML file available)...

Hi DaveM - thanks for having a look. See attached.

Footage does not have % in the file names for that series of files.
For instance that id# goes to { id="r605" name="34.C-CAM_MEM_April 18" } but at the end of the next string it shows { <media-rep kind="original-media" sig="3F3B6BE1F7DDCD6603325CD6EFB508EE" src="file:///Volumes/10tb%20working%20HD/6TB%20COPY/Camera%20Files%202015/April%2018th/C-CAM_MEM_April%2018/34.C-CAM_MEM_April%2018"> }

That series "C-CAM" has 58 clips in the project TL.

Thanks
Kevyn

If you're both using FCP I would recommend using transfer libraries instead of XML. If you're moving a project, copy it in a new event, put the event in a new library, zip the library, and sent it.

Going to try that now and will report back. we're 11 hours on opposite clocks for the time being.

Thanks so much! k-

DC-CD wrote:

....src="file:///Volumes/10tb%20working%20HD/6TB%20COPY/Camera%20Files%202015/April%2018th/C-CAM_MEM_April%2018/34.C-CAM_MEM_April%2018"> }...

If I am reading the XML correctly, that appears to be an AVCHD 1080i60 clip. Those are normally imported via "copy to library", although you can remove the MTS file from the bundle and import using "leave files in place" -- but that is not recommended.

Can you confirm that both you and your collaborator have the same clip and they were both imported the same way? If you both do "Reveal in Finder" for that clip, are they both in the same place and do they have the same metadata? It would be interesting to see the full metadata from MediaInfo or Invisor about that clip from both you and your collaborator: apps.apple.com/us/app/invisor-media-file...or/id442947586?mt=12

That said, I have seen this error when there is internal damage within the SQL database for the project. Upon export, it can apparently cause malformed XML which causes a similar error upon import. As a precaution, I'd suggest making sure you and your collaborator have file-level backups of the library.

If it is a "lean" library (all media and cache are stored externally) it is easy to make periodic duplicates of the current library with Finder. It does not take much room. In theory the FCP auto backups are similar, but periodically making another copy yourself has little cost and provides another save point.

There is an undocumented project repair function which is OPT+Clip>Repair and Verify Project. I would not do that without a secure backup of the library.

If you try that, I suggest you export a project XML immediately before, then export another project XML immediately afterward. You can "diff" those two project XMLs using Beyond Compare which will show the changes made by the repair function: www.scootersoftware.com/

Kevyn, I was able to get the XML to import on my system, after doing a bit of magic to the file:


During import, FCP stopped at the first problem. There seems to be several more issues (without going into the details).

Do you and your collaborator have this file on your systems (exact name the same, including any filenmame extensions — make sure both of your systems are set for the Finder to always display filename extensions in Finder's preferences/settings):

10tb working HD/6TB COPY/Camera Files 2015/April 18th/C-CAM_MEM_April 18/34.C-CAM_MEM_April 18

Thanks.

Hi DaveM

Yes, that file is on both drive environments. I am familiar with that file / footage.

I've changed preferences settings on Finder to enable extensions.
Kevyn-

So, is there a filename extension on either of your respective drives?

I'll have to await the changeover on the day. He's my lead editor but located in SEA, or 1/2 day ahead on the clock.

Thanks DaveM. I'll get him in action in about 8 hours.
k-

It's probably not relevant, but I'd make sure that you both are only using APFS formatted drives for SSDs and HFS+ (Journaled) for HDDs...

Interesting. We're far down dual setups now. He's in SEA and the proj TLs are well developed. thanks so much for your input. k-

Good Morning DaveM

New XML resulted in same error.

[You cross-posted to Apple Discussions. That often leads to a fragmented discourse and makes it more difficult to solve many issues. Many regular posters follow both forums. For more involved questions, especially ones requiring the sharing of media, XMLs, etc., fcp.co is more conducive to a productive outcome, as it doesn't have the rather ambiguous/arbitrary rules about posting links and other info that Apple Discussions does.]

There are several things you could try if you really want to exchange XMLs with your editor(s). Some things alluded to on Apple Discussions may work or could cause some unfortunate side-effects, so tread carefully.

That said, the least invasive or potentially damaging solution, right now, might be to do what Tom has suggested, i.e., creating "transfer Libraries" that contain specific Projects/timelines that you'd like to share. You could copy a Project into a new Library, close the Library, and then rename it (a date-time stamp in the filename is helpful) and put it in a shared location (e.g. a Dropbox folder). You could have two sub-folders, one "From Kevyn" and one "To Kevyn" with the latter sub-folder used by the editor to put updated Projects and the former for you to do the same. There are many ways to set this kind of thing up...

Warning/Tip: Don't copy or move Library files in the Finder when they are open in FCP. Bad things might ensue...

Cheers.

DaveM wrote:

So, is there a filename extension on either of your respective drives?

Dave I just reproduced the problem. It is as mentioned by Luis on the other forum. There is a mismatch between the filename extension for a media file within the XML vs what is allowed for that media type.

You can reproduce it with one .mp4 file in a project. Export the project XML, edit the XML and remove the .mp4 extension, try to load the XML and you'll get the same error.

FCP knows that file type without the extension is illegal, thus the error. The %20 characters are OK - they are part of URL encoding. URL encoding is a method to encode certain characters within a URL which might not be allowed or might have a special meaning in the context of URLs. However as a general practice I personally prefer no spaces, periods, or other special characters in filenames, but that is not the problem here.

I will try to write a simple terminal shell script to scan fcpxml files and find the bad references.

joema wrote:

DaveM wrote:

So, is there a filename extension on either of your respective drives?

Dave I just reproduced the problem. It is as mentioned by Luis on the other forum. There is a mismatch between the filename extension for a media file within the XML vs what is allowed for that media type.

Joe, I knew all that, though I had misspoke a bit about the "%20" space character representataion (knowing well that sources in the XML follow URL conventions).

Without access to the media/drives, I was trying to dig a bit further to determine how a shared set of media, where both people were working on the same Project, ended up in this situation. In other words, why would this happen in the first place or why would exporting an XML create this situation (provided the referenced file(s) was already in use in FCP)?

Bestides the test you mention, I also tried importing a file with the same naming convention as the first problematic one in the Kevyn's (the OP) XML file. FCP would essentially throw the same error if you try to import a file named "34.C-CAM_MEM_April%2018" (with no filename extension).

But, yes, editing the XML file and adding ".mov" to each of the 11, in total, problematic file references/URLs allows the XML to be imported (as you can see by my screenshot of the Project/timeline earlier in this thread).

I haven't heard back from Kevyn about the question you quoted, so in my previous post I suggested the workaround Tom had mentioned (using a tranfer Library)...

OK here is the shell script. It is primitive, but it worked for the cases I tried. This rapidly finds all the bad media references in a .fcpxml file which are caused by not having the proper file extension.

See the comments in the .sh file for how to run it.
 www.dropbox.com/s/59tdchw3bxhu5sa/find_b...ia_filenames.sh?dl=0

Joe, thanks for the shell script.


Cheers.

Yes, I cross posted without much thought beforehand. My apologies. I've been getting after the error for over one year and have reached a point in the work were I'd have to make some large changes/decisions on the work.

I'll add that last fall I spent over 20 hours during 3-4 calls with apple support trying to figure this out. The net result was keep removing the problem clips until I get a successful import. This created a nightmare on the edit.

I'm going to run the suggestions and report back. Thanks for the input.

DC-CD wrote:

Yes, I cross posted without much thought beforehand. My apologies. I've been getting after the error for over one year and have reached a point in the work were I'd have to make some large changes/decisions on the work.

I'll add that last fall I spent over 20 hours during 3-4 calls with apple support trying to figure this out. The net result was keep removing the problem clips until I get a successful import. This created a nightmare on the edit.

I'm going to run the suggestions and report back. Thanks for the input.

Kevyn, you get what you pay for... Apple support is not very good for issues like this. You'd get far superior help, though perhaps limited, from people on this forum, for example.

I'd suggest you find someone who is good at troubleshooting these kinds of issues or someone good at helping with post workflows. It is definitely worth the cost when considering how much time you'd save and frustration/grief you'd avoid.

I liken it to dealing with the technical or craft aspect of post, so that you can then focus more on the art...