some .mlv files won't export correctly

[slyman]

Hi there,

Over a couple of days I've exported dozens of .mlv files to .mov successfully on Mac OSX El Capitan 10.11.2. About a third of my files, however, don't open correctly after converting.

The good files have a small screenshot symbol next to them in Finder, and the bad ones all have a Quicktime symbol. When I click on them, Quicktime opens, but the window is very small - it says the file is converting for a moment before a message appears saying the files can't be opened. If I try to move these files a message appears saying the files can't be found.

I've also had the problem on about five files where there are brief purple/green distortions.

Can anyone offer advice? I really need to get these remaining files converted ASAP!

[Mark O'Neill]

I've just had this very problem (on OS X 10.11.3). One of my files exports as a fraction of the file size that it should end up with and like yourself only displays the QT symbol and not a preview. I've tried trashing the MRX file but that didn't work. This particular file I exported without audio so I'm going to try and export it WITH and see if that makes a difference. Will update if I find a solution...

EDIT: No, adding the audio made no difference. The exported MOV is a 10th of the file size. Going to try exporting as DNGs...

[Mark O'Neill]

UPDATE: Exporting as DNGs worked although the colour looks completely different in Mac preview to the exported MOV but when the DNG is opened in MLRawViewer then it's fine. Going to try and open these DNGs in DaVinci Resolve and see what the exported ProRes 4444 looks like. If it works (and the colours match) then at least this will be work-around for the time being for clips that don't export correctly from MLRawViewer....

[Mark O'Neill]

UPDATE: Before trying Resolve (as I don't have it installed) I thought I'd try exporting the DNG image sequence from MLRawViewer as a MOV and interestingly it fails in the same place, so... I'm going to look through the DNG files in case there's a corrupt frame or something(?)....

[Mark O'Neill]

SOLUTION:

Turns out that this is not an error within MLRawViewer but is in fact caused by corrupt "pink" frames during capture. Here's how you can get around it...

1. Open your MLV in MLRawViewer.
2. Choose DNG as the export format.
3. Navigate to the folder where your DNG files have been exported and look through the images for any "pink" frames.
4. Delete these frames.
5. Use the built-in Automator app on the Mac to rename the files SEQUENTIALLY.

http://www.wikihow.com/Batch-Rename-Files-in-Mac-OS-X-Using-Automator

6. Open the newly renamed DNG file sequence in MLRawViewer.
7. Choose MOV as your export choice and now everything should export nicely.

For this particular clip I remember that I had Global Draw enabled when I was recording, and during my tests I know that this can very occasionally result in some pink frames but I'd not had them for ages and forgot about the risk. In future, shoot with Global Draw turned off or be aware that you will need to use the process above otherwise! :-)

I would close this bug as it doesn't seem to be a fault with MLRawViewer. If anything perhaps a feature could be to "remove pink frames" during export? Just a thought.

Anyway. It's all working fine now after those pink frames were removed.

[slyman]

Hi Mark,

Thanks so much for this advice. I'm running into a problem here after I delete the pink frames and rename the files sequentially. This is probably an obvious solution I'm missing, but how do I reopen the folder of .dng files in MLRawViewer? I tried dragging all the images into MLRawViewer but nothing happens. Thanks in advance!

[Mark O'Neill]

Hi Scott, you just open the first frame by right-clicking and choosing MLRawViewer from the "open with" list. MLRawViewer will automatically detect the image sequence.