Sales and Support FAQ

Question

I moved my preview clips to a new system. I see the thumbnails but the preview doesn't work. What command do I use to reconnect the media?

You don't directly link to preview media. CatDV looks up preview dynamically using a dynamic association based on tape name and timecode.

Here is a checklist of some common causes of errors and diagnostic techniques:

Check that the "Preview directory" setting in CatDV's preferences (under Previews & Thumbnails) points to the root directory where your preview files are. (You can also have additional preview locations, specified under the Media Paths section. CatDV will search all those locations.)
Check that the clips you are interested have a Tape name set (eg. 'T123') and that corresponding preview files exists (eg. Preview-Root-Directory/T123/25,12,145,64.mov)
If you moved or renamed the preview directory you may need to quit and relaunch CatDV as it only checks for the existence of a preview file once per session.
If you use Live Capture Plus, make sure that both it and CatDV have the same preview root directory set in their respective preferences.
Check that the "Use previews if original movie not available" and "Automatically link media based on tape name" preference options are both set in CatDV.
Enable advanced menus in CatDV's preferences then go to Media > Manage Preview Movies to see which preview files CatDV knows about.
Remember to make sure the Tape name is set correctly before you build previews. The tape name must be unique otherwise previews for different tapes may become jumbled up!
If the tape name is not unique your previews and thumbnails might get mixed up. If a tape has timecode resets, use virtual tapes (-1, -2 and so on) to distinguish them.