FCP Book files - General Error (41)???

I just bought the FCP training series and transferred the files on the DVD onto my external (firewire) HD. I did as the book said and clicked File - Open - FCP book files - lessons - lesson 1 and I got the following error message:
General Error (41)!
What does this mean? And what do I do to open the files?
(I even tried opening it from the DVD right away and got the same error message).
HELP!

That's an upgrade you must pay for.
Go here: http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/specs/ to find out if your Powerbook can run it.
Another option might be to have someone with FCP 6 convert the project files to XML version 1 for you, although there may be features in the project that are not available in FCP 4.

Similar Messages

HELP! Can't Open a FCP project File, "General Error 41"

Trying to open a project for a Good guy
over a barrel, using FCStudio /FCP 5.1 FCP opens,
then says "General Error 41". All I need to
do is create an SD Version DVD, But first
I Gotta open it.
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Since this is your friend's FCP project file, check to see if he/she has version 5.1.1 or above.
I think the project file is from a newer format.
For some reason, the bump from FCP 5.1 to 5.1.x was big enough to require the project files to be a different format.
If that is the case, (and if you want to take the chance on the unknown,) you can upgrade to the version your friend has (or above.)
Make sure you really want to upgrade and are prepared for all the potential problems!
Dual G5 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

"No Movie in File" & GENERAL ERROR messages

I'm using FCP 6.0.3, QT 7.4.5, Mac OS X 10.4.11
I'm running the OS and FCP from my main internal HD,
The audio files from my second internal drive
The Video Files from an external LaCie FW-800 1.2TB drive
I've been editing this huge project for close to a year now. I was 24hr to completion when this fu&?*&?% problem came up. My job is split into projects each with it's own sequence. I've been working on these sequences regularly without problem. Today I open the 4th project and try to render everything that isn't rendered. When I do, I get this message: "No Movie in File". If I place my playhead over it, some parts show up in the canvas, others don't (I just see the last image that updated on the canvas). If I press play over the un-rendered clip I get "GENERAL ERROR" without any numbers next to the message. All my other projects work fine.
I tried the following:
Repaired my disk permissions
Trashing FCP's user data pref files.
Rebuilding the directory on my audio and video scratch disks
I trashed the render files for that sequence
I tried opening a 1 week old back up copy of the sequence (same)
I created a new project with a new sequence and copying my other sequence's content into it.
Nothing has worked so far. I'm looking at a couple of MONTHS of work if I have to re-create this...

I think this will work to find out if there are any offline clips in your sequence. Select the sequence in the browser, choose reconnect and make sure only "offline" clips are enabled.
A few other possibilities: Are you using any graphic files? If so, if they are cmyk, that's the problem. Are you using any reference (non selfcontained quicktimes?). If so, you may have deleted or moved some of the files that are being referenced.
Oh yeah, one thing to try. Select the sequence in the browser (or make the timeline active) and hit command-zero. Change the codec to animation. Everything will need to be rendered, but will the sequence play now? If so, try changing the codec back to it's original state and pray.
Message was edited by: Michael Grenadier
Message was edited by: Michael Grenadier

Cannot open existing Project File - General Error

I recently copied some FCP 4.5 projects from one drive to another (drag and drop) due to drive space issues. I did NOT use media manager to do this. I did not delete any files before I went back to try and open the project in the original location. Instead of the project loading, I got the "General Error" message. I could not open the newly copied version either. I deleted all rendered files I could find, no luck. My scratch discs are not located in one area (since some have been moved too), and I wonder if the links have gotten scattered. Does this have anything to do with this problem? If one moves an existing project's scratch disk files to another location, will it cause this problem? Any help will be appreciated. My deadline approaches quickly.

Moving project files shouldn't mess things up, unless you've updated FCP version.
I see you're on Tiger...have you been able to work FCP 4.5 projects on that OS/QT, in the past?
Moving the scratch files will drop the link, but you should be able to 'reconnect media' to get them back, provided you can get your project files to open.
Have you tried opening an autosave version of the project files in question?
K

FCP 'Not Found/General Error' probs...

I know I'm being really impatient with this (posted it on other discussions) but I have a deadline to meet next Monday, was really hoping someone could give me some advice as to what to do with the following problem, especially if it's something that takes time, means I can leave it overnight...
Okay, so...in the middle of editing this project, when I press space to play at a certain point it reads 'Not Found', then I press space again and it reads 'General Error'.
I've tried the advice on this page...http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/8/1066686
Still no luck?
Disk Warrior should arrive tomorrow! Don't know what to do now?
Have attached Activity Monitor screen grabs...
www.alex.mastersofcreation.com/alexw/ActivityMonitorPics.zip
can anyone see the problem here?

Clone your system and boot off the new drive, that would be where I would start from.
SuperDuper does that very well, and helps put your system in order, doesn't copy temp files, logs, and caches, all of which are junk and best created fresh.
I would never let system drive get above 60% used; or 20% free on the other drives either. Clean those up, get some more drives, maybe larger; consider striped arrays; move backup to external, too.
My guess is even with 20% free space, the free space is fragmented. Something that SuperDuper clone would consolidated.
Unless your boot drive is 10K 300GB Raptor (VelociRaptor), I'd look into WD Black 640GB and above... cheap but fast. Personally I go for lean mean and fast drives, especially for system, where only the OS and applications are stored and nothing much else (maybe a tiny minimal user account, sans media libraries which should all be on separate drive). A pair of 10K SSD or 10K V-Raptors as boot volume would be nice.
Your system could be choking on limited disk space. Plus, I'd keep your drives as current and new as possible (but not bleeding edge). Four WD Black Caviar 1TB drives might go a long way.... they are good fast 100MB/sec units.
I prefer the 10K VelociRaptor as they are rock solid, cold running, fast, and built more to SCSI type spec than SATA. (a new 600GB model of the 10K VR is due out in couple months for same price as 300GB).
And at least two if not three sets of backups, and one set always off line.
That should help build a more solid foundation.
you don't have a G5, could you include more of your hardware and system information (OS X as well, and maybe not be running 10.6.2).

FCP "general error" on hdv batch capture

help!
i am trying to batch capture around 3k clips that went down when we installed a bad raid controller card that scrambled our RAID, and also 28 hrs of HD footie. OUCH!
anyways i'm trying to batch capture as much as i can to retieve our logging notes and rebuild some of our assemblies, but FCP keeps kickin me hard. after a reasonable amount of success, FCP generates a GENERAL ERROR message, leaving me unable to capture anymore (every time i hit batch capture i get the general error)...
I hate HDV n all, but i think this one is coming from FCP as after i re-install (3 hrs later), i can start crankin out the tapes again....
any ideas how i can avoid this boys n girls? its really killing me and making our sundance deadline of sept 18 a bit of a dream.
peas
andrew stromotich
www.dropframestudios.com

reinstalling FCP rarely fixes anything. If you want to be sure you have a good installation, you need to do an erase and reinstall of the system drive. This gets you a clean version of OSX, FCP and QT. If that doesn't work, you likely have a hardware issue.
Good luck,
x

General Error while exporting QT

The last couple of projects I've done have been online conforms to HD 10bit uncompressed.
After finishing all of my tweeks, I wish to output a master Quicktime. As usual I place my in and out markers at the beginning and end of my timeline, and select Export to QuickTime Movie. I select current settings and make self contained. I target my XRAID with better than 1.5 TB available.
I've had both of these project fail well into the output process. All FCP says is "General Error". After a little research I discover that I'm not the only one with this problem. I tried trashing all of my FCP prefs and trashing my render files and re-building them.
If I Export to Compressor, the entire timeline will output without failing.
So, why is this happening? and... If I have a 1920x1080 23.98p 422 10bit uncompressed timeline and I export thru Compressor set to transcode to the very same settings. Is my video compromised in any way?
My latest piece is about 60 minutes, it appears to fail while halfway done. The previous one was 20 minutes and failed earlier.
Intel 8 core 3.0Ghz, 6 Gig of RAM, OSX 10.5.5, QT 7.5.5, FCP 6.0.5, Kona3 (v6 software)
STeve

I eventually found a couple of clips 3/4s into my timeline that were fixes from Color. They were rendered out in an AJA YUV codec instead of the normal Uncompressed 10bit 422 codec. Although they looked fine, they were the fly in the ointment. When I ran the two offending clips out thru Compressor and replaced them in the timeline, the entire project exported in one go.
I wish FCP would do a better job of informing what and where the problem is, instead of the "General Error" message.
STeve

Debugging general error on import into FinalCutPro

I'm a developer (new to Apple products) who is working on interoperation with FinalCutPro of quicktime-wrapped clips which are not wrapped by Apple muxers. When I attempt to import the clips to FCP, I frequently see "General Error" with a red preview screen. Occasionally, FCP crashes soon after the import. If the import fails, FCP is unable to import other clips that it's normally able to import (eg, quicktime clips that it has exported) until FCP is shut down and restarted.
I've narrowed the investigation to a single clip, which contains a single h264 video track (fourcc "avc1") with no audio or timecode tracks. The clip I'm using plays ok in mplayer, vlc, quicktime, and quicktime pro, but FCP issues a general error.
The question: are there validation tools on the Mac that will report problems with the wrapping, or logging from FCP that will give more detail on why FCP issues the general error? I'm pursuing the issue now by analyzing an FCP export atom by atom and variable by variable against the clip, and tweaking the clip when it doesn't match the FCP export, but since there are hundreds of details, it's a long hunt.
Thanks for any help ...

The best place to ask developer questions is here:
https://lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/pro-apps-dev
Two things to bear in mind:
1. It sounds like you're using FCP 7 or below. These versions do not work well with long-GOP media.
2. For some reason Apple appear to have written (or partially written) their own QuickTime parser in FCP, so in some cases it will not open files that play in QuickTime Player or other apps that use the QT API. For example, I vaguely recall an issue where FCP doesn't parse ImageDescription extensions correctly in certain instances and you have to add whitespace that's not in the spec to get it to work.

General Error opening project won't go away

This is really bad. I'm supposed to show the current cut of my 15 minute movie tomorrow, but FCE HD 3.5.1 shows a General Error when I try to open my project. Not just my current project, but for all project files in my Autosave Vault and most project files in the Trash, too.
Here's my setup:
MacBook Pro, OS X 10.4.9
FCE HD 3.5.1
Project File stored locally
Scratch disk on an external Firewire hard disk
Nothing about my setup has changed since I started this project
All of a sudden this afternoon I got the dreaded "General Error."
Open my project with the media disk unmounted and unplugged: General Error
Trash the preferences folder and com.apple... file: General Error
Reinstall FCE HD 3.5.1: General Error
What else is there to do? Suggestions for how I can recover my project file without recreating it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
john

Tom,
Your suggestions in email to me didn't solve my problem, exactly, but got me thinking along the lines that did solve my problem. Thank-you very much.
Bottom line: this is probably a bad practice (I'm an iMovie veteran, but a FCE newbie), but I had media spread in three different places. Video was on the external firewire scratch disck, some jpeg's were copied to the same folder (or subfolder) as the project file, and (the killer) some files were left on a server computer on the LAN.
At some point I had disconnected from the server and FCE freaks out over that. Rather than giving a "missing media" alert like it does for a detached media or scratch disk, it gives an unhelpful "General error."
Lesson learned: when opening a project file, be sure you are connected to any and all servers on your LAN from which you may have imported media, like pictures.
Thanks, Tom!
john

General error when opening FCP project file

Hi, I have searched on the forums and found similar questions, but no solution yet.
I created a project about a month ago (FCP 5.0.4) and now I need to make some additions but every time I open the file (or all of the 20 autosaved files) I get a general error message. I tried moving the media files to another folder, but I still get the general error message. I have the project file on my local drive and the scratch disk is a My Book drive (I forgot to reformat the drive so it is still Fat32). I have removed the preferences and ran disk first aid already.
All of my other projects I can open just fine.
Any suggestions? I need to add about 2 more minutes to the project which is already 18min. It took me a week to edit and I really don't want to re-edit everything.
I am using FCP 5.0.4 on a PB G4 1.5Ghz

I don't quite understand - did you move your project files to a FAT 32 formatted HD?
If so, they're probably cooked . . . (as in wrecked)
Check to see if they're .fcp and if not, try changing one to that, then try to open it.
Search this forum for something like FAT 32 or Mac OS Extended - you may glean more accurate info from that.
Andy
G5 Quad 8GB. 250, 500 GB HDs. G-Raid 1TB. FCP 5.1.1. Shake 4.1. Sony HVR Z1E Mac OS X (10.4.7)
"I've taught you all I know, and still you know nothing".

General Error Issue: FCP 7 on my Mac Book Pro 10.6.8 2.53 GHZ 4GB

I'm working on a lengthy project, multiple timelines. Out of nowhere I started getting a "General Error" message on playback in a specific area of the timeline. I trash preferences, trash render preferences (making the timeline now red), and now the "General Error" pops up everywhere on the timeline on playback and render.
After trying everything I could think of:
1. resetting scratch disks
2. trashing preferences
3. trashing render preferences
4. repairing hard drives
5. Converting to earlier saved versions of the project.
6. Re installing FCP
7. Finally, I tried creating a new project and dropping the original media in and recutting (matching timecode) and even this popped up the general error.
I'm cutting converted RED one footage and 16mm footage converted to quicktime files. I am only using about 1/2 of the harddrive space on my comp, and the scratch disks are currently set to a 2TB external G Drive with 500GB left.
This project has existed for over 9months that I've been tinkering with it and all of a sudden this issue appears. I find it strange.
I wasn't super organized in setting up the project (my first large film and first film ever on fcp), and the scratch disks have moved around a lot, etc. But, I've never moved the original clips, and it doesn't seem to be an issue of relinking the clips either. They don't seem to be offline at all.
The format of is super wide 2240 x 960 on the red footage and super square for the 16mm footage (I think 4x3)
Let me know if you have ANY thoughts/ideas/help or if you need additional info.

hi thanks a lot
I had 4 launching items in   startup - itunes, eyetv, a printer and something else. Emptied that.
Now have activity monitor open:
not sure what CPU cycles means but:
the biggest discrepance   between real mem and virtual mem are:
121     Quick Look Helper   xxxxxxx    0.0    6    5.4 MB [ real ]     Intel (64 bit)    542.5 MB    [viritual]
what is this?
181     Microsoft Word    xxxxxxxx    0.6    6    109.0 MB    Intel    87.1 MB
174     Firefox    xxxxxxxx    1.1    22    316.0 MB    Intel (64 bit)    233.3 MB
105     launchd    xxxxxxxxxx    0.0    2    980 KB    Intel (64 bit)    38.1 MB
what is this?
116     pboard   xxxxxxxx    0.0    1    844 KB    Intel (64 bit)    18.6 MB
what is this?
CPU usage: [now]
user: 5.27
system: 2.75
idle: 92.36
threads: 295
processes: 67
what are these ?!?!?
SYSTEM MEMORY:
free: 2.34gb
wired:678mb
acive: 841mb
inactive:179mb
use: 1.66gb
vm size: 133.15gb
page ins:422.9mb
pages outs: 0 bytes
swap used: 0 bytes
does any of this help figure it out ?
thanks again

Receiving General Error when opening Project file in FCP 5.04

Hi to everyone.
I would need a little help. We have 4 Macs running (two G5 and two Laptops). All running with FCP Pro 5.04.
When I create a project on my G5 and open it with my laptop everything runs fine. When I make some edits/renders and save the project and try to open it again, I receive a General Error message.
But on the other two machines the file opens. I have used FCP rescue, trashed also manually the prefs, deleted on the G5 the Render files, made a PRAM zap, used Disk Utility, cleared the Wavecache etc. but no result. The Mediafiles are stored on a LACIE 500 GB. I do work this way since years and never had this before.
Does anybody have an idea ?Thanks in advance.
Zzz
G5 2 Ghz Dual Core and G4 Laptop Mac OS X (10.4.8) 4.5 Gig Ram, LA CIE 500 G

Hi everyone,
at first thanks for the replies. I tried already the New User account. It's not working and also the Lacie is fine. The problem is more complicating, I guess.
Basically it's funny that the problem starts, when I have already worked in the project. When I set up the project (load picture and sound files all standard formats, Uncompressed picture and Aiff sound) and save the project, it opens simply, when I work in the project, edit, render etc (pluggins are on both machines identicall) and save (after deleting the render files), my machine is the only one who gives General Error.
Funny is that I used FCP since years in the same setup (Desktop-laptop) and never had this. I already trashed even the trash -:)
So I guess that this problem is a really special one, perfect for all Mac Sherlocks to solve -:)
So if anyone has an idea....
Cheers Zolee

Premiere Pro CC "general error" when importing FCP 7 xml file

I have edited a film using Final Cut Pro 7 on a Mac which is not mine (and now several 100 kms away). I would like to do some more editing on the project using Final Cut Pro CC (trial version, to test if it does everything I need it to do before buying). I exported my film as an xml file to import into Premiere, but Premiere now tells me it cannot import because of a "general error". (I also have Premiere CS4 on my computer which crashes when I try to import the xml file - but that has some problems with reading my image material anyway, which is why I wanted to try switching to Premiere CC). Any hints on how I could solve this problem (preferably without getting the Mac back which I can't right now) would be much appreciated. Many thanks!

No ideas? I found some entries on this issue for earlier versions of Premiere which in part included advice to update to a newer version - which in my case clearly does not apply. So any ideas for possible solutions would be great.

Cannot open projects in FCP - "General Error"

Well, just upgraded to OS 10.4.10, and FCP to 5.1 on my 867 quicksilver. several external lacie hard drives. 1.5 GB ram. after the archive and install of the OS, I could not open projects in FCP 4.5 due "General Error". I upgraded to FCP 5.1 and experience same issue.
at the time of OS upgrade, i also changed my second internal drive for a larger one, and put the original one, with its original name, in an external firewire housing. It appears on my desktop and is included in the FCP system preferences, so i assume that is not a problem.
any ideas?

I updates to 5.1.4, and issue turned into "project file unreadable or from more recent version of FCP" when file is actually from older version. THIS problem was solved by disconnecting all external drives, opening 4.5 project and updating to 5.1.4, reconnecting and setting external drives in FCP system pref, and then reconnecting media.
I have had this problem also happen with a project i already successfully opened in 5.1.4 ...turns out i had opened it with some network drives on my desktop and then removed them. I put one back, it opened successfully, I got rid of the network drive and resaved and now it opens fine. In other words the message "project unreadable or from a later version of Final Cut" really indicates there is some drive rooting problem, not a problem with project file or what generation it is.
hope that helps anyone out there. sure is a relief to be working again.

General error (34) ??? tried everything FCP

Hey all, I am confused here. Before you reply note that I am not hugely tech-savvy, you may have to break it down for me.
I am using FCP and trying to export a basic 6 minute video. The source vid plays fine in quicktime. I have searched all over for a fix for general error 34 and what I've found is...
this
http://www.geniusdv.com/weblog/archives/general_error_34_in_final_cut_pro.php
which says to check the drive to make sure its not corrupted - did that, disk is fine. not gonna buy disk warrior for this one occasion. changed my scratch disk to a new folder in the same FCP files main folder, hasn't worked.
tried rebooting the program, taking out the extra audio files, i made sure that there were no in and out points, tried putting in and out points at the beginning and the end, nothing is working. rebooted, started a new project, still wont export. i just recorded this vid in eyeTV, works in quicktime, wont export... help?

OK, a number of comments. Disk Warrior is invaluable and will save your butt when nothing else will. Buy it.
You're dealing with 2 different issues. Editing formats and delivery formats. h264 is not an editing format. Convert to prores or another fcp friendly formats (look at the easy setups to see other options) and edit in a matching sequence. WHEN YOUR DONE, export a selfcontained qt with current settings and then bring that file into compressor and choose a high quality h264 qt for your DELIVERY. Submit that to youtube. It'll work. If you need more specific settings for your submission to youtube, post back. I think there's even a "share" option to youtube from within fcp.

FCP Book files - General Error (41)???

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