FCPX is sooo sloooowwww !!!!

Hello everyone,
I have a quad core 15" Mac Book Pro with 500gb HDD and *gb RAM.(Bought it last April)
I bought FCPX, Motion 5 and Compressor.
i quickly figured out that if you want to make videos that are full HD at 60 fps, to expect life to move very slowly.
So I reduced the resolution - but even at 1280 x 720 x 30fps my machine just chugs with the beach ball of death sitting there for minutes on end every time i click in my project to move a single clip. Surely this was meant to be a fast computer and the software said in all the previews that it was fast to work work - sorry guys, not happenin ghere.
Any tips for speedin up the performance of this beastie ??
(Moption 5 and Compressor seem ok - I repeat - my 2m:13s clip using Quick Time Animation in comresoor made an 8Gb file.... took a loooooooong time... ie: 12 hours to render and export....)
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Regards,
Craig

Thanks very much for this - I'm trying it (proxy media) out now. Seems like a very clever feature.
The aspect ratio thing is a hassle for me. If I may indulge in my story todate:
I recorded a nature show off free to air tv to my panasonic blu-ray pvr.
I burned the title to a dvd (I'm relatively unsure of the format, as it finalised a dvd as part of the process).(.vob files etc).
I have imported the dvd using a video converter program (aimersoft) with 1980x1080 resolution - .mov format.
The thing is - the imported file looks more like a square than a rectangel. Even when I change the spatial conform setting (there is only a choice of fit, fill or none) I can't see any immediate difference.
Is there anything obvious in my process that you might recommend me re-visiting ?
Thanks in advance.
Craig

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USB ports excruciatingly slow.

I have about a 2008 Mac Pro and the USB ports are giving transfer speeds that are SOOO SLOOOOWWWW.
Yes, all of them - front and back.
I'm talking about simple file transfers are taking for-ever.
Any ideas? Help!

Open the System Profiler in Apple menu -> About This Mac. Look under hardware -> USB. Should tell you what's slower than the standerd 480 Mbps that might be slowing you down. Every "bus" slows down to the slowest device on it.

Shall I buy a new mac to run FCPX faster?

Hi there,
Quandry - my mid 2011 iMac does run FCPX 10.1.2, but I usually spend a second or so waiting for most things to happen - clips moved in the timeline, scrolling, etc. 10.1.1 was practically unusable - I had to use Memory Clean every few minutes - but since updating to 10.1.2 it seems at least functional, if not fluid. I work off a firewire 800 attached drive.
Now, I'd rather not fork out for a new, 27 inch iMac, but am considering it if it makes my life faster and easier. Basically, I can get a 27 inch, Oct 12 iMac with  8GB memory,  1TB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX with 1GB for £1300. I'd buy another 8gb ram for it so I was operating on 16gb, but I'd love some informed opinion as to whether this is worth bothering with? I'm kind of assuming that my video card is what's holding me back on my current system, but I don't understand the interplay between this, processor and Ram sufficiently to be sure that I'm not just being a sucker for Apple's marketing. Please help!
If anyone can help with any advice, I'd be really grateful.
Thanks in advance!
Ben
21.5 inch, Mid 2011 iMac, 2.7GHz Intel Core i5, 24GB ram, AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512 MB, OSX 10.9.4

Meersbrookben wrote:
... 2011 iMac does run FCPX 10.1.2, but I usually spend a second or so waiting for most things to happen - clips moved in the timeline, scrolling, etc. 10.1.1 was practically unusable ...
hmmm...
I used FCPX <0.6. with a 2.26/8GB Mini ... 4 sources Multicam ... flawless (ok, using Proxies... and generating those proxies took a while). And in this eras, indeed terminal/'purge' was my friend either...
my actually set-up is a late 2012, i5/16GB Mini .. performed this stunt - 4 streams of UHD, 'live' effects - very usable, when I switch off the multi cam-preview...
sooo - will a 2k£ investment solve your problem?
or is it located somewhere in your workflow..-
'brute force' is just one way to improve 'speed'...
I'm assuming, you do NOT optimize/proxy your media? ...........

FCPX how many times can it install on the same computer?

From time to time I like to wipe the drives and start afresh or, whenever there is a new OS, I will perform a clean install. This entails wiping the drive and reloading all software. Most of the apps have 'de-authorize' function, this allows me to use the same licence number for the next re install.
Any idea how FCPX would install after say, four five drive refreshes? Can it understand that it is no longer resident on any machine?
Please note: I do understand how many machines I can install on at one time. This is not the same.

You can install FCPX as many time you wish

HT1414 i am in the process of getting my iphone4 unlocked from att to use it on straighttalk. why do i need to "back up" the iphone and all of this? i dont have an apple computer sooo, im a little confused on why i need to do this. can someone please help

Can someone please explain and help me? I am unlocking an iphone4 from at&t to use it on the straight talk network. They've confirmed my request to do this and I am now a little confused as to what to do next. They want me to back up the phone using itunes on either a MAC or PC. I do not have an aplle computer but I do have an acer. Sooo, can I use it to do this? Or do I even have to do this to unlock and switch the iphone4 over to a new network? If I do have to what can I do to do this because like I said I do not have a computer by apple? Can anybody walk me through what I need to do next please? I've been waiting to do this for a very long time and I now have the option to have an iphone and use it. Thanks to my awesome boyfriend who Gave me his old iphone when he swapped back to an android. Hahahaha! Please anybody!? Because I sooo don't know what I'm doing and really do not want to mess the phone Or the process up. Thanks to any and all who read this and help me! It is greatly appreciate it!

Install iTunes on your Acer and you can back up the iPhone. Or back it up to iCloud. If you do not back it up you can get it unlocked, but you will lose all of your content.
You can get iTunes from http://www.apple.com/itunes.
Even after unlocking I'm not sure it will work on Straight Talk, because last time I checked ST used Verizon as its carrier, and an AT&T iPhone 4 is not compatible with Verizon's network. You can probably use it on Net 10 or T-Mobile once it is unlocked.

How can I convert from color balance in FCE to color balance in FCPX?

Let me start off by saying that I've been having an issue with a project in Final Cut Express - a project I'd put a lot of time into and thought I was finished with. Before continuing on, I encourage you to take a look at my other thread: https://discussions.apple.com/message/18702933?ac_cid=op123456#18702933
Realizing that there may be no one who can walk me through fixing my project as is, I decided to download a trial version of Final Cut Pro X and see if I could replicate my project there and have more success (after all, it was only a matter of time before I switched anyway).
So, in my original project in FCE, I keyed a lot of frames with different color balances. I downloaded the Ripple Training color balance effect to do just that, but the sliders are set up differently. In FCE, they range from -1 to 1. In FCPX, they range from 0 to 1. I'm wondering how I can conveniently convert the values from FCE to FCPX. Being terrible at math has made this much harder.
Just by drawing a diagram, like the following, I can figure out the basics:
FCE
[-1]-----[-.5]-----[0]-----[.5]-----[1]
is equal to:
FCPX
[0]-----[.25]-----[.5]-----[.75]-----[1]
Since I have very specific numbers, not all of which can be easily converted using a basic diagram like the one above, I definitely need some help here. For example, one of the values in FCE is .77. What would that be equal to in FCPX? It's probably something simple, but like I said, I'm stupid when it comes to math.
Thanks to anyone who can provide me with some help here, although I still hope that I'll end up having no reason to redo everything in FCPX.

Well, the "math answer" is .885…but I'm afraid that's not likely to be of much help. FCPX and FCE have absolutely nothing in common, including filters land color correction. So even if you sent the time comverting all your numeric values, I'm guessing you'll wind up with a mess and be very frustrated with all the time wasted in the workaround.
If I read your original FCE thread correctly, I if it were my project., I'd do a test on a short clip in X to see whether yoi can the effects and quality you expect. If you can, great. Build you project from scratch and learn a new NLE at the same time.
Good luck.
Russ

After 1 year of use FCPX crawls and unusable?

I purchased the 1st version of FCPX one year ago and produced an awesome 5 minute music video with no problems whatsoever on a OSX 10.6.8 Mac Pro Quad Core with 6mb of Ram, 3 one TB hard drives (1 for the system, 1 for Video, 1 for Audio). it worked great and loved it. My second project was a 2 minute production and had no problems either. But after the 2nd project all of a sudden FCPX just became a slug, so I installed more Ram (16mb). But this did not make any difference. I deleted the prefs with no change, I have the current version 10.0.5 installed with no change, I installed Event Manager X with no change. I installed MacKeeper and cleaned out 2.1 GB of junk with no change, I Have plenty of room on all HardDrives. I have not installed Lion because everyone says it slows down FCPX This Mac Pro is only dedicated to Video production so It is not cluttered with other Apps. Every thing else works great except FCPX! Help

This is my pet checklist for questions regarding FCP X performance - you may have already addressed some of the items but it's worth checking.
Make sure you're using the latest version of the application - FCP X 10.0.5 runs very well on my 2009 MacPro 2 x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with 16 GB RAM and ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB. I run it with Lion 10.7.3.
First, check that you have at least 20% free space on your system drive
If you have not already done so, move your Projects and Events to a fast (Firewire 800 or faster) external HD. Make sure the drive's formatted OS Extended (journalling's not required for video). You should always keep at least 20% free space on the Hard Drives that your Media, Projects and Events are on.
Check the spec of your Mac against the system requirements:
http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/specs/
Check the spec of your graphics card. If it's listed here, it's not suitable:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4664
If you are getting crashes, there is some conflict on the OS. Create a new (admin) user account on your system and use FCP X from there - if it runs a lot better, there's a conflict and a clean install would be recommended.
Keep projects to 20 mins or less. If you have a long project, work on 20 min sections then paste these into a final project for export.
If you ever experience dropped frames, I strongly recommend you use ProRes 422 Proxy - it edits and plays back like silk because the files are small but lightly compressed (not much packing and unpacking to do) - but remember to select 'Original or Optimised Media' (FCP X Preferences > Playback) just before you export your movie, otherwise it will be exported at low resolution.
If you have plenty of processor power, for the ultimate editing experience, create Optimised Media - most camera native files are highly compressed and need a great deal of processor power to play back - particularly if you add titles, filters or effects. ProRes 422 takes up much more hard drive space but is very lightly compressed. It edits and plays back superbly.
Hide Audio Waveforms at all times when you don't need them (both in Browser and Storyline / Timeline). They take up a lot of processor power. (Use the switch icon at the bottom-right of your timeline to select a format without waveforms if you don't need them at the moment, then switch back when you do).
Create folders in the Project and Events libraries and put any projects you are not working on currently, in those folders. This will help a lot. There's a great application for this, called Event Manager X - for the tiny cost it's an invaluable application.
http://assistedediting.intelligentassistance.com/EventManagerX/
Unless you cannot edit and playback without it, turn off Background Rendering in Preferences (under Playback) - this will help general performance and you can always render when you need to by selecting the clip (or clips) and pressing Ctrl+R.
The biggest single improvement I saw in performance was when I upgraded the RAM from 8 GB to 16.
Andy

Apple "answers" FCPX Questions

Came across this page here where Apple has directly responded to some of the most common questions/complaints about FCPX:
http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/faq/
Makes me laugh sometimes when I see such transparent deception (maybe that's too strong of a word, but the result is the same).
They are very quick to say "yes" on a few items (even when the answer is "no"), but of course they dance all the way around the courtyard when the answer clearly is "no." There are even some answers where they use 3rd party support as a way to say "yes" (which clearly is not the same thing when the question is "Does FCPX do this?"). So I thought it'd be fun to interpret the document so it reads a bit more clearly. Be sure to read the originals on the link above so you can see how obviously ridiculous some of the Apple responses are.
Import
Can I import projects from Final Cut Pro 7 into Final Cut Pro X?
No, but you can still use Final Cut Pro 7. Hopefully you'll still buy FCPX anyway because it's all-new.
Can I import my video directly into Final Cut Pro X as I could in Final Cut Pro 7?
No, there are still some formats that aren't supported in FCPX that were supported in FCP7, and some of the camera manufacturers need to get off their butts and work with us (even though we've not provided them with the proper support information) but keep waiting and we'll work on it. Please go ahead and buy FCPX.
Editing
Can I edit my tape-based workflow with Final Cut Pro X?
No, not really...well, some formats, but probably not the one you're using.
Does Final Cut Pro X support multicam editing?
No, but if you want to wait a little while, we'll get to it. In the meantime, might we suggest a ridiculously convoluted way of working with more than one camera at a time?
Does Final Cut Pro X support external monitors?
Yes! Oh, wait, you mean like a "production" monitor? Well, then no, not unless you buy some expensive hardware from a third party. Of course you'll have to wait for that, too, since it's not quite ready for prime time.
Can I save different versions of my project?
Yes, of course...we'd be morons if we left out something so simple as this. So go buy FCPX now, eh?
Are keyboard shortcuts in Final Cut Pro X different from those in Final Cut Pro 7?
Yes, but don't worry...we made sure it's MUCH better than what you were doing before. Learning new shortcuts for basic edits is at the heart of a productive workflow.
Can I use my third-party plug-ins in Final Cut Pro X?
No, not unless you meant "someday down the road."
Media Management
Can I specify a scratch disk location?
No....BUT, let's say, for the sake of argument, that you always wanted to have your scratch disk specified as the same location of your project file. In that case, yes! You can put it anywhere you like!
Can I share projects with other editors?
Yes! Wow, that felt good. The power of FCPX!
Can I store media in locations other than my system drive?
Yes! Man, 2 in a row!
Can I hide Events that I am not working on?
Sure, but why would you do that? Oh, really? I guess that makes sense. Alright, here's a complicated way to "hide" events.
Export
Can Final Cut Pro X export XML?
No, but we'll tell 3rd parties to figure it out. Then you can pay them if you need this.
Does Final Cut Pro X support OMF, AAF, and EDLs?
No, but with all that money you saved on FCPX, you can burn it on a 3rd party app.
Can I send my project to a sound editing application such as Pro Tools?
No, not unless you bought a 3rd party app to do this. Cha-ching!
Does Final Cut Pro X allow you to assign audio tracks for export?
Of course not. You're a video editor, not an audio editor. But I guess we can add this to the list of "things to do" this summer.
Can I customize my export settings?
If by "customize" you mean "use just a couple different presets" then YES! Otherwise, no...but if you pay us a little extra, there's an app for that.
Purchase
Can I purchase a volume license?
No. Why do we have to keep reminding you to wait for stuff like this? Quit being stubborn and just buy FCPX already so you can be ready for all the stuff that's coming later.
LOOK...you waited 2 and 1/2 years for the game-changing update of FCP, can you seriously not just wait a few more (undetermined amount of time) while we get the thing working? In the meantime, please buy FCPX.

The Apple Store...always a good place to experience communism without ever leaving the U.S.
You know, I've definitely had my handful of laughs over this. Part of it has to do with my own ego really...years ago, I predicted this in front of dozens of fellow editors (all FCP users...excepting perhaps one of them). It was when the iPod had become fairly popular and iTunes was ratcheting up, and simultaneously everyone seemed to be jumping on iPhoto and iMovie. I predicted that with the combination of the commoditization of video editing in general and Apple's upward trending hardware efforts, we'd have maybe 3 more years before FCP would either be dumbed-down or eliminated all together.
This came at a time when the iPhone was prepping for launch and it only semed to further argue the point that Apple was not going to be in the software development business any longer than they had to be.
Granted, I was wrong on a couple of things...it took about 5 years, not 3. Also, I was completely wrong about them managing to dumb down FCP or eliminate it altogether...they managed to actually do both with the release of FCPX.
But I do feel sorry for these guys...I know I'd be furious if Adobe started eliminating Premiere Pro as we know it, replacing it with a consumerized version of itself. What I cannot identify with, however, is the relentlessness with which some of these Apple fanboys have towed the Apple line so blindly. I understand there will always be a preference for one tool over another, but with FCP, many of these users did not even realize what was possible outside the world of FCP. I cannot even begin to count the number of fellow editors who recently said "well, I guess I'll try Premiere Pro, I already own it anyway" (which means they bought the Creative Suite but never once thought about opening up Premiere Pro). The flood of praise I'm hearing about Premiere Pro is mainly due to things like Mercury Playback Enging and CUDA acceleration, but there's also other much simpler stuff that has been a part of Premiere Pro for 2 versions now, going back into 2007 or 2008.
I don't wish Apple harm - though I don't care for the company or its products - but I think their egotism was finally made clear to the FCP users and Apple loyalists in general with the release of FCPX. With one product, they finally made it obvious what many of us knew all along, which is "We are Apple. We know what's best for you. You will use this, or you will use nothing at all. We know what we're doing, you need to follow our lead."
Lastly, as has been stated by many others, it's possible that this is actually what Apple wants (and I don't mean it in the "New Coke Conspiracy" sense). Apple probably no longer wants or needs the pro video/film community.

Buying more then one license for FCPX

Hi,
I'v got problem.
I'v got 4 imac computers.
I need to buy 4 licenses of Final Cut Pro X...
As far i bought one license through the app store, using my apple id.
There was no option to change number of the licenses.
According to FCPX license, if i need to use four instances of FCPX in the same time i need licens for each of them.
I'v got one, i need three more... on the same apple id.
How tu buy another licenses?
When i'm clicking on buy button on fcpx site it tells me to login. After log in it claims that i got one license and it's not allowing me to buy more.
Any one knows how tu buy three more licenses through the app store on macos?

this is excelent idea...
http://store.apple.com/us_smb_78313/product/D5977Z/A
this propably solv my problem.
THX Carolyn Samit

Importing to FCPX from Sony Camera

I am trying to import 1080/60P clips from a current Sony camera into FCPX.
I am well aware of the tradeoff of size vs editing ease between AVCHD and ProRes. In this case I have hundreds of clips, most of which will be trimmed drastically if they are used at all. So I am hoping to do a rough cut in native format, then transcode that rough cut for final editing and cleanup. Should be a big saving in disk space. I have a new quad core Mac that should be able to play the native clips quite well.
I already have an archive of the camera files on a Firewire 800 drive. I was hoping that FCPX would be able to import it by reference, creating little wrapper .mov files. However when I try to do that, I get a message that the folder containing the video cannot be imported. (It does offer to import the folder of stills that is part of the same file structure).
If instead I choose Import from Camera, FCPX happily ingests the video files but from the size of the .mov files it creates it is clear that they are not references but copies of the camera originals. That makes complete sense for initial import of an actual SD card or USB-mounted hard drive, but I really don't want another 50 GB of files filling up my drive.
If necessary I will use that process then delete the 50 GB of originals (I do have another copy on a second drive). But I am hoping that there may be a way to create reference wrappers around the files I already have on my drive so that I can work with them where they are.
I am interested to know why FCPX behaves as it does, if anyone knows. For example, are audio and video multiplexed differently in the camera archive than in the .mov files that FCPX creates?

Thanks for the quick reply.
Camera is HDR-PJ760, which has proved to be absolutely amazing for handheld shots in difficult conditions. Many of the shots in this project were taken from a boat on the ocean, where a tripod would not have helped. All using the highest available quality settings at 60P. You can't get back quality thrown away in the camera. (Yes I know that the high compression in AVCHD is in fact throwing away a lot, but there is always some tradeoff to get a reasonably compact handheld camera.)
I am guessing that the camera files are muxed, and that is why they cannot be used directly. If that's the case, I will just have to put up with the conversion step.

How do I use my external harddrive with FCPX?

So I have 1 TB external hard drive and want to back up my movie and media files using the hard drive so I don't take up a ton of space on my internal HD.
How do I do it so it doesn't save onto my computer, and only my hard drive. Final Cut pro uses up a lot of memory when I try to make videos.

xoxoyazyxoxo wrote:
.... that was exactly what I was looking for. Someone linked me once, but I couldn't find the info in the thread.
In FCPX, in the menu-bar is 'Help', which should you link to the Manual.
Be sure, you get the actual one for your version of FCPX ..
Glad to helpful!

How do I install FCPX on a second computer?

Hi, I was told that I can now install FCPX on a second computer. Is this correct? If so, how do I do it? The only options I see are to download the free trial, or "buy" - which takes me to the iTunes store and pay $299 again. How do I do it?

Yes....
MAC APP STORE PRODUCT USAGE RULES
Except as otherwise set forth herein,
( i ) If you are an individual acting in your personal capacity, you may download and use an application from the Mac App Store (“Mac App Store Product”) for personal, non-commercial use on any Apple-branded products running Mac OS X (“Mac Computer”) that you own or control.
Source:
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/terms.html#SALE
-ShinerMac

FCPX: Clips have dropped frames in timeline, but not in Event Library or VLC

I make movie montages (or supercuts as they're more widely known) and I'm constantly running into this issue. Here's my workflow:
1) Convert movie to .mp4 using Handbrake
2) Extract clip from converted movie using MPEG Streamclip
3) Import clip into FCPX
In FCPX I have the project's framerate set to 23.98 at 1280x720. When converting a movie to .mp4, I set the framerate to 23.976 (NTSC) in Handbrake.
- Clips play fine in VLC.
- Clips play fine in the Event Library.
- As soon as they're moved into the timeline, playback is choppy.
This doesn't happen with all clips, and there doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason as to why one plays fine and the other doesn't. What am I missing? What should I be looking for when comparing clips?
Final Cut Pro X 10.0.6
Mid 2011 Mac Mini
Processor 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6630M 256 MB
Software OS X 10.8.2 (12C60)

You could do the MP4 to PR .mov conversion in Streamclip or Compressor.
Russ

FCPX Stuttering video in viewer problem

OK, first let me say I am using the FCPX Trial version on my 15", 2.53 MBP - 10.6.8. My video is on a Lacie 500GB connected via Firewire 800. I am not sure if the Trial Version is the full blown version, I think it is. There is nothing I cannot do so far on it. But, I am trying to edit footage I imported from my Rebel T3i which is 1080i HD video. I cutting to music and when I play the timeline, the video in the viewer is very choppy. It skips, stutters, eventually catches up and gets choppy again. Everything has been rendered in the bkgd, I have rebooted and started over several times. My exported vid looks great, just playing down in the timeline is very difficult and makes editing to music very hard.
I am wondering if this is an issue with FCPX or do I need to make preference adjustments? Could it just be due to a Trial Version? It seems like the video is too big, could my MBP be too slow?

The reason all thumbnails turned red when you switched to proxy media is simply because you didn't create any proxy media. From your other posts it looks you are using the original media in h264. Although it should work, as Tom said, I expect that either proxy media or optimized media would be much easier on your processor, resulting in smoother playback and overall smoother operation, especially in a machine that is not very fast.
Note that you can (re)create proxy or optimized media not only when you add clips to an event, but also at a later time. Simply select the clips in your Event Browser, control-click and select "Transcode media..." and check the box(es) for proxy and/or optimized media.
Whether FCP X attempts to playback optimized/original or proxy media is set up in the preferences, under "playback".
Since you are experiencing playback difficulties, that is at least worth a try: create proxy media, switch playback to it. If it works better, there you have it. Remember to switch back to original/optimized before final export.

Garageband loops not showing in FCPX's Sound Browser

Help plz. My Garageband loops are not showing in FCPX's Sound Browser.. Although they are there on the hard disk... Thanks

This is the path for Mavericks, but I think it's the same for Mt Lion. Is that where they are for you?
Russ

FCPX is sooo sloooowwww !!!!

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