Final cut express locks up

I have a powermac and powerbook. Lately final cut express locks up on me. I cannot click on the file, edit and all the menus on the top of the screen.
i also cannot type any numbers in any filter settings or speed settings. I have to shut down final cut epress and start it up again and it works for a little while and freezes up again.

Sorry, wrong forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=936
This is the Final Cut Pro forum.
Shane

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Pro Res in Final cut express How do i get a good quality SD DVD

I recently bought final cut express and have suffered getting a good quality SD DVD out through the workflow from my cannon XHA1.
On screen its fine but when i author through imovie to DVD the quality is poor.
So reading the various threads it would seem that i need to use Pro res and the ingress codec... But cant find this option in express ?
Question is. Is pro res codec available in express and if not can someone suggest the optimum set up for HD capture to SD DVD output
Many thanks

Use either of these techniques to get good quality DVDs from AIC.
1. Edit your HDV/AIC in the timeline. Then create a new DV-PAL (NTSC) Anamorphic sequence. Copy your edited HDV/AIC to the new sequence. Do not alter anything. Render the sequence ..... this will take a long time - up to twice the length of the project. Then File>Export>QuickTime Movie (Not Self-contained).
However, if you use the QT Movie in iDVD you will get a squashed 4:3 movie, so first of all you must make QT stretch it out to its proper 16:9 dimensions like this:-
+a. Open the exported movie file in the QT Pro player.+
+b. Go to Window>Show Movie Properties.+
+c. Select the "Video Track" and in the "Visual Settings" panel uncheck "Preserve Aspect Ratio".+
+d. In the "Scaled Size" box set the width to 1024 pixels for PAL.+
+e. The "Video Track" will have turned grey, so click it to make it blue again.+
+f. The opened movie file will jump to 16:9.+
+g. Close it with the red button and click Save.+
2. This method is fast. Set your camera to "Locked DV" which means that FCE/FCP will capture it as anamorphic DV and edit it as standard definition anamorphic DV. (Use Easy Setup ... DV-PAL (NTSC) Anamorphic).
You can then Export>QuickTime Movie to be used in iDVD and use the stretching technique mentioned above.

Problems with converted .MTS files in Final Cut Express 4

I have a hard drive full of video shot and a consumer grade HD camera in the .MTS format.
After struggling with finding an acceptable converter, I finally bought iSkysoft's Video Converter.
I've been using the converter's output preset of "MP4 Format for Final Cut X" and "High definition MP4 format" settings and they both yield the same results.
Now I am having problems simply editing the footage in FCE4.
I can take the footage and set i/o points in them but when I drag clips into the timeline, it often hangs up, locks up, FCE is unresponsive and it's even crashed.
This is on a 2 x 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Mac running 10.6.8.

In order to use .mts video in Final Cut Express, you need to convert the video to QuickTime/Apple Intermediate Codec before importing into FCE. .mts video files are typically H.264 video, highly compressed and is not something that FCE can edit. Ditto for "MP4 format for FCPX or HighDef MP4 format". If iSkysoft cannot convert to QT/AIC then I suggest Clipwrap
Note: for the future, if your camcorder is an AVCHD camcorder you can directly ingest the video from the camcorder into FCE.

Why is the playback in Final Cut Express 4 delayed by 30 seconds?

I am finding editing with Final Cut Express 4 has gotten slow and frustrating. This is a new problem. I have used this software for two years with no problems until now. I'll start out editing a project normally for about an hour. Then the playback function starts to lag. After I render a clip and try to play back what I've done by hitting the space bar, I have to look at the spinning color wheel for 30 seconds before my video will play. I have no other programs open, I have 10 GB of RAM. I upgraded my OS from Leopard to Snow Leopard a few months ago. All my Apple Software is updated. FCX has also been crashing and locking up. Is there a preferred way to save my project for more efficient editing? I also tried starting a new project with only a five minute audio mp3 clip and a 10 sec slug for video. I get the same playback delay with this project. In this case I only saved the project not "save all".

Hi Robert,
I've never unistalled and reinstalled an OS so it's a little scary for me.
I suggested uninstalling/reinstalling Final Cut Express, not the OS!
When I click on the FCE icon on my task bar to open it, which version is being opened?
Probably the one on your 1TB drive, but to be sure, you can always just open your /Applications folder on the 1TB drive and double-click the FCE application to start FCE.
Could there be a problem with a duplication of applications such as FCE on these two drives?
Highly unlikely. The system looks for applications in the /Applications folder on your startup drive, which is now your 1TB drive.
My video is 4:3 so I chose 640x480 to prevent stretching of the image.
No, you need to choose 720x480 (DV-NTSC) frame size. This is the standard 4:3 DV frame size. 640x480 is a computer monitor resolution. 720x480 is the actual, standard def, DV (television) frame size. It is 4:3. The 720 line height includes something called "overscan" which you never actually see. The image you see will be 4:3. FCE is not designed for 640x480 frame size ... do you have to render these clips after you put them in your DV-NTSC sequence?
Then after about an hour of editing, the playback delays started up again.
Well, that's bizarre, I must admit. Kinda has me stumped, except for the possibility that FCE may need to be uninstalled/reinstalled.

Final Cut Express timeline & view not working

I seem to have locked my Final Cut Express project. The timeline has hatchmarks and I can't doubleclick on a clip (photo) and have it appear in viewer. I don't know what I have done. i need to edit some of the motion in the photographs. Any suggestions?

On the left hand side of the timeline, click on the lock symbol to unlock the track.
MtD

Mousekeys, Stickey keys and Final Cut Express HD

I recently purchased and began learning FCE HD. I am a physically challenged user with no use of my arms and hands (quadriplegic). I use a mouthstick pointer and Mousekeys and Stickey Keys to operate mmy iMac G5. For those of you not familiar with these utilities (located in th Universal Access area of System Preferences), Mousekeys allows me to use the numbered keys of the numeric keypad to control my mouse actions, and Sticky Keys enables me to perform key functions that require me to press more than one key down at a time (you know, Command-Q, Option-1, etc.). I coul not operate my system without these utilities.
I am really upset to find that when using Final Cut Express, my mouse pointer locks up my system regularly. For example, I dragged some clips down into the time line, and whenever I went into that area to experiment and move the clips around, my mouse pointer/system would immediately lock. When I asked my friend to move the regular mouse around, it worked fine, and the system "unlocked". This is extremely frustrating to me because I depend on Mousekeys exclusively in operating my computer. When my sytem locks (whick it never has before this), I am unable to do ANYTHING if there is no one around to assist me. It really stinks!
I don't know what Apple technical support can do to assist me with this matter, but I am hopeful that some of the users in this form would give a shot at using the Mousekey feature so that you can see what I am talking about. I just forked out a good amount of cash to buy this program, and I will be very upset if I am unable to use it; not only because of the money I spent, but because I truly want to be able to use the program.!
I will greatly appreciate any and all help in this matter.
Thanks and best regards,
Jeff Castaldo
IMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.5) 2 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 250 MB hard drive

Sorry to hear about your system problems. I can't help you any but if you do not find help here try posting you question at the L.A. Final Cut Users Group at http://www.lafcpug.org/ These are the guys and gals who edit feature films and large scale videos. I have not posted there but from lurking they seem to be very willing to help and you do not have to be a member to post in their forum.
Surely one of them has heard of this and may have a work around.
Wish I could help more.
Best of luck

I have 8mm films transferred to .avi files at 18fps. Can I use Final Cut Express to convert to standard DVDs to play on a US TV?

I have 8mm films transferred to .avi files at 18fps. Can I use Final Cut Express to convert to standard DVDs to play on a US TV?

Hi
I was hoping that FCE would be able to handle the coversion from 18 to 30fps but that appears not to be the case.
It does - If I'm not totally wrong. Can be to much using FinalCut Pro (6)
Start FCE
Select type of project You want to do
I guess - NTSC 29.97fps - Select that from FCE menu / Easy Set-up
Start a new Sequence
DROP A PHOTO in TimeLine - at beginning.
Now project is locked to 29.97 fps
Now import and drop the 18fps clip in TimeLine.
Select to convert it to match the setting of TimeLine.
IF THIS IS A GOOD WAY - I hesitate to say - It works - but if quality is OK or not - I don't know
I DO : use JES_Deinterlacer (free from Internet) to convert the frame rate in my clips (usually 25fps) to 29.97 fps - Then and first then I import the converted clip into FinalCut to be used in my NTSC projects.
The quality done in this way - is very good and the program is free - so I can not want any better.
Yours Bengt W

FINAL CUT EXPRESS 4 CROSS DISSOLVE HELP

i just got final cut express 4 for christmas and no matter what i do it won't let me use a cross dissolve or any other video transition!. i tried locking the audio track's and it didn't work!
null

You need to have "handles" on both ends of your clips in order for a transition to be added.
Read this:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8376658&#8376658

Dropping an audio track onto a PSD file imported into Final Cut Express

I created a credits page for my video in Photoshop and then imported it into Final Cut Express (Version 1.0). I then duplicated part of an audio track from another sequence (My friend's father playing the organ), and dropped it onto the Photoshop credits sequence. It displayed and played nicely in Final Cut Express, but did not create an audio track which was visible within Final Cut Express. When I exported the sequence as a .mov file and then imported that into iDVD, it also displayed and played correctly in iDVD. But when I burned the DVD, there was no longer any audio with the credits. Any suggestions?
iMac Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Thanks so much for your response. I selected and copied tracks A1 and A2 from one sequence and then pasted them into the credits (Photoshop) sequence. No audio tracks appeared in the Photoshop sequence, but we could hear the audio when we played the Photoshop sequence.
There was video associated with the original organ track, and we did not lock off the video when we dropped it into the Timeline, although there didn't seem to be any problem with the video. We did not Mixdown the audio either, although no audio tracks were displayed in the Photoshop sequence. I will try both of those things and see if it makes a difference. Thanks again.
iMac Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Final Cut Express Will Not Render.

Hello, while working on a very important project for school, Final Cut Express stopped rendering anything, completely. No matter what project, what circumstance, what method I try, It will not render. I need to get this project done NOW and have no where else to turn to.

Do the Render Items have check marks against them in the Sequence>Render All menu?
Is Capitals Lock switched on?
Al

Protected Files and Final Cut Express

I have bought music on Itunes. For some reason out of the blue i can not burn the music to disc, I cant even import the songs to Final Cut Express. Why is this? I have imported music from Itunes into Final Cut with out any problems before many times. I guess the music is protected, (the music's icon has a little lock on the upper left corner, this is new).
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Delfire,
FIles purchased from the iTunes Music Store are protected with Apple's Fairplay DRM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairPlay
The ideas is that you can create music CDs with your purchases, but you cannot directly convert them to MP3 or other formats.
All to help curb music piracy.
Matt

Missing Chapter Markers from Final Cut Express

I have created DVDs with chapters using iMovie and iDVD. No problems. Now I have upgraded to Final Cut Express HD, and I cannot get iDVD to see its chapter markers.
I have followed the Knowledge Base article to the letter. I was careful to have nothing selected in the time line when applying markers. Following hints in this forum I have tried exporting either Chapter Markers or FCP Markers. I have tried exporting the Quicktime movie self contained or not. I have tried restarting Final Cut Express, which helped when other FCX features locked up after long sessions.
I'm stuck. Can anyone suggest something else to try?
Powerbook 12" 1.5 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.3) FCX HD 3.0, iDVD 5.01, Tiger 10.4.3

Hi Al Q,
Welcome to the Discussions.
Suggestion,two things to check:
Open the exported QuickTime movie in QT Player, do you see the chapter markers (a pop-up menu below the viewer)? If it is, then the export from FCE is okay, otherwise, something is still not correct in FCE.
Check the iDVD's Preferences, is the "automatically create scene selection menus" enabled?
Power Mac G4 (QuickSilver) Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I'm running Final Cut Express 2. How can I move entire project and application from one internal hard drive to another? Ran out of space on one drive. Thanks.

I'm running Final Cut Express 2. My video project is 95% done and I've run out of space on my 500g internal hard drive. How can I (1) move the complete FCE program and video to my unused 250g internal hard drive and operate it from there and (2) how do I then purge all the FCE info from the 500g drive without losing anything from the 250 drive?
Also, is it possible to change the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9 when the project is finished? If so, how? I now know this all should have been done before I started. Thanks for the help.

1. You can't move the application. It must remain on the system drive. Move your capture scratch folder to the external FireWire drive and use the reconnect function in the project.
2. What's the media 16:9 or 4:3?

My external hard drive is 'seen' by my iMac and I can go into the Finder and open files and folders. I am using the hard drive for Time Machine back up. However Time Machine says it can't find the drive. Same thing has happened with Final Cut Express.

My new LaCie external hard drive is 'seen' by my iMac and I can go into the Finder and open files and folders. I am using the hard drive for Time Machine back up. However Time Machine says it can't find the drive.
The same thing happened recently between Final Cut Express and my other LaCie external hard drive used as the Scratch disk. It fixed itself.
I've run out of ideas. Help would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

have you done some searches on FCPx and time machine? Is there a known issue with using a TM drive with FCPx? dunno but ...wait...I'll take 60 sec for you cause I'm just that kind of guy.... google...." fcpx time machine problem" Frist page link
http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/fcpx-bug-best-practices-for-using-external-hard- drives-and-final-cut-pro-x/
You cannot have time machine backups on your hard drive if you intend to use it in FCPX.
booya!

Final Cut Express won't allow me to capture from my vdo camera

I just loaded Final Cut Express HD on my Mac because I wanted to upgrade from IMOVIE. My Powerbook G4 had no problem capturing video with my Sony HDV 1080i video camera. But I can't get Final Cut Express HD to locate my camera at all no matter what "easy setup" setting I choose. But if I turn on IMOVIE, the program can capture from my video camera no problem. I know the firewire cable is hooked to the computer correctly & the camera is on & in the VTR mode. If anyone can help me identify this problem, I'd really appreciate it because I'm trying to begin a new video project & can't if I can't capture video. Thanks for helping.

Fritz from Technical support told me about a glitch in Final Cut Pro & Express HD that happens when you upgrade to Quicktime 7. He told me to go to this article: Link: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n301852
and follow the instructions & it would fix my problem. It didn't & then of course I called tech support back & it was after hours. I still can't capture from my video camera but it works in IMOVIE. I removed Final Cut Express HD from my computer (even all the files in library/users, etc.) and then reinstalled it. It still gives me the same error even though I have my camera plugged in & turned on. It says unable to locate capture device. This is unbelievable. Hopefully I can get some help. Brian

Final cut express locks up

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