Final cut pro 4.5 playing back poorly

I've been using Final Cut Pro 4.5 for a year or two now, and suddenly it's been dropping frames like crazy on playback. I just upgraded to OS X 10.4.6, and Quicktime 7.1, and after that, Final Cut Pro hasn't been working right. I use iMovie to import all my footage (just from a regular DV cam) and that works fine and everything plays back fine in Quicktime and in iMovie and in the Finder. However, when I'm looking at my project in Final Cut Pro, it already starts dropping frames and freezing up when my clips are still in the browser and I'm just looking at them in the viewer. They kind of freeze, and the audio keeps going, and then the video comes back a few seconds later, and freezes... Every once in a while I get an error message that says "General Error." I've closed all other applications, disconnected the internet, and Final Cut is still not even playing back my files correctly. Looking at other posts, I made sure no windows were overlapping, I set the zoom to "Fit to Window", I threw out the FCP preferences, everything I could think of. My computer is only an 800 Mhz Powerbook G4, but I have 1 Gig of RAM. The video files are all on an external Firewire hard drive, and both my internal and external drives have a good amount of free space. My laptop is also plugged in with the energy set to Best Performance. And until upgrading my OS, I hadn't had any problems like this. Has anyone else experienced this? Is Upgrading to FCP 5 the only solution (or will that not work either?) please help. Thanks.

I think your problem stems partly because of OS and QT combination you are running. I'm a firm believer in running FCP HD in 10.3 and QT 6 because it was written for that OS and QT combo... I've an article about all of this in the Creative COW magazine.http://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/newpage_wrapper.cgi?forumid=1&page=http://www.creativecow.net/magazine/cowmagsubscribe.html will get you a pdf by registering.
Capturing in iMovie isn't the best either. If you capture with FCP, the DV codec used is optimized for FCP, and you'll find a much happier result.
When you go to an new OS, don't 'upgrade' rather, reinstall it from the ground up... starting with a nice empty disk drive. FCP HD will run the best in 10.3.9 if you don't have a capture card, and in 10.3.8 if you do.
Jerry

Similar Messages

Final Cut Pro Lagging during play back

when i start a new project FCP runs great but after i start adding more clips and rendering and saving my preview play back is so sluggish to the point that the video stalls and the audio keeps playing for a couple seconds then stops.
i dont know what i did if anything but FCP used to run great all the time. this all just started a couple weeks ago. even short projects if i save it to work on it another day when i get back to it, it runs sluggish. if i skip through the project with the mouse i usually get the beach ball. does anyone know whats going on? all my other programs are running great. my memory status is OK

im editing music videos. they are about 4 minute mp4 files saved on my hard drive. my rendered files & scratch disks are set to save on an external hard drive.
the videos i buy and they are MPEG-4, 640x480, H.264 AAC (saved on my hard drive)
im exporting from FCP, using quicktime conversion, and saving as MPEG-4, 640x480, AAC H.264.
all im doing is placing a logo in the lower right corner through the duration of the video.
sometimes i add 5 or 6 of these 4 minute videos to make a longer music video mix.
the only thing i have connected to my laptop is an external hard drive. no cameras or anything else.
i been doing everything the same for the last 6 months. this lagging just started last week.
also when i want to render my project it takes about 2 hours for a 4 minute video. same thing when i export.
i tried trashing preferences to start over and it still the same sluggish preview play back.
any ideas?
im dieing here
MacBook Pro OS X 10.6.4
Processor: 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 4GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Final Cut Pro 6.0.6

Final Cut pro doesn't play the frames

My final cut pro doesn't play the frames in the application.
The whole time it works great but at ones this happend.

Couple of things to check and try.
1) In Viewer Display options check to see whether Better Performance is checked in the Quality section. If not, check it and that should help you set real time playback with a slight reduction in quality in the Viewer. However, it will not have any affect on your project.
2) If that doesn't work, consider generating Proxy files by eight clicking clips >Transcode Media. There is also a setting in Viewer Display Options to use Proxy in editing your project. Before you export the finished project, remember to change that setting back to Original/Optimized.
3) If that doesn't work, download a speed test and check the throughput of your media drive. It should be a separate drive from your start up disk and should be connected by Thunderbolt (fastest) USN3 (next fastest) or Firewire 800.
Russ

Audio out of Sync - Final Cut Pro to Soundtrack and back

I have edited some talking head interviews in FCP 7.0.3
When I "Send to Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Project" and then send back to Final Cut (by exporting an AIFF)
The audio is 9 frames shorter than the original audio. (The video is 06:29:12 long)
I have checked, and double, triple checked, and all audio is 48.0 KHz
Both timelines are Non-Drop Frame.
I have also tried the following when importing the XML back in to FCP
1. Leave Sequence Settings at "auto" with "Override with settings from XML" selected
2. Change Sequence Settings to "Apple ProRes 422 1920x1080 24fps" with "Override with settings from XML" de-selected.
I have looked and looked through forums and haven't found any real solutions, please help

Apparently, fcp can have a problem with imported audio files if the easy setup frame rate does not match your sequence frame rate.
I've seen this reported as well.
I actually created a new project, set up the "Easy Set Up" to match and ran into the same problem.
Initially the Music Tracks I used were a different audio rate (44.1 vs 48) but I converted those as well.
I'll have to chalk this up to user error, but I've truly been over this project with a fine-tooth comb so many times.
In general, it doesn't seem like there should be so much issue going from Final Cut to Soundtrack and back.
When I get some down time, I'm going to completely recreate this project from
scratch and see what happens.
Thank you so much for your time Michael.

Audio sounds great in Quicktime Player but horrible in Final Cut Pro

I'm working with a 16-bit wav file that sounds great in the quicktime player but once I bring it into Final Cut Pro 6 and play it back, it sounds like the quality has degraded quite a bit. I've tried setting audio playback quality to high in preferences, but this has not helped.

Hi -
Open the wav file in Quicktime 7 and export it as a 48Khz AIFF file.
Import that file into FCP and see if that solves your problem.
MtD

Final Cut Pro Indicator Bar Settings

Hey all, i'm wondering if there is a way to change the indicator bar in final cut pro to not play video or audio when i move it. when i move it around it lags something terrible and is driving me nuts. or maybe my laptop needs to get some of its settings changed in order to fix it....any suggestions?? I have also read up the other people have problems with FCP with Leopard.
Jeff

Double posted: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1435151&tstart=0

Final Cut Pro/Motion Shut Off/Render Errors

I have Final Cut Pro Studio 7. I work mostly with Final Cut and Motion. I have three problems that are occuring on a common basis and I desperately need help.
1) Final Cut Pro constantly shuts down when attempting to render. Mostly when I am rendering Motion files.
2) Motion also shuts down when working in it or it completely locks up.
3) When the Motion files render in Final Cut Pro and I go back to review what I just inserted, purple files show up saying "Render Error In Motion".
I have been trying to figure out how to fix the problem, but everything I do, does not work. Can anyone please help. I have 5 projects I need to get done by the end of next week. Two being due by Tuesday. Any assistance will be helpfull.
C

First of all, got a crash log? That'd help identify the problem...
When you crash, you get the option of Reporting to Apple? Take that and copy the section of the log with the crashed thread:
Command: Final Cut Pro
Path: /Applications/Final Cut Pro HD.app/Contents/MacOS/Final Cut Pro
Parent: WindowServer [117]
Version: 5.1 (5.1)
Build Version: 4
Project Name: FCPApp
Source Version: 602161028
PID: 1460
Thread: 0
Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x00000004
Thread 0 Crashed:
0 ...lCutPro.Plugins.QTRtEffects 0x061eea90 KGSetQTRtResFile(unsigned char, short*) + 72
1 ...lCutPro.Plugins.QTRtEffects 0x061f5b08 RTEffectComponentRegister() + 96
2 ...lCutPro.Plugins.QTRtEffects 0x061e521c PluginStart + 2028
3 com.apple.FinalCutPro 0x001b23e0 DispatchRegisterMessage(void*, void*) + 104
. - buncha info -
25 com.apple.FinalCutPro 0x002c10a8 main + 64
26 com.apple.FinalCutPro 0x00002c24 _start + 340
27 com.apple.FinalCutPro 0x00002acc start + 60
Thread 1:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9002c128 semaphore_wait_signal_trap + 8
That's the kinda thing we need...
Second, what system are you running? What graphics card, how much memory, what kind of projects are you doing? Can you post one of the problematic projects?
More info, please...
Patrick

HT5148 i am using final cut pro x. i have imported some images and video in my timeline. when i play back my video it looks fuzzy. but, when i pause it, it looks clear. how do i get my video to play clear.

i am using final cut pro x. i have imported some images and video in my timeline. when i play back my video it looks fuzzy. but, when i pause it, it looks clear again. how do i get my video to play clear and not fuzzy?

Same reply.

Importing issues with Final Cut Pro X. Green flash and twitches while play back

Hello, I'm having some importing issues with Final Cut Pro X and I can't find any solution whatsoever. Perhaps my importing settings are wrong?
Anyways, I've done a lot of recordings on eye TV and HD PVR with some videos that are about 3 hours long. I exported them into H.264 files, which turns them into mpeg-4 files with AAC audio. Then I import them into final cut pro X and I notice it takes a long time for them to render the videos and I notice that there are some green screens and twitches while I play through the video.
Here is a screenshot of the green screen that I'm talking about:
[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/688/screenshot20130409at338.png/][IMG]http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/4537/screenshot20130409at338.png[/IMG][/URL]
Could it be my 2 video graphics card that is causing this kind of issues? Or is there any solution to fix this?
In the past, I've used iMovie 09 and it worked out perfectly. However, the new iMovie 11 is terrible because it automatically optimzie my 3 hour long videos into making the importing process to (144 hours long to import). Is there any way to get iMovie 09 back or am I stuck on dealing with this Final Cut Pro X issues?
More information:
My Hauppauge HD PVR settings are set to custom. Video Constant Bit Rate, the average bit rate: 13.5 Mbps. The audio is AAC.
My project settings for video properties is set to custom, 720P HD Format, 1280 x 720 Resolution and 30P Rate. The audio and render properties is set to custom, audio channels is stereo, audio sample rate is 48kHz and the Render Format is Apple ProRes 422.
I export the video as a quicktime movie. The export setting is H.262.
The summary of the export is:
File type: Quicktime movie
Estimated size: 397GB
H.264, Width and height: 1280 x 720. Framte rate: 30 fps

My Hauppauge HD PVR settings are set to custom. Video Constant Bit Rate, the average bit rate: 13.5 Mbps. The audio is AAC.
My project settings for video properties is set to custom, 720P HD Format, 1280 x 720 Resolution and 30P Rate. The audio and render properties is set to custom, audio channels is stereo, audio sample rate is 48kHz and the Render Format is Apple ProRes 422.
I export the video as a quicktime movie. The export setting is H.262.
The summary of the export is:
File type: Quicktime movie
Estimated size: 397GB
H.264, Width and height: 1280 x 720. Framte rate: 30 fps

Hello, Please Help! When I bring the mastered audio from Soundtrack pro back to final cut pro 7, the audio plays well at the beginning 3 mins later it doesn't sync. Please Help!!!

Hello, Please Help!
When I bring the mastered audio from Soundtrack pro back to final cut pro 7, the audio plays well at the beginning 3 mins later it doesn't sync.
Please Help!!!
Edgil

Make sure your easy setup has the correct frame rate for your sequence. Seems crazy but somehow or other fcp assigns a frame rate to audio files. I've found this can sometimes be tricky to get right. Here's what I've done to force the issue. Make sure the easy setup frame rate reflects that of the target sequence in fcp. Create a new project. import the audio in the new project. And then copy the clip from the new project to your main project.
Good luck

Playing Russian Roulette with Firewire 400 drives and Final Cut Pro

oh boy! this has been a fun week!
I would love to ask the advice of the group about checking the firwire
ports on my computer, and also on the separate external drives.
Here is what has been going on.
Final Cut Pro 5 starts up and then starts to pinwheel.
but in short here is the result, I have recently lost 2 external
FIREWIRE 400 drives, one by LaCie that is my newest drive of the
group, it is 160gb 2 port FW400, and another by ProMax which also has
2 FW400 ports. the lacie was the first to go and is just not mounting
and does not show up using any of my Disk Utility software (even the
heavy duty stuff like DATA RESCUE II or Disk Warrior), I am thinking
that both ports are bad(maybe fried by another bad port on my tower?)I
can hear it when i boot it up and it sounds normal with the same
routine sounds, but it just doesn't mount, nor show up, so is this the
ports?fried?
Now, on my tower I have the following setup - 2 FW400 ports that are
STOCK that came with the TOWER G4 when I bought it. There is also a
FIREWIRE 400 card which has 3 ports. In the past I have used all the
ports for drives, and for a printer and a scanner in my studio.
Everything mounted and worked properly. Then,recently I moved the
drives and the tower to another location(in the room and no I didn't
drop or shake anything) and replugged everything in again, probably in
different slots but upon boot the external firewire drives didn't mount.
I had to UN PLUG them and then RE INSERT them by trial and error(which
I thought normal as I have done this when using these drives with my
laptop, until I got them to mount. they all did mount. However, once
up an running I started Final Cut Pro 5, and it started to get a
PINWHEEL for more than reasonable and if forced me to RESTART the
computer.
The next time, one of the HARDDRIVES (the LaCie 160gb) was no longer
mounting, and I tried to change firewire ports and on the stock and
also on the card for fear that the 3rd party card might be faulty.
I even ran APPLEs HARDWARE Utility and it gave no results as to
anything faulty on the firewire ports. It just said they were there.
Both stock and the PCI firewire card.
Next, I tried to mount this LaCie 160gb onto another computer, with no
results.....it now acts as if both ports are faulty, again, I hear the
drive spinning and going through its initial startup, which sounds
exactly like the other drive, but it never mounts. which is odd...what
is your idea about this drive? and how to save it?
is there a way to take the drive out of the casing and test it in my
other LaCie160gb that is currently working?
2nd, this is where it gets funky, then upon starting Final Cut Pro,
the pinwheel reappeared now with another firewire drive a PROMAX 160gb
that was plugged into the STOCK FW 400 port (on the tower) starting to
show a RED light(not good), however, after restart, I didn't see the
PROMAX drive mount, but I was able to load it up with DATA RESCUE II,
and it is doing a QUICK SCAN to save the DATA on that disk......
now I have backed up most of this data, but the problem now is not the
data, it is whether or not to even plug any of my other drives into
any of these FW ports until I can test them for faultiness.
A friend told me of another friend having a problem where a firewire
port was frying drives as soon as they plugged them into the certain
port. How can you figure this out without re-acting like 'Deerhunter?'
This feels like playing Russian Roulette......if you get my drift?
How do you check any ports for such foul play?
Thanks in advance for your support....
makin

well, now I am finding out that the culprit is I think the POWER MAC g4 itself.
For it has been blowing the firewire ports over time by frying them with power.
Has anyone had this happen?
My Power Mac g4 will not shut down.
It powers itself back up.
I end up having to press the POWER button and holding it, but this sends power to the firewire ports and I can hear them turning on.
so all this time I had just dealt with the issue
Apple had seemed to blame it on a 3rd party MATROX card in the PCI slot.
But, now that has long been taken out of the equation.
The only thing left is that the 17inch MONITOR is plugged into the POWER MAC and for some reason it is keeping a charge?
Can anyone help me in this matter?
As this has haunted me for 5 years with this machine, and I have probably fried more drives than I care to mention.
I just want my computer to SHUT DOWN when I tell it to.
is that too much to ask?
Might the POWER SUPPLY be at fault?
What in God's name could keep this ******* of a computer from shutting down?
I have no USB hubs or keyboards hookedup
the only thing is the MONITOR itself....that you can press its button to shut down etc.
I would be honored to know what this is as APPLE CARE never could figure it out
I didn't want to go through the hassle of taking out the RT MAC card, and just either left the machine on, or Unplugged the thing....
that is a nasty way to shut down a computer is it not?
much thanks to any one who can help me to figure this out?
thanks
singleton

I'm a bit confused. Since my original camera format was 720/60p, and I converted the footage to Pro Res422 in order to edit in Final Cut Pro 7, should I convert back to a higher quality format before sending the file to DVD Studio Pro?

I'm a bit confused. Since my original camera format was 720/60p, and I converted the footage to Pro Res422 in order to edit in Final Cut Pro 7, should I convert back to a higher quality format before sending the file to DVD Studio Pro? If so, which Compressor codec is best to use in order to preserve the original 720/60p? How do I maintain the highest quality?

No...ProRes is a high quality format. Finishing format. Many TV networks take that as a final deliverable.
BUT...DVDs aren't high definition...they are SD. You cannot make a 720p60 DVD with DVD Studio Pro. Any DVD you make will be SD...720x480. The only HD DVD format out there is BluRay, and for that you need a BluRay burner.
As for making a high quality DVD...using the BEST QUALITY settings in Compressor will work:
#42 - Quick and dirty way to author a DVD
Shane's Stock Answer #42 - David Roth Weiss' Secret Quick and Dirty Way to Author a DVD:
The absolute simplest way to make a DVD using FCP and DVDSP is as follows:
1. Export a QT movie, either a reference file or self contained using current settings.
2. Open DVDSP, select the "graphical" tab and you will see two little monitors, one blue, one green.
3. Select the left blue one and hit delete.
4. Now, select the green one, right click on it and select the top option "first play".
5. Now drag your QT from the browser and drop it on top of the green monitor.
6. Now, for a DVD from an HD source, look to the right side and select the "general tab" in the track editor, and see the Display Mode, and select "16:9 pan-scan."
7. Hit the little black and yellow burn icon at the top of the page and put a a DVD in when prompted. DVDSP will encode and burn your new DVD.
THATS ALL!!!
NOW...if you want a GOOD LOOKING DVD, instead of taking your REF movie into DVD SP, instead take it into Compressor and choose the BEST QUALITY ENCODE (2 pass VBR) that matches your show timing. Then take THAT result into DVD SP and follow the rest of the steps. Except you can choose "16:9 LETTERBOX" instead of PAN & SCAN if you want to see the entire image.

Exporting from Final Cut Pro back to DV tape

Is it possible to export a project done in Final Cut Pro back to mini DV tape? I need to do it in order to put in on a Windows machine at school. Or, is there a way to export it so I can import it into a Windows machine to use with Final Cut Pro? Thank you.
iMac Intel Mac OS X (10.4.7)
iMac Intel Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Is it possible to export a project done in Final Cut Pro back to mini DV tape? I need to do it in order to put in on a Windows machine at school.
Yes,
- hook up your camera to the computer via firewire
- put the camera in VTR mode
- push RECORD on the camera
- play the timeline
- STOP recording when the sequence is complete
- your material is now on the tape.
Gotchas ...Make sure you have set the display and the audio to be sent out firewire to the external monitor (aka your camera).
For an alternative to the process described above, read the manual section on "Print to Tape".
Once at school, your windows machine needs the ability to capture video material.
Or, is there a way to export it so I can import it into a Windows machine to use with Final Cut Pro?
Final Cut Pro does not run on a Windows machine. I don't understand your question.
good luck.
x

I've recently messed up my Mac OS X Lion by deleting Aperture, but I need to get my data out of the computer. And by the way, I've got an important project in Final Cut Pro X. Is there any way I can back it up (including fxs and positions of the clip) ?

Hello everyone
I've recently messed up my Mac OS X Lion by deleting Aperture, but I need to get my data out of the computer. I've tried to repair it using DU, but it said I needed to backup all my data and reinstall the OS. How do I backup my data to an external drive?
And by the way, I've got an important project in Final Cut Pro X. Is there any way I can back it up (including fxs and positions of the clip) ?
Hope you guys can help me!

You need to back up 2 folders, Final Cut Events and Final Cut Projects which by default are located on your Movies Folder. You can always check by clicking on a clip inside Fianl Cut X and selecting Show in Finder in the contextual menu for the selected clip.

All of my titles, themes and generators seem to be completely missing from Final cut pro x. Do you know how to get them back?

All of my titles, themes and generators seem to be completely missing from Final cut pro x. Do you know how to get them back?

Do you mean that when you click the title browser, for example, nothing is there?
Do you at least see several categories listed in the effects browser?
First make sure that you have nothing typed into the search box (not even spaces).
If you still see nothing, try this in order:
1) Window->Revert to Original Layout
2) Quit FCP X, delete preferences using Preference Manager (a free download from Digital Rebellion)
3) Download FCS Remover, and use it to completely remove FCP X. This will NOT delete your content, just the application.
4) Reinstall FCP X from the Mac App Store: log in with the same Apple ID that you used to buy FCP X, click on "Purchases", locate FCP X and click Install.

Final cut pro 4.5 playing back poorly

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