Project cannot open: "Searching for Movie Data" in render file

My feature-length project suddenly stopped loading today, pausing at 47% to complain that a bunch of render files are missing, and that "this movie cannot play without the file..." I've seen these error messages when trying to open Quicktimes that refer back to files that no longer exist, but not when trying to open an FCP project file. My autosaves are giving me the same problem. The render it lists is "Rough Cut" something or other, which refers back to sequences I haven't used in weeks.
I've done the usual fixes: restarting, throwing out preferences. I ran FCPRescue. I opened a blank project and did a Render Manager dump. I did a Render Manager dump earlier today (as part of my workflow), but didn't have any problems at the time. I don't know how to get around this, and I don't know why those files are supposedly missing.
There's an earlier post about the same problem, but he didn't find a solution. Thanks for any and all help!
Quad G5 2.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4.4) 2.5GB RAM, 2X250GB SATA internal, dual monitors

It sounds like you used a reference quicktime in your project and the media that the quicktime referenced is deleted or that the system has some how or other lost track of it. This can be a tricky problem to fix. Andy's advice may get you up and running, but you will still be unable to work with the problem quicktime. I always try to export selfcontained qt's because of this potential problem.

Similar Messages

Steady Stream of "Searching for movie data in the file..." Error Messages

My iMovie has been crippled by error messages that pop up whenever I try to accomplish anything in iMovie. I always see "Searching for movie data in the file 'healyintro.mov'" for a few minutes, then "The movie file 'healyintro.mov' cannot be found. Without this file, the movie cannot play properly." I cannot actually use iMovie because of these errors.
I've tried everything from reinstalling iMovie to removing application support files to removing my iMovie Events and iMovie Projects folders to creating a .mov file, calling it healyintro.mov and seeing if that'll shut iMovie up – nothing works.
Once in a while, iMovie will ask for a different movie file, with the same problem.
Any ideas?

I am having the same issue. I don't know what the previous poster means by allowing the system to continue, since I'm prompted with a "Cancel" / "Search" dialog after each missing clip. Slight digression: "Search" is not even the correct term here according to UI guidelines ("Choose" or "Locate" might be better choices given the file picker dialog that results).
I'm actually using Aperture to relocate my video masters on removable media, which is a very nice feature of Aperture, but completely breaks iMovie unless it's connected. Seems like a pretty major oversight.... can we just have it fail more gracefully here and allow us to work with new stuff without getting hung up on missing movie clips from the past?

"Searching for movie data... Without this file the movie cannot play..."

I have been deleting old projects from my hard drive (macbook pro) and my external hard drive.
Now, when I go into iMovie '09 to work on another project, the following warnings keep popping up on the screen:
"Searching for movie data"
and
"Without this file, the movie cannot play properly."
I click "cancel" but they keep popping up, prohibiting me from doing anything else in imovie.
If anybody has a clue how I can get rid of these warnings, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Hank

Ive been getting the same crap. Ive since deleted all of my imovie projects. It seems to have the problem when I am trying to pull up the videos in the iPhoto library. My particular file it is getting hung up on was used once in Sound Track Pro, but is not there anymore. Not sure if that rings a bell with you at all.

Can't open MOV files in FCP: "Searching for movie data in file..."

I know this has been posted before, but none of them seem to match up to what I'm all of a sudden dealing with. I have 4 MOV files that I'm converting to WMV. Movie 1 & 2 exported fine. Now, however, any time I try to open another MOV file, I get an error that it's "Searching for movie data in file..." and the file name is ALWAYS the same. The weird thing is, the file it's looking for is none of the 4 movies I'm working with. So how did the first two work and this pop out of nowhere??
I have cleared out the render cache. Dumped all the cache and prefs files I can find, etc. Restarted the machine. Started FCP with the Option key held down.
I've searched everywhere, but people usually seem to come across this error while opening FCP (I'm running 6.0.6). This only happens when I open a MOV file (oddly, I can open WMV files in FCP without issue).
HELP!

So, I open the movies in QT and the EXACT same thing is happening. So it appears the guy who created the videos did something when he was making them (probably made a reference files along the way). I'm having him re-export the MOV files.
So, it's not a FCP issue.....

Searching for movie data in file "Untitled.mov"

Ok I have already searched in the forums and none of the solutions have worked. Can anyone help me with this problem?
When I open Final Cut Pro, before the full program opens this error pops up:
Searching for movie data in file "Untitled.mov".
Screenshot - (http://imgs.hnation.org/uploads/714c01ba72.png)
After like 10 seconds this error then pops up:
The movie file "Untitled.mov" cannot be found. Without this file, the movie cannot play properly.
Screenshot - (http://imgs.hnation.org/uploads/8c5564c42f.png)
I have tried pressing the "Search" button and have tried every Untitled.mov file I could find, but none of them worked. If I press "Cancel" then the same thing happens 5 more times until Final Cut Pro actually opens.
Help Please. Thanks!

what if I am unable to get a hold of the footage again to re-import? Is there an alternative way?
There is no alternative. The movie file is missing information. Either you captured footage and it broke it up into smaller segments (-av-0, -av-1, -av-2) and one or more of those files are missing, or you exported a Quicktime REFERENCE movie, and reimported that into FCP...and have since deleted some media that the reference file....references.
Either you have it or you don't. If you don't have it...and cannot reimport it, then you are SOL. The only way to get rid of the message will be to delete the clip in the project that is causing the error.
I have already tried reinstalling 3 times. The same error still pops-up.
This is not an error with the software. You have a clip in the project that is missing something.
Shane

Frequent "Searching for Movie Data in File ..." errors

OK, I searched the forums for this but didn't find anything, so don't nobody jump down my throat please ...
I very often find myself, when trying to export a file through QuickTime conversion, confronted with the error message "Searching for Movie Data in File [XXX - 0000000008]" which FCP invariably cannot find. I go to look in my capture drive myself, and sure enough, no file exists of that name. Without the file in question, FCP won't run the conversion. I get around it by exporting directly to QT, opening that file in QT Pro and re-exporting, but what the he11 is FCP doing in the first place? Why is it making all these files then losing/destroying them?
Help very much appreciated. Running FCP 4.5 HD; rest of specs in profile.
Thanks!

Without being able to see your project's history, I can only surmise you have created some copies of some clips and then tossed the originals. Or used reference movies that point to renamed clips. Or you've renamed some clips but used a differently-named copy of it. You may have copied a clip from one project and placed into another and then later discarded the source media.
I get around it by exporting directly to QT, opening that file in QT Pro and re-exporting, but what the he11 is FCP doing in the first place? Why is it making all these files then losing/destroying them? < </div>
That's because the original source media is always required for Compressor's operations. You see copies and renders in the timeline but Compressor will always recreate fresh media so looks for the sources.
This problem is almost always a user error, though it is not easily debugged from where I'm sitting. It is caused by a few subtle misperceptions about nesting and copying clips from one project to another without taking the source media with them.
Sorry not to be more definitive, I'd need to have watched you work for several hours to know what's going on with this.
bogiesan

"Searching for movie data in file [filename]" and iDVD hangs.

I have a project I saved and I want to open and make a change to. iDVD loads the project and displays the title. When I click to edit one of the scene selection menus, it goes off "searching for movie data" and hangs until I kill it.
Anyone have any ideas how to fix this? I really don't want to have to re-do my project.
Thanks!
Scott

This frequently helps solve some problems. Quit iDVD. Search for the file named com.apple.iDVD.plist and trash it. (A new one will be created next launch of iDVD.) Or look in: User/Library/Preferences. This may solve project loading errors too. Restart and use Disk Utility to Repair Permissions.
You'll need to reset some Preferences.

"searching for movie data"

I'm having a difficult time. I upgraded to iLife 08. Then I read all this stuff about Final Cut Express having a similar interface to iMovie so I bought it. I don't like either one compared to iMovie HD 06, which I still have. When I launch 08 it starts "searching for movie data" in each clip. When I got to the external HD and look in the folder the files are listed in order as Clip 1.dv but the folder icon is a blank page with a bent corner. I have no idea what I have done or how to make it right? ps I have 318 clips in this folder.
Message was edited by: Mark Johnson7

I guess what I want is to be able to use the same video in each of the apps.
Since iMovie '06 employs destructive editing, I would leave the original files alone in the project package. Options for moving data from iMovie '06 to '08 depends on what you want to do. Basically you have three options:
1) You can use the "built in" iMovie '08 copy your current iMovie '06 source files to iMovie '08. Then generally means you lose the edits already performed.
2) You can manually copy source files, transition clips, title clips, special effect clips, etc. from your iMovie '06 project package to a "visible" area on a hard drive and then import them to iMovie '08 and manually put the individual clips back together in their proper order as you may desire to retain them but won't be able to modify transitions, special effects, or titles you keep.
3) You can copy the current status of you iMovie '06 timeline to a "visible" hard drive location and then import it as a single clip into iMovie '08 for further editing. You will not, however, be able to change your previous transitions, titles, or special effects except by cutting them out.
Once the file(s) is(are) in in Imovie '08, you have the option of either physically copying the same data again to FCE or simply export an XML file which FCE can open. Unfortunately, iMovie v7.1 now exports an XML that can still be opened in FCE v3.5 but then you will have to reset pointers to re-link to the source media. (FCE v4 seems to accept them properly.) Since both iMovie '08 and FCE were designed to edit in a non-destructive manner, theoretically you shouldn't have to physically copy media unless you want to do so. Moving or deleting files at the Finder level could, however, cause problems with either or both applications. Each can be used independently using the same source files or you can XML updates from iMovie '08 to FCE any time you wish.
Must say however, that such a multi-pronged approach could easily lead to problems and while I might move between any of these applications, I would not choose to edit in all three at the same time.
I don't think I fully understand what happens to the files in each when I start messing with them.
Files imported to iMovie '06 are normally stored as DV compressed files along with transition/title/special effect clips in the iMovie '06 "Project" package file in the "Media" folder and your current "timeline" can be found in the "project" package in the "Shared Movies > iDVD" folder in the form of an MOV "reference" file.
Source video files for iMovie '08 are stored in their "native" imported format in the appropriate "iMovie Events" folder within the respective "events" while other media directly moved to projects are stored in the "iMovie Projects" in their respective "project" packages.
FCE storage in the "FCE Documents" folder depends on the your method of importing/transferrring data to the application.

Movie won't play now - searching for movie data in file "Bounce Acros 01"??

I have a movie I made with iMovie (I have v3 or so). I know for a fact it used to play (it's saved as an MPG-2) on my laptop (10.3.9). All of a sudden, when I try to play it, it says "searching for movie data in file "Bounce Across 01"", or "Rolling Credits 05" for another one I have. These are effects I used for the titles, but what could be the problem? I thought once I save it in QuickTime format, it was self-contained - it looks like it's looking for some iMovie files. Why does it need them, why did they disappear (since I know this used to play fine!), and what can I do to fix it (download those data files, and convert the thing to be truly self-contained and not need any external files)?
Thanks,
Mike
G4 17" laptop Mac OS X (10.3.9)

I thought once I save it in QuickTime format, it was self-contained - it looks like it's looking for some iMovie files.QuickTime (MOV) files can be saved as either "Standalone" or "Reference" files. When using the "Save As..." option in QT Pro, you are offered the choice. Other applications like iMovie may make the decision for you. For instance, when automatically sending a file from iMovie to iDVD, a reference movie is used rather than standalone version in order to more quickly open iDVD. In your case, it sounds like a reference movie is being played and that someone has "cleaned out" some of the "rendered" files that were saved as part of the original project. If the project files are still available but moved, you can try to "re-link" them. Or, if the project is still available, you could simply re-export your movie as a standalone file.

Error "searching for movie data"

Hi,
Okay, here's my problem. I edit on FCP 4.5 and used a Lacie drive for all my media. I was putting in non time-coded media for a new project and I ran out of room. So, I bought a G-Drive. I copied all the media for the new project onto the G-Drive, trashed it on my Lacie and started editing the project. After I got everything on the G-Drive, I wanted to edit on my Powerbook on the road with the Lacie, so I copied all of it back onto the Lacie after moving a few things around. Now, when I work off the Lacie drive and have the G-Drive off, I get a "searching for movie data" error on several clips when I open the project. It ultimately opens after a few minutes and the footage is all there, but I can't for the life of me remedy the problem.
I know I caused it by copying media back and forth, but how do I fix it? My scratch disk is set as the Lacie drive.
Thanks,
Mike

I'm pretty sure that's what it does. Some formats will benefit from capturing audio and video to different drives. DV on the other hand functions better capturing to one drive.
I've seen fcp get hung up on this searching for movie data thing and not let go. I recently tried to open an old project and got this message. I cancelled and for the next day or so, I kept getting this message everytime I tried to launch fcp (and I have open last project disabled in my preferences).
The moral to the story is: Avoid reference qt's at all costs. Drive space is cheap.

. . . searching for movie date in file "Clip 03"?

. . . searching for movie date in file "Clip 03".
When I start iTunes, it immediately starts in with a series of messages like this . . . the program is frozen, and the "stop" button cannot be selected. Each message is on screen for a few seconds, then there is another, looking for another clip or photo file. Tis goes on for some time (+/- 10 minutes) until it finally gets to a slightly different message: "The movie file "Bounce Across 01" cannot be found. Without this file, the movie cannot play properly." This time there are two radio buttons -- "cancel" and "search." If I select "cancel" it goes away and iTunes works properly.
I have tried re-installing iTunes, and it has been upgraded at least twice since this started. Any solutions? It has become very frustrating.
Thanks.

Can I be confident that these files are now self-contained, how can I check, and how can I keep this problem from recorring?
Checking to see if the file is self contained is normally very easy. Just open the properties window and ensure the all resource references point to the main file.
NOTE: Remember that some applications can demux "muxed" file content in the form of "elementary" stream files which are paired. (E.g., demuxing "muxed" MPEG-2 files as paired M2V and AIFF files to avoid transcoding the video.)
As to avoiding the problem in the future, you would first have to determine what the original problem was. For all we know your drive could be failing, the system may have timed out while processing some higher priority task, you may have an intermittant connectivity issue, there could have been a one-time read issue, etc.

Freezes - searching for movie data in file "Sequence 1-FIN-00000034"

After importing a movie from a Disc a little while ago - iMovie has been giving me this dialogue box every time I open it.
Usually I can click on Cancel and it goes away and I carry on
Today it just stops responding and I have to Force Quit
searching for movie data in file "Sequence 1-FIN-00000034"
Any ideas?

Hi
So the forum is split into iPhone and Mac - Can't see this on my Mac.
searching for movie data in file "Sequence 1-FIN-00000034"
This indicates to me that the movie is not made in iMovie any version I know of - but in FinalCut Express or Pro as they use to name the raw material this way.
Not finding it - then it probably reside on an external hard disk, DVD/CD or other Mac that's not reachable from the Mac You run iDVD on.
The DVD.project is not 100% self-containing - but has references to where iDVD can find the material to build Your DVD and if this is out of reach then this message use to appear.
Try in iDVD on the Mac that it worked on first - Save as an iDVD Archive and move this to Your Mac.
Yours Bengt W

"Searching for movie data" message locking up keynote

Using Keynote '09 on a Macbook Pro. Importing keynote files from a shared server. Files contain embedded video.
Never had issues with previous versions of Keynote on same machine. Now, after opening the files, they lock up and a message pop-up says "Searching for movie data in file "filename.mov""
Does anyone know why this happens? Is there a preferences option that can diasable it? It happens every time I open the file, even after I have let the file previously run its course, which can take over an hour.
Killing my productivity. HELP!!

I am also seeing this bug and often work on 400mb+ presentations that use larger screen sizes and have lots of video assets for work. On large files I find that autosave is not ideal, and would also like a way to turn it off. The computer that was seeing the issue was running 10.7.5. It was just updated to 10.8.2 so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it works better now. Time will tell.
I also really hope that Apple gives us a real refresh on Keynote on the Mac. As old as it is, it still ahead of Powerpoint. But it wont stay that way forever standing still and nobody else has a better alternative that is as fast and flexible to work with. They are squandering somthing special by letting it gather dust.

Searching for movie data in file Name-FIN-00000001

While starting up FCP (6.0.6) gives an error message "Searching for movie data in file Name-FIN-00000001".
After 10 to 20 min FCP will start up.
How do I get rid of this annoying error message when starting up?
Thanks W.

As Jim says, this is a render file. However, simply rendering it won't fix this. What is causing this error is a QT reference movie in the project. When you export a QT movie, and make don't make it self contained, it is a reference movie that references media files and render files. When a render file is deleted (FCP does this automatically when the render file is no longer needed) then the refrerence movie can no longer function... one file it references is gone. Simply re-rendering won't fix it, because it is referencing that SPECIFIC render file.
You need to find and delete the QT Reference movie from your project.
Shane

Searching for movie data in file

Does anyone know how to fix the problem of the "Searching for movie data in file" interruption and annoyance? I can not access my movies to edit - or do anything for that matter - because this thing keeps popping up. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks!

Hi
Did You move or alter any folder named
• iMovie Event's - or -
• iMovie Project's
Don't - If done try movien all back excatly.
Moving Event's and Projects must
• be done within the iMovie Application
• to a Mac OS Extended (hfs) formatted external/secondary Hard Disk
(Never to - NetWork Storage or UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange formatted devices)
Free Space on Start-Up (Mac OS) Hard Disk. How Much ?
Yours Bengt W

Project cannot open: "Searching for Movie Data" in render file

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for