Video Filters not working.

Question

I'm using Final Cut Express 4.0.1 the Academic version. Whenever I apply a video filter to a clip, in any fashion, there is no effect. No change in the viewer or canvas. Even when exporting the filters do not show up in the final export. I know I am applying the filters correctly, I have gone through the exact same steps on a different computer and achieved positive results.
I have tried trashing the preferences but there was no change.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Answer 1

Hey Tom,
I add the filter the same way I've always done which has always worked in dozens of projects before:
1. Put the cursor over the clip in the timeline so it shows in the viewer.
2. Double-click the clip in the timeline and it opens in the canvas.
3. Use the browser to locate the brightness filter, drag that brightness filter to the clip in the canvas (from step 1).
4. Click the "Filters" tab in the canvas and adjust my settings and the changes are visible in the viewer and the video tab in the canvas.
This process works fine in a new sequence, but will not work on the same clips in their existing/"bad" sequences. No process works to add a filter to a clip in one of the "bad" sequences. I can even:
1. Use the browser to locate my original clip,
2. double-click it there to open it in the canvas,
3. add the brightness filter by locating the filter in the browser and dragging it to the canvas,
4. adjust the brightness there which adjusts it in the video tab of that clip in the canvas,
5. drag that clip down to the timeline in one of the "bad" sequences and - while the effects of the filter disappear (the brightness changes revert back as though the filter is not there) - double-clicking that newly-added clip in the timeline to open it in the canvas reveals that the filter is still on the clip, and the settings are kept, but there is simply no effect visible from it. Yeah, bizarre.
6. Then I can copy that clip from the "bad" timeline which has the filter on it with no visible effects, create a new sequence and paste that clip into it, and bingo, the effect is visible.
I can also double-click a clip from the timeline of a "bad" sequence so it opens in the canvas, add the effect but see no visible change in any view, then open a new sequence and drag the clip from the canvas into the new sequence and the effect is there visible.
Can't explain that one, but that's what is happening.
But the filters add just fine in the new sequence, using the exact same clips as copied from the "bad" sequences. I have no answer as to why this process does not work in my existing sequences but works just fine when I copy the clips to a new sequence. Maybe I screwed up my sequences somewhere during this project that I don't know what I did. But that's what's happening, and copying to a new sequence is the best workaround I have found and it's easy.
I upgraded from 3.5.1 to 4.0.1 recently and this is the first project I've done since then and the first time I've noticed this problem. Not pointing to that as the source, but just providing info.