Viewer lagging FCE 4.0

Hello!
Might seem like an outdated issue for some, but i need help resolving the lag when I play my clips in the viewer.
I am working off my internal Macintosh HD (750 gb) that has only 388 GB used.
Running OS X 10.8.5
2.8GHz Intel i7
4 GB RAM
I have double checked the item properties and made sure that my easy setup correlates with the clips, but here's a photo anyway.
All the clips for this project were shot on my iPhone, uploaded onto my computer through iPhoto and then dragged from there into a folder in my Finder for this project.
Never had this problem before, especially working with clips that were shot on an iPhone. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

Right off the bat you're doing two things incorrectly:
1. Importing H.264 files into FCE. FCE doesn't work natively with H.264 or any other MPEG-4 variation. It only works with QuickTime DV and AIC. You need to convert the H.264 files to AIC prior to importing them into your project.
2. Storing media for editing on the system hard drive. Media should be stored on another internal drive or an external Firewire or Thunderbolt drive. The system drive is busy enough trying to run the OS, FCE and all of th other background processes you don't see. Editing media stored on the system drive overtaxes it and bogs everything down.
-DH

Similar Messages

Comment section in list view of FCE

Hello, I'm new to FCE, love the program. Why didn't I have this sooner? : )
Am organizing my clips in the browser. A cool feature that I noticed is that in the list view in the comments, once I type a note, if I right click in the same column for the next clip, I can choose from previously entered notes. I'd like to organize the notes in each comment column alphabetically, but can't seem to find how to do this. Is it possible to edit comment notes in some hidden library, etc somewhere?
Thanks for advice.

Thanks for your reply. I don't need to alphabetically sort the notes already entered to clips; I know how to do that. I guess I didn't explain myself very well. Here goes:
For example, in Master Comment 4, I'm noting moods of my clips. I use words like aggressive, fun, breathing hard, close-up, tempo, etc. I tend to use the same terms over and over again. I'm a terrible typist. I noticed that when I right-click in the Master Comment 4 section of each clip, a window appears with the words and phrases I've already entered describing previous clips, sparing me the pain of typing. And I have a lot of clips left to describe. The down side is that the list of previously used words and phrases of Master Comment 4 is in a completely random order. Because the list of words and phrases is growing, it's increasingly difficult to quickly scan through those previously used words and phrases. If I could alphabetize that right-click list of previously entered words, then I could scan it logically and quickly. Is there any way to edit each list in the Master Comments, log notes, etc? I have a feeling that these notes that I've entered are stored in Preferences or in the Library or somewhere else, but I can't find them since I'm hardly a power Mac user.
Thanks for your reply.

HDV playback in viewer causes FCE to quit

I don't know what I did, but I managed to get one successful capture without artifacts. When I try to look at them in the viewer, FCE quits. When I view them in Quicktime, it quits. Capture looked great, but playback is full of junk.
I tried everything you kind folks have suggested, but to no avail. I loaded the latest version of Quicktime, I've re-installed FCE. I've tried every concievable connection. I've trashed my prefs. I'm baffled as to why it worked once but subsequent attempts fail. Any other suggestions?

Hi (Bonjour)!
Happy new year!.
As I remember, iMovie 5 can handles HD content, and you cannot see nor capture in iMovie.
iMovie can easily "see" camcorders in general (more than FCE).
So I think your problem is more related to your camcorder settings, firewire cable or hardware configuration. Not software one.
Can you test another firewire cable ?
Please give us items properties for your captured HDV clip in FCE.
Can you open you clip file in Quicktime player and use "command-i" and "command-j" too seek for video an audio properties too ?
Michel Boissonneault

MAC Voice Over: Why does the screen view lag behind the voice over audio?

MAC Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549)
When using voice over on a MAC with DE 1.8 - most times when paging thru a pdf file/book the voice and the view are inconsistent. When using VO - moving to the next page with the right arrow key - the audio starts to read the next page (correct), but the display is one page behind (not correct). For readers - especially those that have significant visual impairment - this will not work for them. Is this a defect - and if so - I would be very happy to re-test this feature if a new revision of DE 1.8 is provided.
I am unsure this is the correct forum to raise issues such as this one. I am in the process of evaluating Adobe DE 1.8 - my sister is blind and I am trying to move her to a MAC with VO. I really appreciate Adobe's effort in supporting JAWS and MAC VO - thank you on behalf of all disabled folks out there.
Below is a detailed list of steps to re-produce this audio/screen inconsistency issue.
- Install DE 1.8 and add to the dock
- Add a pdf file/book to DE 1.8. For my issue, I am adding the "Voice Over Getting Started" guide.
- Turn on Voice Over - Cmd+F5
- Using VO - Go to the dock and select DE and start it. The "Last Read Book" typically is the focus for the VO cursor. Then using VO next item (VO+right arrow) - move the VO cursor to "Library Content Table". This is the list of books that are displayed in DE.
- Using the up/down keyboard arrows - move up and down thru the books in the content list. At this point - you should already see that the VO audio announcing the title of a book is not synchronized with the row in the table that is displayed. The voice is announcing a book that you selected, but the display is showing the previous book.
- Once you hear (not see) the book you want to test with, hit <enter>. DE will open the book and start to read using VO. At this point the screen and audio for the first page in the book are the same.
- Once the book has been opened by DE - Using the right arrow key navigate to the next page in the pdf/book. Normally the right arrow key is the short cut to allow a user to move forward or backwards thru a book, one page at a time.
- With DE and VO - what happens is that VO responds to the right arrow key and starts to read the next page. But the screen is still showing the previous page. Hence the screen and the VO audio are out of sync.
- For anyone that uses MAC VO - this will prevent them from using Adobe DE 1.8.
If I am doing something incorrect - please let me know. If you need any assistance or further information regarding this issue - please email me.
Best Regards
Mike R

hi, Mike R:
Thanks for your information. We have tested several Mac machines, iMac and MBP (use the same version as yours). But we can't reproduce the issue. Actually working with VoiceOver is a fundamental request for our application, we did test them before releasing the build.
We suggest you test other applications, e.g. Finder, Preview and iTunes, to make sure if VoiceOver works fine with them. Or can you please check if your VoiceOver settings are correct?

Shooting settings for optimal viewing in FCE (Canon Vixia HF20)

Hi, I own the Canon Vixia HF20 and I've read in various places to shoot/record in the Cinema Mode setting if you're looking to make movie-esque videos. Additionally, I found this last night in the camcorder user manual "Combine the Cinema Mode recording program with the 24 fps progressive frame rate (PF24) to get the enhanced effect of the 24p Cinema Mode.
I have absolutely no idea what the difference is between 60i, PF30 or PF24. I've already shot a lot of stuff on the 60i setting. Is there a huge difference between 60i vs. PF24. Drawbacks? Recommendations? Ultimately, I'm trying to record on the best settings for optimal compatibility with FCE.
I'm a huge novice as far the tech specs so any help is appreciated. Thanks and sorry for the long winded post.

Thanks for the info Wally. As mine is mainly for DVD I will stick with interlaced.
When I first got my Canon HV20 I tested the 50i and PF25 modes and couldn't detect any difference.
Incidentally the PF25/30 modes do not produce 25 or 30 full frames. They really shoot 50 or 60 fields exactly like interlaced footage except the 2 fields in each frame are identical, giving a similar effect to a single identical field that you would get in true progressive.

Stuttering video in viewer

Hi everybody,
I bought Final Cut Express HD only last week and I am absolutely thrilled by the immense functionality of this program.
I am facing one particular problem, however: when I am playing a video in the viewer of FCE, it is heavily stuttering, which is very annoying.
I did use the search function of the forum and tried a lot of things to remedy this ugly behavior: I deleted the preferences, I created a new project and re-imported the original DV material, I played around with the playback settings of FCE and reduced the quality settings... nothing worked - the video playback still jumps from one frame to 2 or 3 after the current one, occasionally stopping at all while audio playback continues.
Funnily enough, the playback of the (rendered) timeline in the canvas works fine, including all effects, filters, transitions, etc. Only the playback in the viewer is sluggish.
My hardware should not be the problem: I am on a MacBook Pro 17inch, 2GB of RAM, 120GB 5400RPM hard drive, ATI 256MB VRAM.ä
Is there anything else I can do? Does anyone have the same problem? I am really cluless by now after really having tried a couple of things to resolve the problem...
Thanks in advance for any feedback!
MacBook Pro 17'' Mac OS X (10.4.6) 2GB RAM, 120GB 5400RPM HD, ATI 256MB VRAM

capturing via iMovie as I am and then using in FCE is not perfect
Yes there are limits, but not about data rates, that I know: in both cases the original DV video is recorded into a file, but with different formats.
iMovie records a .dv file containing the original DV stream from the camcorder into a single track including both video and audio; FCE records a .mov file where the video DV stream and the audio are in separate tracks.
The limits are:
- no timecode recording: iMovie does not capture the timecode originally recorded by the camcorder
- audio needs rendering
The advantage is what you already know: easy trashing of unused clips media.
Piero

Viewer Filters not showing

When I select the filter Tab in the viewer of FCE HD I have Video filter and stereo 1 filters. When I turn the triangles nothing shows. The filters are can be selected from the menu bar and Browser. Is there some procedure that has to be taken to make the filters show up in the Effects panel of the viewer?

David
Filters have to be added first from the Browser>Effects or the menu to a clip that is in the Timeline.
Double clicking a clip in the Timeline that has already had a filter added will open that clip in the Viewer and you can adjust it.
Alternatively, double click a clip in the Timeline, it opens in the Viewer and put your filter in then.
Al

Capturing video from DAC 100 to FCE - HD

For the life of me I can not get this to work!! I can capture video through the DAC100 to iMovie no problem... But when I go to FCE-HD it does not even recognize the device?! I click on the FCE - HD in the dock and the EXTERNAL A/V window pops up Apple Firewire NTS (720 x 480) and states Your system configuration may have changed, or your deck/camera may be disconnected or turned off (which it is not). Please check your connections and click "Check Again" (nothing happens), or click "Continue" to set external device selection to None (not sure what this means but I can not find the external device selection in order to change it to none.
So I get into the project and click "Easy Set Up" and Setup For: DV-NTSC DV Converter and that EXTERNAL A/V window pops up again, I click on "Check Again" and get nothing, I click on "Continue" and then go top FILE -> Capture and it the Capture screen pops up but it reads PREVIEW DISABLED - NO COMMUNICATION. I then click the NOW button and a pop up comes up reading : Attempt to capture video without device selected. Please select a video device in your capture presets and try again. Well I can not find the "capture presets"??? Any help on this would be awesome!
Thanks in Advance.
Sean

Hey guys - Thanks for answering so quick...
Al - G'Day -
"When you start FCE this way the firewire connection is disabled.
Make sure View>Video>Firewire is active before capturing.
You may even have to have the Converter attached and powered on before opening FCE to get the Firewire connection active."
I went to VIEW (on FCE-HD) but do not see VIDEO>FIREWIRE? Am I looking in the wrong place? I have the converter attached and powered on and also have already tried what Tom suggested and shutdown the computer - disconnected everything (including my two Lacie ext. harddrives), powered back up and still no recognition? The DAC 100 doesn't have a DV out mode - I have the 3 input audio video plugged in and attached to my VCR...
Tom,
If this is the case where do I find the correct DV Converter settings? Also, I have never seen this device on my desk top or anywhere for that matter (which I thought was odd) but yet like I mentioned before, iMovies recognizes it with know problem and the video transfer to an iMovie Project. The problem with this is if there's any curruption on the videos they skip frames (audio & video) for split seconds, and I'm left without complete footage.
I had Final Cut Express 2 previously and at one point was able to capture footage, but somewhere along the line, this process got disabled. I recently Upgraded to Tiger and bought the FCE- HD update. I thought I had checked all the updates... What do you guys suggest?
Thanks again.
Sean

FCE time off 1 frame?

In the viewer of FCE, if the time of a clip is say, 18 seconds 15 frames and you mark an in point there, then type +204 (to go forward EXACTLY 2 seconds & 4 frames) it should say 19:19 right--but it says 19:20, it adds one frame every time. I've not noticed this problem in the Pro version and it should have nothing to do with drop frame as it's under a minute. Any thoughts? Thanks.
It's FCE 3.5

Strange... in my viewer it goes to 20:19, not 20:20. I guess this implies something with your FCE has gone awry. Try trashing preferences and see if it makes any difference: http://fcpbook.com/Misc1.html

Help with live type in fce

hi, I created a title and intro in live type for fce. In live type the quality is excellent. when opened & viewed in fce in the viewer the quality is also excellent. but when the text is then placed on the timeline the quality of the text is seriously degraded. It is very jagged, rough and pixelated. I am stumped and have been fighting this for days. any help would be great. I am new to the program. The project properties for my live type document are:
apple intermediate codec 1080i60
width-1920px 26.67inches at 72.0 dpi
height-1080px 11.25 inches at 96.0 dpi
frame rate-29.97 fps
field dominance - none
pixel aspect - 1.00
start time-0:00:00;00
time format - smpte drop
quality - all 3 are set to normal
The project properties for FCE are:
apple intermediate codec 1080i60
frame rate-29.97fps
frame size - 1920x1080
pixel aspect - square
field dominance - none
alpha - none
composite - normal
I have tried every other combo with the live type set up and nothing works. Does any one have a fix for this? thanks
tyler

In LiveType / Edit / Project Properties (command+0) / Presets HDV 1080i60...
In Final Cut Express / Easy Setup (control-Q) HDV-Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i60...
Import the LiveType project file directly into Final Cut Express...
Regards
Nolan

Resolution recommendations for HDV, FCE and iDVD

The Canon HV30 camcorder outputs HDV in 1080/60i, 1080/24p, 1080/30F, 1080/24F, 1080/30p. Which of these would yield the best results from a workflow and image quality point of view through FCE and iDVD for creating a DVD to be used on an HDTV fed by a progressive-scan DVD player?
Can any of these formats be edited and then written back to tape without losing a lot of image quality?
Also interested if iMovie 9 is the same in these areas as FCE (which I already have).
Thanks in advance!
MikeR

So, it doesn't matter what I shoot in - the quality will be equal no matter if it's progressive to start with or interlaced? I might have thought that keeping things progressive all the way through would be the best for a DVD played on an HD set.
MikeR

No shadow on Livetype font after importing on timeline FCE

Hi,
I made some basic titles in Livetype. The font has a shadow in the Livetype-project.
After rendering the titles the shadow is still there. Even after importing the titles in the browser of FCE, the shadow is still there.
But when I drag the titles to the timeline of FCE, the shadow suddenly disappears! How come?
Thanks in advance for helping me out.
O.

Also strange is this:
When I open and play the rendered titles from within the browser in the viewer of FCE the shadow is still there. But when I pause the titles, the shadow is gone.
Once I import the titles in the timeline of FCE, the shadow disappears completely.
Olivier

Exporting FCE sequence to QT (uncompressed), losing quality

Howdy,
Using FCE HD 3.5, I have edited a sequence, and it looks great in the viewer in FCE. But, when I export to QuickTime movie (no markers, either self-contained or not) I notice that things get, well, fuzzy. Best I can describe. Like old video tape, not blocky digital artifacts.
There are not many choices when exporting in this manner. For giggles, I tried exporting an AVI using QuickTime converter as well, but to no avail.
I'm about to fire up a FCP system here at work, but if the output quality is anything like this, I'll have to go Avid (or God help me, Premiere. Ok, it isn't THAT bad).
Please help, as I really like the Final Cut interface.
iMac 2Ghz Core 2 Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8) Likes walks in the park and the beach at night

I hadn't (and don't have the equipment to do so). I did look at a DVD created from the file, and it is G-D AWFUL! Horizontal lines off of points of light (not visible within FCE), and looks like a thrice-copied VHS. Not Good times.
I've been combing the board, and saw something about "square pixels in reference to NTSC. So I exported to h.264, and it is better than the native DV file, which I find odd. Also odd is that one of my edits changed! A video insert cut changed from the video I had marked to a different point in the source video entirely. Very weird. I am sure it has nothing to do with h.264, but I haven't touched the sequence since this began, so that has me puzzled.
Thanks for the reply
iMac 2Ghz Core 2 Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8) Likes walks in the park and the beach at night

Clips freeze in viewer

I've looked at a couple of the other threads with this problem and I've tried their solutions, (Trash Prefs, Fit in Window) but the clips still freeze after being played for a few seconds. I have over 32 hours of soccer footage that I collect clips in iMovie (because that is easier and requires less space than importing the whole tape into FCE) Then I import the clips (420 of them) into FCE 2.03 and then want to tweak the in/outs in FCE and then drop to the timeline, but the viewer is sticking! Help! I have all of the clips and the render files and scratch disk files on a huge external firewire hard drive. Is that the problem, or is it a compatibility issue with iMovie and FCE - either way how do I correct the problem?

Hmmm. So many helpful suggestions - Thank You all!
I will try to respond to all of them.
First, I use iMovie to capture the clips, because it seems to be better suited to capturing many short clips (1-5 secs ea) off a long tape (1 hour) - Remember I am getting the highlights and hits (tackles) from a seasons worth of soccer games. There are usually 500+ of these short clips and iMovie automatically assigns a number to them. I then assign a category (Hit, Goal, Defense, Funny, Sad) to the clip on a legal pad so I don't have to stop the tape. Once I have all the clips, I create a folder for each category and then open my iMovie media file and drag each file to it's appropriate folder, this way all of the Hit clips will be in the Hit folder. I then open up FCE and import each folder. Now I have all the clips sorted by category in FCE. Now all I have to do is drag each folder onto the timeline, add music and render. I don't care that it takes long to render - I can go watch tv or eat dinner or sleep - I just don't want to be tied to the keyboard typing in clip names or processing 500 files through quicktime.
I would have edited the in/out points in iMovie had I known that the viewer in FCE wouldn't work. (iMovie has a tendency to plop 1-3 end frames of a capture a clip onto the beginning of the clip and that is all I am usually trying to edit out.) This is also why I don't drag all 500 clips to the iMovie timeline and then export - because this would create ONE movie while I need each clip seperate and named individually for sorting purposes.
I would capture in FCE, but from my experience, it is more suited to long c aptures and isn't as adapted as iMovie to quick "start/stop/rewind a short bit/Start/import/stop import, but keep the camera running and automatically name the clip"
Yes, I upgraded because I am interested in Live Type and I thought that maybe the viewer problem would be fixed.

Importing iPhotos to FCE

I'm trying to import pictures from iPhotos and it seems like it's very laborous. It appears that I have to import each picture instead of importing a group of pictures on a file. Also, the folders are numbered instead having the roll name which makes it difficult for me to know which folder contains which pictures unless I click on each folder.
Does anyone know how to import iphotos into fce (ver 2) seemlessly?
Thanks

I found what i believe the best solution to using iPhoto to organize the sequence of photos to be used in a FCE sequence. Create the album in iPhoto, organize them as you see fit, and then export the photos to a new folder that you can import into FCE browser. In iPhoto, click album name, then Share>Export>Original Size Format>Use Album Name/Extension. What this does is give new file names to the photos, and numbers then in the correct sequence. This corrects any duplicate file naming issues, helps organize the photos in the correct project, gives them new name, and numbers them properly, so when viewed in FCE browser, they can be sorted the way you want them to appear in your timeline. Only downside would be using up hard drive space.

Viewer lagging FCE 4.0

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for