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FCP Crashing osx - myth or reality?

j_maddison

j_maddison

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 31, 2003
701
43
Nelson, Wales
Hi guys,

Not sure if this is the place to post this, but just wanted an answer to a question I have. On sunday a friend of mine walked up to me, he knows I use a mac, and promptly told me that FCP causes osx to crash regularly. He also came up with a second comment that a single Xeon chip runs rings around a dual G5 Powermac. He stated that both claims are widely aknowlaged in video editing circles, and that most people in these circles were leaving the mac platform and buying PCs.

He also came up with some odd wifi networking claims, some of which i dismissed because I work in network sales.

Are there any FCP users out there who have expereince with video editing on both Windows and OSX platoforms? I'd rather have the opinion of users who use the app, rather than speculation.

Thanks

Jason
 
yeah I've seen the reviews on Bare Feats before, I have it bookmarked. Thats why I'm kind of confused. Where is he getting his information from then?? I didn't get the impresion he was winding me up, and last time I spoke to him (about six months ago) he said he was considering a G5 dual himself. Hence my confusion over his statements.

Do you use FCP your self??

Thanks for the feedback

Jay
 
j_maddison said:
yeah I've seen the reviews on Bare Feats before, I have it bookmarked. Thats why I'm kind of confused. Where is he getting his information from then?? I didn't get the impresion he was winding me up, and last time I spoke to him (about six months ago) he said he was considering a G5 dual himself. Hence my confusion over his statements.

Do you use FCP your self??

Thanks for the feedback

Jay
Click to expand...
He is just very misinformed and needs to do allot more research.
 
FCP is solid as a mo-fo-rock for me. Is extremely rare that I have any issues with it. And as far as speed, my dual 2.oG5 is the fastest machine I've ever worked on. You'd be hard pressed to get any complaints from me about the G5 or FCP. Love 'em.
 
Crashes on OS X are due to 3rd party hardware issues and corrupt RAM 99.99% of the time. OS X is exceptionally stable! It is unix after all... :D
 
Thanks guys

I think I'm going to print this off as evidence. I'm just really confused as to where he's getting his information from.

I don't use FCP my self, but for general use I can say I've never had Tiger crash on me. And come to think of it i think the last time I had a system crash was in Jaguar, I might be wrong though. Of course the odd programme crashes now and again, but I'm in the dark as to how someone can claim OSX crashes so much regardless of the app their using.

Jay
 
Final Cut Pro is not that stable actually even it has a good record.

I use it on a G4 500 and it has a bug, when opening the color picker the software freezes no mater the version of the FCP or OSX. I have to hard quit the FCP.

On my 1GHz PB is more stable but is not 100% reliable.

Thanxs God there is the auto saving vault.

Now, there is not reason why the "industry" is moving to PC. FCP runs very well in any system and still above average but still not perfect.

FCP 3 was the most solid version ever on OS9 actually.
 
I've run FCP from v2 upto v4.5HD, on G3's under System 9 up to eMacs, PowerBooks and Dual 2.5 G5's.

Currently running 10.3.9 on a 17" PB with v4.5HD.

Last week I cleared 155Gb of digital video and audio through the PB and a G5 for our Faculties Degree Show, most of it through FCP, I ran both machines 12 hours a day and had the G5 rendering multiple After Effects FX overnight.

Not once did FCP give me a moments trouble, no spinning beachballs, no freezes, de nada, zip.

I'm a longtime user and whilst I can't comment in any depth on FCP in Tiger, in Panther it's as good as it's ever been.

CanadaRAM's comment about RAM is a good one, if you've got non-standard RAM you'll have problems, with Apple spec it's sweet and true.

I personally know 4 or 5 Avid editors who are or have retrained to FCP, and a number of facilities that are eschewing Avid for FCP.

There's still the chance you friend had experience of a pirate copy on a poorly maintained machine, but in my experience "facts" that are "widely known" about Macs in the PC community are often nothing more than rumours and conjecture.
 
Panther and Tiger simply don't crash. The closest they come is a kernel panic, and that is always from faulty hardware.

I administer a network of Macs, and none of them ever "crash." I have no idea what drugs your friend was taking, but it's just crazy to say that something "crashes OS X." And most especially crazy to suggest that Apple software does so. Someone would have to do some awful misconfiguration to pull that off.
 
Toe said:
Panther and Tiger simply don't crash. The closest they come is a kernel panic, and that is always from faulty hardware.

I administer a network of Macs, and none of them ever "crash." I have no idea what drugs your friend was taking, but it's just crazy to say that something "crashes OS X." And most especially crazy to suggest that Apple software does so. Someone would have to do some awful misconfiguration to pull that off.
Click to expand...

don't go getting all elitest here. OS X does indeed crash and these forums are a testament to that. go flipping through the pages here in the OS X section and you'll find plenty of proof that it does indeed crash. it crashes less frequently than windows and typically runs lots longer, but it still crashes and still has bugs and is not perfect. so don't go running that idea around or you'll make yourself look dumb. macs aren't perfect, they crash, they blow up, hardware fails, software isn't written correctly, drivers cause problems. these aren't microsoft or PC only issues.
 
DXoverDY said:
don't go getting all elitest here. OS X does indeed crash and these forums are a testament to that. go flipping through the pages here in the OS X section and you'll find plenty of proof that it does indeed crash. it crashes less frequently than windows and typically runs lots longer, but it still crashes and still has bugs and is not perfect. so don't go running that idea around or you'll make yourself look dumb. macs aren't perfect, they crash, they blow up, hardware fails, software isn't written correctly, drivers cause problems. these aren't microsoft or PC only issues.
Click to expand...
Hardware fails, and software has bugs, but OS X doesn't crash on its own. I simply never see the sort of behavior I used to see practically every day in OS 7, 8, and 9. Macs used to have quite a reputation for crashing... "MACINTOSH: Machine Always Crashes; If Not The Operating System Hangs."

But with OS X, the OS itself does not hang except in freak circumstances, usually attributable to hardware failures or misconfigurations.

To suggest that a flagship Apple software product could regularly make OS X "crash" is just not right. That crash reporting feature isn't just a placebo, and both OS X and FCP are mature products.
 
Toe said:
Hardware fails, and software has bugs, but OS X doesn't crash on its own. I simply never see the sort of behavior I used to see practically every day in OS 7, 8, and 9. Macs used to have quite a reputation for crashing... "MACINTOSH: Machine Always Crashes; If Not The Operating System Hangs."

But with OS X, the OS itself does not hang except in freak circumstances, usually attributable to hardware failures or misconfigurations.

To suggest that a flagship Apple software product could regularly make OS X "crash" is just not right. That crash reporting feature isn't just a placebo, and both OS X and FCP are mature products.
Click to expand...

ok look, i'm not saying OS X and FCP just suck ok? I use OS X daily and love it. It does however contain bugs, and bugs tend to cause problems. it isn't perfectly written, it does crash. I stand by my previous statement. i'm sure it's loads better than prior versions of MacOS (i've only used 9 and only for a few minutes, i hated it). but the reality is IT DOES CRASH. i've had it lock up for unknown reasons, not very frequently, i can count them on one hand over the past year i've owned a mac. but it DOES happen. in fact, OS X caused my computer to crash when i first got it.

remember the return from screensaver black screen issue? it wasn't hardware, it was software. a bug in OS X... heaven forbid you admit it has bugs that cause data loss and restarts. :rolleyes:
 
I earn a living with fcp. It NEVER crashes OS X, not once in 5 years. Check user groups like Apple discussions and creative cow. You won't find one mention of it.

FCP is the fastest growing NLE out there. FCP licenses sell more than all other NLE put together.

Your "friend" is one big moron.
 
plastique45 said:
I earn a living with fcp. It NEVER crashes OS X, not once in 5 years. Check user groups like Apple discussions and creative cow. You won't find one mention of it.

FCP is the fastest growing NLE out there. FCP licenses sell more than all other NLE put together.

Your "friend" is one big moron.
Click to expand...

that is pretty impressive if true. now i can laugh at my friend who is gung ho about adobe products.
 
DXoverDY said:
that is pretty impressive if true. now i can laugh at my friend who is gung ho about adobe products.
Click to expand...
Adobe makes great products, but none of them are NLEs.

mymemory said:
I use it on a G4 500 and it has a bug, when opening the color picker the software freezes no mater the version of the FCP or OSX. I have to hard quit the FCP.
Click to expand...
Something's wrong with your G4 500. The color picker has never failed me in two years and 10 Macs (G3s, G4s and G5s). Are you running any GUI modifications?
 
plastique45 said:
I earn a living with fcp. It NEVER crashes OS X, not once in 5 years. Check user groups like Apple discussions and creative cow. You won't find one mention of it.

FCP is the fastest growing NLE out there. FCP licenses sell more than all other NLE put together.

Your "friend" is one big moron.
Click to expand...

Which is worse, which is worse. BS from a Mac hater or BS from a Mac zealot...


Lethal
 
DXoverDY said:
ok look, i'm not saying OS X and FCP just suck ok? I use OS X daily and love it. It does however contain bugs, and bugs tend to cause problems. it isn't perfectly written, it does crash. I stand by my previous statement. i'm sure it's loads better than prior versions of MacOS (i've only used 9 and only for a few minutes, i hated it). but the reality is IT DOES CRASH. i've had it lock up for unknown reasons, not very frequently, i can count them on one hand over the past year i've owned a mac. but it DOES happen. in fact, OS X caused my computer to crash when i first got it.

remember the return from screensaver black screen issue? it wasn't hardware, it was software. a bug in OS X... heaven forbid you admit it has bugs that cause data loss and restarts. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
On the 50 Macs and seven Mac servers I administer, I do not see the OS crash. Maybe it's just because I don't mal-configure my Macs, but whatever... they do not crash. Almost all of them have 3rd party RAM too.

Back when they all ran OS 8 or 9, they would all routinely crash very often, in some cases daily or more. But now... no. The only (rare) times I see a complete hang of the system or receive a report of such a hang is when there is a hardware problem. In every case, Apple service replaces something major or we remove 3rd party RAM, and the crashing goes away.

I had previously experienced the sleep bug on my own laptop, so I'll admit that that feels like an OS crash (it's really a layer that's preventing you from getting to the OS... the OS is running just fine behind that black screen). I doubt production FCP studios use laptops for video editing, though. And anyway, the sleep bug was resolved.

To suggest that one of Apple's top products causes frequent crashes of their OS is, I maintain, ludicrous. You may have experienced system crashes in the past, but I'll bet you were doing something out of the ordinary and/or your hardware has a minor glitch. And I'll bet you weren't running FCP in a production environment. And if all your systems were totally green when you had the crash, I'd also bet that an OS upgrade addressed the glitch and you don't crash anymore (assuming you regularly update).

I'm not a Mac zealot... I'm a Mac admin, and I know how Macs behave. OS X doesn't crash.
 
Add my name to the list of OSX users who hasn't seen the OS crash for a long, long time -- but who has seen the Finder go berserk from time to time, which is almost as bad as an OS crash. Basically we're talking about an unrecoverable beach-ball event. Force quit doesn't work. I even keep Activity Monitor in the Dock as a just-in-case for such a situation, and sometimes I can get it running and kill the Finder from there. But not always, and a hard restart is required. Rarely, but not never.
 
Toe said:
On the 50 Macs and seven Mac servers I administer, I do not see the OS crash. Maybe it's just because I don't mal-configure my Macs, but whatever... they do not crash. Almost all of them have 3rd party RAM too.

Back when they all ran OS 8 or 9, they would all routinely crash very often, in some cases daily or more. But now... no. The only (rare) times I see a complete hang of the system or receive a report of such a hang is when there is a hardware problem. In every case, Apple service replaces something major or we remove 3rd party RAM, and the crashing goes away.

I had previously experienced the sleep bug on my own laptop, so I'll admit that that feels like an OS crash (it's really a layer that's preventing you from getting to the OS... the OS is running just fine behind that black screen). I doubt production FCP studios use laptops for video editing, though. And anyway, the sleep bug was resolved.

To suggest that one of Apple's top products causes frequent crashes of their OS is, I maintain, ludicrous. You may have experienced system crashes in the past, but I'll bet you were doing something out of the ordinary and/or your hardware has a minor glitch. And I'll bet you weren't running FCP in a production environment. And if all your systems were totally green when you had the crash, I'd also bet that an OS upgrade addressed the glitch and you don't crash anymore (assuming you regularly update).

I'm not a Mac zealot... I'm a Mac admin, and I know how Macs behave. OS X doesn't crash.
Click to expand...

wow... you're the kinda person who gives mac users a bad name. i've had it crash. it was a stock configured machine right from apple. maybe you're just "lucky" or not using the same stuff as i am.

i am not saying it frequently crashes, i am saying that is NOT perfect and as such it WILL CRASH. pull your head out from you know where and accept the fact that it will happen eventually. they do crash. maybe YOU haven't seen one crash, but IT DOES HAPPEN. that is my point. take it or leave it. or you can always crawl back into your perfect world and feel like you're right, simply because you admin mac's.

EDIT: anyone else here feel like this guy is part of a select minority of users who hasn't seen it happen? or am i just off my rockers and i'm insane? because if it's just me, i'll shut up, in the mean time i'm calling this guy out for being a bit extreme in his statements. you can't make a perfect system.
 
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