Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Final Cut Prow

Morgan Mac

Morgan Mac

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 24, 2011
111
3
yo yo yo yo yo yo yo

I purchased a Mac Pro Quad Core a few years ago because I was looking for a machine that could effortlessly manage large video files. VIDEO EDITING, I'm a filmmaker and like makon folms.

That's a my story. Now, the computer never quite worked. I have Final Cut Pro, but it takes 20 plus minutes to launch, and stutters and lags when playing back video.

Anyway, anyway, anyway, here are the Q

1. What is wrong / what can I do to speed up FCP

2. Recommend a better editing program

Here are the specs:

Processor 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon

Memory 8 GB 1066 MHz DDR3

200 GB Free Space

Go go go

BTW I work with mkv, mov, avi, mp4
 
20 minutes to launch an application seem like a lot, not even on my 2004 iBook with a 4,400 RPM HDD took that more than a minute.
Maybe try another user account or even a reinstallation of the OS and FCP (which version btw?).
Also think about getting a dedicated HDD for your video footage, the Mac Pro has room for three more.
And also know, that "mkv, mov, avi, mp4" are not editing formats and **** to edit, thus the lags and therefore I recommend reading the following and knowing, that "mkv, mov, avi, mp4" are Long-GOP formats.

Video Compression
Why It Matters & How To Make The Most Of It
 
simsaladimbamba said:
Maybe try another user account or even a reinstallation of the OS and FCP (which version btw?).
Also think about getting a dedicated HDD for your video footage, the Mac Pro has room for three more.
And also know, that "mkv, mov, avi, mp4" are not editing formats and **** to edit, thus the lags and therefore I recommend reading the following and knowing, that "mkv, mov, avi, mp4" are Long-GOP formats.

Video Compression
Why It Matters & How To Make The Most Of It
Click to expand...

I've reinstalled FCP before - no change.

All my media is on an external HDD.
 
For fast answers to question, think what information you are giving.
You have a Mac but you dont tell us what version and with Final Cut Pro as the last person stated for the answer.
To edit video 200 will not be enough.
When you open FCP do you get a beachball and do you have any other software open?
It sounds like your Mac is working overtime at this present of time from what you have stated.
 
Morgan Stack said:
I've reinstalled FCP before - no change.

All my media is on an external HDD.
Click to expand...

Which FCP version, which Mac OS X version, what interface for the external HDD, did you properly transcode the video to a video editing friendly format? Is a complete OS and FCP reinstall possible for you?
Did you use FCS Remover if you use a pre FCP X version o FCP?

Maybe the HDD is dying?
 
daybreak said:
For fast answers to question, think what information you are giving.
You have a Mac but you dont tell us what version and with Final Cut Pro as the last person stated for the answer.
To edit video 200 will not be enough.
When you open FCP do you get a beachball and do you have any other software open?
It sounds like your Mac is working overtime at this present of time from what you have stated.
Click to expand...

Final Cut Pro 7.0

I've got plenty of software installed. But FCP was installed first and didn't work back then.
 
Morgan Stack said:
Final Cut Pro 7.0

I've got plenty of software installed. But FCP was installed first and didn't work back then.
Click to expand...

Before you posts any more posts with half answered questions:
Otherwise we will repeat our questions again and again and get frustrated, or at least I will get frustrated, and that is not why I am here. If you are a "film maker" you should be able to communicate properly, though my recent TV series shoot has shown me otherwise.
 
simsaladimbamba said:
Which FCP version, which Mac OS X version, what interface for the external HDD, did you properly transcode the video to a video editing friendly format? Is a complete OS and FCP reinstall possible for you?
Did you use FCS Remover if you use a pre FCP X version o FCP?

Maybe the HDD is dying?
Click to expand...

Mac OS X Build 10K549

It's a WD 1TB external hard drive, but that's not the problem, because I've copied video to the desktop and no change.

Maybe I could reinstall everything, but I'd have to be damn sure that is the solution, because it would take a good week to get everything back the way it was.

No I don't mess around changing files into editing-friendly files, but I must have worked with all variety's of video files in the years and had the same slow result.

Yes I used FCS remover before.

The HDD is not dying. It was brand new when I bought it, and didn't work back then.
 
Morgan Stack said:
Mac OS X Build 10K549

It's a WD 1TB external hard drive, but that's not the problem, because I've copied video to the desktop and no change.

Maybe I could reinstall everything, but I'd have to be damn sure that is the solution, because it would take a good week to get everything back the way it was.

No I don't mess around changing files into editing-friendly files, but I must have worked with all variety's of video files in the years and had the same slow result.

Yes I used FCS remover before.

The HDD is not dying. It was brand new when I bought it, and didn't work back then.
Click to expand...
Mac OS X 10.6.8 is is then.

Does it also happen in another, even temporarily created, user account?

Do you backup via a cloning application?

What happens when you transcode footage to a proper editing format, since using "mkv, mov, avi, mp4" files will force FCP to render and render?

And how is that HDD connected? What else have you installed on your Mac? Have you ever tried to troubleshoot the problem before?

Performance Tips For Mac OS X

Does FCP always start this slow, even since you installed it? Any message you see on the splash screen that stays for a while or seems to hang?

I currently sit on a Mac Pro 3,1 or so and it hardly manages AVCHD or GoPro MPEG-4 footage in a professional editing application (Avid MC), thus we transcode it properly to have it working. There is a reason, why MPEG-4 is not an editing codec, but I already linked to an explanation.
 
Morgan Stack said:
How much space is needed? I could probably clean out 200 GB, leaving 400 GB free space.
Click to expand...

For what? It is not recommended to use the same HDD the OS resides on to store the video you edit.
We currently use S-ATA attached 2 TB RAIDs to store our footage and it is recommended to leave at least 100 GB free on them.
The internal 2 TB RAIDs are left with 200 GB free.
 
simsaladimbamba said:
Mac OS X 10.6.8 is is then.

Does it also happen in another, even temporarily created, user account?

Do you backup via a cloning application?

What happens when you transcode footage to a proper editing format, since using "mkv, mov, avi, mp4" files will force FCP to render and render?

And how is that HDD connected? What else have you installed on your Mac? Have you ever tried to troubleshoot the problem before?

Performance Tips For Mac OS X

Does FCP always start this slow, even since you installed it? Any message you see on the splash screen that stays for a while or seems to hang?

I currently sit on a Mac Pro 3,1 or so and it hardly manages AVCHD or GoPro MPEG-4 footage in a professional editing application (Avid MC), thus we transcode it properly to have it working. There is a reason, why MPEG-4 is not an editing codec, but I already linked to an explanation.
Click to expand...

I just created a new account, and surprisingly FCP loaded up within a minute. But playing and stopping video still felt clunky. Taking half a second to respond when stopping video. It should feel instantaneous.

I don't backup using a cloning app.

Proper editing formats work better (no rendering), but still feels clunky and slow.
 
I edited a feature this summer and had a similar experience. It was a tight ship, too, pretty average to low shooting ratio. I forget how much media, but maybe like 3-5GB or so of prores444 at 1080p? We tried to do the rough sound mix in Final Cut, but no other effects except the occasional title or enlargement.

Took 5-10 minutes (not 20!) to open on 8-core mac pros with 12-16GB ram. Tons of crashes. Very unstable. When using other formats for personal projects (especially ALL-I dSLR footage) I get even worse performance and more crashes. We had to make sure we had no more than one or two timelines open at once and we edited in eight timelines (one per act) because it was a made-for-tv movie and we needed breaks for commercials. We turned off external video when we could. Lots and lots of crashes. Very bad stuff.

Long story short, FCP7 is 32 bit and can only address very little ram at once...open up multiple timelines, output to multiple monitors, skip around fast, etc. and it will spend all its resources caching and uncaching. I know that people edit features in FCP, presumably on one timeline, but I don't believe the program is really capable of doing it with 1080p or 2k or 4k media. Not unless you tread super lightly.

This was a very small project relative to a larger feature and we tried to run a very tight ship in terms of workflow. We converted everything down (or up) to 1080p prores. If you're working on a bigger project than this and with a more demanding format, or mixed formats, either convert to 1080p prores if your client will let you or upgrade your media drive (I assume you're not editing off the same drive as your system is stored on?). 1080p prores444 and higher needs ESATA in my experience, or maybe firewire800 at the very least.

Best of luck. We really suffered with this problem! Maybe professional/experienced editors on this forum can chime in with their experience editing features in FCP; a few here were helpful when I had questions during this project and we managed to get through it. This was my first time editing anything more than a short and if it wasn't for my co-workers and help online I would have foundered.

If you're editing in all those odd formats (what camera shoots mkv?) seriously consider converting to prores at a common resolution before you start. That will save a lot of headaches.
 
Last edited:
Morgan before you try all the answers you have been given try a test which i do very often when in trouble with FCP-7 and FCP-X. I 'm no expert when people talk software language but we have a wealth of information at our finger tips.
What i do when the GHOSTS play around, when editing. I transfer the clip or section to iMovie and see if it plays up in there. If not them one of my settings is wrong in FCP or other issues.
Also when you installed FCP-7 did you ever do a software update?.
I still maintain you got some sort of file issue or a video clip issue.
 
I teach FCP and FCPX.
When the students are having problems at school on the iMacs, first thing I check is the project settings.
In the past, I would provide a DVD with NTSC footage.
But when FCP started defaulting to ProRes and HDV formats, it caused an issue where the DV-NTSC material is constantly up-scaled and the flag is the red line.
Presently we are on FCPX so this issue is somewhat moot...for now.
 
If you have the time and for comparison sake, download a trial copy of FCP X and do a trial edit. Just make sure your video has been transcoded into a proper edit format like ProRes. I kinda get the idea that you don't like to do that, but do so anyway. My 8 core MP can handle multiple layers of ProRes, but has heartburn with most video shot on a DSLR, for example. Just transcode it at night before you go to bed.

Also, I missed any reference as to the type of external HD you are using as well as the speed of the HD. For example, if you are trying to edit native DSLR footage from a 5400 RPM HD that has a small cache and connected via the USB port on the keyboard, you will have issues.:rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back