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noob final cut pro problem

jetjaguar

jetjaguar

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 6, 2009
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somewhere
i have about 7 clips in sd .. each clip is only about 1-3 seconds long .. its a project for school ..

so i boot up final cut pro .. the files are in the final cut pro documents folder on my scratch disk .. so i go into final cut .. and go to file - import and i import the files .. but when i go to play then in final cut all i get is a white screen .. i see the bar in the viewer moving but its just white .. i need to edit these clips but i cant get them into final cut to see them ..

when they are in the browser window .. it says the in and out arent set ..
im so lost .. pls help :confused::eek:
 
What kind of video clips are they? (avi, mov, mp4, etc...)

If there showing up as white, odds are you need to load the correct codec.

For windows based files download: www.flip4mac.com - flip4mac

For transcoding footage to another format try: http://www.squared5.com - MPEG StreamClip

Where did you get the files from? (camera, download, etc...)
 
They were given to me by the teacher .. They play in QuickTime
on my mac ... The files are sd
 
Do you have or can you post a clip online so we can help investigate? Normally if they play in Quicktime they should edit in FCE or FCP since there quicktime based. Wondering if there in some final codec that's not typically edited in Final Cut.

Try the MPEG StreamClip and flipping them to a native quicktime codec.
 
what site should i up to ?? after doing a get info on the file .. it says DVC-PAL

is there anything special i need to do in Final Cut Pro ??
i just opened it up .. selected import folder .. with the files in there
i try and double click .. and its just a white screen
do i need to set the timecode ? set a in and out ?
 
There's nothing special you should normally do. Probably there are some codecs missing. Try installing perian.

You don't need to set the in and out points. When you don't set them in and out will just be the beginning and the end. So it's not that.

I gues it's neither timecode.

Do as all the others suggested; convert it into another file. If quicktime does play it without problem, try to export it to a quicktime movie. (yes, it's already a quicktime movie, but it will be another codec). Or try any of the other options suggested.
 
Well no Luck .. Professor said it should work without doing
anything special... I installed the extra codecs and still no go ...
I'm completely lost and I don't wanna do this project I. S bool
on their ancient non intel iMacs
 
Assuming you have all the CODECS you need, try checking the settings in your Viewer window. There are 3 buttons in the window - one which toggles the scale of the clip, one for Playhead Sync settings and the third which toggles image overlays etc. Check this one - it sounds like you have it set to show Alpha layer, not RGB.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.
 
Hey,
Just A Couple Of Thoughts On This.
Is FCP Yours Or Belonging To Someone Else In The Family?
Somethimes The Software Is Setup For Different Formats Or File Types.
This Can Be Easily Identified When You Start Importing The Clips Into The Timeline, It Would Pop Up With The Message Asking If You Want To Convert The Sequence To Match The Clip Settings. Always Answer YES To This, Unless You Actually Want The End Product To Be Different To The Original Clips.

Another Thing You Can Try Is Rendering The Clips - Depending On The Age Of Your May It May NOT Be Able To Play SD Clips In Realtime.
On A Side Note, SD Is Quite Meaningless In Terms Of FCP CODECS, As A Lot Of Them Can Be Made To Run In Different Resolutions, SD Included.

There Are So Many Possibilities As To Why They Are Not Playing Properly, Its Difficult To Ascertain A Solution. As I Mentioned Before, It Could Be The Way Your System is Set Up, Or Some Other Trivial Thing.

One Thing You Could Try Is Going To EASY SETUPs From The File Menu And Change The Setting To "DVC-Pal" ie Match Your Source Footage Format.
Hmmm...Shouldn't That Be DV-PAL? I'm Not 100 Percent Sure, But I Don't Recall A CODEC Shorthand Called DVC Pal; DVC Pro And All That Sure, But Not DVC PAL.

Barney
 
thanks guys for all the suggestions .. im going to try it out later on tonite and i will report back :)
 
Can you try and see if this happens with other clips as well? If so, then the viewer settings must have been tampered with. Make sure you have RGB selected where indicated and not Alpha. (access this by clicking on the upper right button of the viewer)

Edit: As Leddy apparently had already suggested.
 
i only have the 10 clips i was given .. they all work in Imovie .. and quicktime .. but in FCP .. still only a white screen .. I checked and RGB is selected .. I even tried switching it to alpha and some others and no go .. im so frustrated
 
ok well i imported one of the clips .. but i selected alpha+rgb .. when i do this .. if i press play its all white .. but if i pause it .. and manually slide the bar i can see the footage even though its tinted red ..

im so lost .. im seriously hating fcp right now .. even though im sure its my fault ..
 
jetjaguar said:
...if i press play its all white .. but if i pause it .. and manually slide the bar i can see the footage even though its tinted red ..
...
Click to expand...

Ahh, I See You MAY Have Pressed A Stray Key Somewhere, And Activated One Of The Systems Shortcuts ( See Point Two Below )

Damm, I Wish I Was In Front Of My Terminal Now - I've Been Off Sick For Two Months And Only Have My Air In Front Of Me - No Chance Of A FCP Pro Installation To Help You Out There My Friend.

The Only Things i Can Think Of For The Red Overlays Are :

1. Rendering, Rendering, Rendering....: When The Viewer Shows The Single Frames But Not The Playback, It Is Usually Down To Your Computer Not Having Enough Power To PlayBack The Media File In RealTime. Try Dragging The Clips To The TimeLine Sequence And Rendering The Clip.

2. You've Got RealTime Rendering Turned Off. Try Pressing The Caps Lock Key.

Sorry, But This Is All I Can Offer From Here.

Barney

Ps. You Never Did State If The Software Owner Is Another Family Member - Knowing That Persons Work Target Audience Would Greatly Help In Determining The Cause Of The Problem.
eg If They Work In Film / TV Their Default Background Would Be Black ( Although We Do Have Some Radicals Who Employ Various Other "New Fangled" Colours... I've Seen Purple Used In My Time......)
Or If They Work In Internet / WebTV Their Default Background Colour Would Be White, Which Would Explain Why You Are Seeing a White Backdrop When Most Other People See Black. :D

Speaking Of Which You Could Do A FCP Systems Reset. The First Thing Any Young Editor Should Know Is How To Trash Your Prefs Files. Directly Quoted From The Help Files :

1. In the Finder, go to ~/Library/Preferences—the tilde (~) represents your Home folder.
2. Remove the "com.apple.finalcutpro.plist" file from the Preferences folder.
3. Remove the "Final Cut Pro User Data" folder from the Preferences folder.
 
Sounds like you need to switch off Alpha Channel

in the viewer drop down menu, switch to RGB from Alpha
feel free to call me...
Claude Shires
310-948-0283
 
CWS715 said:
in the viewer drop down menu, switch to RGB from Alpha
feel free to call me...
Claude Shires
310-948-0283
Click to expand...

both are on RGB .. no go .. i know its something simple .. according to my professor .. works fine on fcp 6 .. and he tested on fcp 7 at home .. no problems as well ..

im just gonna watch the clips at home .. mark em on a piece of paper and then cut them on the school old imacs

btw .. my system is more than capable
 
i think i figured it out guys
on my mbp i aways run it with the basic gpu not the dedicated one ..
so for the hell it .. i switched to the better graphics card and now it plays
in final cut :rolleyes:
 
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