Final Cut 4.5 HD Sluggish when moving clips in timeline at DVinfo.net

Jason Lyons · May 26th, 2004, 01:08 PM

Hi All,
Just wondered if anyone else has experienced sluggish performance when moving clips witthin the timeline? I noticed the sluggishness first when I opened a 4.1.x project in 4.5 - and it was really bad. Now all my projects are created in 4.5 and I still notice the problem within the timeline.

You would click on a clip want to drag it 2 sec to the right of left and you would get the colorful death wheel of time passing, then the clip would stutter & move and sorta land where ever then I would have to nudge and fiddle until the clip was finally in the right place. (I have been moving with greater success by simply keying in the amount of frames/seconds).

Anyone?

-Its not my CPU Dual 2GHz G5
-Its not my hard drives - Tekserve firewires (yes they are spun up when this occurs)

thanks
j

Jeff Donald · May 26th, 2004, 04:00 PM

Have you deleted FCP preferences and repaired permissions yet?

Jason Lyons · May 26th, 2004, 04:10 PM

No - its a fresh install
j

Glenn Chan · May 27th, 2004, 01:47 AM

What if you cut and paste instead?

Jeff Donald · May 27th, 2004, 05:31 AM

An install usually does not erase preference files.

Dave Perry · May 27th, 2004, 05:58 AM

Yes, I'm having the same problem. I started working for a new company yesterday and they have me working on a dual 2 gHz G5 with 2 gigs of ram so the machine is capable but my G3 iBook with FCX works faster!

I found a post on the Apple support forums that gives instructions for uninstalling FCP and reistalling to solve the problems. It also suggests doing an archive and install of Panther before reinstalling FCP.

Jason Lyons · May 29th, 2004, 11:44 AM

Well...the deleting preferences didn't work, repairing permissions didn't work, So its off to reinstall land. ARGH!

Can anyone out there verify that they are running a Dual 2GHz G5 & FCP 4.5 successfully with NO PAUSES WHILE DRAGGING CLIPS IN THE TIMELINE? I dont want to go through all of this only to find I need to go back to 4.1.1.

thanks
jason

Laurence Maher · June 4th, 2004, 06:53 AM

I'm considering FCP HD on a dual gig G5. You're having problems, huh? do yo think it's becasue it's new software so it has bugs?

Jeff Donald · June 4th, 2004, 12:07 PM

The dual G5 I use at one of the schools I teach at works fine with FCP HD. Have you looked at Apple's FCP support forums? How much ram do you have, how full are your drive(s)? Is FCP in the Applications folder? Are you widows (slug etc.) overlapping or sized to big?

Jason Lyons · June 23rd, 2004, 05:53 PM

Just to balance out my posting...The G5 Rocks with FCP 4.5 HD!!
My Dual 2GHz G5 has 1.5 GB RAM Plenty of space on the boot drive & reliable media drives. However, upon upgrading to 4.5 HD I have noticed several editors/systems experiencing a significant delay in timeline editing functions - an apparent software conflict. The problem might be noticed more in projects created in 4.1.1 or previous versions that are opened in 4.5. Sometimes it seems that new projects created in 4.5 are often fine and do not experience the timeline sluggishness. I have had some luck with some systems by simply deleting FCP's preferences. Others, like my main system, the only fix that would work was to reinstall the OS & FCP.

Rob Moreno · June 23rd, 2004, 07:12 PM

Jason, how many video tracks and edits does your project have? I've found that complex projects tend to slow down FCP, especially ones that have several layers of video, hundreds of edits and lots of filters on clips.

I posted to this forum on the same subject a while back. I think this link may take you there:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=328114&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending

Rob

Jason Lyons · June 24th, 2004, 06:40 AM

Thanks for the heads up Rob, but I am certain this is a FCP 4.5 HD problem when upgrading 4.1.1. To answer your question the sequences in question on several machines recently upgraded to 4.5 HD were all about 2 min in duration and had 2 video tracks & 4 audio tracks maximum.

Once again, the only remidies I have found to the sluggishness (moving clips & you get the beachball of death for no less than 10 seconds) found in the timeline after upgrading to FCP 4.5 HD are as follows:
1) Sometimes deleting FCP preferences works
2) Reinstalling OS 10.3.4 & FCP 4.5 always works.

(A hint: Go out and buy a new SATA internal drive, initialize and do a clean install of everything - its the fastest when in a time crunch and you dont have time to play the reinstall game on an existing drive)

later
jason

May 26th, 2004, 01:08 PM	#1
Jason Lyons New Boot Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Nashville, TN USA Posts: 8	Final Cut 4.5 HD Sluggish when moving clips in timeline Hi All, Just wondered if anyone else has experienced sluggish performance when moving clips witthin the timeline? I noticed the sluggishness first when I opened a 4.1.x project in 4.5 - and it was really bad. Now all my projects are created in 4.5 and I still notice the problem within the timeline. You would click on a clip want to drag it 2 sec to the right of left and you would get the colorful death wheel of time passing, then the clip would stutter & move and sorta land where ever then I would have to nudge and fiddle until the clip was finally in the right place. (I have been moving with greater success by simply keying in the amount of frames/seconds). Anyone? -Its not my CPU Dual 2GHz G5 -Its not my hard drives - Tekserve firewires (yes they are spun up when this occurs) thanks j __________________ Pax Christi

May 26th, 2004, 04:00 PM	#2
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	Have you deleted FCP preferences and repaired permissions yet? __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

May 26th, 2004, 04:10 PM	#3
Jason Lyons New Boot Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Nashville, TN USA Posts: 8	No - its a fresh install j __________________ Pax Christi

May 27th, 2004, 05:31 AM	#5
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	An install usually does not erase preference files. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

May 27th, 2004, 05:58 AM	#6
Dave Perry Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Roanoke, VA Posts: 796	Yes, I'm having the same problem. I started working for a new company yesterday and they have me working on a dual 2 gHz G5 with 2 gigs of ram so the machine is capable but my G3 iBook with FCX works faster! I found a post on the Apple support forums that gives instructions for uninstalling FCP and reistalling to solve the problems. It also suggests doing an archive and install of Panther before reinstalling FCP. __________________ Dave Perry Cinematographer LLC Director of Photography • Editor • Digital Film Production • 540.915.2752 • daveperry.net

May 27th, 2004, 01:47 AM	#4
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	What if you cut and paste instead?

May 29th, 2004, 11:44 AM	#7
Jason Lyons New Boot Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Nashville, TN USA Posts: 8	Well...the deleting preferences didn't work, repairing permissions didn't work, So its off to reinstall land. ARGH! Can anyone out there verify that they are running a Dual 2GHz G5 & FCP 4.5 successfully with NO PAUSES WHILE DRAGGING CLIPS IN THE TIMELINE? I dont want to go through all of this only to find I need to go back to 4.1.1. thanks jason __________________ Pax Christi

June 4th, 2004, 06:53 AM	#8
Laurence Maher Join Date: May 2004 Location: denton, texas, usa Posts: 416	I'm considering FCP HD on a dual gig G5. You're having problems, huh? do yo think it's becasue it's new software so it has bugs?

June 4th, 2004, 12:07 PM	#9
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	The dual G5 I use at one of the schools I teach at works fine with FCP HD. Have you looked at Apple's FCP support forums? How much ram do you have, how full are your drive(s)? Is FCP in the Applications folder? Are you widows (slug etc.) overlapping or sized to big? __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

June 23rd, 2004, 05:53 PM	#10
Jason Lyons New Boot Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Nashville, TN USA Posts: 8	Just to balance out my posting...The G5 Rocks with FCP 4.5 HD!! My Dual 2GHz G5 has 1.5 GB RAM Plenty of space on the boot drive & reliable media drives. However, upon upgrading to 4.5 HD I have noticed several editors/systems experiencing a significant delay in timeline editing functions - an apparent software conflict. The problem might be noticed more in projects created in 4.1.1 or previous versions that are opened in 4.5. Sometimes it seems that new projects created in 4.5 are often fine and do not experience the timeline sluggishness. I have had some luck with some systems by simply deleting FCP's preferences. Others, like my main system, the only fix that would work was to reinstall the OS & FCP. __________________ Pax Christi

June 23rd, 2004, 07:12 PM	#11
Rob Moreno Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Tokyo Posts: 102	Jason, how many video tracks and edits does your project have? I've found that complex projects tend to slow down FCP, especially ones that have several layers of video, hundreds of edits and lots of filters on clips. I posted to this forum on the same subject a while back. I think this link may take you there: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=328114&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending Rob __________________ Media Kobo Japan

June 24th, 2004, 06:40 AM	#12
Jason Lyons New Boot Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Nashville, TN USA Posts: 8	Thanks for the heads up Rob, but I am certain this is a FCP 4.5 HD problem when upgrading 4.1.1. To answer your question the sequences in question on several machines recently upgraded to 4.5 HD were all about 2 min in duration and had 2 video tracks & 4 audio tracks maximum. Once again, the only remidies I have found to the sluggishness (moving clips & you get the beachball of death for no less than 10 seconds) found in the timeline after upgrading to FCP 4.5 HD are as follows: 1) Sometimes deleting FCP preferences works 2) Reinstalling OS 10.3.4 & FCP 4.5 always works. (A hint: Go out and buy a new SATA internal drive, initialize and do a clean install of everything - its the fastest when in a time crunch and you dont have time to play the reinstall game on an existing drive) later jason __________________ Pax Christi