FCP 7 "Responsiveness" at DVinfo.net

Reed Gidez · March 10th, 2011, 08:53 AM

I have a somewhat perplexing issue with FCP 7.0.3.

When I click on any of the items in the top menu bar, there is a LONG pause before the program responds. Likewise, when I am cutting between cams in a multicam edit, there is a bit of a delay when the chosen angle kicks in. It show up correctly in the timeline but I am not seeing in the preview as it happens.

Things used to work smoothly. I have trashed my preferences and the situation remains the same. I have also created another user account and run FCP in that account and all seems OK so I suspect some hidden preferences are corrupt or perhaps preferences from a plug-in?

Has anyone experienced this or heard of this? Any suggestions?

I am running a Mac Pro 2x 2.8 GHz quad core Intel Xeon with 16 GB memory. Capture and render is NOT on the system drive.

Thanks

Reed

Battle Vaughan · March 10th, 2011, 12:09 PM

I have experienced that kind of thing when the hard disk that holds the files gets pretty full....if you have 10% or less of the disk space available, FCP goes wonky. A badly fragmented disk might, I conjecture, cause problems as well.

Reed Gidez · March 10th, 2011, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Battle Vaughan

I have experienced that kind of thing when the hard disk that holds the files gets pretty full....if you have 10% or less of the disk space available, FCP goes wonky. A badly fragmented disk might, I conjecture, cause problems as well.

My hard drive is not even at 50%. I did speak with a tech at Apple (not a FCP specialist) who suggested I trash my cache folders. Did that and still this annoying sluggishness. It only seems to happen with FCP and only when logged in to my main user account. I may end up creating a new user and restore personal folders to that new user. Just don't want to go that route if I don't have to.

I even ran FCS maintenance through its paces and still no relief.

Reed Gidez · March 11th, 2011, 09:23 PM

A call in to Apple resulted only in instructions to delete my cache files. This did not help.

I also purchased FCS maintenance pack from Digital Rebellion. Lots of great little routines but not sure that it helped. I did use the uninstall routines to remove FCP and reinstall but that did not help. Didn't make matters worse but I was back at square one. I then decided to run the disk utility from the Snow Leopard install disk and lo and behold, problems with permissions were uncovered and repaired and now everything is back to being quite zippy.

Not sure why Apple did not suggest this but all is well. Guess that's where I should have started looking!

Mitchell Lewis · March 15th, 2011, 07:57 AM

Have you tried setting the items in your RT menu to Dynamic and Unlimited RT? The RT menu is located at the top left corner of your timeline.

Reed Gidez · March 15th, 2011, 09:21 AM

Mitchell

I started with the 'usual suspects' including playing with RT settings, all to no avail. Trashed prefs, safe boot, etc.. Nothing worked. Even reinstalled FCP and the associated files (time consuming). Nothing made a dent.

Things have been rock-solid since this past friday with two multicam shows cut without any issues.

Repairing permissions solved the issues. Life is good again!

Mitchell Lewis · March 15th, 2011, 09:30 AM

Glad to hear you solved it. :)

David Chapman · April 15th, 2011, 12:12 AM

Next time, you can use Disk Utility in your Utilities Folder in Applications without the hassle of using your install disk. Generally, I'll run a permissions repaid after a system update or app updates, especially if an all is acting up. I now do it once a week. Not a items get repaired, but that's ok.

You can also reset your random access memory. Restart, hold down (when you hear the chime) cmd+option+p+r and keep holding. Your computer will restart. Release at the second chime.

These 2 things weekly have kept me running smooth for years. I still do an erase/install every year or so, especially when updating to a new OS.

Nigel Barker · April 15th, 2011, 01:58 AM

Verify & Repair Disk Permissions can be run on the system disk while the system is running as can Verify Disk but to run Repair Disk you need to boot off the install DVD or another system disk

Ed Roo · April 15th, 2011, 05:25 PM

Techtools Pro (MicroMat) and DiskWarrior (Alsoft) should be part of every Mac users toolkit.

Also, SpinRite (Gibson Research) should be used on all your hard disk drives (magnetic).
Run SpinRite on every new drive prior to installation then every three months as maintenance to keep your HDDs in top running order.

Robert Lane · April 20th, 2011, 08:57 PM

While fixing permissions can often clear up minor issues that cause slow-downs, I always - as in "you should do this before anything else" - get a copy of DiskWarrior from Alsoft and fix the directory. Do that *before* attempting to run a permissions fix on a system with deep slowdowns.

The reason for this is because a system that responds very slowly has a highly fragmented and/or unstable directory (think of it as a Mac version of the Windows registry). While a permissions and "repair disk" operations will address only surface issues, DiskWarrior addresses the entire directory and it's resource forks, the utilities in Disk Utility do not.

TechTool Pro does not address deep directory issues, only DiskWarrior is the specialist in this area.

NOTE: "SpinRite" is a Windows-only program and is NOT Mac compatible, nor can you boot to it on any Mac from a CD nor flash-drive.

March 10th, 2011, 08:53 AM	#1
Reed Gidez Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Oradell, New Jersey Posts: 283	FCP 7 "Responsiveness" I have a somewhat perplexing issue with FCP 7.0.3. When I click on any of the items in the top menu bar, there is a LONG pause before the program responds. Likewise, when I am cutting between cams in a multicam edit, there is a bit of a delay when the chosen angle kicks in. It show up correctly in the timeline but I am not seeing in the preview as it happens. Things used to work smoothly. I have trashed my preferences and the situation remains the same. I have also created another user account and run FCP in that account and all seems OK so I suspect some hidden preferences are corrupt or perhaps preferences from a plug-in? Has anyone experienced this or heard of this? Any suggestions? I am running a Mac Pro 2x 2.8 GHz quad core Intel Xeon with 16 GB memory. Capture and render is NOT on the system drive. Thanks Reed __________________ Reed Gidez

March 10th, 2011, 12:09 PM	#2
Battle Vaughan Trustee Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Miami, FL USA Posts: 1,505	Re: FCP 7 "Responsiveness" I have experienced that kind of thing when the hard disk that holds the files gets pretty full....if you have 10% or less of the disk space available, FCP goes wonky. A badly fragmented disk might, I conjecture, cause problems as well.

March 11th, 2011, 09:23 PM	#4
Reed Gidez Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Oradell, New Jersey Posts: 283	Re: FCP 7 "Responsiveness" - UPDATE A call in to Apple resulted only in instructions to delete my cache files. This did not help. I also purchased FCS maintenance pack from Digital Rebellion. Lots of great little routines but not sure that it helped. I did use the uninstall routines to remove FCP and reinstall but that did not help. Didn't make matters worse but I was back at square one. I then decided to run the disk utility from the Snow Leopard install disk and lo and behold, problems with permissions were uncovered and repaired and now everything is back to being quite zippy. Not sure why Apple did not suggest this but all is well. Guess that's where I should have started looking! __________________ Reed Gidez

March 15th, 2011, 07:57 AM	#5
Mitchell Lewis Trustee Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Kennewick, WA Posts: 1,124	Re: FCP 7 "Responsiveness" Have you tried setting the items in your RT menu to Dynamic and Unlimited RT? The RT menu is located at the top left corner of your timeline. __________________ Sony EX3, Canon 5D MkII, Chrosziel Matte Box, Sachtler tripod, Steadicam Flyer, Mac Pro, Apple/Adobe software - 20 years as a local videographer/editor

March 15th, 2011, 09:21 AM	#6
Reed Gidez Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Oradell, New Jersey Posts: 283	Re: FCP 7 "Responsiveness" Mitchell I started with the 'usual suspects' including playing with RT settings, all to no avail. Trashed prefs, safe boot, etc.. Nothing worked. Even reinstalled FCP and the associated files (time consuming). Nothing made a dent. Things have been rock-solid since this past friday with two multicam shows cut without any issues. Repairing permissions solved the issues. Life is good again! __________________ Reed Gidez

March 15th, 2011, 09:30 AM	#7
Mitchell Lewis Trustee Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Kennewick, WA Posts: 1,124	Re: FCP 7 "Responsiveness" Glad to hear you solved it. :) __________________ Sony EX3, Canon 5D MkII, Chrosziel Matte Box, Sachtler tripod, Steadicam Flyer, Mac Pro, Apple/Adobe software - 20 years as a local videographer/editor

April 15th, 2011, 12:12 AM	#8
David Chapman Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 346	Re: FCP 7 "Responsiveness" Next time, you can use Disk Utility in your Utilities Folder in Applications without the hassle of using your install disk. Generally, I'll run a permissions repaid after a system update or app updates, especially if an all is acting up. I now do it once a week. Not a items get repaired, but that's ok. You can also reset your random access memory. Restart, hold down (when you hear the chime) cmd+option+p+r and keep holding. Your computer will restart. Release at the second chime. These 2 things weekly have kept me running smooth for years. I still do an erase/install every year or so, especially when updating to a new OS. __________________ David Chapman www.davechapfilms.com

April 15th, 2011, 01:58 AM	#9
Nigel Barker Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK Posts: 3,531	Re: FCP 7 "Responsiveness" Verify & Repair Disk Permissions can be run on the system disk while the system is running as can Verify Disk but to run Repair Disk you need to boot off the install DVD or another system disk

April 15th, 2011, 05:25 PM	#10
Ed Roo Major Player Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Columbus USA Posts: 312	Re: FCP 7 "Responsiveness" Techtools Pro (MicroMat) and DiskWarrior (Alsoft) should be part of every Mac users toolkit. Also, SpinRite (Gibson Research) should be used on all your hard disk drives (magnetic). Run SpinRite on every new drive prior to installation then every three months as maintenance to keep your HDDs in top running order.

April 20th, 2011, 08:57 PM	#11
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ USA Posts: 2,823 Images: 15	Re: FCP 7 "Responsiveness" While fixing permissions can often clear up minor issues that cause slow-downs, I always - as in "you should do this before anything else" - get a copy of DiskWarrior from Alsoft and fix the directory. Do that before attempting to run a permissions fix on a system with deep slowdowns. The reason for this is because a system that responds very slowly has a highly fragmented and/or unstable directory (think of it as a Mac version of the Windows registry). While a permissions and "repair disk" operations will address only surface issues, DiskWarrior addresses the entire directory and it's resource forks, the utilities in Disk Utility do not. TechTool Pro does not address deep directory issues, only DiskWarrior is the specialist in this area. NOTE: "SpinRite" is a Windows-only program and is NOT Mac compatible, nor can you boot to it on any Mac from a CD nor flash-drive.