FCP Pro Error: Out of Memory!

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filmmaker77

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I have an eMAC 1.25 mhz, with 1 gig of memory, 10.3.9, running FCP HD 4.5. I am editing DV footage ( a film) and importing wav files for the audio for syncing. So far I've cut a 3 minute trailer. Everything seemed to run fine for weeks of cutting (importing 300 gigs full res footage) until I started to sync up the higher end, final audio, WAV files today. After a few hours of syncing the new audio, I went to add a new .wav clip and got an Out of Memory error. It would also make the Viewer screen disappear when I would click on the new clip in the bin. Not if I first clicked on the old clips, just the new ones, and it wouldn't come back. After lots of reboots, trashing prefs etc...all the usual fixes I am at a loss. I feel like I should have enough memory to edit a film as many others have on much slower systems. At least a 5 minute piece. Right? Anybody have this experience? My max memory is 1 gig for the eMAC.
 
1- Download "FCP Rescue", freeware, to trash your prefs (you won't get all the files manually).
2- Always use AIFF files with FCP.
3- Out Of Memory could mean, and usually does mean, lack of hard drive space. So, what size is your Scratch Disk, and how much space is available on it?

And for the record, 1 Gig is really the minimum RAM recommended for video editing.
 
Thank you for responding.

Sadly, my eMac has a 1 gig memory max. : (

I downloaded the FCP Rescue and ran it. It said it did what it should, but I didn't notice anything different.

Q: Are Aiffs smaller in size than .wavs?

3. I have an external 500 gig G-Tech HD, and 28 gigs left on my computer's HD.
The Scratch Disk is set to my (My G 500) for everything (waveform/Thumb/AutoSave) and has 154gigs remaining.
I have the Memory/Cache set to 100% (832MB)
Still cache 8% (55MB)

I just opened a brand new project file that has one tiny clip in the timeline, nothing else open, and the viewer screen still disappears when I try to edit the .wav sound clip and I get the OOM error. How can it be out of memory if it's only playing that one clip? I know I'm missing something.

How much memory would I save by importing the video at offline/low res quality instead?
 
filmmaker77 said:
Q: Are Aiffs smaller in size than .wavs?
Click to expand...

AIFF and WAV are both uncompressed PCM formats and other than a small difference in the size of the header and the MSB/LBS byte order, they are virtually identical in size.
 
All hard drives require a minimum 10-15% of the drive space remain free at all times. I think you may have passed, or are close to that limit. Clear up some space on that hard drive.

AIFF is a container that has 8 different compression schemes to pick from. File sizes can vary widely depending on the settings. But an AIFF and WAV with similar settings should be close.

FCP prefers Apple's AIFF format.
 
Which one?

Which one?

Clear up space on the external drive with all the footage, or the internal on my computer that had FCP on it?

And how does freeing up space on the HD relate to the out of memory error?

Thanks for all the help.
 
The OOM error could be lack of hard drive space, your hard drive is memory space. Free up space on the G-Tech, which I assume is your scratch drive. I think you're maxing out your system. That's just based on what info you've given, it could be an issue. Remember that a hard drive IS memory space. UNIX works on a virual memory basis, but way better than Windows or OS 9 used to do it. It's not something you can turn off, either. If you only have 28 Gigs left on a 500 Gig hard drive, that's really pushing your system.

I'd free up some space. Download and run the freeware application "Mac Janitor", run everything it does. Then run Disk Utility to repair the disk. Disk Warrior wouldn't be a bad idea either.

I run Disk Utility and Mac Janitor once a week. I run Disk Warrior once a month.
 
Man, I miss Disk Warrior.
Alsoft needs to get off their ass and get a Universal Binary out there.
 
I've got 33gigs (of 80 gigs) left on my computer (where FCP lives), and 250gigs left on my 500 gig drive.

I dumped about a hundred gigs of stuff from the external and it's all running a little better, but it still is giving me issues with the wavs. when I import some of them.
I converted some to Aiff but I'm concerned. Will I be sacrificing sound quality if I make aiff copies of the original wavs? It's for a feature and I need it to stay at the high quality of the original sound files.

Also, I can't seem to get Disk Utility to allow me to check/repair permissions on my external hard drive (it lets me check the internal however). The choice is grey and unclickable. That's not new. I haven't been able to since I bought the G Drive. Looked online for the reason, no luck. Hm. I feel like the external drive is probably fragmented and not using it's space efficiently.

Am I going to be in even more memory drain trouble when I add a second hard drive to the mix soon, or will it help if I am spreading the footage over multiple drives?

I know the REAL answer is a faster computer with 2 or more gigs of Ram, dual processor etc......it's just not in the cards right now and I need to figure out an efficient way to cut this film with the rig I have.
 
THX1138 said:
Man, I miss Disk Warrior.
Alsoft needs to get off their ass and get a Universal Binary out there.
Click to expand...

I bought the UB DiskWarrior just before christmas.


Veery nice to play funtime with -;)

Gunleik
 
Converting from WAV to AIFF won't hurt your sound at all. If Disk Utility won't let you repair an external drive, something's up. Do you have multiple users on this machine?

More hard drives won't "drain" anything, but give you more space. But I'm not sure you need it. I'd say convert those WAVs to AIFFs with the Batch Export feature.

Put all the WAV files into a Bin by themselves. Then add that Bin to the Batch Export. Set it to export them all as AIFFs that match the sound settings of your Sequence. I'm sure it'll help things out. And there won't be any sound degradation.

Just wondering how you ended up with WAV files rather than AIFF to start with? I'm just curious.
 
No multiple users, just me. No one seems to have any idea what's up. When I connected the HD for the first time it asked me ( I think ) Mac or PC to format and I chose Mac. Could be selective memory on that, but I know I didn't do anything special to it myself.

Why wavs? I've got a call in to my sound man on the wav v.s. aiff decision. I'm assuming he's used to working with wavs. And I've heard Avid doesn't have a preference and he's used to working that world.

I think I'm going to have to deal with the fact that my system is max'd and live within it's constraints. But I would like to be running what I DO HAVE as cleanly and efficiently as possible to get the most out of it.
 
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