FCP X Crashes - 2008 Macbook Pro

X

xocomil

Well-known member
Tried out the new FC X over the past few days on a short news story. SOme aspects enjoyable, some very frustrating. But unpopular as this might sound, I can see the potential.

However, as I progressed through the edit (2 minutes, basic color correction, main storyline + broll/sequences attached, vo, and some stills with Ken Burns) playback/editing started to stutter. Had a few crashes along the way as well. This rarely happened to me with FCP6 (same laptop).

So comp is 2008 17" Macbook Pro dual core 2 with 4 GB RAM and 2.5 GHz processor.

I somehow stupidly saved both my events and project onto my esata external HD, which I'm hoping was the issue. But I also was connected to a USB modem, which I've heard could slow FC X down.

Anyone have any advice?

Thanks.
 
Complex timelines ultimately bog down- depends on the specs. USB modem probably doesn't help but probably not a big difference either.

Noah
 
Having the event and project external is not a problem. I use a MBP late 2008 with 4GB RAM and on such small projects (less than 1500 clips) it performs ok. Crashes are seldom with me. They often involve graphics and waveforms/audio IMO. And espcially the waveforms have been an issue in FCP since version 1. I crsh FCP7 constantly with waveforms and thumnails turned on on big timelines.
 
alpi69 said:
Having the event and project external is not a problem. I use a MBP late 2008 with 4GB RAM and on such small projects (less than 1500 clips) it performs ok. Crashes are seldom with me. They often involve graphics and waveforms/audio IMO. And espcially the waveforms have been an issue in FCP since version 1. I crsh FCP7 constantly with waveforms and thumnails turned on on big timelines.
Click to expand...

Thanks both of you.

I wondered if the .jpegs caused the slowdown/crashes. I'll revisit the project, take out the still, turn off waveforms and eliminate as many of the graphical interface as possible. Might even disconnect from the internet as well. Then to add more clips and see what happens.

I hope stability will improve with next version. I had to add a LOT more clips to make FCP6 stutter on my laptop (and then like you said, turning off waveforms and thumbnails on timeline seemed to help).

Have you played with importing proxies to resolve crashes? Presume it's possible to reconnect to Prores clips on export?
 
I previously did all my editing on an early 2008 MBP and had no problems. Also used Esata drive and work fine, even with Lion (did have to reinstall esata drivers again for Lion install). Never using anything but the proxy for editing - your machine will grind to a halt otherwise. Not sure about the USB modem. I ran both events and project off external esata drive without problems, this is better than using your internal drive, much faster. She'll crash more than the old FCP but because of the auto save you'll not loose a lot of editing, in my experience anyway.
 
8GB RAM to be honest is what FCP X needs, especially for larger projects. It's 64-bit, so it's major RAM hungry these days. Graphics cards are a major factor too. The weaker, the more you'll notice bogging down. As for crashing, it does that to all of us. Waiting for a bug fix to correct that an several other bug issues. Using ProRes Proxies can improve performance on older Macs, too. Be sure you have both "Optimize Media" and "Create Proxies" checked on import. Then in the Preferences set playback to Proxy to edit with Proxies. Change it back to Original/Optimized in the preferences for full rez output. That's where you switch from proxy to full rez originals. It's that easy.

WARNING! If you switch playback in the prefs to Proxy, it is universal. Any and all Timelines (clip, compound, project) that do NOT have proxies created for them, will appear to go offline. Do not panic! When you switch the prefs back to play original media, they'll all come back online.

QUICK TIP: Conserve RAM and save time opening the Project Library by organizing your Projects into Folders, and keeping those folders CLOSED. Otherwise, when you access the Projects Library, all exposed Projects will take time loading up their data into RAM. If they are hidden inside of a folder, they don't do that.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Tabo and Ben. That is incredibly helpful advice, especially Ben's fool-proof (I hope) instructions.Will try it out and let you know if things improve dramatically.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top