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Q: Final Cut Pro X exports video clip as black

Hi Everyone,

 

I have a big problem, I'm trying to export a project with many HD clips, the first of which is the only one being shot as AVCHD on a Sony DSLR and converted to .mov by Voltaic HD because otherwise I can't import it in Final Cut Pro X. The rest of the clips are directly imported from another camera, no conversion.

 

The first clip (the one I had to convert) plays and gets edited fine within FCPX, but after I export the whole project, all the part that had that clip is just black picture with no sound. My titles, photos in the meantime are still there, but otherwise all black until the next clips show up.

 

The sources clips are hd1080p but I'm trying to export the project as 720p. My FCPX version is 10.0.9. I've edited videos from the same source and conversion before and never had this problem.

 

So now I just took the same single clip into a new project and exported it at 720p and there it just works fine ... Arrrghh!! How can I fix this?

Final Cut Pro X, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Oct 15, 2013 4:10 AM

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Q: Final Cut Pro X exports video clip as black

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  • by innocentius,

    innocentius innocentius Oct 15, 2013 4:15 AM in response to EditenFest
    Level 4 (1,885 points)
    Oct 15, 2013 4:15 AM in response to EditenFest

    The old trix: Delete preferences first: http://www.digitalrebellion.com/prefman/    free tool

  • by Luis Sequeira1,Solvedanswer

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 Oct 15, 2013 5:25 AM in response to EditenFest
    Level 6 (12,092 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 15, 2013 5:25 AM in response to EditenFest

    If the clip is fine in another project, it looks like something got corrupted in the project, not the clip itself.

     

    Delete project render files and try again.

    If it still doesn't work, try selecting all in the project, copy; create a completely new project; paste.

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Oct 15, 2013 5:28 AM in response to EditenFest
    Level 7 (21,800 points)
    Quicktime
    Oct 15, 2013 5:28 AM in response to EditenFest

    If resetting your preferences doesn't fix things, in the Finder, open the converted clip in Quick Time Player, hit command-i to bring up the movie inspector, Take a screen shot of what the inspector reports.

     

    BTW, FCPX can edit AVCHD without the need to use a third party conversion app. You need to preserve the original card structure.

     

    Russ

  • by EditenFest,

    EditenFest EditenFest Oct 15, 2013 12:19 PM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    Oct 15, 2013 12:19 PM in response to Russ H

    No, FCPX can't import AVCHD recorded by a Sony DSLR Camera. The *.MTS files are greyed out in the import dialog box and I'm obliged to convert them using Voltaic HD (which must run on an unencrypted hard drive or it will crash).

     

    s.jpg

  • by EditenFest,

    EditenFest EditenFest Oct 15, 2013 12:20 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    Oct 15, 2013 12:20 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

    Trying this now... Will take a while...

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Oct 15, 2013 12:36 PM in response to EditenFest
    Level 10 (118,222 points)
    Apple TV
    Oct 15, 2013 12:36 PM in response to EditenFest

    This isn't right. First, Voltaic shouldn't be used for this.

     

    Normally FCP will import AVCHD directly if the media is handled correctly.

     

    What camera exactly are you talking about? How have you tried to import? From an archive? From the card? What do you see in the sidebar of the import window? Post a screen shot of that.

  • by Ted Todorov,

    Ted Todorov Ted Todorov Oct 15, 2013 7:46 PM in response to EditenFest
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 15, 2013 7:46 PM in response to EditenFest

    I am having an almost identical problem:

     

    Trying to export (doesn’t matter to what: Master File, Apple Device, etc. all lead to the same result) the project I am working on is producing a black screen with no audio (for the length of the project) – only the start and end titles get rendered.

    The project plays fine in FCP X 10.0.9; the initial screen on the export dialog produces a correct looking screenshot (with both the picture and title visible), and predicts realistic sizes for the export file, which ends up being tiny by comparison.

    Other projects with a similar workflow are exporting fine: basically I have shot a couple of concerts, and each project is one song with start and end credits and some color correction, stabilization, etc.

     

    The source was 1080P video from a Canon SLR 5D Mark III, and it is being exported to 1080P -- however, I don't think that's relevant, because video from the same source to the same export files worked fine before - FCP X can obviously handle the format involved.

     

    I tried deleting the FCP X preferences -- didn’t help. I had already tried deleting the render files.

     

    Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Oct 16, 2013 5:43 AM in response to Ted Todorov
    Level 7 (21,800 points)
    Quicktime
    Oct 16, 2013 5:43 AM in response to Ted Todorov

    I assume you did not use a third party app to re-wrap or convert any of your footage – correct?

     

    Are you using synced clips and if so, how were they synced? Any compound clips within compound clips?

     

    Are you working natively or did you transcode?

     

    Russ

  • by Ted Todorov,

    Ted Todorov Ted Todorov Oct 16, 2013 8:12 AM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 16, 2013 8:12 AM in response to Russ H

    Russ H wrote:

     

    I assume you did not use a third party app to re-wrap or convert any of your footage – correct?

     

    Are you using synced clips and if so, how were they synced? Any compound clips within compound clips?

     

    Are you working natively or did you transcode?

     

    Russ

     

    1) Correct.

     

    2) No

     

    3) Natively

     

    It couldn't be simpler - just one clip, trimmed it slightly, did stabilaztion and color correction, added overlaid titles to the begining and end.

     

    Here is an example of a project that rendered successfully with the nearly identical workflow: it was a single clip from a multi clip event, same camera, same format, single clip project.  The only difference I can think of was that I didn't do color correction or stabilization and used different title templates.

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgI_1paIm28

  • by Ted Todorov,

    Ted Todorov Ted Todorov Oct 16, 2013 7:27 PM in response to Ted Todorov
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 16, 2013 7:27 PM in response to Ted Todorov

    So I redid everything from scratch -- imported from the Original Media folder, into a new event, created a new project, redid much of the same editing steps, an hit export with the same sad result.

     

    However this time I noticed something probably crucial: the render stuck at 0% -- if it never renders it would explain why the video/audio doesn't end up in the export. 

     

    Trying to pause/un-pause/cancel/render all/render selection all does nothing -- the Backround Processes window remains as shown.

     

    Any ideas?

     

    FCP background tasks.png

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Oct 16, 2013 7:33 PM in response to Ted Todorov
    Level 7 (21,800 points)
    Quicktime
    Oct 16, 2013 7:33 PM in response to Ted Todorov

    Try turning off background rendering. Delete project and event render files. Select a short range in your timelines. Export as a Pro Res master file without manually rendering.

     

    Russ

  • by EditenFest,

    EditenFest EditenFest Oct 17, 2013 4:26 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    Oct 17, 2013 4:26 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

    So, as Luis suggested, I selected all the project, pasted it into a new project. I also replaced the first clip with the freshly imported version that exported correctly. Then I exported before all the editing rendering completed.

     

    Thanks!

  • by EditenFest,

    EditenFest EditenFest Oct 17, 2013 4:26 AM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    Oct 17, 2013 4:26 AM in response to Russ H

    Must export as 264 for Youtube

  • by EditenFest,

    EditenFest EditenFest Oct 17, 2013 4:27 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    Oct 17, 2013 4:27 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Usually I take the STREAM files directly from inside the camera card's avchd package, but next time I will try to import directly from the camera.

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