No video preview in iMovie/final cut pro

Hi,

As I envision your situation you are dragging a video clip into the timeline of an open iMovie project, and the clip imports so you can see it in the timeline, but nothing displays on the preview screen, even after selecting or trying to play the clip. Correct? Does the preview screen show black or show anything at all? Have you tried importing into a new and different project? In what video and audio format are these clips? Can photos be imported and displayed? Can you post a screen shot?

Odd that you get no preview in both iMovie and Final Cut Pro. I see that you are running Catalina. What version of iMovie are you running? If not the current version, then update to current and see if that cures the issue. If it is already the current version, try redownloading it from the purchases folder in the app store.

Since your computer is one thing that is common with both iMovie and Final Cut Pro try booting up in Safe Mode and, after everything loads, immediately shut down and reboot in normal mode. Then open iMovie and Final Cut Pro and see if the problem is resolved.

Often something like this can be cured by deleting preferences. However, since the problem is happening in two different apps, it might not work here. Still, it's worth a try since it is so simple to do. Open iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and selecting to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects. Now see if you get a display in your preview screen.

You can also try opening in a new library (hold down Option key while opening) and see if projects work there.

-- Rich

The Get Info screen shot that you posted shows that the clip is in iCloud drive. Try downloading the clip to your Mac or to the Photos app library, and then import the downloaded clip into iMovie.

-- Rich