FCPX clip drifts out of sync

THAT WORKS. So I kept trying to change the numerical duration and it kept not wanting to do it, but I had no idea you could drag the end of the retime bar AND THAT WORKED. with like 2 minutes of futzing back and forth the whole thing is now in near perfect sync at every point in the timeline. 24 hours of useless transcoding and importing later, this solution took 2 minutes. Thank you. Huzzah.

The file is an export from Wirecast.

Its 1080p ProRes422, 23.98fps, Linear PCM Audio at 48k. 1 channel of mono. It was exported as a single .mov file.

Its actually nearly two hours long. But it stays in perfect sync as a clip everywhere *except* in FCPX.

what other significant info would be helpful? As I mentioned, I'm playing the exact same clip in the Browser as I do in the QT player, so I just don't get what could be happening.

its perfectly in sync everywhere except FCPX, thats the problem. FCPX starts in sync and then slowly drifts out, even though in theory it is playing the exact same file.

There *is* a peculiar discrepancy, in that QT player sees this file as having a 23.94 framerate, and fcpx reads it as 23.98 (per the inspector) Such that the file in FCPX is 9 seconds shorter than the original (per both finder and QT player).

why that would be the case is beyond me, but that would be more than enough over two hours to make the difference.

Why is FCPX not seeing the proper framerate / duration of the clip? I mean, its an apple ProRes codec, not something esoteric.

I dont know what you mean by "stabilize the frame rate". It seems perfectly stable at 29.94. It plays perfectly and in perfect sync in every application except FCPX. 29.94 is not a common framerate, but its not totally bizarre, I seem to recall it being pretty common in the panasonic DVX workflow. I frankly dont know why it exported at this framerate, but what I don't understand is why FCPX doesnt SEE that framerate, when QT and Compressor both do, VLC does, even the finder Quicklook window stays in sync to the end. My actual pro editing app is the only one that can't.

In the FCPX Browser, the clip duration is reading as 9 seconds shorter than the clip actually is, and the framerate is reading as 29.98 instead of 29.94. Playback IN THE BROWSER, playing the same file, is several seconds out of sync by the end of the clip.

I did a re-import of the clip, this time "copying to library" to see if that would resolve anything. It did not. the clip in the library, when opened in QT, is in 23.94 and is 9 seconds longer than the Browser says it is. The clip in the library plays in perfect sync at every point in the clip in QT, but in Browser is way way off by the end. The clip in the library, in other words, is identical to the original, and misbehaves in fcpx exactly the same.

I also re-exported the clip from compressor, again in ProRes422. The framerate of that new clip reads 23.97 in QT and 23.98 in FCPX. Nonetheless, the difference in duration, and the drift in sync is exactly the same. no difference at all. As a matter of fact, FCPX is reading faulty information even *before* importing. In the Import Media window, the new clip reads the wrong duration, 9 seconds shorter than reality.

Nothing seems to help. I may just resort to frankensteining this sequence manually. But I just wish I understood the problem.

FCPX has usually been **** solid in handling media import.

I am doing another compressor export, this time reencoding the audio as AAC to see if that makes any difference. Frankly the clip duration is not important so long as its synced, but it does seem to be a symptom of something wrong.

I will update this post if I have any updates or results. I would appreciate any other advice on where this weird issue could reside.

I do not understand why you do not understand what I keep saying. THE CLIP IS OUT OF SYNC AT THE END ONLY INSIDE FCPX. Every transcode, every import, every version, plays perfectly in sync both at the beginning and at the end everywhere except FCPX where by the end it is way out of sync by several seconds. This is NOT in the timeline. This is in the Browser. This is even inside the import window. It is OUT OF SYNC AT THE END. This was in my OP and in every subsequent one and you keep asking me the same question, so I dont understand what part is not clear. It does not have a point at which it suddenly falls out of sync, it DRIFTS out slowly. How does this help? This is the entire problem. It plays perfectly well inside my other "actual pro editing app" Premiere. It shows the correct duration in Premiere also. Also shows up correctly and plays correctly in Compressor. FCPX is the only place this is being an issue.

as i pointed out, Linear PCM was the original and non-syncing audio source, which is why I'm trying other transcodes.

Is there any suggestion you have for fixing the problem? What are the possible changes I can do to get this to work?

As I have noted above, I HAVE TRANSCODED THIS MULTIPLE TIMES FROM COMPRESSOR.

I have used different codecs for both audio and video to no avail with the same result.

All the transcodes wind up working everywhere except FCPX. I now have a couple of other ones going with some other settings and also cutting it into two chunks. But I'm just doing random things to see if anything works. It just takes a long time with a 100+ minute clip.

Is there a specific thing I need to do in compressor to change the result? I keep doing this trial and error transcoding and reimporting and testing and I'm just asking is there something specific I should be looking at? Is there some best practice setting I should look at using? Is there anything in the FCPX import workflow that I can change?

My second question, in my OP was about retiming the audio track to conform, which I cannot seem to get to work either. I am guessing that maybe fcpx cannot retime something with such a small increment change? Or is there some better way? I have a sense that if I retimed the audio to be just 4 seconds shorter over the 100 minutes or so of the program, it would stay in sync, but I cant get that to happen in the retime window. Is there another way?

I feel this conversation has gotten oddly combative. I just want any advice or suggestions. I'm not here for an argument.

Trying to get this to work has been really frustrating as I have already tried all the normal things I would try, which is why I am here.

Also, compressor btw also plays the file in sync in its preview window all the way to the end. So I'm trying to just make a new copy of it with compressor and see what happens. this is bizarre.