Constant Export Errors with Final Cut

Two places to (double) check that background rendering and/or optimization is disabled:

Settings > Playback > Background render

and

Settings > Playback > Create optimized media for multicam clips

I've been getting some export errors from Compressor lately, something like "Failed: 2x job controller down" which I'm beginning is think is a new bug inside Compressor or from the job that FCP sends to it, however with FCP exports, in my experience, frame and pixel buffer errors seem to be related to external drives and their cables.

I can usually eliminate the error and get a full export (If i'm seeing an error like this exporting directly from FCP) by swapping out cables and exporting to a drive that's different from the one that the library is on. It's all a bit of old school SCSI voodoo though.

Thanks.

A few more things:

a) when the application crashes or misbehaves, it is a good idea to delete its preferences.

To delete preferences, hold down command and option while starting FCP X and click Delete Preferences. The application will start in a default state, and open an "Untitled" library. Reopen the library you were working on, set the preferences the way you like them, and try again.

b) There could be other software on the machine and not playing nice with FCP. This is particularly likely if you have any antivirus or cleaners, Chrome (a usual suspect). Also if you migrated stuff from an older mac there may be old software that does not work nicely in a newer OS and a different architecture.

If you'd like us to take a look to see if we find any know issues: Please run Etrecheck and post its full report here. Use the "additional text" button and paste the report into the text box.

You still have stuff from Chrome:

[Loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (Google LLC - installed 2023-10-01)

Executable: /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/MacOS/GoogleSoftwareUpdateDaemon

[Loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google LLC - installed 2023-09-30)

Command: /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent -runMode ifneeded

You have Flash (?!) I can't imagine why you'd install this in 2023. AFAICT it does not work, and has not in quite some time now.

Flash Player (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2023-09-30)

Two of your 2TB external drives are essentially full. This can cause problems - especially if that is where you have your media, or are exporting to.

You have a huge number of audio plug-ins. Now these usually cause problems on FCP startup, but there is a chance that some may be old and incompatible.

If FCP is complaining about corrupted frames, in addition to the always excellent advice from Luis, I would disable Background rendering in FCP preferences, then delete the render cache. To delete the render cache, select the library in the FCP browser, choose File->Delete Generated Library Files... Choose All Render files. Manage render files in Final Cut Pro for Mac - Apple Support 

To completely remove Chrome and the keystone cruft (simply trashing the app is not enough), follow the instructions at https://chromeisbad.com and then you'll need to reinstall FCP from the App Store.

Please tell us more about your OS version, FCP version, what type of media...

You can test by marking an In and Out point in the timeline to export only that range. Try for example a 5-minute range. Does it work?

What drive contains your media? To what drive are you exporting? How much free space?

You may want to export an XML of the project as a just-in-case backup, backup.

Highlight the library in FCP, then File > Export XML... and for important projects I export both a 1.11 and a 1.10 version because I never know who needs what version when we go back and forth.

Chrome is known to wreak havoc on professional applications due to its “keystone” daemons. They grab system resources, hog the system videotoolbox and cause multiple failures.

There is also the possibility that other stuff migrated from a previous mac and probably previous OS versions too may cause problems in the new one. This is why I and others recommend to only migrate the user accounts and nothing else when going to a new mac.

It doesn't make sense that you've disabled Background rendering but you're saying it's still rendering. When you delete FCP prefs, it sets them to default settings which have Background rendering enabled. Are you sure Background rendering isn't enabled?

I missed that you're running the Trial. I don't know if there will be a problem trying to re-download this trial version. Maybe someone else with more knowledge about that will chime in.

Please post a new Etrecheck report so we can be sure that all the Google stuff has really been removed.

You're welcome and glad it's working. The google keystone software can break the Mac's video toolbox so that was the most likely culprit. If it happens again, share a fresh Etrecheck report and provide the exact footage specs (camera, codec, frame rate, frame size, etc.), and the project specs.

Can you post a screenshot of the error message?

What is the total time of the timeline?

There was a case where an error occurred when exporting a long project in the Japanese FCP community. There are many similar cases in the American FCP community as well. *Using translation function

⚫︎FCP community Japan

"Error -536870181" occurs and cannot be exported

FCP libraries are separate from the application, so no risk of losing work. That said, there were/are? some bad plugin makers that installed into the application, so if you have one of those, you'd need to reinstall that plugin.