roelandvdv
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Unable to play back any clip in FCPX on Macbook Pro

For some reason, I get the beachball and "Application not responding" when I try to play back any clip.  Any clip, any time...

 

My clips are .mov files coming from a Nikon D7000 dslr, 1080p @ 24fps, stored on internal hdd in which I have 90Gb free space.  I tried with clips from a jvc camera as well, with the same problem.  I intstalled FCPX, created a new event and a new project.  I tried several imports for the files:  both with and without creating optimized media and proxy.  I even tried with a 1 second clip, which didn't work in either case.  I have also tried setting playback options to both "play original media" and "play proxy".  No difference.  Background processes show 100% complete and no other apps running.  I tried importing with and without copying to Final Cut Events folder.  No difference.  Same for having the files on both internal or external drives.  I'm new to video, so probably I'm doing something wrong, if only I knew...  To be complete:  I also tried the project properties on automatic and manual settings (1080p 24fps and stereo audio).  According to some articles I read, I also tried setting audio to dual mono iso stereo but to no avail.  I am running Lion latest version and have done all software updates.  Also discarded the FCPX app and downloaded and installed again.  No help there.  4Gb of RAM on a mid 2010 Macbook Pro.  On my iMac of 4 months it runs perfectly, but need it on the MBP.  I'm willing to believe that with bare minimum VRAM (256Mb) it will run slow, but not playing at all???  The same clips play nicely in Quicktime.  I can skim through the clips in timeline and I here the audio in accordance.  Filmstrip in timeline shows up correctly but nothing in viewer.  Sometimes I get a black rectangle in the viewer on top of the dark grey background, but anyway as soon as I hit space, the app gives me spinning beachball and "not responding" in the dock....  It recovers after several minutes, but no playback... Geforce GT 330M graphics.

 

I hope anyone has some insights...

MacBook Pro, iOS 5.0.1

Posted on Feb 22, 2012 2:05 AM

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roelandvdv

Q: Unable to play back any clip in FCPX on Macbook Pro

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Feb 22, 2012 3:07 AM in response to roelandvdv
    Level 10 (118,448 points)
    Apple TV
    Feb 22, 2012 3:07 AM in response to roelandvdv

    Open one of the files in the QuickTime player and report or post a screenshot of the movie inspector.

     

    Unfortunateky there is zero I mean absolutely no useful information on the Nikon web site about what this camera shoots aside from its frame size, which is just pathetic.

  • by roelandvdv,

    roelandvdv roelandvdv Feb 22, 2012 4:05 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 22, 2012 4:05 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Hey,

     

    Here is the info from the movie inspector:

     

    Format:  H264, 1920x1080 Linear PCM, 16-bit little-endian signed integer, 2 channels, 48000Hz

    FPS: 23.98

    Data Size: 129.9Mb

     

    Another clip from a jvc camera (clips not playing in FCPX either) reads following in movie inspector:

     

    Format:  XDCAM EX 1080i50 (35 Mb/s VBR), 1920 x 1080 (1888 x 1062) Linear PCM, 16-bit big-endian signed integer, 2 channels, 48000Hz

    FPS: 25

    Data Size: 128.3Mb

     

    Thanks for the feedback!

  • by Hisham,

    Hisham Hisham Feb 22, 2012 5:00 AM in response to roelandvdv
    Level 2 (440 points)
    Feb 22, 2012 5:00 AM in response to roelandvdv

    If everything is fine on your iMac but not on your MacBook, then the issue may not relate to the format you are shooting in. The minimum system requirements as per Apple are:

    • Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better.
    • 2GB of RAM (4GB of RAM recommended).
    • OpenCL-capable graphics card or Intel HD Graphics 3000 or later.
    • 256MB of VRAM (512MB of VRAM recommended).
    • Display with 1280-by-768 resolution or higher.
    • OS X v10.6.8 or OS X v10.7.2 or later (OS X v10.7.2 or later for broadcast monitoring).
    • 2.4GB of disk space.

    Hope that helps.

  • by roelandvdv,

    roelandvdv roelandvdv Feb 22, 2012 5:05 AM in response to Hisham
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 22, 2012 5:05 AM in response to Hisham

    Hey,

     

    Thanks for the reply.  I'm sure it is a problem with the laptop and not with the format in itself.  From the apple site, these are the compatible graphics cards:

     

    The following AMD, ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards support OpenCL in Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard and in OS X Lion:

    NVIDIA

    • GeForce 320M
    • GeForce GT 330M
    • ...

     

    I have the GT 330M so that should be ok...

     

    Thnx anyway