Movie not rendering in Final Cut Express.

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Movie not rendering in Final Cut Express.

I did a search for this question, found several people with the exact same problem, but none of the solutions worked for me.

I'm relatively new to this whole video editing thing, so please forgive my general ignorance on the topic.

I'll start from the beginning.

I'm working on a Mac G5 tower. (it's ancient, i know...but it still works and i'm unemployed & broke...hahaha. wait, that's not funny)

I have a DVD of my band performing that a friend shot. I ripped that using Handbrake set for the MPG-4 (FFmpg) codec. From that i got a giant .m4v file. I opened it in QuickTime Pro, cut out a few minute section, and exported it as a .mov file using the AIC codec. I imported that file into Final Cut Express with no problem. When i go to render it, the progress dialog box pops up for a split second and then disappears. This happens regardless of whether or not i have the movie selected in the timeline.

Under "sequence", everything in both the "render" and "render all" menu items are checked. In the upper left corner of the timeline, under that "RT" drop down menu, "Safe RT" is checked. I've tried to "reconnect media" by right clicking on the .mov file up in the browser area. None of these things have worked.

Does FCE not like the .mov file i imported? I'm going bananas trying to figure this one out.

Thanks!

Mac G5 -OTHER, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jun 29, 2012 9:05 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 29, 2012 2:13 PM in response to waysouthsubz

FCE 4 only works properly with DV and HDV (from mini-DV TAPES) together with AVCHD.

Nothing else will work properly.

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Answer 2

waysouthsubz Author

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Jun 29, 2012 2:44 PM in response to Ian R. Brown

Thanks for the response.

Is it possible to export or create a DV/HDV/AVCHD file from QuickTime? (again...sorry for my ignorance in these matters...i have almost no idea what i'm doing.)

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Answer 3

Jun 29, 2012 11:30 PM in response to waysouthsubz

Try exporting it as a QuickTime Movie and select DV.

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Answer 4

Jun 30, 2012 4:24 AM in response to waysouthsubz

>I have a DVD of my band performing that a friend shot. I ripped that using Handbrake set for the MPG-4 (FFmpg) codec

Handbrake is the worng application for your purposes here. It may be great for converting for viewing ... but not if you intend to edit.

Use MPEG Streamclip (freeware) along with the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component to convert the DVD's VOB files directly to QuickTime DV (not .dv). Here's a tutorial on how to use MPEG Streamclip: http://www.secondchairvideo.com/?p=739

You can also use DVDxDV to accomplish the same thing.

-DH

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Answer 5

waysouthsubz Author

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Jun 30, 2012 7:06 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

I selected "DV" for the export and it worked in terms of rendering, Ian. So i thank you for that suggestion. But i ended up having some other problems with the aspect ratio and just threw everything away & decided to start over.

This whole little project is turning into such a mess that it's sort of comical. LOL!

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Answer 6

waysouthsubz Author

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Jun 30, 2012 7:09 AM in response to David Harbsmeier

David Harbsmeier wrote:

Handbrake is the worng application for your purposes here. It may be great for converting for viewing ... but not if you intend to edit.

Use MPEG Streamclip (freeware) along with the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component to convert the DVD's VOB files directly to QuickTime DV (not .dv). Here's a tutorial on how to use MPEG Streamclip: http://www.secondchairvideo.com/?p=739

You can also use DVDxDV to accomplish the same thing.

-DH

Cool. I had a feeling that my initial DVD conversion was the root of my problems. Thanks David. I'm going to try this right now.

I'll keep you guys posted.

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Answer 7

waysouthsubz Author

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Jun 30, 2012 2:32 PM in response to waysouthsubz

Hey...

So David's solution worked. Thanks!

I thank both of you for your suggestions. Both were helpful & i appreciate your efforts.

Here is the final product. The aspect ratio is slightly off. Apparently the camera that captured the video films at a weird screen size (720X408) which made things a bit difficult.

I should mention that whole reason why i needed to deal with this in Final Cut was because the soundman recorded the audio for this performance, which came out really good. So i wanted to sync up that separate audio file to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XLskAArHnM&feature=plcp

THANKS!

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Answer 8

waysouthsubz Author

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Jun 30, 2012 2:34 PM in response to waysouthsubz

OH...btw, i'm the guy in the red plaid shirt on the left playing bass.

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