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Banding in FCP 7 with Mountain Lion ...

Anyone know of a fix?

While the programs still work fine, one fundamental change that Apple has made in Mountain Lion is to push more of the responsibility for displaying the image on the computer monitor to the GPU of the graphics card. Previously these responsibilities were shared with the CPU. Therefore, if you have an older graphics card (even if it is fully compatible with FCPX, as ours are), FCP6/7 has a difficult time playing back 1080 video in the Canvas window (at any size), without breaking up when there is some degree of movement in the video image.The screen cannot refresh quickly enough to draw the video image without showing horizontal banding and some minor digital garbage.

Rest assured that the render files are clean and the output file will be fine. Once exported, a self-contained .mov file will playback fine in Quicktime, showing no banding where there previously was banding when viewed in FCP. This is an issue with display only. If you can live with it, fine. But it is rather distracting while editing.

Can someone please address or advise??? I've tried on my brand new, just before they discontiued, 17 inch MacBook Pro as well and same EXACT issue.

Of course I can down grade to Snow Leopard, but are there any other workarounds? Like changing graphics card?

8-Core 3.0 GHz Intel Xeon MacPro, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Aug 30, 2012 9:13 PM

100 replies

Jul 18, 2013 10:03 AM in response to Scott Robert

Dont hold your breath... Apple wont waste time fixing this since they want you to buy Final Cut Pro X. Over 6000 views and NOT A PEEP from apple regarding this MASSIVE issue... -

ez0es

Level 1

0 points

Jul 18, 2013 8:56 PM in response to Christopher Sims

Any one have any luck?

APPLE PLEASE GIVE US A PATCH.

Jul 18, 2013 10:45 PM in response to ez0es

I emailed a few of the executives high up at Apple about this issue, not thinking of getting any responce what so ever ... got a telephone call the next day and said they are aware of the issue and offered up workarounds that I, and I'm sure all of us, have tried with no success.

It's a graphic card driver issue with the new operating system ... that's why you're seeing "graphic driver" fixes on every single new build of OSX ... but it's not fixing the issue and they know it.

Sad really .. seems easy enough to fix with a patch.

I've tried almost every single card on the market, same issues no matter the performance of the card. I did find that a Mac Mini using the Intel 4000 HD graphics card did not have any tearing at all. Strange ... because every iMac, Macbook Pro and Mac Pro I've tried has the tearing issue.

Apple did give me a direct line to call if the issue persists passed the new operating system updates, I'll give them a ring tomorrow and report back to the thread.

ez0es

Level 1

0 points

Jul 18, 2013 11:05 PM in response to Christopher Sims

Sad really.

We play so much for this technology. We deserve to have this fixed. Thanks for trying to fix the issue.

Jul 19, 2013 4:52 AM in response to ez0es

I felt the same way. Maybe it's time ot cut it loose. I've been using Premiere Pro CC since January and actually love it. It's actually evolving into a faster and better program than FCP7. Adobe has beenlistening to the creative community and FCP7 users in general and the recent updates, particularly this past months have addressed requests and issues by longtime FCP users. Very solid. The curve is nothing really..

Jul 19, 2013 9:12 AM in response to motionfoundry

I just got rid of the tearing by changing a video setting.

Go to to: View---> Video Playback ----> Cinema Desktop Preview - Full Screen

Then

View ----> External Video ------> All Frames

Seems like the scaling refresh rate is not working well. I hope this solves it since a real fix may never arise.

Jul 19, 2013 3:03 PM in response to Scott Robert

Left a voicemail then just got a call back from Apple. The lady from Apple said that the engineering team that is heading up the FCP department is aware of the issue and their solution would be to revert operating system back to Mtn. Lion to resolve the issue. Hmmmm. That's all I got.

Jul 19, 2013 4:40 PM in response to Christopher Sims

Sorry to say, they have no intention of fixing it. They've moved on. I'm using Mountain Lion and it is still happening. I know it's hard but I think we have to move on from FCP7.. it's over. Apple is only going to support OSX. I'm using PPro cc now and really like it.

ez0es

Level 1

0 points

Jul 19, 2013 11:53 PM in response to motionfoundry

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Well I guess I'll just have to deal with the banding....

Can't thye make a patch for the OSX to stop the banding sheeeeesh. its so annoying.

Jul 20, 2013 6:27 AM in response to motionfoundry

oops.. I meant FCPX

Jul 20, 2013 7:44 AM in response to motionfoundry

I, like most of us, have just continued to use FCP7 regardless of the banding. While it continues to happen, the amount at which it occurs really varies and I haven't been able to identity why. Like right now, for example, I'm working on a project that has little to no banding during playback. My workflow hasn't changed, so I don't understand why the banding would change either.

Is Apple's logic here that if they neglect to fix FCP7 that we'll switch to FCPX? Because the reality is neglecting to fix FCP7 just drives users to Premiere and AVID.

Jul 20, 2013 9:16 AM in response to behindTHEscenes5

To be completely honest, I transitioned to PPro in January and have been using it solely since about April. PPro CC is frankly now a much faster and more powerful piece of software than FCP7. Never thought I'd say that. But having the 64bit capabilities with a CUDA card is just great. The licensing is a great value now since you get 20+ programs with your subscription, AE, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, etc. Adobe has ****** off some old time Premiere Pro users because they have been listening and tweaking the new releases based on FCP7 users like us. I really like the program now and how it integrates with After Effects, Photoshop and SpeedGrade.

ez0es

Level 1

0 points

Jul 21, 2013 10:35 PM in response to motionfoundry

Has anyone down graded to snow leopard? has it worked? I am about to revert back to 10.6 if I can get a concensus that this soluation might work.

I am currently transitioning to Ppro, althought I don't really like it as of right now. You need a filter to crop? really adobe? lol

ez0es

Level 1

0 points

Jul 21, 2013 10:36 PM in response to Scott Robert

does that mean you are previwing all your footage full screen Scott?

Jul 21, 2013 11:19 PM in response to ez0es

Ez0Es,

Not all, just the sequence on the 2nd monitor. I don't have screen tearing at home with 10.7.5. At work on OS10.8, I just edit in full screen using dual monitor. Works fine.

Banding in FCP 7 with Mountain Lion ...