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Q: QuickCluster doesn't appear in Compressor 3.5.3

I am having the following issue with Final Cut Pro 7.0.3 and Compressor 3.5.3.  Please note that utilizing multiple cores for encoding HAS WORKED IN THE PAST for me on this very computer.  One day, I couldn't access my cluster, and I can't figure out why.  Nor can I seem to fix it via any of the threads I've found on this board.

 

The cluster should be set up properly because it shows up as an "Idle" Service when I click on the Qmaster icon in the menu bar, and the cluster also appears  - and I can even select it - in the Batch Monitor.  However, whether I use the "Send To" function from Final Cut, or render out a self-contained movie and add the file to Compressor, the cluster does not appear in the Pop-Down menu where I should be able to select it after submitting the batch.

 

This worked for me right after I purchased this system in November of 2011... somewhere along the line, the cluster stopped appearing as described above, and I have not been able to get it back since.  I've read various reasons for this problem, but no one has any solutions in the past 3 years.  All the threads I can find instructing me to how to properly fix this are from around 2009, and 2 or 3 OS X's prior.  One person said that only Compressor 4 could access multiple cores, as it is a 64-bit application and mine is only 32-bit, but I have gotten this to work in the past so that can't be a reason.

 

Any help would be MUCH appreciated.  This computer encoded SO much faster when I could access all 8 cores.

Final Cut Studio '09, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1)

Posted on Sep 4, 2012 8:55 PM

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Q: QuickCluster doesn't appear in Compressor 3.5.3

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  • by David Mclaine,Helpful

    David Mclaine David Mclaine Sep 4, 2012 11:44 PM in response to cinEmotion pictures
    Level 4 (1,856 points)
    Sep 4, 2012 11:44 PM in response to cinEmotion pictures

    Hi,

        The person who said you couldn't use multiple cores is wrong.

       I don't know what you have tried so far but, have you tried Compressor Repair.

     

    http://www.digitalrebellion.com/compressorrepair/

     

    Or if that doesn't work

     

    http://www.digitalrebellion.com/blog/posts/how_to_reinstall_compressor_and_qmast er.html

     

    DM

  • by cinEmotion pictures,

    cinEmotion pictures cinEmotion pictures Sep 13, 2012 10:20 AM in response to David Mclaine
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 13, 2012 10:20 AM in response to David Mclaine

    I have run that application before, and just like that time, it helped temporarily.  It seems to be hit or miss for me these days.  When I can access the QuickCluster, and Compressor manages to utilize all of the instances (no matter what number I set), rarely does the encode complete without one of the instances failing.  Sometimes, Compressor will use less than the number of instances I have set; but there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason as to whether or not the encode will fail. 

     

    At least I'm able to get Compressor to recognize the Cluster, but it's still not really performing correctly.  Any suggestions?

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Sep 13, 2012 11:41 AM in response to cinEmotion pictures
    Level 7 (21,770 points)
    Quicktime
    Sep 13, 2012 11:41 AM in response to cinEmotion pictures

    David is totally correct; and BTW, Compressor 4 is still a 32 bit application.

     

    It might be helpful if you could open up Systems Preferences>QMaster and post screen shots of the two "preference panes" (dialogue boxes: Setup and Advanced.

     

    Russ

  • by cinEmotion pictures,

    cinEmotion pictures cinEmotion pictures Sep 13, 2012 12:38 PM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 13, 2012 12:38 PM in response to Russ H

    Screen Shot 2012-09-13 at 3.35.23 PM.pngScreen Shot 2012-09-13 at 3.35.38 PM.png

    I would also point out that even though that "Show Apple Qmaster service status in menu bar" checkbox is enabled, it doesn't always show up.  I don't know if this is a Mountain Lion issue, or what.

  • by cinEmotion pictures,

    cinEmotion pictures cinEmotion pictures Sep 13, 2012 12:47 PM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 13, 2012 12:47 PM in response to Russ H

    I can also say that I just used FCS Remover to uninstall Compressor and Qmaster, then re-installed it using my FCS2 discs (per the process described in the 2nd link of the first reply to this thread), and now I can't even get Compressor to recognize the cluster at all anymore.  I guess I could run Compressor Repair again now that I've re-installed, but that would pretty much put me where I was this morning before I ran Compressor Repair originally.

     

    This is so frustrating.  It worked flawlessly for me for a while, then it just stopped.

  • by Russ H,Helpful

    Russ H Russ H Sep 13, 2012 1:04 PM in response to cinEmotion pictures
    Level 7 (21,770 points)
    Quicktime
    Sep 13, 2012 1:04 PM in response to cinEmotion pictures

    cinEmotion pictures wrote:

     

     

    I would also point out that even though that "Show Apple Qmaster service status in menu bar" checkbox is enabled, it doesn't always show up.  I don't know if this is a Mountain Lion issue, or what.

    Should be to the immediate left of the Time Machine icon – at least up through Lion; I don't have ML so can't verify.

     

    If you don't have Shake or Maya installed, uncheck Rendering. But that's probably the cause of your issue.

     

    How many cores do you have and how much RAM? Apple's guidance on this is number of instances should be no more than half the amount of RAM.

     

     

    Russ

  • by Russ H,Solvedanswer

    Russ H Russ H Sep 13, 2012 1:12 PM in response to cinEmotion pictures
    Level 7 (21,770 points)
    Quicktime
    Sep 13, 2012 1:12 PM in response to cinEmotion pictures

    cinEmotion pictures wrote:

     

    I can also say that I just used FCS Remover to uninstall Compressor and Qmaster, then re-installed it using my FCS2 discs (per the process described in the 2nd link of the first reply to this thread), and now I can't even get Compressor to recognize the cluster at all anymore.  I guess I could run Compressor Repair again now that I've re-installed, but that would pretty much put me where I was this morning before I ran Compressor Repair originally.

     

     

     

    Sounds like the right approach to me. Your cluster setup may have been reset – which is probably a good idea anyway – starting from scratch. After entering new settings (see my comments in preceding post) close Qmaster and Compressor and run repair permissions in Disk Utility. Then run an encoding test and monitor in the Batch monitor.

     

    Russ

  • by cinEmotion pictures,

    cinEmotion pictures cinEmotion pictures Sep 13, 2012 1:22 PM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 13, 2012 1:22 PM in response to Russ H

    I'll ask questions to both of your posts in this one, haha.

     

    I thought Qmaster could use programs like FCP and After Effects to utilize cores for rendering... Is this not the case?  I don't have Shake or Maya, so that could be the cause if the other programs I mentioned cannot utilize the cluster.

     

    As for the icon in the menu bar, I've seen it there before.  I just meant that it's not always there.  Sometimes it doesn't even show up until I send a batch to Compressor, but I don't remember it only appearing in that case before all this nastiness started.

     

    I have 8 Cores and 14GB of RAM.  I have successfully used as many as 16 instances for encoding in the past, but that was for MUCH shorter (in length of time) projects.  What I've been working on is a 3.5 hour video that I'm trying to encode using multiple processors so it doesn't take 3 days to complete.  You're saying I should only activate 7 instances for Compressor, and un-check the rendering option, correct?

     

    Finally, I'm not sure what you mean but "run repair permissions."  Can you provide a little more guidance?

     

    Thank you so much for all your prompt replies!!!

  • by David Mclaine,

    David Mclaine David Mclaine Sep 13, 2012 1:23 PM in response to cinEmotion pictures
    Level 4 (1,856 points)
    Sep 13, 2012 1:23 PM in response to cinEmotion pictures

    Just a quick reply concerning the "show Apple Qmaster service status in menu bar". I'm running 10.8.1 on my macbook pro and it disappeared from my menu bar, I just unchecked it and checked it again and it re appeared.

    DM

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Sep 13, 2012 1:57 PM in response to cinEmotion pictures
    Level 7 (21,770 points)
    Quicktime
    Sep 13, 2012 1:57 PM in response to cinEmotion pictures

    cinEmotion pictures wrote:

     

    You're saying I should only activate 7 instances for Compressor, and un-check the rendering option, correct?

     

     

    Yes. Actually, I mis-stated Apple's recommendation; it's 2 GB of RAM for each instance; same thing, but just correcting for the record.

     

    I know you've already visited Digital Rebellion a few times, but you might find this blog post by Jon Chappel interesting. Note that he says Apple recommends 1 GB per instance; the current manual says 2 GB so maybe they've become more conservative. Also notehis comments about hyper threading.

     

     

    Finally, I'm not sure what you mean but "run repair permissions."  Can you provide a little more guidance?

     

    Open Disk Utilities. Select your system drive and repair permissions (skip verify permissions)… it may take a while, but probably not as long as the progress bar indicates.

  • by cinEmotion pictures,

    cinEmotion pictures cinEmotion pictures Sep 13, 2012 6:03 PM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 13, 2012 6:03 PM in response to Russ H

    That blog was an interesting read, but the author said that number of instances should be based on the number of cores, not RAM... has there been an update since that was posted?

  • by cinEmotion pictures,

    cinEmotion pictures cinEmotion pictures Sep 18, 2012 10:59 AM in response to cinEmotion pictures
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 18, 2012 10:59 AM in response to cinEmotion pictures

    So here's a new development... this worked beautifully for me for about a week.  Now, I cannot even submit a batch using a cluster without one or more of the instances crashing immediately in the Batch Monitor.  I get this error: "Status: Failed - 3x crash HOST [Kevins-Mac-Pro.local] service down."

     

    I have tried several times to use Compressor Repair.  I have restarted.  I have tried using a Cluster with a Controller.  I've trashed settings and preferences.  Now, to add to the Compressor issues, even though I have 4 instances set up in Qmaster Preferences, there are times when not even all 4 will show up in the menu bar when I click on the Qmaster icon.

     

    Is this whole thing just not friggin' worth it, or what?  I don't understand how a software, which is written a specific way, can work for just a little while on a machine like this and suddenly decide it's "not feeling well" and call in sick.  What on earth is going on here??????

  • by Michael Grenadier,

    Michael Grenadier Michael Grenadier Sep 18, 2012 11:13 AM in response to cinEmotion pictures
    Level 7 (20,362 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 18, 2012 11:13 AM in response to cinEmotion pictures

    I understand your frustration. 

     

    It's the intermittent nature of the problem that makes me think something is happening that screws things up. 

     

    There are a number of basic things that could be wrong.  Do you have any system hacks of any sort installed?  Any other programs installed that might be screwing things up?  Wondering if you might not have some bad ram.  The only completely effective way to test your ram is by swapping it out.  A real pain.  Hardware testing as far as I know doesn't always show problems.

     

    Here are a bunch of troubleshooting steps that might help

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2591

     

    I'd start off by creating a new user and see if that makes a difference.  Disconnecting from the network/internet might be worth a shot.

  • by cinEmotion pictures,

    cinEmotion pictures cinEmotion pictures Sep 18, 2012 11:19 AM in response to Michael Grenadier
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 18, 2012 11:19 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

    Not only can I not use a cluster now, I cannot even use "This Computer" when submitting a batch.  I even get an error saying "services down" when I try that.  This is unreal.

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