Gerald Pressman
Level 1 (130 points)

Q: final cut express HD 4.0.1 and OS X 10.9.5 with AVCHD

I recently upgraded to OS X 10.9.5.  I have been using Final Cut Express 4.0.1 for years.  After upgrade, the program appeared to work properly, at least with existing projects.  However, now when I attempt a "Log and Transfer" from my Sony HDR-XR350 nothing appears to happen.  If I click on "Log and Transfer" again, I see some clips of earlier transfers, then the program crashes.  I could not find any more recent software updates.  Any suggestions?

Mac mini, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Oct 6, 2014 1:51 PM

by Ian R. Brown,Solvedanswer
Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown
Level 6 (18,660 points)
Mac OS X
A:

You could be right but it only takes a minute to download and trash the preferences.

 

Trashing the preferences should be the first thing you do whenever FCE starts behaving strangely in any way.

 

You should do it if only to remove it from the list of suspects.

 

Over the years I have occasionally had problems which have lasted for days because I thought they couldn't possibly be caused by corrupt preferences  .  .  .  .  .

Posted on Oct 7, 2014 12:33 AM

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Gerald Pressman

Q: final cut express HD 4.0.1 and OS X 10.9.5 with AVCHD

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  • Helpful answers

  • by MartinR,

    MartinR MartinR Oct 6, 2014 7:30 PM in response to Gerald Pressman
    Level 6 (14,891 points)
    Oct 6, 2014 7:30 PM in response to Gerald Pressman

    Well, the news is probably not what you want to hear.  FCE was discontinued over 3 years ago, even before Lion (10.7) was released.  FCE 4.0.1 was the final update to FCE.   There is no guarantee that FCE will work well, or at all, on Lion, Mt. Lion or Mavericks.

     

    If you already had FCE installed on your Mac, and then upgraded to Mavericks, that could be source of the problem.  Pro apps, like FCE, generally need to be reinstalled after upgrading the OS.  That leads to another challenge (problem) which is installing FCE on Mavericks.  The FCE installer is an old PPC app and without Rosetta support it won't run on Mavericks. I'd be very careful about trying to uninstall/reinstall FCE on Mavericks.  (Research it thoroughly, and you may even need to resort to using Pacifist to install FCE on Mavericks - it's a complex process.)

  • by Ian R. Brown,Helpful

    Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown Oct 7, 2014 12:06 AM in response to Gerald Pressman
    Level 6 (18,660 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 7, 2014 12:06 AM in response to Gerald Pressman

    It might be worth trashing the preferences as it occasionally works miracles when FCE misbehaves.

     

    Download this free app.

     

    http://www.digitalrebellion.com/prefman/

     

    Shut down FCE, open PreferenceManager and in the window that appears:-

     

    1. Ensure that  FCE  is selected.

     

    2. Click Trash

     

    The job is done instantly and you can re-open FCE.

  • by Gerald Pressman,

    Gerald Pressman Gerald Pressman Oct 7, 2014 12:12 AM in response to MartinR
    Level 1 (130 points)
    Oct 7, 2014 12:12 AM in response to MartinR

    Thank you for your response.  I suspect that this may not be an FCE problem,  The camera data shows up as a drive icon on the desk top when the camera is connected to USB, but the contents of the image is not what is on the camera's hard disc.   Perhaps there is a problem with the new OS and AVCHD files?

  • by Ian R. Brown,Solvedanswer

    Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown Oct 7, 2014 12:33 AM in response to Gerald Pressman
    Level 6 (18,660 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 7, 2014 12:33 AM in response to Gerald Pressman

    You could be right but it only takes a minute to download and trash the preferences.

     

    Trashing the preferences should be the first thing you do whenever FCE starts behaving strangely in any way.

     

    You should do it if only to remove it from the list of suspects.

     

    Over the years I have occasionally had problems which have lasted for days because I thought they couldn't possibly be caused by corrupt preferences  .  .  .  .  .

  • by Ian R. Brown,

    Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown Oct 7, 2014 12:36 AM in response to Gerald Pressman
    Level 6 (18,660 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 7, 2014 12:36 AM in response to Gerald Pressman

    Mavericks does not show the AVCHD contents when you double click it.

     

    You need to control-click and select "Show Contents" and keep doing this until the video .MTS files are revealed.

  • by Gerald Pressman,

    Gerald Pressman Gerald Pressman Oct 7, 2014 1:34 AM in response to Ian R. Brown
    Level 1 (130 points)
    Oct 7, 2014 1:34 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

    Trashing Preferences worked!  Thank you so much for the help.  Now if I can only get my e-mail notifications from this forum working!  My Apple ID e-mail is correct, but the e-mail in my profile is not the same and it is incorrect.  I do not get notifications of replies to my posts.