Final Cut Pro X lagging

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Level 1

5 points

Final Cut Pro X lagging

I have a new 5K retina Apple iMac, fully loaded (SSD hard drive, 32 gb ram, etc) and attached by thunderbolt to a raided external hard drive. The first time I used fcpx on the new mac everything worked perfectly. Strangely now, without anything being changed, I'm getting lag in video playback (which is all converted to Apple ProRes 422). The video will lag every couple seconds unless I scroll along the timeline with the play head. There is a slight lag with anything on the timeline, but not as pronounced as when trying to playback a video. I'm almost positive it has nothing to do with the hardware so what else could it be?

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Mar 6, 2015 3:23 PM

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Answer 1

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Mar 6, 2015 4:36 PM in response to gregoriok11

WWhat is the format of the clips and the project properties? Is it a single stream that you're playing or multiple streams?

H How big is the library and is your media external

or managed?

RUss

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Answer 2

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 6, 2015 5:30 PM in response to Russ H

Hi Russ,

The format of the clips are Apple ProRes 422. It is a single multicam clip only 2 minutes long with two angles. The lagging happens with all videos whether they are multicam clips or single clips on a timeline.

Project Properties:

1920x1080

23.98 fps

48kHz audio

Media is external, connected by thunderbolt

Library is 47Gb

Thanks,

Greg

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Answer 3

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,986 points

Mar 6, 2015 5:39 PM in response to gregoriok11

YYou must be using managed media. There's no way a library can be 47 GB otherwise. WWhere's the library?

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Answer 4

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 6, 2015 5:46 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Hi Tom,

When I import files, I check the "leave files in place" not "copy to library". I am understanding that to mean I am not using managed media. Is that incorrect?

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Answer 5

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,986 points

Mar 6, 2015 5:54 PM in response to gregoriok11

TThat's correct, but if you have the library set as the location to store your media, and use leave files in place, and then optimize your media, the optimized media is in the library. The production I am just finishing has 320 GB of media, mostly H.264, but the library is only 336 MB because an external location is assigned to store the media. Even if I should optimize the media, and I uusually don't, the optimized files are not in the library. Where is your library?

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Answer 6

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 6, 2015 6:00 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Hi Tom,

Ah, I see. I went into the library properties and switched the media to external and then consolidated the files. The library is now 2.4 mb. All files including the library are in a folder on the external RAIDed drive. It still is delayed on playback. Same issue.

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Answer 7

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,986 points

Mar 6, 2015 8:16 PM in response to gregoriok11

DDid u try making a new user?

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Answer 8

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 6, 2015 8:34 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

No. How is that done?

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Answer 9

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,986 points

Mar 7, 2015 12:19 AM in response to gregoriok11

SSystem Preferences>Users. Make a new admin user. Log out of the original user, and run a few simple tests. If the library is on the external drive you could open it in the new user, but it might be better to test on a new library.

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Answer 10

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 7, 2015 5:45 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Hi Tom,

Sorry, I didn't realize you meant new user for OS X, thought you meant for FCP. So I've created a new user and am still having the same problems. Severe lagging during playback.

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Answer 11

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 7, 2015 5:58 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Update: So what is really weird about this is that I can make the video play without any lag if I either scroll along with the video on the timeline as it plays, or do something like simply move the cursor back and forth on the dock icons while the video plays. As soon as I stop moving the cursor, the lag happens. I'm thinking more and more it's a system issue, but I have no idea what.

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Answer 12

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Mar 7, 2015 7:14 AM in response to gregoriok11

I'M not sure what you mean by scroll along but it's probably not an important clue. Your iMac should easily play back multiple streams of Pto Res. Why don't you eliminate the media drive as a potential cause by disconnecting it and creating a test project on your startup disk. Try a single stream and a multiclip.

RUss

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Answer 13

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 7, 2015 7:27 AM in response to Russ H

Russ,

I should have stated that earlier. I have tried disconnecting the external and using media files from the iMac hard drive (with each step above), both single clip and multicam, but still getting the same lag. I have also deleted preferences without any success in resolving the issue.

You are probably right about the scrolling, but just to clarify what I mean... When I am playing back the clip on the timeline, I can scroll to the right to keep revealing more of the timeline and when I do, there is no lag. As soon as I stop scrolling, the lagging returns.

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Answer 14

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Mar 7, 2015 7:47 AM in response to gregoriok11

NExt step may be to run Apple Diagnostics. Not 100% sure about this (on a trip and can't check) but I believe it includes the graphics card in its tests).

RUss

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Answer 15

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 7, 2015 8:00 AM in response to Russ H

Hi Russ,

So I just ran diagnostics and it found no issues. According to apple it does test the graphics card when you run diagnostics.

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