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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

42 replies

Mar 7, 2015 8:25 AM in response to gregoriok11

gregoriok11 wrote:

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.

You migtstart looking at your mouse, then. Weird as it sounds.

If you have a wireless magic mouse, try an older USB mouse. If you have a wireless mouse or trackpad, check the settings to see if it's firing off a gesture. You maeven have some odd Accessibility setting active.

I'd say your diagnostic assumption is getting you closer to the truth; if your video will play in the timeline with your mouse pushing it along but it stutters or lags when you hit the space bar, the drives are, apparently, capable of performing as expected. YOu seem to have something at the system level or the interface level that is preventing your video from playing smoothly or, at least, being displayed smoothly.

Hope you figure it out but this subtle stuff is really difficult to diagnose by remote control from where the rest of us are sitting.

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 7, 2015 8:39 AM in response to David Bogie Chq-1

Thanks David,

I agree, this is really difficult for people to diagnose remotely. I appreciate all the help and tips. So I'm on a wireless trackpad, and I tried switching to an old usb mouse, and then a wireless magic mouse, but with no change in the results.

My frustration is that the first time I used fcpx with the new iMac, it worked flawlessly. The next day, without having done anything of significance, the lagging started. This really shouldn't be even close to an issue with the hardware configuration I have right now.

Mar 7, 2015 8:51 AM in response to gregoriok11

Agreed. It's not a hardware issue.

Can only suggest you hit the iMac forum and study the rants and raves posted there -- might find something that suggests another approach.

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Mar 7, 2015 9:55 AM in response to gregoriok11

NNever expected this to be so hard to figure out. My own iMac is comparatively long in the tooth, but I have had zero playback problems of the kind you describe. More relevant I have roitine access to recent models and in my experience, they play all manner of material like butter.

YOu noted that your first go round with Final Cut playback was flawless. If that was a separate project and/or different media, try opening and playing it.

RUss

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 7, 2015 10:58 AM in response to Russ H

Hi Russ,

Yes, the first time using it, it did work perfectly. I have since tried playing that same project again and it now suffers from the same lag. Would a fresh re-install of fcpx be worth trying?

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Mar 7, 2015 11:08 AM in response to gregoriok11

BBeefier reinstalling, open one

of the clips in QuickTime. If it doesn't play

correctly, not much sense in reinstalling Final Cut. If it plays ok in QTX, I'd download FCS Remover from Digital Rebellion and use

it to trash FCP.

RUss

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 7, 2015 11:14 AM in response to Russ H

Russ,

Thanks for the heads up. It only lags in fcpx, doesn't affect exporting or the resulting video.

Alchroma

Level 7

23,809 points

Mar 7, 2015 3:19 PM in response to gregoriok11

Do you have any third party screen grab apps installed?

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 7, 2015 3:24 PM in response to Alchroma

Hi Alchroma,

I do not have any third party screen grab apps installed.

I also just did a fresh re-install of fcpx and am still having the same issues.

Alchroma

Level 7

23,809 points

Mar 7, 2015 3:47 PM in response to gregoriok11

What about FCP X third party plug-ins?

The issue seems to all about the graphics actually seen on the Timeline. Big puzzle at the minute.

Try scrolling all the way to the right then try a playback.

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 7, 2015 3:52 PM in response to Alchroma

Hi Al,

There are no plug-ins at all with this fcpx. I have also tried hiding the audio, then hiding the video, then hiding both in the clip appearance, but the playhead still catches and lags and the video in the preview does the same. I wish I could post videos of what I'm seeing in this forum, but it seems I don't have the privileges.

Alchroma

Level 7

23,809 points

Mar 7, 2015 4:00 PM in response to gregoriok11

Command-Shift-4 will let you do a screen grab for an area of the screen.

Then drag the screen grab to your post.

Any pictures will help.

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 7, 2015 4:08 PM in response to Alchroma

Sure thing, I can do screen grabs. I was hoping to post a video everyone can see how it's lagging and how I can make it not lag by scrolling along the timeline. Let me know what you want to see via screen grab. Here's the whole screen. Pretty simple setup.

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

151,058 points

Mar 7, 2015 4:09 PM in response to gregoriok11

YYou can't post a video here but you can post a link to a YouTube or Vimeo page.

gregoriok11 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 7, 2015 4:16 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Great idea Tom,

Interesting thing just happened. I used quicktime to do a screen recording, and as long as it was recording, fcpx didn't lag at all on playback. As soon as I stopped recording it began again. does that make any sense??

Final Cut Pro X lagging