CoralVision
Level 1 (38 points)
Video

Q: problems after reinstall...

Hello Forum friends,

 

Sigh, so my 2013 iMac gglittched out fatally last week, long story short I wiped the HD and reinstalled 10.11.3 fresh and reinstalled all my pro-apps. I've spent several days trying to reconstruct all of my settings and presets...

 

Compressor is not well.

 

First off, it is not completing it's encodes like it used to - when compressor is writing a file, it makes the container and another file that is like a workspace, as it encodes the stream, it pours all that data into the workspace, and then at the end it moves the data over into the container and deletes the working file. Compressor  is failing to tidy up those working files, leaving my target directory a mess, and raising questions for me about whether things are working right... they aren't.

 

I'm also seeing a breakdown of basic function - encodes that used to rip off in 20 minutes are taking all night and then some, and while the thing used to slurp data from the master at 30-50MB/s (we have a pretty fast network), it is now only doing that for a few seconds, and then dropping down to 1-2 MB/s. Creeping.

 

Anyway, I know I'll probably end up working with my network admin on this, but do any of you have any good ideas about how to begin troubleshooting this issue?

 

Thanks!

 

Eric D - CoralVision

Compressor, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Jan 28, 2016 2:58 PM

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Q: problems after reinstall...

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  • Helpful answers

  • by James Cude,

    James Cude James Cude Jan 28, 2016 5:32 PM in response to CoralVision
    Level 4 (1,424 points)
    Jan 28, 2016 5:32 PM in response to CoralVision

    make sure you're on the latest version of compressor, which is v4.2.1. then, try resetting the queue as described here:

     

    Compressor 4: Advanced

    https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21234

     

    also:

     

    Get help with Compressor 4.2 or later

    https://support.apple.com/HT203476

  • by CoralVision,

    CoralVision CoralVision Jan 29, 2016 7:44 AM in response to James Cude
    Level 1 (38 points)
    Video
    Jan 29, 2016 7:44 AM in response to James Cude

    Hmm, mysterious...

    in the procedures described in the second link, at the top:

    "make a backup of your custom settings, located in Library/Application Support/Compressor/Settings/ in your home folder."

    I don't see a folder named "compressor" in Library/Application Support/... The nearest thing I find is a older named "compressor" in "Users/Shared/Library/application support/compressor/..." and this "compressor" folder contains an empty folder named "storage" - where are my "custom settings?"

    To **** with my custom settings, it only took me a half day to rebuild them last week, and I am going on 3 days with ZERO viable deliverables... This is dire, so I am reinstalling, using the directions on the second linked page...

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Jan 29, 2016 8:19 AM in response to CoralVision
    Level 7 (21,825 points)
    Quicktime
    Jan 29, 2016 8:19 AM in response to CoralVision

    CoralVision wrote:

     

    "

    I don't see a folder named "compressor" in Library/Application Support/... The nearest thing I find is a older named "compressor" in "Users/Shared/Library/application support/compressor/..." and this "compressor" folder contains an empty folder named "storage" - where are my "custom settings?"

    As the doc says, it's the Home Library that contains what you need to trash…and apparently you have found it.

     

    The folder you want to preserve is Settings. That's where your custom settings are stored.

    Screen Shot 2016-01-29 at 11.11.08 AM.png

     

    Russ

  • by CoralVision,

    CoralVision CoralVision Jan 29, 2016 8:34 AM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (38 points)
    Video
    Jan 29, 2016 8:34 AM in response to Russ H

    Got it - thanks for the help, Russ. I did remember just after that last reply the bit about going to FINDER/GO (hold opt key)/ Library...

    I backed up the settings, trashed the compressor folder, restarted, copied my settings back in...

    Compressor now (instead of winding down and err-ing out after several hours) goes straight to the "3x crash service down" fail with that cute little stop sign bang.

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Jan 29, 2016 8:42 AM in response to CoralVision
    Level 7 (21,825 points)
    Quicktime
    Jan 29, 2016 8:42 AM in response to CoralVision

    What codecs are you working with? Are they standard? Do you have the Pro Video Formats v 2.03 installed? (Check System Info > Software > Installations)

     

    Russ

  • by CoralVision,

    CoralVision CoralVision Jan 29, 2016 9:24 AM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (38 points)
    Video
    Jan 29, 2016 9:24 AM in response to Russ H

    The file I'm trying to make is a custom mp4 for use with the "EarthChannel" (version 4) VOD system. The original is an SD mpeg, the target is a reduced-size (320x240), baseline h264 CAVLC.

    According to the app store I do have pro formats 2.0.3 installed. How do I access the "System Info..." you reference above?

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Jan 29, 2016 9:37 AM in response to CoralVision
    Level 7 (21,825 points)
    Quicktime
    Jan 29, 2016 9:37 AM in response to CoralVision

    Click on the Apple icon upper left and hold down the option key.


    Are these MPEG source files program streams and have you been able to transcode the same type of files previously?

     

    Russ

  • by CoralVision,

    CoralVision CoralVision Jan 29, 2016 10:03 AM in response to CoralVision
    Level 1 (38 points)
    Video
    Jan 29, 2016 10:03 AM in response to CoralVision

    The MPEGs are the same as usual, as is an .avi master I am also working with. The MPEG fails out with the "3x crash..." bang, but curiously, the encodes from the .avi master just stall... data moving at a trickle, CPU and GPU spinning at full speed.

    The next thing I will try is to just rebuild the custom setting from scratch and try to reproduce the issue - when I reinstalled the OS and ProApps last week, I reconstituted the custom settings by dragging an example into the settings column on compressor. Maybe that gave me some wonky setting i am overlooking...

  • by CoralVision,

    CoralVision CoralVision Jan 29, 2016 10:31 AM in response to CoralVision
    Level 1 (38 points)
    Video
    Jan 29, 2016 10:31 AM in response to CoralVision

    Another detail - the h264.mov I use for broadcast playback, which I reconstituted in similar fashion (with a drag, drop, and tweak in compressor settings) seems to be working as expected...

     

    Now trying again with a rebuilt-from-scratch mp4 setting from a MPEG master. Not failing out immediately, but creeping slow/stalled data, with CPU/GPU working hard... FYI this is a single-pass encode...

  • by CoralVision,

    CoralVision CoralVision Jan 29, 2016 10:42 AM in response to CoralVision
    Level 1 (38 points)
    Video
    Jan 29, 2016 10:42 AM in response to CoralVision

    Screen Shot 2016-01-29 at 12.38.16 PM.pngScreen Shot 2016-01-29 at 12.38.46 PM.png

    These are some shots of what the system is doing, right now it's been working on a 40 minute clip for about 22 minutes, share monitor says it will take another 14 hours... that can't be right....

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Jan 29, 2016 10:53 AM in response to CoralVision
    Level 7 (21,825 points)
    Quicktime
    Jan 29, 2016 10:53 AM in response to CoralVision

    I suspect there is something about the source clips that  Compressor is struggling with. If you want, yip could abroad a tiny section of a sample clip to a file sharing site like Dropbox. We could then download it and see whether we encountered similar difficulties.

     

    Russ