Video is not playing back. Clips are blacking out.

Question

Video is not playing back. Clips are blacking out.

Not sure why my clips are not playing back in the viewer. Audio seems to be fine - all of it. Only certain clips have "died." It wasn’t doing it before i shut it down and restarted. I shut it down because certain clips were going black in the project clip browser, though the timeline played fine. After shutting down and restarting the computer, the project clip browser got a little better, BUT, my timeline went bad.

Here's a video to see my clips and what's happening:

https://youtu.be/HE6ni1Frka0

MacBook Pro with Retina display, iOS 8.1.2

Posted on Mar 22, 2016 6:51 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 24, 2016 7:30 PM in response to SeeingLightMedia

I would try first deleting preferences, then deleting all render files.

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Answer 2

Mar 24, 2016 7:33 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thank you Luis, I will look into seeing what that might reveal.
I'm also wondering if it could have something to do w/ my hard-drive(s). Working off a portable USB 3.0. It's formatted "Windows NT File system". I've been using it for a few months now and have cut several videos on it and have not had this issue.

Here's to improving upon our gifts in art!

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Answer 3

Mar 28, 2016 3:54 PM in response to SeeingLightMedia

Not sure if that is the cause of your problem but using an ntfs drive is not recommended. Your mac needs third party software to be able to write to the drive. Lots of people had issues because some these third party drivers were not fully compatible with El Capitan.

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Answer 4

Mar 29, 2016 11:57 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

it's happened one other time since getting back on again. One odd trick thats making a difference (don't know why) is switching between libraries. When I come back into the one I've been working on, things display properly again.

I also am having trouble with some of the audio in the sound library. In the HUD they play fine - when I bring them into the timeline they are there as a green track but show no waveform and are completely silent. Only a select few audio clips do this - not all. Any thoughts???

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Answer 5

Alchroma

Level 7

23,918 points

Mar 29, 2016 4:08 PM in response to SeeingLightMedia

SeeingLightMedia wrote:

I also am having trouble with some of the audio in the sound library. In the HUD they play fine - when I bring them into the timeline they are there as a green track but show no waveform and are completely silent. Only a select few audio clips do this - not all. Any thoughts???

If this particular audio are iTunes Store stuff, they will have DRM (Digital Rights Management) applied.

Al

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Answer 6

Mar 31, 2016 1:01 PM in response to Alchroma

No. These are sound effects/clips that are located in the Final Cut Pro Sound Effects library (in the application).

I'll put two screenshots up - A shot of where a sound clip works fine and another where the clip does not work. What's odd is that they sample fine in the browser. They only do not work or play when they are placed into the TL. The difference I see (though don't understand) is that the "Location" and "Original Media Representations" differ between the sound files.

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Answer 7

Alchroma

Level 7

23,918 points

Mar 31, 2016 3:06 PM in response to SeeingLightMedia

Turnstile looks like clip Visibility is turned off/muted.

Not sure about the other one.

Al

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Answer 8

Mar 31, 2016 6:06 PM in response to Alchroma

Good eye, only I did have it muted intentionally in that instance. Still can't figure it out. Likely half my sound effects library is unusable.

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Answer 9

Alchroma

Level 7

23,918 points

Mar 31, 2016 11:53 PM in response to SeeingLightMedia

I cannot replicate your issue on my gear. Mine works as expected.

Can you "step by step" how the sound effects arrive in the Timeline please?

Al

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Answer 10

Apr 1, 2016 4:26 AM in response to SeeingLightMedia

Here is something you may try:

Create a new project, and add the servo 3.caf sound effect there. Does it play?

It could be some corruption in your current project. If it is, then create a new project with the appropriate settings, go back to the current project, select all, copy, and then paste into the new project. Hopefully everything will work, and you can delete the old one.

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Answer 11

Apr 5, 2016 12:08 AM in response to Alchroma

I backed up the drive that I was working off of and reformatted it. Incredibly I haven't had the clips on my TL black-out since, and the audio clips from the Sound Effects library are playing in the TL again. Reckon it odd because the clips and FCP X app is not stored on/running off of that drive. The FCP library and clips stored within are on the drive (portable USB 3.0 Seagate), but that's pretty much it.

I've since encountered another very troubling matter with inconsistency in the finished project once "shared". These projects have really been wearing on me in that I haven't been able to complete a single one without dealing with substantial work-arounds and problem solving.

Here's a brief screen recording of what's happening:

https://youtu.be/KD56v87harY

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