Choppy imported AVCHD footage - FCPx 10.4

My business is taping actor auditions all day. I've been using FCPX as part of the workflow, so when this bug happened, I freaked. No only is the footage "choppy", but it also adds black frames to the ends of clips.

My only workaround (given how fast I need to import, edit, and compress) is to import to iMovie, drop the clips into a timeline and send that project to FCPX. So far it seems to get rid of the problem. It should hold me over until Apple figures this out and releases another update.

Until Apple fixes the problem, this is the workaround I'm going to be using. I converted the .mts file from the AVCHD wrapper in Adobe Encoder to h.264. I was able to drop that file directing into the multicam clip, replacing the glitchy one that FCPX had messed up. It's not an ideal workflow, but it's all I got for now. Anyone else have workarounds they'd like to share?

I replied to this thread a while back...but just clarify (this thread has gone sideways a couple times)....the main content of this original thread was "noticeable choppy playback on AVCHD footage imported through 10.4". I TOO have this issue, having used 10.3.4 with AVCHD hundreds of times and worked fine. Now, in 10.4 using SIERRA it's choppy. The choppy footage on my end is only attributable to the 10.4 FCPX update. Sierra was installed months and months before.

Macbook pro

Running 10.12.6 (latest sierra)

FCPX 10.4 (have sinced downgraded to 10.3.4 and it works fine again for AVCHD footage)

(if you have other problems not directly related to AVCHD and choppiness in 10.4, start a new topic)

The frame rate is not accurate. This is a real problem with many cameras. The value would seem to indicate that the frame rate is variable and fluctuates. I would suggest converting the media to ProRes using an exact frame rate of 120 and not pass through.

Problem solved… in a sense.

Have footage from DJI drones, Nikon DSLR, GoPro, and Sony. Choppy playback in timeline was only associated with the Sony AVCHD files, on Mac Pro with High Sierra 10.13.1

All files are on external drive, so opened up exact same FCPX library on MacBook Pro with Sierra 10.12.6 - no issue - all is perfect. Plus, fast-forwarding footage on the Mac Pro in either browser or timeline was only possible up to 2x - any faster resulted in skipped frames and jumping from one scene to the next. On MacBook, fast forwarding at any speed is completely smooth.

Computer specs:

Mac Pro cylinder late 2013, High Sierra 10.13.1

3.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5

64GB 1866 MHz DDR3

AMD FirePro D300 2GB

MacBook Pro Retina, Mid 2015, Sierra 10.12.6

2.5 GHz Intel Core i7

16GB 1600 MHz DDR3

AMD Radeon R9 M370X 2048MB

Both computers have FCPX 10.4

Based on this, High Sierra seems to be the culprit..?

It is fine that you search for a solution. But you will find it in the software of FCPX 10.4. without this major bug!

Not the file out of the cam is the problem. The problem is the import into FCPX (for me for a Canon AVCHD from a XA10).

A workaround of someone to drag and drop the mts files into FCPX 10.4. from inside the cam folder (inside the AVCHD- File) worked until there will be a 10.4.1 or something without the AVCHD Bug.

And yes, there are AVCHD Files (perhaps DSLR AVCHD or other) that worked today.

I tried a clean HS with a clean fcpx 10.4 on a 2013 MBPR. Nothing else on the MBPR. Same issue.

Took time and a bad result.

@Tom

XA10 (Canon and other - also Panasonic): Bug in 10.4. with some files - because of AVCHD. Known until more than 2 months.

EX1R (Sony XDCAM): Bug in 10.4 only with long files - because of Fat32. Known until more than 2 months.

So we have use thirdparty software to transcode for the last 3 months. Good job apple!

And yes, we can report our full hardware portfolio, but this doesn't matter to solve the problem, because it is a bug

in the software.

I tried High Sierra 10.13.4 (17E182a) on external USB SSD and the AVCHD problems I had with Panasonic cameras in FCP X 10.4 were gone. This is on a MacPro 6.1 6-core.

From my sight it is (was) a problem of the OS.

The only fix ATM is transcoding outside of FCPX 10.4 and importing media from there. Edit Ready seems a popular choice I have imported into iMovie the opened the iMovie project in FCPX and the problem is gone.
But then you lose all you metadata which with over 20 hours of footage becomes a HUGE problem. Apple need to fix this now. But beware don't complain too much or you will be banned from the forums.

create a proxy media for editing.

I used the 30-day-tryout of Kyno until the fcpx-fix. But do not rewrap there! Convert to ProRes.

No, I mean ctrl click on the .mts file in Finder and go down in the dropdown menu to "encode selected file"

Dropbox - Bildschirmfoto 2018-04-01 um 18.00.07.png

That works to me, but You have to copy original .mts files to hard disk, then transcode. Already used for 3 different projects.

Did you do an upgrade to High Sierra? I bet that if you do a clean install (on a separate drive or partition), and put FCP X in there, you won't see the problem. Most of these "bugs" occur as the result of software conflicts caused by other stuff on user machines. Doing a clean install is usually the best way to prevent problems with older kexts, launch daemons, etc, wreaking havoc on a new system.

What are the exact settings of those clips?

Can you open one of them in Quicktime Player, press command-I and post a screenshot?

Better yet, if possible, post one small example clip in its original form to dropbox or wetransfer or similar, so we can test.