AVCHD video from Canon C100 stuttering in FCPX 10.4

Welcome to the club, everyone!

Re: FCP X 10.4 still glitchy with Sierra and High Sierra 10.13.2

This happens only in 10.4, and only with AVCHD files. The OS has nothing to do with it. If you still have 10.3, you're in business. The problem does not happen within FCPX 10.3. There is no fix at this time in 10.4, not that I nor a lot of other pro's know of. Fortunately, I still had 10.3 installed on one of my machines so I'm still able to import AVCHD.

It's been over three months and Apple has not acknowledged this problem. I truly hope they're working on a fix. I can only imagine how difficult this has made many professional's workflow.

Please submit a report to Apple. The more they hear about it, the better the chance this will be addressed.

Feedback - Final Cut Pro - Apple

I've posted about similar problems but with the C300. Just adding in that all issues should be reported directly to Apple through the Feedback - Final Cut Pro - Apple link. I went through all the steps and got a support ticket opened with some communication back and forth, it would be good if everyone having the issue did the same.

Having the same problem with both my Canon video cameras. I had thought the cameras were damaged or perhaps the card but turns out it's this problem.
Apple really need top get on top of this **** quickly but so far it's we've heard nothing.
The only work

around is to use something like EditReady or ClipWrap to transcode before import or some people say you can import into iMovie then open that project in FCP X.
Either way a massive annoyance and not good enough.

I have flickering issues with reds in 10.4. They start flickering desaturating on and off. Pretty annoying. I have to transcode all the files in a separate software.

Canon c100 avchd

Apple has to address this

I have a Canon AX10 camera

After importing the AVCHD files into FCPX they stutter. The stuttering looks the same at the exact place in a clip everytime I play it, so it"s not playback.

Then I tried copying the AVCHD files from the camera onto the HD. Quicktime plays them perfectly.

I imported the files from the HD. The same stutters appeared again in the same places.So it appears that something is happening during import

In FCPX, I checked the original imported files, same problem.

I checked the High Quality optimized files, same problem.

I checked the proxy files, they display the "file modified" warning !!

I did a factory reset on my iMac and installed a fresh version of FCPX 10.4 on OS Sierra 10.12.6

I have removed all third party software or devices on my system. Stripped down to iMac only

It didn't fix the problem.

Canon XA10. Firmware is up to date v1.0.1.0

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014)

4 GHz Intel Core i7

32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4096 MB

OS Sierra 10.12.6

FCP X 10.4

OWC Thunderbay 9TB RAID 5

The fix for me is keeping 10.3 on one of my workstations. I have three, and I only do imports on the computer running 10.3. Then I open the project in 10.4 on one of my other computers, update the file for 10.4, and everything works fine.

Fortunately, I still had 10.3 when I realized this problem. I understand not everyone is as lucky as I was. If it could be suggested, it would be nice if Apple would make 10.3 available again for download form the app store until this AVCHD problem in 10.4 can be resolved.

It sure seems to be the case, Matt.

When I get to the studio today I hope I find my laptop still has 10.3.

This is twice I've been screwed by updates by Apple in the last 4 months. I lost 75% of the performance my iPhone 6+ when I updated to iOS 11. Had to pay $700 for a new phone when the phone I had worked excellently.

APPLE, CAN WE GET A FIX? You are hurting my business and me, too

Apple can you hear Me???

If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's to not fix something that ain't broke. Typically I'll wait at least 6 months and monitor the discussion forums before I do any updates to FCPX, Motion, Compressor or my OS. By monitoring the forums before updating, I can see if there are any glaring issues and if those issues will affect my workflow.

This time, I only waited a month and took a chance. The expanded color control functionality pushed me to do it. With it being my slowseason, I wasn't doing much importing of anything. So for weeks I didn't think anything was wrong until I had to do some importing and found the issues with the AVCHD files. Thank goodness I still had 10.3 on one of my machines.

At the end of the day though, I always give Apple the benefit of the doubt. If it was not for the original iMovie and then the original Final Cut Pro back around 2000, I never would have gotten into video editing nor started my own business. The Apple ecosystem has made my career possible, and for that I'm forever grateful. I mean, I still have power mac's that can run FCPX. If I would have chose to upgrade the CPU's and other things, they'd still be great machines. The iMac's I'm using are nearly 7 years old and still humming along.

On top of that, the entire FCPX bundle is next to dirt cheap. Unlike the alternatives where there's hefty subscriptions or huge pricetags to begin with (and charges for updates). So when something goes bad, like an iPhone, I don't mind spending the money for a new one. Apple's saved me thousands over the years by not charging a subscription to use their editing software... not to mention the general reliability and long life of their hardware (desktops, laptops, etc.).

I've used the other software options too for editing... and FCPX is by far the best, to me at least.

Unfortunately there's growing pains with any update. It's rare when an update comes out and everything works as it should. This can be said of the alternatives out there, too.

I guess my point it, I try to keep things in perspective. Apple's helped me make well north of 7 figures while I've been in business since '02.

But if there's one thing I've learned, it's to BE PATIENT with updating any software or OS. Usually after 6 months any bugs are worked out. Sadly, I didn't take my own advice with this last update, lol.

Cheers!

Hey Matt,

Thanks for the timely perspective and hard won wisdom. I needed it.

I started in 1990 in audio production with an SE30 Macintosh (80 MB HD), and a Sound Tools II rig loaded with everything I could get.

I only used it half time and watched my more than $20K system go over the horizon to obsolescence pretty quickly.

I went to PC for 15 years to save money. Then I got hired to produce a local movie and decided to buy an iMac.

The day after I bought the iMac, I did a trailer using iMovie that was better than the movie itself. It took about 2 hours to make the trailer and I made enough to pay for the computer in 2 hours. I was sold.

Now for the price of my old SE30 I edit 8 cameras and 16 tracks of audio for music concerts on my latest iMac.

Pretty amazing.

Thanks for reminding me to be grateful!

I found a recent project that had a workaround that was successful in it.

Somehow I had FCPX linking the clips in the Event to the original AVCHD .MTS files in the Original Media folder in the library. When I right click on the clip in the event list and open in finder it show the .MTS file

The file plays perfectly clean in FCPX

I'm not sure how I did it but I will try to replicate it a little later.

Work around! The trick is to get the files extracted from the folder and file structure they come in.

Load canon AVCHD Package to Hard Drive.

Right Click "Show package contents"

Search folders for BDMV package and open with "Show package contents"

You should see the clips as .MTS files**

Select the files and Option/drag the files to a new folder.

From FCPX, Import the copied files from the new folder . Use Import/media command.

Select "leave files in place" in the import window. Voila!

** If the files did not appear as .MTS, try opening the BDMV package with VLC media player.

If you don't have it, it's free online.

Once you've opened it. Quit VLC and close the package.

Start over opening the AVCHD package and follow the steps above from there.

Let me know if this works for you.

I've done it twice and it worked.

This is interesting... so, basically you're just copying the MTS files to a new folder and then importing them from the new folder leaving the original copied files in place?

In theory, when one creates a folder and calls it "Smith Wedding", the original MTS files could just be copied to the "Smith Wedding" folder (or a folder within "Smith Wedding") and then import those copied file, checking the box to 'leave files in place' when doing the import?

Is that the general gist of it? If so, I'll do a test on a full wedding video import.

And if it works, that would make you a genius for figuring that out! Might be a good workaround for the time being while Apple solves the problem.

It appears to have something to do with how FCPX converts either AVCHD or BDMV collections or rewraps .MTS files that ends up corrupting the clip data. It also changes the clip numbers.

All I know is that when I remove all that before importing the clip, It looks perfect and still has the same clip numbers.

I just finished a muticam edit today which worked fine.

Agreed. In all the tests I did, the problem is only within FCPX 10.4. I installed Sierra on one of my machines, and then 10.4. That had problems. I'm 99% confident it's a problem with FCPX or a video codec of some sort (as I believe the problem exists even in Quicktime and iMovie).