Import to FCPX from AVCHD has recently become excruciatingly slow for unknown reasons

Have been an FCPX user for many years, and have been importing from AVCHD files for many years. However, recently, suddenly importing from AVCHD has become excruciatingly slow. Like to import a clip takes approximately as long as the clip itself: Try to import a 30-min clip, it takes 30 minutes. Try to import a 2-hour clip, it takes 2 hours. This is the same camera that I have always been using, so the camera hasn't changed. It is also the same Mac Pro and disks, so that hasn't changed either. This is just to import, not to create optimized media or do any analysis. I have other cameras that are 4K and use MP4 and those import the same speed as ever, now much, much faster than the same length 1080 file from AVCHD. I can't figure why import from AVCHD has become so very slow.

Final Cut Pro X, macOS High Sierra (10.13.5)

Posted on Jun 30, 2018 5:04 PM

Similar questions

20 replies

INDIGI

Level 1

10 points

Jul 2, 2018 7:18 AM in response to CraigInSanFran

I have the same in FCPX 10.4.3. I think there something wrong with AVCHD support. I have couple other problems with AVCHD too.

Jul 3, 2018 1:58 PM in response to INDIGI

Hi INDIGI,

In /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/Components, the only file present is "AppleAES3Audio.component".

Craig

Jun 30, 2018 9:21 PM in response to Alchroma

I tried putting both the source AVCHD file and the destination FCPX library on the internal SSD drive. Marginally faster, but basically the same problem. Trying to import an hour-long clip from that AVCHD file would take almost an hour. This would seem to eliminate any problem with the disk drives or the USB hub.

I've always copied the AVCHD file from the camera's SD card directly to an external drive when done shooting for the day. The import occurs later from the external drive. This has never been a problem before. But, to eliminate that, I happened to have today's card from the camera, so I tried importing an hour-long clip directly from the SD card. Same problem. That would seem to eliminate any problem with copying from the SD card to the external drive.

The only thing I've got left to try: I have other cameras that can optionally be configured to use AVCHD files. I can record an hour-long clip on one of them and try that. Just in case this one particular camera somehow started creating weird AVCHD files or something. Otherwise, it would seem to be an FCPX problem with long clips in AVCHD files. I won't be able to try that experiment until tomorrow.

Jul 1, 2018 9:21 AM in response to Alchroma

I was able to try my next experiment. Configured a different camera to use AVCHD, and recorded a 1 hr, 18 min clip. Tried to import into FCPX, same problem. So it does not appear to have anything to do with the specific camera or the specific SD card. The symptoms are always the same: The import starts out going briskly, but if you watch the percentage complete, it gradually slows down until approximately the 30% mark, and by that time it is crawling. Which sure behaves like something in FCPX that isn't scaling for large clips, is what it sure seems like.

By the way, I have since found that apparently there are also codecs in /System/Library/QuickTime?

I have in there:

ApplePixletVideo.component

AppleProResDecoder.component

AppleVAH264HW.component

QuickTime3GPP.component

QuickTimeComponents.component

QuickTimeFireWireDV.component

QuickTimeH264.component

QuickTimeIIDCDigitizer.component

QuickTimeImporters.component

QuickTimeMPEG.component

QuickTimeMPEG4.component

QuickTimeStreaming.component

QuickTimeVR.component

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,780 points

Jul 2, 2018 8:10 AM in response to CraigInSanFran

FCP doesn’t do any transcoding either, unless you’re creating optimized media.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Import to FCPX from AVCHD has recently become excruciatingly slow for unknown reasons