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Background processes are an impediment to starting the edit
When I first start an edit and import a ton of media, I have to wait for thumbnail, filmstrip, and waveform generation. FCPX is virtually unusable during this stage to try to do any editing. Premiere Pro has the same problem, because you frequently have to wait while audio is ‘conformed’. On both apps, even on the fastest machines, you are best off just taking a long break and letting the machine do its thing before starting. Otherwise, it’s just an exercise in frustration.
However, if I bring in media into Avid Media Composer via AMA (linked, not transcoded), I have instant access to the files with no performance lag due to some sort of background processing. The same was true with FCP “legacy”.
So my questions… First, why must we even wait for this? People have been designing NLEs for ages and this seems like an issue that shouldn’t even be there in 2017 on a fast machine. Second, is there any way to actually speed this process up in FCPX?
– Oliver
Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com
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76 Replies
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[Oliver Peters] “So my questions… First, why must we even wait for this? People have been designing NLEs for ages and this seems like an issue that shouldn’t even be there in 2017 on a fast machine. Second, is there any way to actually speed this process up in FCPX?”
If you find out, please let me know. This slow down seems to go in phases. The latest update made it worse (10.3.4), previous updates made it better (10.3.2).
It seems to be audio related, as importing video only clips allows editing access immediately.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “It seems to be audio related, as importing video only clips allows editing access immediately.”
Really! hadn’t looked for that. I’d noticed the slowdown as well.
Still better than waiting for PPro do do it’s thing though, which seems to take just as long!
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I will say that was my first experience (OK, second) when trying to use FCX….I opened a project with a LOT of media and it was as slow and stumbly as a drunk looking for a remote control. I couldn’t do anything…and really wondered about this “speed’ everyone was talking about. It was like this for the better part of a day.
I had the same experience with Premiere. I was handed a drive and opened it and it took pretty much all day to conform the audio, and trying to do anything was..well, that same drunk now trying to put on his shoes. All of those files were made on the original machine, but I was cutting from home, so it redid ALL of them.
And yes, Avid doesn’t do any of this…AMA link and nothing needs to be done. Even if it’s already transcoded, if you bring that media to another computer and open it…you have the media…there are no separate audio cache files or whatever other sidecar files…so it doesn’t do this again.
So yes, that did put a HUGE damper on my second FCX experience. That and…well, so many things, but I’m a track based guy…so I’m biased
Shane
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[Steve Connor] “Still better than waiting for PPro do do it’s thing though, which seems to take just as long!”
How is it better if they take the same amount of time? Does FCPX make coffee for you while you wait?
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I remember when I did my BMD Intensity Shuttle VS the Canopus ADVC 110 using Premiere Pro and Edius I don’t remember Edius having to conform audio. Edius can playback h.264/AVCHD files as good as Premiere Pro because it makes use of Intel’s Quick Sync but Pro Res and Red One R3D files it will struggle with. There will always be pros and cons to all editing systems but perhaps at NAB 2018 Adobe will have a much better Premiere Pro to demo.
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[Oliver Peters] ” is there any way to actually speed this process up in FCPX?”
I just go up to the background task and cancel import.
Everything is already in there and I can get right to cutting. I’m not really sure what’s going on with the slow background import. Wasn’t doing that before.
I just loaded in 30GBs of footage and can start cutting and I’m on an older mac pro
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Yes same problem and I think it’s more sluggish since one of the recent fixes tried to improve the waveform generation.
However, once the files are imported into fcpx (sometimes an overnighter) it has been waaaaay faster and snappier than premiere for us – mostly due to the issues that premiere has when working on projects with large libraries of r3d and high resolution material. Importing one jpeg was bringing premiere to a halt – tech support just advised to make the project smaller or cut it into chunks…not very Pro.
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[Tom Sefton] “However, once the files are imported into fcpx (sometimes an overnighter) it has been waaaaay faster and snappier than premiere for us – mostly due to the issues that premiere has when working on projects with large libraries of r3d and high resolution material.”
I’d happily trade a slower import time for the responsiveness I get with large projects now, it’s a major improvement
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I’ve never really noticed an issue. Are you displaying waveforms in the event? Are you displaying filmstrips? I only show a thumbnail, no waveform. If I need to use the waveform on music or something, I switch to list view. In the timeline I’m usually set to waveform, no filmstrip. But sometimes waveform and filmstrip. I don’t generally optimize or proxy anything. I do a lot of 4K in a 1080 timeline work.
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[Tom Sefton] “However, once the files are imported into fcpx (sometimes an overnighter) it has been waaaaay faster and snappier than premiere for us – mostly due to the issues that premiere has when working on projects with large libraries of r3d and high resolution material. Importing one jpeg was bringing premiere to a halt – tech support just advised to make the project smaller or cut it into chunks…not very Pro.”
I do not have that problem with Premiere on the PC side. Having said that why are you even using Premiere if it so awful? The first time I tried FCPX on my Mac Mini it constantly locked up the system. I did not bring that many files or images into FCPX. I think it was just a fluke because as of now FCPX works OK. It is obviously not as quick and peppy as Premiere Pro running on my PC. Having said that FCPX does OK with h.264 at 1902 X 1080. That is al I plan on editing with it.
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