FCPX can’t play GH4 MOV files.

[Brett Sherman]

I’ve noticed the same thing. For me they playback without dropping frames in the timeline, but the images are extremely slow to refresh when skimming (maybe 2 or 3 frames/second). GH4 footage seems to work better with i5 or i7 processors. My MacBook Pro does a much better job. I think this has something to do with built-in H.264 decoding.

[Joe Marler]

I have played back and edited 4k and 1080p .mov and .mp4 GH4 material on my 2013 iMac many times without problems in FCP X. At 4k without optimized media it can be a little sluggish if playback (upper right of window) is set to “better quality”, but at “better performance” it works smoothly.

I wonder if there’s a problem with specific material you’re using? If you download 4k GH4 .mov and .mp4 clips from Vimeo can you play those in FCP X? That might help isolate whether it’s your specific camera files or a wider problem.

[Noah Kadner]

No problems with gh4 clips here on a 2014 MBP via thunderbolt drive. Sounds like possible corrupted clips or a bad drive. What kind of SD cards were you shooting to?

Noah

FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
Call Box Training

[Jeff Kirkland]

Thanks for the replies,

The footage was recorded to Sandisk Extreme Pro cards, imported to a FCPX camera archive, then brought into FCPX and the Thunderbolt RAID for editing.

What I don’t quite get is that OS X has no problem playing the files whether it’s using Quicklook, VLC, or whatever – only FCPX is stalling. If the files were corrupted, I’d have expected playback problems to be universal?

Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland

[Noah Kadner]

I’d try duplicating a clip and playing back from a different drive. Also go through the usual preferences reset etc in FCPX.

Noah

FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
Call Box Training

[Joe Marler]

[Jeff Kirkland] ” imported to a FCPX camera archive, then brought into FCPX and the Thunderbolt RAID for editing.”

That is the only procedural difference between what I’ve done. Can you try importing a camera file directly into FCP X (without optimization) and see if it makes a difference? I know it’s illogical since it should not make any difference.

You could try putting a camera file on your internal SSD drive and experimentally importing from there. Of course that should not make a significant difference vs Thunderbolt RAID but it’s something to try.

As one last step, try importing a single clip into a separate test library. If you have only tried a large production library, maybe something associated with that is bogging down your playback.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Jeff Kirkland] “Any suggustions appreciated…”

Is it possible to upload a small file?

[Jeff Kirkland]

Thanks for the help. Fortunately, I’m testing the workflow before doing any actual production with the camera so I have the luxury af being able to play until I get it right.

I copied everything over to a new library and while, FCPX is struggling, the MOV files do play back as long as I set the viewer to better performance. I shot some test footage as MP4 and these play back just fine even with the viewer output set to best quality.

I can’t find any info on the difference between the GH4’s MP4 and MOV containers so for now, MP4 looks to be the best option.

I also just updated the GH4 firmware to version 2.1 which says it improves playback of recorded files, so I’ll try recording some more MOV files later today.

Ultimately though, I think it might be time to do some archiving, reformatting, and clean installing of my editing workstation. There’s nothing quite like a clean sweep to make weird problems go away….

Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland

[James Cude]

Hey Jeff,

Just curious what frame rate you are shooting? Did you try it out with MOVs vs MP4s?

Regardless, you should report this to Apple on their FCPX feedback page.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/compressor.html

[Jeff Kirkland]

Ultimately,the playback issue seemed to be a problem with the FCPX library. Moving the project to a new library fixed things, and all subsequent projects seem to be playing fine.

Just for the record, frame rate was 25p but I also tried with 24p. Both MOV and MP4 files refused to play.

I’ve just chalked it up to one of those weird things that happen from time to time.

Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland