My computer hangs when using FCP.

[Patrick Kofler]

Hi UEM,

I’m experiencing the same problem. Expecially when positioning the cursor at the begginning of the timeline and then pushing play: complete freeze. The new system (new mac pro 2x3ghz, 6 gb ram, xserve raid and bmd decklink sp) seems really to be lot more unstable than the old g5 (with the same xserve raid and a bmd decklink extreme). To me this is disappointing. Is the system still so buggy?

Patrick

[Kaspar Kallas]

I think BMD works with 3GB of RAM at the most righ now

-Kaspar

[Nathanh]

Hi UEM & Patrick,

When we first built up our Mac Pro to run FCP we didn’t follow Apple’s suggested ram configurations for optimal performance when running FCP, and we were having similar problems. Here’s a link to their suggested ram configurations for FCP:

https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304492

I’ve heard of others running different configurations than are listed in this document from apple, and having their machines work, but I know we had problems with our system until we followed these guidelines… then the system ran excellent. If your running the suggested ram configs, then ignore this, but if not, then give it a shot.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Nathan

[Patrick Kofler]

Hi Nathan and Kaspar,

thanks for your answers. I checked the ram configuration. I think it’s ok, but have a look at the screenshot (https://www.heliosvision.com/ram.tiff) and tell me, thank you. Concerning the bmd card, yes I read that. Now I’m trying to work in dv pal, avoiding the bmd card. Let’s see how long it works.

Thanks Patrick

[Nathanh]

Hi Patrick,

I think your ram config looks safe. I also read the bmd decklink system requirements here:

https://www.blackmagic-design.com/support/detail.asp?techID=60

and I didn’t read about any 3 gig ram limit… but maybe there is some info on this somewhere else. However, they do reference Apple’s doc on FCP ram configurations used for best performance. Perhaps when running the BM Decklink, it needs to run with the ram in one of the listed configurations. Your system is closest to running the 4 gig configuration by removing all of your 512 dimms & leaving the 1gig dims in the current positions. That is how our Mac Pro is configured, and it runs like a champ, but we are running the AJA Kona 3 card. I think if your system continues to freeze while running FCP with the Decklink, it might be worth a try. Sorry I don’t have much info on the Decklink… I’m just going down the process of elimination. UEM is running his system with 4gigs of ram currently. If it is configured correctly, and he is still having the same issues, then it must be something else. UEM, your thoughts?

Another thing you might try is trashing your FCP preferences. Here are some links for that:

https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/trashing_fcp_prefs.html

https://fcprescue.andersholck.com/

I haven’t heard of corrupted prefs causing the specific problem your having, but it has caused some other strange problems. Also worth giving a try.

Best,

Nathan