Sequence with HDV, XDCAM EX and Animation keeps crashing

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

Sequence with HDV, XDCAM EX and Animation keeps crashing

Posted by Jaap Verdenius on June 28, 2011 at 7:59 am

We are working in 7.0.3 on Dual Quadcores with a HD sequence that contains HDV, DV and XDCAM EX footage and 1920×1080 graphics in Animation codec.

Since the XDCAM EX and the Animation footage were introduced, FCP crashes regularly. Scrolling through the timeline or moving the cursor to a point with Animation footage is a guarantee to crash.

The problem occurs with the same project on various machines. On one machine with a Decklink card, the problem vanishes when the external monitor is disabled. On another machine, with a Matrox MXO, we need to disable the Animation graphics in addition.

We tried various sequence presets instead of HDV, like ProRes; but it doesn’t make a difference.

Which direction should we look for a solution?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Jaap Verdenius replied 14 years, 10 months ago 5 Members · 12 Replies
12 Replies

Adam Taylor
June 28, 2011 at 9:11 am

I have not experienced such a range of codecs in my timelines, but if i did, my first suggestion would be to transcode all the footage to Prores.

You have so many different kinds of video that you may well be over taxing your processors.

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
My YouTube Animations Page
Jaap Verdenius
June 28, 2011 at 9:32 am

I could try that – If I would transcode the Animation graphics to ProRes, what would be the best way to deal with the alpha channel?
Adam Taylor
June 28, 2011 at 9:34 am

render the graphics with alphas as prores 4444. That is designed to preserve the alpha.

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
My YouTube Animations Page
Jaap Verdenius
June 28, 2011 at 11:21 am

I know, but if I change the opacity of a ProRes4444 clip in a 422 timeline it doesn’t work properly, am I right?
Paul Jay
June 28, 2011 at 11:27 am

It’s not just the Animation codec that’s your problem.

HDV and EX are long gop. Hell codecs.

What are your sequence settings?
Better set those to ProRes.
Adam Taylor
June 28, 2011 at 11:32 am

well it sounds like nothing is working at the moment…why not try it before you make up your mind?

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
My YouTube Animations Page
Jaap Verdenius
June 28, 2011 at 11:42 am

No I didn’t make up my mind, I already had 4444 files delivered and they gave me that problem, that’s why I asked for Animation. But I guess I could try to make 4444 myself, perhaps the problem had nothing to do the codec. Will let you know.
Adam Taylor
June 28, 2011 at 11:50 am

i think the problem is going to be because of the many different non-realtime codecs you are trying to work with.

Get them all transcoded into formats that are designed for editing, and i’m sure you will see a big improvement.

Just transcoding one file type will not be enough, as your computer will still be struggling to keep up with all the different conversions its having to do on the fly.

good luck

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
My YouTube Animations Page
Matt Doe
June 28, 2011 at 2:22 pm

What do you mean by “work properly” when you change the opacity of the clip?
Jaap Verdenius
June 28, 2011 at 3:58 pm

When I change the opacity the image turns into solid green.

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