[Dennis Couzin]

Hi Michael. Why did you post your question in this strand? Is your .mov file in DV codec?

Which program created your .mov file? (Where did it come from?)
Which operating systems are running your two MBPs?
Which QuickTime player doesn’t play the file: QuickTime 7 which always accompanies FCP7 or QuickTime 10 supplied with the operating system? Does it show an error message?

VLC player misunderstands the pixel shape of the video, but that’s a trifle. VLC has performed some temporary repair to the .mov file to make it playable, and if you’re lucky you can crudely solve your problem with VLC itself. Go to File>Convert/Stream… Click Customize. In Encapsulation click AVI. In Video codec choose H.264 and in Bitrate choose a very high number like 100000000. (It won’t really do that.) For Frame Rate enter the true number (reported in the VLC player’s Tools — lo, interlace information is missing). For Resolution choose Scale 1 (although you could solve your shape problem here). QuickTime Player 7 should be able to open the .avi thing VLC player makes. Then File>Save As, and save it as a self-contained .mov file. FCP7 can then edit this new .mov file (with usual cautions about editing H.264 inf FCP7).

That dirty VLC method doesn’t always work. It’s best to figure out what’s wrong with the .mov file. Digital Rebellion’s QT Edit program digs into it and lets you fix some faults manually.

Googling “mov repair software” finds several on the market. One is Stellar Video Repair. I haven’t tried it but was satisfied with other Stellar software.

Dennis

[Dennis Couzin]

Raul, FCP 7 can directly open even FCP 4 project files. That’s as far back as I go.

During the opening, FCP7 announces: “The file format of the project is from an earlier version. Would you like to update this project file?” Click: Yes.

Concerning operating systems for FCP 7, I still use Lion 10.7.5 because with my MacPro system there’s imperfect playback in the FCP 7 Canvas with all later operating systems — some frame ripping. No one else has confirmed that problem. FCP 7 works decently through Sierra 10.12.6 — one can edit. A March post in this forum, “Final Cut Pro 7 now works in Mojave and High Sierra using Retroactive”, raised further hopes for FCP 7.

Dennis

[Dennis Couzin]

The suggestion to make your computer dual bootable, now with both an OS 10.9 partition and an OS 10.15 partition, probably won’t work, for two reasons. (Space on drive isn’t a reason, since you can install a larger one.) First, when you updated to 10.15 you likely updated your firmware too. The new firmware probably won’t allow your computer to run under 10.9, even from an external drive. Second, the update to 10.15 surely reformatted your hard drive to APFS. OS 10.9 can’t operate with that new file system.

I suggest you edit using FCP 6 (or 7) from an external drive, and with OS 10.12 (Sierra) rather than 10.9 (Mavericks) as the operating system. Put OS 10.12 onto a USB 3.0 (or Thunderbolt) external SSD and check if it can boot your computer. (Alternatively borrow one, or ask someone who knows Macs really well.) If it can, then install the old FCP 6 onto it. FCP 7 runs half decently under OS 10.12, so hopefully FCP 6 will too. If you are not terribly demanding, a USB 3.0 connection will let you edit happily with the old FCP.

If this works it’s no harder and much cheaper than setting up a new computer.

FCP 7 will open FCP 6 project files.