latest QT on Macbook/macmini crashes FCP

[Jonas Rejman]

Hi,

we shoot footage with the latest B16. Now I am trying to make a pre-selection on FCP on a Macbook (CD 2Ghz, 2GB RAM). The latest QT plugin seem to crash FCP. I can replicate it ALWAYS, when there is no footage in the timeline, e.g. like a temporal gap in the edit. As soon as I put the playhead on it, it crashes. It also crashes at other occasions, that I cannot replicate for 100%. The system crashes about every 3 minutes that way, even when I try to work around the no-footage-in-timeline-issue.

I tried also on a new-installed macmini (C2D, 1,8Ghz, 1GB RAM), but it was the same problem. I also deleted and reinstalled the QT redcode component.

All comps ran 10.5.4, QT 7.5 and FCP 6.04.


I used to make the preselection on this very same computer on Build15 and i never had a crash. Now I wonder, if I need to buy a new computer, or if I have setup something wrong.

In FCP, I use only the 512x256 size for the editing preselection. Media are mixed 4K and 2K. REDCODE in sequence, 100% quality.
Playback control in system settings: RT unlimited, video quality low, hq scrubbing off.

What am I missing, or is it the integrated Intel GFC of the computers, that is messing it up?

[Alex Carr]

MAcbook / Mac mini probably are crashing because of Firewire 400 input... Its just too slow to keep up... At least with 800 you stand a chance.

[Ed Watkins]

Are you running FCP on a MacBook or a MacBook Pro?
If it is the former, I was told that the graphics chip will crash FCP as the program is not designed to run on a MacBook, nor a mac mini, graphics chipset.

I believe it is one of Apple's ways of making sure people buy the more expensive MacBook Pro line up to use FCP.
But, in all honesty you should be using something with a bit more power than a MacBook to play with REDCODE.

[Alex Carr]

Oh crap i totally forgot about that!

Its GMA 950 chipset, it can run Final Cut Pro, but it will give crashes on Heavy Codecs and Image Sequences... Or Referenced RAW files.

[Jonas Rejman]

The point is, that I was editing and working on B15 footage in FCP, from a firewire 400 drive and from a USB 2.0 (in very low quality, but still), on this very same machine. Even when i load the old B15 project it does not crash with the same QT redcode plugin!

I run it on a Macbook, NOT MacBook PRO.

I am aware, that this is a very, very low end solution, but for arranging shots as did the assistant editor, it worked on B15 like a charm.

The crashes are because of the QT redcode plugin, as the osx reports. I cannot use an earlier version, because that is not compatible with the latest B16 build we used to shoot.

In this project i even use lower quality QT wrappers (512x256), than on the B15 project (1024x512).

Maybe the crypting of the B16 is causing an overhead, that I cannot process anymore? But on the other hand, when it works, it works fine. No jerks in playback, no delays. The playback gets trough minutes of footage. Only, when the playhead reaches "empty space" or I cut out a clip, and the playhead was on it (and now is in "empty space") it crashes.

It seems to me, that his might be, despite my low end configuration, a sort of a bug, that may not appear on higher systems.

Can you think of anything else setting/system wise?

Thanks for your replies.