113 responses so far ↓

• 1 susie // Feb 9, 2007 at 7:29 am

  I have two problems that i can’t seem to figure out. Any helpful advice is greatly appreciated.

  I am working on a FCP project that began on a friend’s desktop, connected to my external drive. All media being stored on that drive.

  I then recently installed FCP on my own laptop, took the drive from my friend, settled in for what i’d hoped would be a nice night in of solo editing and found that two strange things happened when i connected my hardrive and tried to open the project file on it.

  Firstly, it seems FCP automatically searches for an external device (camera or something) and says “Unable to Locate the Following External Device…Apply Firewire NTSC ..” Sorry i don’t have the entire error message in front of me. My friend says its looking for the camera and just to hit Continue and ignore it.

  Then, when i try to open the project i get General Error 41.

  i’ve looked online for forums and similar posts and get all kinds of different answers…Corrupt file. Corrupt hardrive. Need to reformat drive.

  We’re using Final Cut Studio 5.0 on both computers. It seemed to run just fine on the desktop yesterday before I took the drive home with me.

  Any ideas? Am I corrupted?

  Big thank yous,

  Susie

• 2 Andy Coon // Feb 9, 2007 at 8:10 pm

  Question: Where was the original file located?

  Also your friend is right about FCP looking for an external device. It’s looking for something to connect to so you can watch what is on your timeline.

  Can you access your files without FCP? Meaning could you get into your external hard drive an open the clips in your Capture Scratch Folder. If you can then your files are not corrupt.

  Check out this explanation to see if it helps…

• 3 jenn // Feb 14, 2007 at 1:01 pm

  hi andy,

  i am trying to use files from fcp 5.1.4 that were copied onto my external HD, then opened using fcp 5.0.4. that?s when i get error 41.

  i did all the things mentioned in emotiondv.com link you sent (opened a new account, exported/imported an xml file) but to no avail. i do see some clips in the browser after the xml import (but it has a red slash thru the clip icon) i also made sure that the scratch disks were pointing to the Capture Scratch folder. this didn’t seem to affect anything either.

  i posted this to the board, but wondering if you have any thoughts on what i could do? if i get a solution elsewise, i’ll be sure to post back here

  thanks in advance,
  jenn

• 4 Andy Coon // Feb 14, 2007 at 1:33 pm

  Right off the bat I see the problem. You can’t open a project saved in 5.1.2 or greater to a lower version such as 5.0.4. You have to upgrade FCP 5.0.4 to 5.1.2 on the computer where you are trying to open your project.

  Once you do that it should open up fine. Let me know if that works.

• 5 jenn // Feb 14, 2007 at 4:14 pm

  actually, according to emotiondv you should be able to open in a lower version using the xml feature.

  problem is, i tried following this, but to no avail. perhaps it has something to do with the transfer of files from the 5.1.2 desktop to my external HD to my 5.0.4 laptop?

• 6 Andy Coon // Feb 14, 2007 at 5:30 pm

  I’ve never tried that. I will once I get home to see if it holds. I’ll let you know if it does.

• 7 Andy Coon // Feb 14, 2007 at 9:04 pm

  Jenn,

  I just opened a xml file from my external to my desktop with FCP 5.1.2, earlier today i could not open the file in FCP 5.0.4 located on my laptop.

  The original xml file was created at work on FCP 5.1.2 I suggest you upgrade your laptop and it should work. Try it and get back to me.

• 8 justin Honan // Mar 21, 2007 at 9:35 am

  I was working on a project on a friends mac who has 5.1 that I was normally working on in school on 5.0 but when I opened it back u at scool I recived and error. Is there a way to save it as a lover version on 5.1. Say save a project on 5.1 as a 5.0 file?

• 9 Andy Coon // Mar 21, 2007 at 10:18 am

  I’m not aware on how to open a project in 5.1 from 5.0. I hope someone that comes on here can help. Good luck.

• 10 Anthony // Apr 15, 2007 at 7:00 am

  Hi
  Having problems with HD fooage at 16.9
  Using DVD pro to burn 4.3 sd disc
  Is there a way to get HD 16.9 to a 4.3 dimension without stretching
  Confused
  Thanks hope you get my problem

• 11 Jazzmyn // May 1, 2007 at 6:30 pm

  Hi
  I’m having a weird problem and need guidence. I’ve been capturing mini dv footage at 720×480, HOWEVER my actual media files have been sometimes 640×480 and 832×480. I’ve checked to make sure nothing was readjusted in FC. This has happened on both my G4 and G5. On my G5 some of the time codes are altering upon capture. A clip a minute long suddenly becomes seconds long after capture. I’m using Lacie Rugged ext hard drives to capture the footage too. They are swapped between computers and so are the project files.
  Does anyone have any recommendations?
  Thanx!
  J-

• 12 JAY // May 10, 2007 at 5:05 pm

  Hi, I’am somewhat new to FCP. I just installed 5.1.4 and when I attempt to capture new video from my Cannon GL2 using a NTSC Firewire. A error window pops up saying unknown file. I have never seen this before. ANY Advise would be great. THANKS

• 13 Andy Coon // May 10, 2007 at 7:52 pm

  Is there an error number?

  All I can suggest is select from the top menu/Final Cut Pro /Audio/Video Settings and look to see if the capture preset is set to DV NTSC 48 kHz. If you have any other information it would help. Good Luck and come back if ou find a solution. Thanks

• 14 Ron // Jul 2, 2007 at 4:25 pm

  Hi, I am I am just starting to use Final Cut Express. I am trying to capture several mini dv tapes from my camera to an external hard drive using the ‘capture now’ process. When I do this a black window comes up with the message “allocating disk space”. The cursor just continues to spin forever and nothing ever gets captured. Does anyone have any idea what the problem might be? I have successfully captured to the mac hard drive; I just can’t get it to work for the external hard drive. Thanks!

• 15 Andy Coon // Jul 2, 2007 at 7:32 pm

  Ron,

  Did you go into System Settings and change your Scratch Disk folder to your external hard drive?

• 16 Ron // Jul 3, 2007 at 10:46 am

  Hi Andy,

  Yeah, I did. Any other thoughts?

• 17 Andy Coon // Jul 3, 2007 at 11:32 am

  Only other thing I can think of is go to Audio/Video Settings under the Final Cut Pro menu and click open the capture presets tab and make sure that the DV NYSC 48 kHz is checked.

  Click on the Device Control Panel tab and make sure the Firewire NTSC is checked.

  I’m drawing a blank if it is not those… I’ll keep my eyes open. Let me know if you find out elsewhere.

  Good luck.

• 18 Ron // Jul 3, 2007 at 11:43 am

  Thanks Andy. I’ll give that a try. I’ll let you know if it works.

• 19 Ron // Jul 5, 2007 at 2:20 pm

  Hi Andy,

  Both of those are checked already so I guess it’s not that. Thanks for your help though.

  Rob

• 20 Sam // Jul 8, 2007 at 1:52 pm

  Backstory:

  > I’m producing writing and editing on FCP 6 [Studio 2 bundle] at a TV station in Florida.
  > I made a dub on SX tape of a story that was originally captured from a satellite feed.
  > I then then ingested the dub into FCP 6 located in my personal Mac Book Pro [OS 10.4.9] that was configured to the station?s standards.

  Problem:

  > The ingested media in FCP, from which I tried to create a new sequence, revealed “tearing” at every hard cut edit point. Dissolves and other transitions were OK. Mind you, these were edits in the ingested media, NOT in the sequence I was trying to create. Also, the edit points in the dub I ingested were clean. The tears lasted 2 – 3 frames and resembled an FC scissor transition. Any kind of manipulation — Fit to fill etc. — worsened the problem.

  Because of time constraints, I gave in and edited the piece on AVID [Ugh!!]. Although it took longer, there were no tearing issues.

  Attempted solutions before resorting to AVID:

  > I tried re-editing on one of the station’s FCP 4 setups. Same problem, but not as bad: the ingested media had edit points that looked like 1-2 frame dither dissolves.

  > FCP/Apple Support suggested adjusting my FCP settings to match those of the satellite feed or the original tape that was microwaved.

  > The station engineers said, I must edit directly from a non-microwaved dub.

  Indeed, another story from the same syndicator that was delivered on DVD had no such problems.

  The station plans to go completely FCP in a few months. Many stories will have to be edited from satellited material. Is there a way around this problem, that does not require elaborate re-settings?

• 21 Kagen // Jul 9, 2007 at 11:28 pm

  I’ve read your answer to a previous reader’s question about working with an external hard drive in FCP,and have an an additional question. Considering that my external HD must be plugged in to save my files on it,where do I plug my DV camera,when my external HD takes up my only firewire port? Do I need to add more ports to my MacBook?My external HD has two firewire ports,but I didn’t want to mess anything up,so I haven’t tried running my DV camera through it.

• 22 Andy Coon // Jul 9, 2007 at 11:41 pm

  Great question… I would suggest getting firewire port to play it safe. But if you have to use it ASAP go ahead and plug that sucker into your hard drive. I don’t suggest daisy chaining hard drives though. Good luck

• 23 Andy Coon // Jul 9, 2007 at 11:43 pm

  Sam-

  I can’t help you out on this one. Sorry I’ve never come across that problem. I hope someone can help you out on here. That is a problem that I would have to be there to figure out. Good luck.

• 24 Jared // Jul 9, 2007 at 11:54 pm

  Is it possible to run fcp off an external harddrive?

• 25 Andy Coon // Jul 10, 2007 at 12:44 am

  Jared-

  Unfortunately you cannot run FCP off an external hard drive. It needs to be on your main hard drive with the folders and application support. It would be a nice thing to do but it is not there yet.

• 26 Ben // Jul 16, 2007 at 9:18 am

  Hi, quick question for FCP users. I am setting up a project to learn the software but I am having problems getting the project saved to the external drive, it’s a lacie 360 mass storage drive and I have tried saving the project and the scratch disc to the drive but it comes back with a message reading “unable to set scratch disc. the selected directory is on write protected or non writable media” I have never had this problem in the past with this drive but it has only ever been used with a PC and does still have PC files on it, the strange thing is that the mac wil let me open files from it but not save to it?? Does anyon ehave any ideas on how to unprotect a hard drive??

  Cheers
  Ben

• 27 Jay // Jul 25, 2007 at 12:19 am

  I am using : ge, dual, 1.8 with FCP HD 4.5. Trying to render audio files. Sometimes get a General Error or General Error (39)….also get the genreal error sometimes when I try to play the timeline. Also, if it does render sometimes the red render bar does not go away…and it is not rendered, even though is says it is rendering. Corrup file? already trashed FCP preferences. any solutions??? tx Jay

• 28 Joe // Aug 2, 2007 at 5:21 pm

  Hi,

  I have FCP 5.1 installed on a G5 and G4. I have two Western Digital HDs daisy chained that I’ve been using with the G5. I need to use the setup with the G4 but FCP cannot locate the the hard drives upon opening FCP projects from the hard drives. Everything else works fine. The hard drives show up on the desktop. DVD studio pro projects open up and I can work in them. Any ideas as to why FCP can’t find the hard drives or suggestions on how to find them manually. (I’ve tried the easy setup).

• 29 Josh // Aug 5, 2007 at 8:11 pm

  I have a Log and Capture Question. I have Final Cut Pro on the computer, and all the scratch files, render, autosave, etc. on an external drive, so when I log and capture, it goes to the External Drive. The only problem is it locks up every couple of seconds during capturing. Is this because I am capturing to an external drive? I would capture to my main computer, but FCPro seems to take up all my memory after a couple of projects.

• 30 Andy Coon // Aug 6, 2007 at 7:45 pm

  Josh,

  That shouldn’t be effecting the capture. What kind of computer are you using and what kind of external hard drive are you using? Is it USB 1.1 or 2?

• 31 Andy Coon // Aug 6, 2007 at 7:47 pm

  Joe-

  I’m stumped man, if your computer is recognizing the external hard drives FCP should see it too. Try an export of a clip and see if it sees it. Or try to setup the capture scratch disc on the external hard drive to see if you can find it that way.

• 32 Josh // Aug 6, 2007 at 10:55 pm

  Thanks for the reply, Im using a Powermac dualcore 2.3. I have a Seagate 500gb. I also am using a DV Converter, a Miglia: Directors Cut 2. This is hooked up to the Mac, and the Mac sends the info to the External Drive which is assigned as the scratch disk and such. I do the capture now, and it will capture for a couple random seconds and then freeze up. Final Cut itself doesnt lock, just the capture now screen. Any help would be great! Thanks again,

  Josh

• 33 Stu // Aug 20, 2007 at 8:24 am

  Hey Andy,

  I hvae a similar problem as some people above.
  I?m capturing my Dv tapes using firewire, we use pal here in South africa. My audio/video settings are setup for DV PAL and my scratch disc setup with 400 gigs free.

  In log and capture:

  if i press play and click on now , the video plays and capturs, when i press escape i get the final cut pro unable to read file error.

  if i set in and out points and press on clip it does what it should but when finished says “file error: unkown file.”

  Ive tried both DV PAL 48 and anamorphic.
  We captured off this dLink a few days ago.

  Any ideas.
  Kind regards stu.

• 34 Josh // Aug 20, 2007 at 2:58 pm

  I figured out my problem, which has to do with Log and Capture locking up during the capture process, while having my computer attached to a 500GB external drive and DV converter.

  Either the computer or the external drive was locking up the capture process because it could not take in the data as well as write it into memory. In other words, could not do two things at once. My solution: I went to scratch disk setup and changed only the video capture from the 500gb to now be saved on the computer and let everything else be still saved to the external drive. Once it is captured, I moved the captured material to from the computer to the seagate. When I go to Final Cut, reconnect footage. it will say the footage does not work when trying to reconnect, but I hit “try again” and it reconnected without errors. Since I relocated video capture to the HD, I havent had problems locking up.

  Im glad that I was able to find this board for outside help though, thanks Andy and everyones comments.

  Josh Reale

• 35 james // Aug 21, 2007 at 5:52 am

  hey can some one plz help>
  im new to fcp and film making in general
  i have previously been messing with imovie and got bored so i got fcp5
  now, with my footage i have been capturing it in imovie previously and transfering it to my lacie firewire.
  now when i transfer the footage into fcp from my external i get droped frames.
  i have been told that if you run an external and your computer with fcp it will run at the speed of the lowest hd.
  i think if i upgrade my ram in my mac it should fix the problem but im not sure.
  i have a early 2006 imac with 512mb ram and a lacie fire wire ecternal that runs at 7200rpm (i think thats right for my external )
  does any1 no if i put another gig of ram in my mac, will it fix the problem…../… or will i have to get another hard drive aswell…. or am i way of track???
  any help would be fantastic
  thanx
  james

• 36 Stu // Sep 7, 2007 at 9:52 am

  hi guys still got this final cut 6 issue, see two posts above… ERROR: final cut pro was unable tot read the movie file just captured….

  i’ve just tried FCP rescue and dumped my pref’s … but no luck.

• 37 Juan // Oct 3, 2007 at 8:43 pm

  Hello,
  I have a WD external HD and I am editing on Final Cut. I set up my system settingS to WD external HD so that i CAN capture directly to it and save all the files on on it TOO. It worked once but it doesn’t do it any more. When i try to caputre on to the extERtal drive now it only reads the time code on the capture screen. Any ideas.
  juan

• 38 Adam // Nov 1, 2007 at 4:25 pm

  I have a FCP project I want to transfer from one external hard drive to another. What is the best way to do this so that the media will still communicate properly in Final Cut? Worst case I know I can reconnect the media manually, but I am trying to find a way to avoid having to do that.

• 39 Daryl // Nov 2, 2007 at 12:25 pm

  I am trying to capture DV footage as I normally do but this time (for the first time) its saying, “Error: Final cut pro was not able to read the movie file just captured” why is this the case and what can I do about it? Can anybody please help.

• 40 Matt // Nov 15, 2007 at 11:46 am

  Is it a definite impossibility to run FCP off of an External drive? Seems like that would assist in version issues. I work on a campus and we have many different version floating around.

• 41 Bobby // Nov 22, 2007 at 8:33 pm

  Hello… you cannot run FCP off an external drive. You can save all footage (audio/video) to external. Also, fcp projects will not capture properly when one external drive is connected to another then to the computer (Macintosh HD). To the person with problems with log and capture. Turn computer off, disconnect hard drive (properly!), reconnect THE external drive you want to save fcp project on, turn on computer, notice external drive on desktop. it is best to set up save folder on external hard drive first before moving saved fcp project around and then creating folders. reset scratch disks to THE external drive. now open log and capture and capture now for a couple minutes to see if working.

• 42 David // Nov 24, 2007 at 8:35 pm

  I’m trying to determine if I can use 2 external hard drives (2 – 500 GB ext. hard drive) or if I need one 750 GB hard drive. I have final cut with an IMAC core duo. Basically, I’m going to record possibly about 60 hours of video on mini DV tapes (12 GB per tape x 60 = 720 GB), and I’m doing most of it in a very remote location where I probably can’t acquire additional hard drives. Is there a way where I can create one fc project that has about 720 GB of video footage but store it on 2 different external hard drives? Thanks for any help you can give.

• 43 cat // Nov 27, 2007 at 4:58 pm

  Hi, I have just installed fcp 5.1 on my macbook. I have been editing on the same version(5.1) at university but I connected my hard drive and tried to open my project and an error message just keeps coming up. Have I done something wrong? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give!

• 44 cat // Nov 27, 2007 at 4:59 pm

  sorry..the error message is error 41 ?

• 45 Andy Coon // Nov 27, 2007 at 5:22 pm

  Check to see if you have the same version as the school does. For instance the school might have 5.1.4 and your newly installed FCP would be 5.1.0 or .1, .2, .3. That would cause that message to occur. Good Luck

• 46 Lope // Nov 30, 2007 at 3:23 pm

  Hi, I’m working with an external drive and when i try to open the FCP “General Erros 41″ appears on my desk. I’m working with FC 5.1 but i don’t know if i have any exyension more. I can realiza that my FC version it’s older than the FC version from the hard drive. That means that the solution is to update my FC? If it’s ye, how can i get it?
  thank you very much.

• 47 Andy Coon // Dec 5, 2007 at 11:05 am

  I can’t find anywhere on the net to download the upgrade. Open your software update and check for new software. Your computer will connect with Apple and it should update automatically.

  You will need your serial code in order to update.

• 48 Roger Maynard // Dec 11, 2007 at 10:56 pm

  Hi..I’m having trouble opening the lessons on my Final Cut Pro 6 DVD tutorial. Every time I try to do so I get error 41. I am using an iMAC version 10.4.7. Could this be the problem? If so, can I cure it by using an external fire drive with a lot more space? Grateful for any guidance…RM. Sydney, Australia.

• 49 Andy Coon // Dec 12, 2007 at 1:14 am

  Roger-

  Definitely take the lessons off of the DVD and onto your hard drive. That would slow down the files big time. As far as the error 41 that is difficult to say. All the instances that I’ve experienced error 41 is trying to open a project that was created in FCP on a different version.

  For instance… Open a FCP file that was created in FCP 6.0.2 and my version is 6.0.0 I would get an error 41

  Try to run a software update and see if that solves it.

  Good luck, Roger and out!

• 50 sungjinyun // Dec 17, 2007 at 3:02 pm

  i use fcp and an external hard drive, my scratch discs are set to the external hard drive (200 g of free space). My capture window says that i only have 61 minutes approx 14 gigs left of free space. After deleting some old projects folder i had open this still did not change. Did i miss something?! how do i free up more space for capturing?

• 51 Andy Coon // Dec 18, 2007 at 12:55 am

  Did you empty the trash so? Doing that will free some space. That’s all i can think about.

• 52 Christian Simpson // Dec 21, 2007 at 12:13 am

  I am having a horrible problem importing 24p footage from my DVX 100A into Final Cut 6. I recently upgraded from Fina Cut 4.5 and never had problems importing DVX footage but now my clips come as 29.97 fps and the size is altered to 640×480? What gives!? I set up my presets as DV NTSC and capture with advanced pulldown removal just like I have for years and ever since I upgraded to Final Cut Pro 6, importing footage has been incredible frustrating. Am I missing something?

• 53 Andy Coon // Dec 21, 2007 at 1:12 am

  Is this the setup you have for importing footage in easy setup?

  

• 54 Sit // Jan 22, 2008 at 4:13 am

  Hi! I have finished my editing and now want to burn my movie but I cant get past transforming my project into 1 file. My external drive was FAT32 so I created a new partition using ipartition. I made it Mac OS Extended (I’m using a macbook) but I still cant write larger files than 4,25GB. (I mark in – out, then attemt making an avi uncompressed with the quicktime conversion.)

  I’m now thinking of formatting the whole external drive getting rid of any pc influence…?! but if I dont need to do that, that would be great (takes a long time and I need to find space to back up my project.) it needs to work by this weekend… help?! thanks!

• 55 matthew // Mar 19, 2008 at 11:38 am

  Hi – i’m using FCPS2 on a mac pro and a macbook pro.

  I’d like to continue editing on my laptop when i’m
  away from my desk – can anyone suggest a solid
  workflow so that i can transcode media to smalller
  sizes for use on the mackbook pro (or even just
  consolidate the bits i want to work on) but then
  still easily update the project to continue work
  back on the desktop system?
  How easy is relinking my updated project to the
  media on my macpro.

  any tips about doing this would be great.

  ( this link was helpful but didn’t quite cover the
  back and forthness i’d like to acheive:
  http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/media_manager_fcp_4_balis.html)

  OR

  Is the best way to just carry a big hard disk about
  and use that on both the laptop and the desktop systems?

• 56 Anthony // Apr 1, 2008 at 10:13 am

  I have final cut pro 4.0 and recently after i was done capturing on my lacie external I noticed when I turn on my computer the external doesn’t show up on my desktop. after awhile it will pop up and states something to the effect device was not properly shut down and go into finder and eject or clean out external.

  Is this what I should do?? I’m worried if I first aid it under the finder it will delete saved files on external.

  thanks

• 57 Andrew // Apr 17, 2008 at 12:46 am

  I want to install Final Cut Studio on my MacBook Pro, but have limited space.

  Is it possible/Do you think it’s a good idea to install the applications on my internal HD and then install the extras on my external HD?

• 58 Anitt Hillp // Apr 24, 2008 at 11:21 pm

  Hello,
  I would like your help. I have the exact same problem as Ron, I have an external hard drive that the thing is saved to and i have both things checked and it still doesn’t WORK!!!!! PLEASE HELP!

• 59 Ken // May 7, 2008 at 7:43 pm

  I have video files on a Mac at school that I have been working on in Final Cut Pro. I loaded them on an external hard drive to work on them at home. I load them onto my PC running windows xp home. I moved the files to the C drive. When I open the folder all file names have a ._ added in front of them. I can not open the files. I get an error message that says the file extension is not recognized by windows. I have tried adding different file extentions; i.e. .mov, .avi. I have tried removing the ._ from the file name. Nothing works. I can load the files onto my wife’s computer and her computer can open them. Does anyone have a clue what the problem is?

• 60 Julia // May 12, 2008 at 3:57 pm

  Hi!
  Please S.O.S, I am having a very similar problem as Susie had at the beginning of this blog, General Error 41. You wrote “Check out this explanation to see if it helps…”, I go there but I can´t find the explanation…please tell me where to find that…
  Thanks

• 61 Julia // May 12, 2008 at 4:21 pm

  Just to be more specific…I trash the preferences, reinstall the program (same version than before), it won´t open the autosave vault, it will open other old projects I had, it does open the media associated to the project, I did the disk utility, don´t know what else to do…

• 62 Andy Coon // May 13, 2008 at 12:37 am

  Question: Are you using the same version of FCP on each computer… even if the version is 6.0.2 it won’t open a version saved as 6.0.3.

  Double check to make sure you are running the latest version.

• 63 sam // May 20, 2008 at 6:27 pm

  hi guys,
  im using final cut and saving all my files to a lacie hard drive. but now when i open final cut it wont open any of the files… i think the mac has forgotten the link to the hardrive. how do i re-establish this link?
  thankyou
  sam

• 64 Owen // May 30, 2008 at 1:47 pm

  i am having trouble when i try to log and transfer longer clips from my canon hg10 to final cut express, and when i do put on shorter clips, it takes a very long time. it gives me a stop sign with an exclamation Mark in it and says it is an unknown error.

• 65 priya // Jun 16, 2008 at 1:57 pm

  hi,

  I’m working on fcp on a macbook pro and for some reason, neither the fcp nor my project files are opening up. This has happened before and an fcp reinstall resolves the problem. Is there another way to get my project to open?

  Also, i was organising media in my bins and renamed a few clips (also renamed file to match clip). A day later, all of the renamed clips were offline. I noticed they didn’t have reel numbers, which is bizarre as they originally did have them. I tried to input the reel numbers again, but after inputting and hitting enter or clicking outside, the reel numbers vanished. As an experiment, I tried to rename another clip and sure enough the reel number vanished of the renamed clip as soon as I did the rename file to match clip bit.

  Reconnecting the media isn’t an option – although the clips show up, i have to uncheck the box that says match name and reel no. even though the reel number is the same and I’m assuming the clip no. shld be the same as well.

  I could just redigitise – but I’d love to figure out what I’m doing wrong!

  thanks!

• 66 karma // Jun 19, 2008 at 6:42 am

  hi mac users,
  ur kind help is needed here…. as i have big project to complete by this week my mac has started givin probs…when ever i try to open final cut pro it shows that my Mac HD is missin, but i can still see the icon and work on with other application but the prob is only with FCP….please help me with this…

  thank you
  Greetings from kingdom of thunder Dragon
  Bhutan

• 67 Aaron // Aug 4, 2008 at 11:31 pm

  Andy,

  I have an iMAC using FCP 6.0.1 with a Maxtor 1TB external hard drive. I use the FS-100 containing P2 media; then use log and transfer to ingest and was able to transfer and the media except one clip.

  A red exclaimation point came up and said error: unknown. I read other posts, some state to change the name and it should work. Tried it no dice!

  While others instruct to undo the check make in the preferences to remove the advance pulldown and duplicate frames…No go!

  I looked in the capture scratch to if it was there. It is not there but it plays just fine in the Log & Transfer viewer before you would add clip to queue!

  The contents folder for that clip are on the external hard drive.

  Can you tell me what my options are? How can I combat the Red Exclaimation Point?

  Thanks…
  Aaron

• 68 Andy Coon // Aug 5, 2008 at 12:49 am

  Aaron,

  Crap! that sucks, I know how you feel at the moment. The only thing I can think of is updating FCP to 6.0.4. I hate the unknown error. That doesn’t do us much good now does it?

  Where is your scratch disk set? Let me know if you find something out.

• 69 Damani // Aug 7, 2008 at 3:24 am

  Hello

  Are Final Cut Express 4 and Final Cut Pro 6 compatible? I’ve heard that you can take a project from Express to Pro without a problem, but not in the other direction. Is this accurate?

• 70 Andy Coon // Aug 7, 2008 at 3:29 am

  Damani-

  I believe it is possible but I can’t confirm it because I’ve never done that. But I know you can’t bring FCP 6.0.4 to FCP 6.0.3. Good luck.

• 71 Taner // Aug 10, 2008 at 7:34 pm

  Hi, i have the same problem as susie, but i don’t think anyone answered her.

  i have purchased an external hard drive to transfer final cut files. I have film projects on another mac, which i want to transfer to my mac. i have saved the files i want onto the hard drive but when i go to open them on my computer (or any other mac) it is unable to do so, and says ‘error 41′. please does anyone know why this is, perhaps there is more to just saving it onto the hard drive, i tried altering settings but no luck. i would appreciate any help.

  thanks

  taner

• 72 Andy Coon // Aug 10, 2008 at 9:02 pm

  The best thing to do is to copy the project in Media Manager to your external hard drive in FCP. Look in the manual in FCP to do it.

• 73 Taner // Aug 11, 2008 at 4:21 am

  sorry what do you mean copy the project in media manager…?

• 74 angel // Aug 27, 2008 at 12:50 am

  hi guys please help. i live in New Zealand – we have PAL.
  can i use the NTSC dvd from the FCP training series on my mac here in NZ? … not working now (error 41) and discover from all comments that i need to upgrade. will do, but don’t want to go to all that and then find it still won’t work ’cause it’s NTSC and not PAL. Anyone know?

  tnks
  angel

• 75 Del // Sep 3, 2008 at 11:24 am

  Hi.

  I’m editing an FCP project & all the files are stored on an external hard drive. On my laptop it’s working fine but I plugged in the hard drive to my main computer today, opened the project (same version of FCP, by the way so not a 41 error for a change!) & half the edits were labelled red & in need of a render!

  So I’ve had to wait 4 hours for a re-render of all the files.

  Why is that? Why can’t it find the same proxy renders that it could obviously find on the laptop? Are they not stored in the same place as the project & captured footage?

  Thanks.

• 76 KM // Sep 15, 2008 at 9:34 am

  Hi.

  I have a Q and wonder if someone can help me out. I have been saving a movie project on an external hard drive (lacie rugged). my problem is, the drive seemed to get disconnected (but was still connected with the firewire?) while i was working on the project. I got the warning that the external had been disconnected and that any unsaved date etc. would be lost. when i tried to re-open the project it seems the whole thing isnt able to open up. files are missing and it seem the project is gone? i know not to disconnect without ejecting first but for some reason i got the warning without touch the external? maybe it over heated? can i get my project back? i have worked on this movie project for a couple of weeks now, and now its gone?! please help! thank you, all advise will be greatly appreciated.

• 77 Jenny // Sep 30, 2008 at 1:33 pm

  hi, i have a whole bunch of media i need for editing in final cut studio which does not fit on my Mac HD so i had been storing the files on my external hard drive and have had no freezing/slow work flow problems. but ive had to get an additional larger hard drive to house all my media and since ive been using this one, final cut is super slow when i edit. its an Iomega 750g HD. what is my problem and how do i fix it?

• 78 Andy Coon // Sep 30, 2008 at 8:45 pm

  Jenny…

  What kind of Mac do you have and what kind of cable are you using to connect to the MAC?

• 79 Jenny // Oct 1, 2008 at 1:43 pm

  I have a mac mini, running OS 10.5.4, 2 ghz intel core 2 duo processor, and 2 gigs of ram. my external hard drive is connected via firewire 400… my computer should be able to handle it so im wondering if its the external drive or if its my firewire connection.

• 80 Rick // Oct 1, 2008 at 3:04 pm

  I kinda messed up with my version of Final Cut Pro. When starting up the program.. it asks you to locate the external firewire…well nothing was working correctly so I checked on the”don’t show this message” check box. NOW FCP doesn’t boot at all!! I royally screwed up! Do I need to re-install FCP or what? thank you!

• 81 Andy Coon // Oct 1, 2008 at 7:17 pm

  Jenny, You’re right it should work but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is slowing down due to some kind of hardware because it is a mac mini… those specs are better than my G5.

  Rick,

  Trash the preferences. Download FCP Rescue. Read up and see if that works.

• 82 Aubrey // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:09 am

  Hi,
  I am trying to reinstall Final Cut Studio on my new computer. I am able to install successfully, but when I try to open the program it asks me for the serial number again. At this point, I get a message saying, “This is an upgrade serial number, please enter your original serial numbers.” I can’t find them! Any advice?

• 83 angel // Oct 8, 2008 at 4:22 pm

  Hi Angel
  Yes I am in NZ, also had the error 41 and now use the DVD! It works fine, but you do have to upgrade FCP to at least the version of the DVD (I think it’s FCP 6 – can’t remember now). If you have an upgrade beyond that it’s also OK as FCP will ask you if you want to convert the files to a newer version when you start working on it. Just click ‘yes’.

• 84 Rob // Oct 30, 2008 at 10:21 am

  YO! I converted an mp4 video file to a .mov by putting it into quick time and then exporting it as a .mov from there i try to put it in final cut and an error comes up that say its an unrecognizable file. Can any one help? Thanks!

• 85 Dars // Nov 6, 2008 at 12:36 am

  Help! I’ve just cut something using FCP 5.1.4 and sent an XML project file of the cut back to FCP 4.5 (another editor)
  Can someone tell me if this will open up fine in FCP 4.5 or is there something special I need to be doing. I exported the XML as version 1. Urgently waiting from someone to make me feel better.

• 86 Andy Coon // Nov 6, 2008 at 2:07 pm

  I believe that it will open just fine. If you can send him an XML as version 4 just to be safe.

  Good luck

• 87 Dars // Nov 6, 2008 at 6:34 pm

  Hey Andy
  Thanks but like you said it opened up just fine. I really appreciate your speedy response.

  Thanks

• 88 Zoe // Nov 19, 2008 at 7:55 am

  Hi Andy,

  Your website is fab! I wonder if you could help me…. I am a 21 year old Documentary maker from England who is just starting out.

  But I have a massive problem with FCP. Below is the issue, copied and pasted from another forum I wrote on. ANY advice you could give me would be so fab. Many thanks:

  CP Despair… must I “render” EVERYTHING!? :

  Hello helpful, knowledgable, Mac users all,

  I have just inherited a MacBook Pro with Final Cut Pro 5 (the computer has been able to handle editing on the laptop for almost a year now, on a professional level).

  I have also just purchased an HD-8Z camcorder, which films in full 1080p with an H.264 compressor. I was advised to buy HD for a Documentary MA I’m enrolling on, and was given this laptop by my uncle because he thought FCP might cope with the HD and be useful (due to personal circumstance, I can’t ask my uncle these Q.s…btw)

  The problem I’m having (I think) is matching the ‘Sequence Settings’ (although I’ve entered the above info) to the ‘Easy Setup’ (which is set at 29fps, same as the camera). Despite having repeatedly checked, I THINK I have entered the same info in each… but obviously NOT because the programme is still asking me to ‘Render’ every single bit of film I shoot.

  This basically means I can’t shoot footage at all, since a 3 SECOND clip takes almost 10 minutes to render…. I can only imagine how long the footage for my documentary is going to take (/the damage it will do to the laptop…)

  I’m stumped and just don’t know what to do or who to ask… PLEASE HELP!

  Thankyou (in advance) so much.

  Zoe.

• 89 Andy Coon // Nov 19, 2008 at 2:56 pm

  Zoe-

  Right click on the footage in the browser select item properties and format. that will open a box with the format information from your camera. right down that info or do a screen capture [command 3], Then go into sequence settings in your timeline [command zero] and select the same format as the video.

  Good Luck

• 90 Eruca // Nov 21, 2008 at 6:49 pm

  Hey Andy,

  I am not that new to FCP but I am very new to DVD SP. I have FCP 6.0.1 and I just shot a 4 hour live event. Whenever I try to make a reference file using export>quicktime movie>not selecting “make self contained movie” it still makes the movie self contained. I keep getting 37gb files from this “reference movie”.

  Also, I have added several chapter markers to my fcp file and when I open the file in DVD SP the file takes forever to encode and also the markers do not show up.

  Do I have to wait until the video finishes encoding for the markers to show? And would you have any suggestions on why I can’t make reference movies?

  TIA

  Erica

• 91 Karla Gomez // May 24, 2009 at 1:26 pm

  PLEASE HELP ME ASAP!

  I am working on a school project documentary which is due on Tue. I was working fine using a Canon mini DV HDV 1080i, I firts downloaded all my footage to to an iMac desktop and used Final Cut Express. I then used a hard drive to transfer my timeline in FCE to a Macbook. I have used the same camera the whole time. When I connect the camera and to my macbook this pops up: Unable to locate the following external devices: Apple FireWire PAL (720 y 576) or NTSC (720 by 480) depending on the setting which has been changed but none work. Two days ago, I was able to capture and since then there is no communication between the Canon and FCE…

• 92 Nomar // May 30, 2009 at 5:28 pm

  I am having trouble trying to connect my camera to final cut express. im basically sending all the files to an external hard drive and the funny thing is I have done it before and it worked, but i cant seem to figure out why it doesnt recognize my camera. any suggestions??

  Thanks
  Nomar

• 93 Bob // Aug 8, 2009 at 2:40 pm

  Can you suggest the best 1T or larger ext. hard drive to purchase to use with macbook pro as well as an 20″ imac. Speed and use with both computers more important than price. Using FCP studio 2. Thanks

• 94 Yernar // Nov 2, 2009 at 6:14 am

  Hi everyone!
  I have a big problem with FCP. Be cause when i get started for a record it can just rec for a few minitues after that gave me I/O error.
  Please help me if you can!

• 95 Mike Hamilton // Dec 2, 2009 at 10:27 am

  Hi Andy,
  Your site is a god send-I’ve been cutting for a while using lacie 500gb, but have now bought WD 500. Is it possible to save project on lacie and use WD as a back up? Thanks Mike

• 96 Andy Coon // Dec 2, 2009 at 5:49 pm

  Mike,

  Not sure what you’re asking. Are you using the WD for capture scratch or just backing up the entire lacie?

  If you are asking if you can use the WD as a backup for the project file the answer is yes.

• 97 Mike Hamilton // Dec 2, 2009 at 7:01 pm

  Hi Andy, Thanks for your prompt reply-It occurred to me this morning (Australian time) I didn’t mention, the lacie is my scratch disk and save disk. I want the WD to be an extra back up.
  BTW, love the doco you did on your grandmother, the town looks idyllic.
  Cheers Mike

• 98 Andy Coon // Dec 3, 2009 at 6:03 pm

  You can make your WD a back up, sure thing, and very smart thing.

  Thanks on the compliment on Gma’s Doc. Good luck!

• 99 amir // Dec 11, 2009 at 9:01 am

  how to set a default transition in the effects tabs in the browsers in final cut pro 6.0.4?

• 100 mike Hamilton // Dec 13, 2009 at 11:56 am

  Hope somebody can help me with this.
  As mentioned above, my scratch disk is a Lacie, I’m also saving the project to that disk. But when i back up (save as) to the WD disk – connected at the same time- the WD, when played back (and sequenced) shows ‘media off-line’ therefore video project is useless. Any help please.
  Thanks Mike

• 101 Rosamund // Jan 8, 2010 at 10:01 am

  Hi,
  I’m having problems with JPEGS in FCP. I’ve imported a Jpg, put it into the timeline, but it won’t show in the canvas.

  It is set to RGB, and in the canvas it is set to image+wireframe.

  What can I do so I can see my image in my canvas?

  Thank you.

• 102 RonA // Jan 9, 2010 at 9:43 am

  Hey I have a problem
  I’m working on a project using fcp 6. I’m saving my project to. Folder on desktop but the media Iam using is from an external rugged 250 gb Lacie. The project is near complete, but the problem I have been getting lately is that the Lacie isn’t mounting via FireWire 800 at all, which causes the lost of my media. I tried trouble shooting using using other externals which work fine. But the Lacie isn’t mounting at all! Can some help me !

• 103 Ambika Leigh // Feb 18, 2010 at 3:43 am

  Hi Andy –

  Could use your help! I’m on FCP 6.0.6, working off project files from a 1.5 TB Maxtor OneTouch III. I’ve had these files on this HD for over a year, but have not accessed the files in many months. When I recently went back to work on them, the Maxtor was having issues mounting. Even after I would get it mounted, both the timelines and the exported QT files I would play from the Maxtor would do the same exact thing: 1) take a while to start play 2) only play for 3 seconds 3) pause playback 4) playhead would start to inch forward again very slowly, but no video or audio playback. 5) FCP (or QT) freeze up and I have to force quit.

  I wondered if it was just the Maxtor that was having issues (because of the mounting problems), so I copied some of the projects & media to another HD (a Lacie, which hasn’t had any problems and where everything plays fine). But when I open the same timeline on the Lacie, it does the same thing. (Again, no other files on the Lacie are having any problems.)

  Note: The original source media that connects to this timeline plays back perfectly in QT (even on the Maxtor). So it’s only the timelines and the exported QT files that came from those timelines, on this particular Maxtor drive, that are having issues. (This entire editing project – 52, 1-hr TV shows – takes up 6 HDs, and all the other drives/files are working fine.)

  Please tell me this is fixable!! =)

  Thanks so much…

• 104 Andy Coon // Feb 18, 2010 at 11:27 am

  Ambika-

  First off let me say I’m sorry to hear your having trouble with this.

  When you moved the project file and media to a new HD did you reconnect the media in the project to the new HD?

  If not when you open the project it will look for the media in the old place meaning your Maxtor HD.

• 105 Michael Darcy // Mar 1, 2010 at 2:30 pm

  Hello,

  I am having trouble saving my projects to FCE which I assume has the similar save properties to FCP. Here’s my problem: whenever I save my project in to my external hardrive the computer automatically saves the said project as a separate .tmp file. It continues to do this while I am working on my project. When I go back to open the project as I saved it, the program tells me it is unable to open. However, when I search through the many .tmp files I can sometimes find the proper file. I don’t know how to stop this or why it is doing this. I’ve tried to turn the auto-save feature off, but it doesn’t work. If anyone has some sort of feel for what my problem is please respond with some sort of insight.

  Thanks.

• 106 chris // Aug 15, 2010 at 8:56 pm

  hey there….love this site. fantastic resource.

  i recently moved on from my G4 Mac and got a beautiful iMac 27″. i had FCP Studio version 5.1 on my G4 and had alot of projects…they were all saved on my external hard drive. anyway, when i got my new iMac 27, i installed the FCP 5.1 but when i try to open any of my projects in the hard drive i get the error 41 message. i am using the same FCP Studio i had on my G4 so i really have no idea what the problem is. any advice? there is alot of work i am going to lose if i cant figure this out. should i try to move all of my projects on the external to the iMac HD? please help!!

  thanks

  chris

• 107 Andy Coon // Aug 15, 2010 at 9:08 pm

  First thing I would do is to run a software update and see if there are any updates to 5.1. That is probably why it is giving you a error 41 message…even though you have the same version running, your G4 might have been 5.1.4 and the iMac 27″ is 5.1. I don’t know why Apple does that but it is annoying.

  Good luck.

  Andy

• 108 chris // Aug 15, 2010 at 9:59 pm

  andy…i cant thank you enough amigo. i ran a software update, and a firmware update was added for all Pro apps on my iMac. i opened up FCP immediately following the update and i noticed the FCP version was no 5.1.4…..bingo!!! thanks so much. my projects are now opening and are recognized. thank you!!!!

  chris

• 109 Andy Coon // Aug 15, 2010 at 11:20 pm

  Glad that worked

• 110 Pablo // Oct 18, 2010 at 6:17 am

  Hi Andy,
  I love your tutorials.
  I’m using a “pixelate” plug-in from FxFactory to cover two different small areas on the same clip. I created two layers and applied the effect in each one. I’m able to see the pixelate effect on each separate layer but when I play them together I only see the effect on one layer at a time. The effect comes with masks within the plug-in that I have used.
  I really don’t know what else to do to fix this. Do you have any ideas of what the issue might be?

  Thank so Much!

  Pablo

• 111 Andy Coon // Oct 26, 2010 at 8:44 am

  Pablo,

  I have not used that effect yet and don’t know if I even have it. Have you hit up nosies industry? They are pretty good at getting back to their customers.

• 112 David O'Mahony // Feb 28, 2011 at 6:25 am

  Hey all,

  Having a problem with Final Cut Express and Logic Express. Every time I open the applications they ask me for serial numbers. I bought my iMac in January completely legitimately from the Apple Store in London. I have registered both products on the Apple website. Any ideas how I can avoid having to input my serial number EVERY time?!

  All the best

  David

• 113 Shannele // Mar 13, 2011 at 11:25 pm

  I have a similar question to the one you already answered above. I need to put my unfinished final cut projects onto my hard drive to clear space for a new project…which means I have to completely delete it off my computer. When Im ready to finish those projects will I be able take it off my hard drive put it back on my computer & work on it from where I left off?

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