When I start to move the playhead on the timeline of an existing project I first have to wait for 30 seconds (the beach ball is turning). After that it starts playing, but sometimes stops for a couple of seconds. I stalled fcpx on my IMac but the specific footage is saved on an external hd.
[Edited by Moderator]
iMac 27″, macOS 15.6
there might be a bottle neck in your data flow, either you have one of the storage locations (cahce, media, etc..) is set to a slow external drive or a cloud drive, causing "the lag".
heres a quick (non exhaustive) trouble shoot workflow :
1- check for updates, lingering updates (system or FCPX) can cause slowing down - update and restart. (just be aware that if you update FCPX, you wont be able to use libraries thereon, on older versions of FCPX on other Macs - just something to consider)
2- check storage locations - are backups on the cloud, is your footage on a slow, full, fragmented, or not-ideal formatted drive, slow usb cable ?
on the app store, download Blackmagic Disk Speed test > set your target drive to your footage source and use 5gb to circumvent any cache on the drive. the read out will tell you if your drive is likely suitable for the project you are working on. if not, consider trying different cables (thunderbolt) and test again. however, if it is the drive itself which is struggling to keep up, copy your files to a faster drive and relink them in the project.
hope it works for you.
Most drives today are plenty fast enough.
1- Check the formatting of the external drive, what is its format?
2- How much free space on the system drive, and what is its capacity?
3- Delete preferences, turn off background rendering, delete all render files.
Hi(bonjour),
What are your footage’s format, project’s settings, how external drive’s is formatted, what type of connection? Does external footage playback is OK in Quicktime player?
Michel
Delayed timeline playback in Final Cut Pro on iMac with external HD footage
