Improving FCPX Performance

Hi FCP Community:

I hope this is a very basic issue that can be resolved in a matter of clicks.

What I am experiencing are signifcant delays (color wheel spins and spins) when I am both importing footage (.MTS) into my library and then another delay once I click on the video file to see it in the preview window. Once the video loads, then all seems to be fine and I can go about my business.

Ok, a few fun facts:

-I'm working on a brand new 27 inch IMAC Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4096 MB Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 Processor 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7

-My footage is stored on an external drive 7200rpms - brand new and all G drive (but there is a lot of it - 500MEGS and counting on this 3T drive)

-We shot on a C100 and imported the files directly to the external drive (some web sites refer to the file structure left by the SD card for troubleshooting mts file issues, but that is not the case here since i am just working with the raw MTS files only)

-I am importing files by copying to library and creating proxy media.

Since i'm new to X I might be missing something obvious...what about where my library is stored..must it be on the external drive and not the computer hard drive? Will that slow up the importing? Is it just the transcoding that is slowing up the process? Is this normal and to be expected with such large files - each one the max of 2meg large.

My major concern is that I have a very very large project: 30 plus interviews and 30 hours of raw interview footage to compile into some one hour programs.

I guess my question is two fold: Is this speed issue when importing and previewing normal for MTS files or are there settings or workflow solutions? Then, what is my best way to address a large project like this when it comes to the file structure of FCP X?

Your genius is appreicated.

Humbly: JOE

Hi Joe,

- If you are importing the files by copying to the Library it is obvious that your Library MUST be stored on the external drive. When you import media into your Library and the Library is on your system drive your media will be stored on your system drive. Storing media on your system drive for editing can considerably slow down your work, not only with FCP X but with any NLE.

- It is true that you can start previewing your footage while FCP X is still importing it. But when you are importing large amounts of .MTS files and at the same time you are generating proxy media it is much better to just let the app do its processing (importing, rewrapping the .MTS to QuickTime and generating proxy media) before you do anything in the Browser.

- Importing, rewrapping and creating proxy media at the same time requires loads of processing and RAM. Therefor it is often better to only import all the footage first and let FCP X finish the importing. Then select the imported clips in the Browser, R-click the selection and choose "Transcode Media" > Proxy media.

Best wishes,

Ronny

Thanks Ronny! I appreciate your sound advice!