is there hope

Hello Fellow FCP friends-

Like most of you, I am trying to take FCP to the next level. I am currenty editing a reality series for a major network. I have 4 terabites of footage shot with the panasonic hvx. Some of it is in high def, some of it isn't. For the time being, i am editing in DV sequences. The 4 Harddrives i have are made by Firemax and are plugged into my computer via FIREWIRE 800 (daisy chained).
My computer is a dual 1.8 G5 with 3.5gigs of RAM.

Here's my problem, my computer takes Forever to load the project (20 mins, the project file is 185megs) and crashes several times daily. This does not make editing fun... I am wondering if anyone else has any advice on what i can do to get this project running smoothly. I have heard a few people talking about "consolidating the media onto one drive," but im unsure.. If anyone can help,... please do.. thanks

Andrew L. Kopjak

Your project file is WAY TO BIG. Never let it get above 100MB, or you'll see the issues you are having.

The beauty of FCP is that you can have multiple projects running at the same time. So break the project up. One project for the CUTS, one for B-ROLL, one for INTERVIEWS...etc. Sure, they may all add up to above 100MB, but none should be above that themselves.

Oh, and if your CUTS project gets to full, get into the practice of duplicating it and adding the date to the name whenever you make changes to the cut....instead of duplicating the sequence. Multiple sequences add up fast.

Don't worry about media across many drives. That isn't the issue.


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