Unresponsive timeline with dual monitor setup

Here's a weird one my colleague is running into today...

We're running FCPX 10.1.1 on a 4,1 Mac Pro with 10.9.1 installed. When he chooses to display the events on the second display he is unable to navigate the timeline by clicking on it. The skimmer appears but playback defaults back to the last clip he clicked in an event. He goes back to the events, double clicks the project that's open, and then he can manipulate it in the timeline.

If he goes back to having everything in a single display the timeline works as expected. I hope I'm explaining that well enough. We have restarted FCP as well as the Mac, trashed preferences, and logged in under a new user account. Has anyone seen this behavior before?

Thanks,
Bill

That is a 2009 model, correct? What GPU card is installed?

Hey Ben-

It's an ATI Radeon HD 5770.

Cheers,
Bill

HHHmmm... that is odd. You're driving both monitors off of the one GPU, eh? What brand/make are the monitors?

They are both Dell monitors (2407WFP and 2407WFPHC) running at 1920 x 1200 60Hz. Do you think the fact that they aren't exactly the same would cause something odd like this?

Just wondering if it is a driver issue, the GPU having trouble powering both at once, issue, or an OSX issue. I doubt it is an FCPX issue, though, since you did pretty much everything there.

I suppose it could be a GPU issue since the ATI card only has 1GB to throw around across two displays. We have new Mac Pros and monitors ordered, so I suspect this issue will get sorted out one way or another.

Thanks much for the feedback.

Bill

I've run into the same performance issue. It's inconsistent and I haven't found a way to make it repeatable. Running 10.1.1 on a late 2012 iMac, 3.4 GHz i7, 32 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2048 MB. Monitors are both Apple: 27" in the iMac and a 20" Cinema. It's puzzling that it sometimes happens repeatedly in one session and then can go days without occurring. :huh:

Hello I have the same problem on my Hackintoshes. Using a single screen is the only way to alleviate the issue properly. I assume it's because I'm using an unofficial graphics card. I had a GTX670, and now a 280x - both have this issue. It was a full OS and App reinstall.

Anyway my current workaround isn't too troublesome, I used clip skimming (command-alt-S).

If I'm skimming in the timeline, I can go over and skim the browser no problem. When returning to the timeline the skimming won't work.

So I let the pointer drift down over an item in clip and skimming starts working again, then I skim at a higher position and work as normal. Having clip skimming on can sometimes be a faff, but once the cut is done and I'm tidying/finishing I'll turn it off, as I rarely need to go back to the browser. It seems to come quite naturally to me.

I've always worked well with a pointer, I guess because I was an Editbox/Henry editor for so long, where a pen and very large tablet was the only option (and no undo function!)

Another fairly simple option is to quickly tap the tab button anytime you go back to the timeline.

At this point, I'm pretty sure it's a FCPX bug because I've seen this on Mac Pros, iMacs, a rMBP, and a hackintosh, all with different video cards both AMD and Nvidia. It's been there for as many versions as I remember, and it's possible that it's gone unfixed because it's very unpredictable. I would go for a while without it happening, and then suddenly it happens. Usually I would have to go back to another clip and then switch to the timeline for it to get "unstuck."

I think also, that it is a bug, since I can overcome it by having the Event Viewer open!

I also get this, it goes away If I quickly open the timeline index then close it again

So is this the same bug we are all seeing?

There seem to be a few workarounds available.
I'll try some other suggested on here, personally a single click of the Tab button seems the easiest... If I don't have clip skimming on.

I saw this in 10.0.9 and still sometimes in 10.1.1

I have gotten in the habit of hitting Command-3 (go to viewer) Command-2 (go to timeline). Sometimes Command-2 works by itself but 3 then 2 always works.

Report it to Apple

I've noticed that if you click below the timeline, in the empty audio area it will shift back to the proper screen but not above the timeline. I feel a general lack of responsiveness with dual screens on my 2013 iMac and MacPro 3,1 (dual 5770). Next session, i'm going to go with one screen and see if there's an appreciable difference.