10.4.5 cutting tail of audio from H.264 clips

No issues until the 10.4.5 update, and only on one Mac. Anyone else see this, or have any clues what the culprit could be?

Context
Every weekday we show a 5 minute local news segment, inserted into our 24/7 news network we broadcast on one of our four channels. I get the green screen clip from the reporter, drop it into my pre-made timeline that already has bumpers, fill out lower third text, retime to meet our 5:00 TRT, apply video and audio custom effects presets, export out to Master Control, DONE! A full 10 minute workflow total.

Issue
Since the 10.4.5 update, the last 2 seconds and 48 frames of audio go dead when playing the clip inside of FCPX. Video is fine, but the waveform and the audible content go dead at the end, consistently, every day.

Details
This only happens on my iMac Pro (maxed out) in my home studio. At the station, my 2015 rMBP (maxed out) doesn't have this issue. Same OSX and FCPX versions on both, same plugins, same custom effects presets, they are identical software wise.

The reporter shoots this segment on green screen with his iPad every morning, so it's H.264 from an iPad. When working from home, I now have the extra step of having to convert the clip to ProRes 422 so that the audio stays in tact.

What is really interesting, is if I perform "Reveal In Finder" from the FCPX Browser, in the Finder, inside the Original Media folder, inside the FCPX library bundle, the audio is fine when playing it with QuickView or in QT7 or QTX. The audio seems to only get cut off inside of FCPX itself.

Having trouble figuring out what the difference it that would cause this on the iMacPro, besides something inherent in its hardware, which I find unlikely. Or is this an FCPX bug? Have reported it to Apple already.

I've noticed something similar once when using Izotope RX 5 and RX 6 plugins.
If you have any, try disabling them, or any other audio related effects; See if the issue is still present.

I've never experienced this issue. I'd be very quick to notice as I work with a ton of different H.264 clips. Have you tried detaching the audio once inside FCPX? Issue still there? Also it would be a lot easier just to make an AIF audio file from the iPad video than convert the entire thing to ProRes, then just sync them up in FCPX.

Also Apple has a tool for reporting software bugs. You can either do this in the app by selecting Final Cut Pro > Provide Final Cut Pro Feedback (hint: working internet service required) or by going straight to www.apple.com/feedback/finalcutpro.html in your favorite web browser, just as long as it isn't Netscape 4. Usually they have reported bugs fixed within a timeframe of 24 hours to 12 years.

Not plugin related, as the audio cuts off in the Browser version, before it touches a Timeline or plugin.

I stated I had already reported it to Apple.

Well as it is not a problem that afflicts many (so far you are the only person to report it) it will not likely get a very high priority spot on the bug fix list so you may never see it resolved. I recommend exporting the audio as AIFF from the original H.264 file before import when working on that particular machine.

Found the Finder encoder works to fix it, also. Fastest workaround. Why make two files, makes more work in Final Cut.

So today, another clip from the same iPad, and used raw, no clipping of the audio tail. HHHmmm... worked just fine. What the hell?

Wait wait wait.... Finder encoder? How do I access this mysterious Finder ability?

Redifer wrote: Wait wait wait.... Finder encoder? How do I access this mysterious Finder ability?

Find your audio clip in the finder and control-click to open a menu. Then select "quick actions - TRIM"

In the Finder, right-click a video clip, from the menu select "Encode Selected Video File". There's transcoding for audio and stills in the Finder, also. Been there for years now.

For the Quick Actions, don't even need the menu, space bar for QuickView, icons for the in the upper right. But that's not encoding.

Got another clip today, and FCPX's browser and timeline cut the tail off again! Very frustrating, as these clips all come from the same source consistently.

My Finder contextual menu does not have an "encode" option when I right-click any video file (Prores, H.264, doesn't matter). Maybe you have something installed that adds this? That Trim option is pretty neat though!

Redifer wrote: My Finder contextual menu does not have an "encode" option …

You'll find it under 'Quick Actions':



or, double-click the file, to open it in QuicktimePlayer.app and hit cmd-T …

Yes, trimming is easy there, but the question was about encoding. This option has been available since High Sierra, I believe. It is built in to the OS, not an option I installed.

If you don't see it, you can turn it on. It is normally turned on by default.

Ahh, it's under "Services" where I'd never think to look. I'll have to mess around with this. Thanks!

My HS system has the "encoding" service but I have never seen "Quick Action" in the contextual menu, therefore no "Trim" action from the QT Player.

Wouldn't this rather be a Mojave only perk ?

QuickAction is a Mojave only function, yes.