Should rendering really be this slow!

Hi!

Yes, I have heard many people complaining about rendering taking forever, but I still have to ask if it really should be this slow!

If I just shorten down a clip by a couple of seconds, the program feels the need to render this for 30-40 seconds or so. And If i speed up a clip with 4x the speed, it renders for 1-2 minutes.

Its insane! I haven’t added any effects or color grading, or anything advanced......I have just shorten down the clip, or other simple tasks like that.

I always start out doing my rough cuts.....and that can take hours.

I have tried turning background rendering off......but I don’t get it.....then I cant see the final results, and it just keeps on lagging, and its impossible to work like that.

I have the latest Macbook Pro, and I really dont think it shall take 30-40 seconds of rendering, just because I shorten a clip by 5 seconds

Do you really need to render? Try switching off background rendering. 

Tom Wolsky wrote: Do you really need to render? Try switching off background rendering.

As I said in my post, it doesn’t work. It just keeps lagging when i try to play back the timeline. I have tried it several times, and the timeline gets all messed up, and I cant time anything right....

This is an M1MBP? You’ll have to give the specs of the media and the drives you’re using. Also, details of what you’re doing to the media. The current MBP can play and edit 10-bit 4K without lagging.

Do you have Chrome installed?

Tom Wolsky wrote: This is an M1MBP? You’ll have to give the specs of the media and the drives you’re using. Also, details of what you’re doing to the media. The current MBP can play and edit 10-bit 4K without lagging.

Do you have Chrome installed?

The thing is, when i turn off background rendering, nothing works. Its just lagging......its like it HAS to reder it, to be able to play it back smooth. When I have BG rendering on, it works fine.....except that it takes forever to render things. At least sometimes. Sometimes I get surprised that its all ready done......and sometimes when I just shorten a clip with just a couple of frames, it has to render for a minute. It shouldn’t render at all with such a minor change......should take 0.1 second to do.....Its just weird....

What does chrome have to do with this?, but yes, I use chrome.

Welcome to the forums!

If you are using an M1 MacBook Pro and you cannot play your footage without rendering, there's something wrong with your setup or with your settings.

Yes, Chrome can have a nasty impact on the performance of your system but only in very specific cases. I use an M1 MacBook Pro with FCP and Chrome open at the same time and it does not impact anything. I edit 10-angle 4K25p multicam on the M1 without any rendering at all. 

As Tom said, we will need more information about your specific setup if we want to find what may be causing this:

1. What is the exact format of your original media?

Frame size, frame rate, color bit depth, codec? You can find this information by selecting a clip in the FCP browser and clicking the "i" tab in the Inspector. If you don't see all the information in the Inspector, just make sure the metadata view is set to "Extended". See screenshot:



2. What are your project settings?

Format, resolution, frame rate, color space? You can find this information by selecting the icon of your project in the FCP browser and clicking the "Modify" button under the "i" tab in the Inspector. See screenshot:



3. OS and software information

- What version of FCP?
- What version of MacOS (name and version number)

4. Setup information

- Are your FCP Library and media stored on the M1 or on an external drive?
- If on an external drive, please specify exactly the brand and model of that drive 
- Do you have an external monitor connected to your MBP? If so: please specifiy brand and model of the monitor.
- How much available drive space do you have on your M1 (and on the external drive is you use one)?

That should give us sufficient info to start troubleshooting.

Thanks!

- Ronny

What does chrome have to do with this?, but yes, I use chrome.

The Keystone daemons it installs are known bad actors with ProApps. They run in the background even if the Chrome app itself isn't and appear to conflict the VideoToolbox. Easy enough to test by completely removing it and it's hidden files using the instructions at chromeisbad.com   You can always reinstall if there's no change.