Final Cut Pro 7 running SLOW even after RAM upgrade...

Ok... so... I've recently acquired a new camera and I've been trying to edit the footage from this camera, but it's been almost impossible to edit, render and playback -- so I thought it was my RAM (I only had 4GB) so I upgraded to 12GB and it's still basically as slow as before with only very minor improvement.

Here are my specs:

Mac OS X
Version 10.6.8
Processor: 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3
Memory: 12GB

Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4670
VRAM: 256 MB

Running Final Cut Pro 7. Have tried keeping my project files on an external hard disk AND on the main internal drive, neither seems to make a difference.

The camera (a Sony handycam avchd 3.1 mega pixels blah blah blah) produces '.mts' files, which I've converted into .mov files at the highest quality possible. A 5 second video is 8.5 MB large at 1920 x 1080 dimensions.... MPEG-4 Video Codec...

First of all I'm thinking my conversion MAY be the problem: is that file way too big? Or is it my graphics card? Or is it my processor? Or all of the above?

I don't know WHAT the problem is. Please help me because it's really messing with my head.

Regards,

Alex

It's easy to spot your problems.

FCP 7 is an old 32-bit program, it can only access 2 or 4GB of RAM (I forgot how much it was, but it's not more then 4 I"m sure). So upping it to 12GB RAM doesn't do anything.
The newer FCPX is a 64bit program that can utilize all the RAM (and greatly benefits from it).

The problem you are having is that you are converting them to MPEG4, which is a format that is both not that suitable to edit with (you CAN with FCPX though, but I wouldn't recommend it), and it's also a format that FCP7 *REALLY* struggles with.

Convert your files into Apple Prores and you will notice the editing process going perfect. (Your graphics card may be to weak to run FCPX, it you would think of going into that software direction)
And yes, Prores files are BIG. Regular Prores is about 60GB for an hour of video, Prores LT is about 40GB per hour. But then your editing process will be smooth, exports will go a lot faster, you will be able to do a lot more effects and color correction on your video without it breaking down, etc. ...

These articles may help you a bit:

www.larryjordan.biz/the-three-codecs-of-filmmaking/

www.larryjordan.biz/media-in-fcp-x/
(last article is very specific for FCPX though, but it has some principles that should help you)

dude you are the BEST -- this advice sounds solid --- I had a suspicion it was something to do with my conversion process but I couldn't find ANY help relating to how I should convert my footage for FCP7

I will try all this tomorrow and get back to you but I think it'll work

thanks very much

You can use multiple programs to convert to Prores or Prores LT.

One that is pretty fast and free is Mpeg Streamclip.
It doesn't keep the timecode of the original though, so if timecode is important because it's locked or something, use Compressor instead.