How To Update to Avid Media Composer 8.3 from 8.1 for Perpetual Licensees Without Dongle.

Update (2-23-15):

Avid has a new article about updating Media Composer. Read it here:
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/faq/Media-Composer-Software-Born-On-Date-Licensing-FAQ/


Old rant and how-to (12-30-14) below:

Of course Avid has to make things complicated for you.

The Application Manager is of no help whatsoever.  It will display confusing messages as you try to read info / update either Application Manager or Media Composer itself.

At first there is no Update available for MC, then if you check the info under App Manager you get cryptic message: no need to update if you plan to update MC...

Well... How?  If you update App Manager, then there is an Update button that shows for MC, but it is not working!  Avid tells you that you need to buy or subscribe and that no Update is available to you.  Great.



So for you mindful users wanting to update to MC 8.3 from MC 8.1, in case you are a Perpetual Licensee, with a Yearly Plan Subscription and do not use a dongle, do this:

1 (one) De-Activate and Re-Activate Media Composer from the Licensing tab in Application Manager.  (No idea why Avid wants you to do this, but just to be safe.)

2 (two) In your web browser, log-in into your Avid User Account, go to My Products and Subscriptions.

3 (three) Click on Products Details and Download Links "Show"  (Why Avid has to hide the good stuff under irate pull-down menus like "Show" / "Show Info" / "More Info" / "Details" ... Is beyond me. Usually it's hiding three lines of important info that would be just fine being displayed right there in plain sight, that would make the experience much more straightforward.

4 (four) Download the Media Composer 8.3 installer.

5 (five) Open and Install Media Composer from the installer.

6 (six) Restart your computer.

7 (seven) Check that Application Manager and Avid Media Composer are current. Yeah!


Now go edit some 4k stuff!

Software Frame Rate Conversion 23.976 to 25

There is a variety of ways to achieve frame rate conversion.  Using Hardware boxes like Terranex, Alchemist PhC, or... Software that's available to you.

And there are two ways to tackle it, you can either:

1) maintain the duration (= modify the number of frames) which has the effect that the footage will play at the same speed in the new 25 fps frame rate. This process is slower, takes more processing time,

or

2) reduce the duration (= maintain the same number of frames) which has the effect of speeding-up the footage in the new 25fps frame rate. This process is faster since no new frames are created.


Below are a few examples using different Software.  As a general rule, use the best settings possible and the best codec/export settings, knowing that highest quality equals longer render times. Run tests.


1) Maintain duration (plays at same speed) 

Compressor:
Use Apple Settings QT ProRes with pass through audio as a starting point.
Go to Inspector, Encoder, Video Format Select Frame Rate 25, make sure AR is correct. Verify your media source, check your Geometry tab, set Frame Size 1920x1080 and Pixel Aspect Square if necessary (Open Preview Window and look at the results)  Something is set wrong in the AR or Geometry if you are getting a squeezed or stretched image.
Go to Frame Control. turn Controls ON, select Rate Conversion: Best (You might see ghosting with the other settings, test on a short clip.)

After Effects:
import your footage, right-click / New comp from selection.
Go to: Composition / Settings, change Frame Rate to 25. Click OK.
In the Composition window, enable Frame Blending, set Layer / Frame Blending to Pixel Motion.
Optional: add Force Motion Blur to taste.

FCPX:
Import your footage.
File / New Project, set Frame Rate at 25
Drag your footage into the Project Timeline
Select the clip, Go to the Inspector /Video /Rate Conform, Select Frame Sampling = Optical Flow (best.)



2) Reduce duration (plays faster)

Cinema Tools
This one is probably the easiest of the bunch, but USE THIS ON A DUPLICATE FILE as it will modify the QT and not create a new one -- no rendering needed.  Open Clip, click Conform, Select Conform to 25, Click Conform. 

Compressor: 
Use Apple Settings QT ProRes with pass through audio as a starting point.
Go to Inspector, Encoder, Video Format Select Frame Rate 25, make sure AR is correct. Verify your media source, check you Geometry tab, set Frame Size 1920x1080 and Pixel Aspect Square if necessary (Open Preview Window and look at the results)  Something is set wrong in the AR or Geometry if you are getting a squeezed or stretched image.
Go to Frame Control. Click so Source Frames play at... Select 23.976 @ 25.

After Effects:
import your footage, right-click / interpret footage / Main
conform frame rate to 25, click OK, Export.

FCPX:
Import your footage.
File / New Project, set Frame Rate at 25
Drag your footage into the Project Timeline
Select the clip, Go to the Speed button, select Automatic Speed.

Our first DCP Digital Cinema Package... it's a success !

We got selected as one of the guest films for the Real Experimental Film Series at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills, and we needed a DCP, pronto!

I started researching DCPs a couple years back when I worked as a post-producer on an other indy feature, but the tests weren't conclusive, so I didn't get to make the actual DCP for it.

It was time to dive again into DCP waters. I tested a few new encoding apps, Wraptor for AME, DCP-o-matic, EasyDCP plug-in for Resolve.  But at the end of the day, I went back to FinalDCP. I retested the entire workflow, and talked to a couple of colleagues just to make sure I got everything right.

I elected to make a flat, Interop DCP and I set the Jpeg2000 bitrate at around 150Mbps. Since our master was HD, I selected to pad the image, without resizing.

I had previously prepped an LCR mix from the stereo mix stems, so I encoded in 5.1 with empty LFE, Ls, and Rs tracks.

It took 16 long hours to encode, but it went steadily. The software converted from the 23.976fps of the ProRes QT HD Master to the 24fps of the DCP  which probably added to the render time.  The conversion was perfect, no skipping frames or stuttering.

I QC the package on the computer using the DCP Player app, and all was fine! Image checked, sound checked.

I then formatted a WD portable drive to Linux Ext3, using an old MacBook with Ubuntu, and I copied the DCP from the Mac HFS drive to the Linux drive on the same MacBook.

The drive was sent to the theater for ingest. I got to check the film a couple days before the show... and the movie played beautifully! Yes!


On screening night the movie looked and sounded great on the big screen, with cast and crew and an audience, powerful stuff!  The director was thrilled, and so was I.

It's a success!

Mac Mini WiFi slows down with USB 3.0 HDs in close proximity (was: with too many USB attached)

--- Update 2/28/15:

The problem seems to be radio interference that USB 3.0 hard drives emit.
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/usb-3.0-hard-drives-can-cause-wi-fi-interference

Indeed, I had my HDs real close, sometimes on top of the Mini.  Got myself a USB hub and put some space between HDs and the Mini, and the WIFI seems much more responsive now.


--- Old Post:
The Mac Mini's (2012) WiFi slows down considerably when too many USB peripherals are attached.

I had all 4 USB connectors populated when I started noticing real sluggishness.

Typically with Safari pages start to load, but get stuck in the middle and nothing happens. Progress is halted, pages stay blank.

I removed 2 out of 4 USB peripherals, and bam! All peppy was the Mini again.

Is too much USB power draw affecting WiFI?

NLEs Timetable

Just for fun...


1989 Avid

1990 Lightworks

1991 Premiere 

1993 Media 100

1995 Casablanca (Macrosystem)

1999 Final Cut Pro

2000 Vegas (Sony 2000-2004?)

2003 Edius (Canopus)

2007 SpeedEdit (Newtek)

2011 FCPX



R.I.P.

1971 CMX 600
1984 EditDroid (Lucasfilm)
1995 DraCo
Renomee Plus (Macrosystems)
Pinnacle Studio
Ulead Video Studio (Corel)
Fina Cut Express
Avid Free DV
DPS Perception RT
Velocity HD


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_editing_software

FCPX (10.1.3) Adjustment Layer is de-activating Crossfade to Color transition

If I had an adjustment layer on top of a clip with a Crossfade to Color transition applied, the transition would be ignored.

This was a problem in early versions of FCPX, it has been fixed in FCPX 10.1.3

FCPX (10.1.3) Media Offline - (Opening a Library with Media that's been moved to a different HD)

When I complete a project, I move the entire folder from my working Raid drive to a set of backup drives.

Sometime I need to open the Library to check something, or re-export something, or to create a new cut from the old one.

If it's a small thing, I will not copy the whole folder back onto the working Raid, I just want to open it on the backup drive.

First I duplicate the Library, so to keep the old version as-is.

Then I open the duplicate, but when I do, the Media shows OFFLINE.

I need to Relink files to the actual location, i.e. the Media Folder (I have my media external) onto the backup drive:

- Select the Event containing the footage

- Go to: File / Relink Files

- Relink Missing, Locate All

- Select the first File in the list that match.

FCPX will check and recognize the candidates and ask you:

"Click Choose to verify matches for XXX of XXX files found."

Click Choose, and Bam! They're all relinked. Sweet.

Avid MC 8.1.0 and Canon C300 footage

In order to AMA Link Canon C300 footage, you need to install Canon's XF Plugin 64 for AMA (2.0.3 in my case I'm on MacOS 10.9.4)

Canon XF Plugin 64 for Avid Media Access 2.0.3 [Mac OS X]

Available here:
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/professional/products/professional_cameras/cinema_eos_cameras/eos_c300#DriversAndSoftware


It will appear as MVP_Canon X64 2.0 in the Console (AMA_ListPlugins)

FCPX to Adobe After Effects roundtrip with Apple ProRes 4444XQ - Gamma is off

Update 12-16-14 from Adobe:

Media Encoder CC (2014.1) Bug Fixes

• Fixed: ProRes XQ sources decode with incorrect gamma setting

So I need to test again to see if this problem has been fixed with AE as well.

---------

A file (bars) is exported from FCPX, imported into AE, a Composition is rendered, the rendered file is imported into FCPX. We're using the same codec for FCPX Project settings, Export settings, Render settings.

It seems to be a Gamma issue. The highlights (100 IRE) are fine, the blacks (0 IRE) are fine, but everything in between is compressed = darker.

And it is visible as soon as the file is imported into AE, so it looks like AE misinterprets the ProRes4444XQ codec on import.

Scope trace of the ProRes4444XQ file in FCPX:

Scope trace of the ProRes4444XQ file from After Effects CC (shifted down = darker):

DaVinci Lite 11 on the other hand has a perfect roundtrip with no shift.

Scope trace of the ProRes4444XQ file from DaVinci Lite 11:

Hopefully we will get an update from Adobe that fixes this problem. From my tests, every other flavor of ProRes imports /roundtrips fine with AE CC, with no shift.

Note that only ProRes4444 and ProRes4444XQ have no Embedded Color Profiles in AE. All the other flavors of ProRes (422LT, 422, 422HQ) are in Rec709. But ProRes4444XQ is the only one that exhibits a shift

Below are the same before/after with ProRes4444, with no shift.

Scope trace of the ProRes4444 file in FCPX:

Scope trace of the ProRes4444 file from After Effects CC:

Are you experimenting the same shift / darker result on your system?

Import Adobe Illustrator .ia file into Apple Motion

Illustrator files import fine into Apple Motion, but they need to be in RGB color mode.

CMYK does not import properly, colors are off.

FCPX (10.1.3) Error: "This item cannot be shared while it is still referencing media on the camera"

For some unknown reason I ran into this error when I wanted to Share my cut. (File / Share / Master File.)

FCPX would not Share, I was stuck.  I never encountered this after months of editing, and never had a problem with Importing.

The solution was to go to: File / Import / Re-Import from Camera Archive.

FCPX automatically found and re-imported the files that needed to be imported, and the error went away, I was able to Share without problem.

After Effects Layer disappears on Render or Pre-Compose

I was battling with this until I realized the Layer (Text Layer) had the option "Guide Layer" accidentally turned on. (Layer options are accessible with Right+Click.)


After I turned it off, the Layer rendered / Pre-Composed just fine.

How-to re-install FCPX

I updated to the new FCP in Apple App, but it did not do the update for some reason: FCP was still in the previous version, even though it showed that the new version had been installed in App Store.

Consequently, I was not able to upgrade again, so I had to... Re-install, following Apple guidelines.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5149

That took longer of course, but did the trick. Back to work.

Show Library Folder inside your User Folder - Mavericks MacOS 10.9...

For some reason the Library Folder inside your Home Folder is hidden by default... Go figure.  To show it again, double click your Home Folder (under "Users"), to open it into its own window.
From the Finder menu choose: "View", "Show View Options". There is a small tick box: "Show Library Folder". Check it, your done.

-- This option only shows when the Home Folder is open.

How-To Uninstall Adobe Creative Cloud Apps

My HD is getting crowded, too many versions of Adobe apps. 

Here is the proper way to uninstall applications according to Adobe:
https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/install-apps.html


Uninstall apps
You must uninstall the apps if you no longer need them. Do not drag the files and folders to the Trash or Recycle Bin.
Mac OS
Open Finder and go to/Applications/Utilities/Adobe Installers
Double-click an Adobe product to uninstall
Follow on-screen instructions


Windows
Open the Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features
Choose an app and click Uninstall/Change
Follow on-screen instructions

FCPX 10.3 Adjustment Layer below clip is de-activating Crossfade to Color

I added an Adjustment Layer below a series of clips - in order to adjust another series below it.

On the above series of clips, I had some clips with crossfades to Color (to white in this instance.)

Well the adjustment layer directly below the clips nullifies the crossfade to color, instead I get BLACK.

Not what I want.

Removing the adjustment layer below the clips containing crossfade to white re-establish the proper crossfade to color transition.


--- Update: This problem seems to have been fixed with FCP 10.3.1 update. It's now behaving as you would expect.

FCPX and the trackless concept

I like the trackless Timeline in FCPX after all, for the most part.

Tracks still make a LOT of sense to me when organizing the timeline - It's visually immediate. All interviews on V1, all B-Roll on V2, all Texts on V3, GFX on V4, etc.

And it works just as well for audio: production tracks on 1&2, VO on 3, Music on 4&5 ...


Nodes are cool, the trackless Timeline of FCPX is cool, roles feel like they're gonna be cool. But trackless is not gonna work until it's really INTELLIGENT.

When I quickly slip a white background under a cropped still, note that the still has to be ABOVE the background, OK. That is even obvious to the Apple designers. There is some track layer intelligence built-in, the kind we are used to want.

Now if I COPY said background and paste it under a second cropped still... guess what.

It pastes ABOVE the still. It does not know it has to go UNDER. What the f*%$? It's a background.

With tracks my background always goes where it needs to: inside its own track, BELOW the stills track. That's currently a SUPERIOR behavior because it saves me time. I don't have to re-organize my layers constantly.

Sony XDCAM Transfer to FCP7

People are reporting problems with importing Sony's F5, F55 Mpeg2 into FCP7.

I installed the XDCAM HD Transfer app:
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcam/resource.downloads.bbsccms-assets-micro-xdcam-downloads-PDZKP1XDCAMTransferSoftwareTC

In FCP7 I use: File/Import/Sony XDCAM

That opens the XDCAM Transfer app, from there you can point to your camera card, and the clips will load in the Transfer window. Select the clips you want to import and click Import button.

For me Log &Transfer does not work with Sony's XDCAM in FCP7. (FCP7.0.1 / 10.9.6 Snow Leopard.)

What's your experience?



---
For memo:

XDCAM FCP7 plug-in v1.2:
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcam/resource.downloads.bbsccms-assets-micro-xdcam-downloads-PDZKLT1LogandTransferPlugInVersion12

Sony's XDCAM software page:
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcam/resource.downloads.bbsccms-assets-micro-xdcam-downloads-XDCAMSoftwareDownload.shtml

---
For FCPX:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4724
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/pdzk-lt2

---
Current Sony Software:
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/software_for_sony_equipment

Avid Media Composer buy/rent/upgrade confusion 2014

This Avid new offering of Media Composer is confusing.

Oliver Peters mention in the below article the Annual Support renewal plan for v6.5 or above owners: http://digitalfilms.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/avid-media-composer-software-v8/

Current Media Composer owners (MC 6.5 or higher) can upgrade to MC 8 simply by purchasing a single year of support at $299 before the end of 2014. No matter how they got there (new purchase or renewal of an existing license) the software license is now on the current plan.


But on Avid Community it seems that all owners can upgrade (before end of 2014) under the plan: http://community.avid.com/forums/p/127296/728503.aspx
Q: Do I have to change the way I buy Avid software? Can I just continue to buy an upgrade when I need it?

A: If you have Media Composer but aren’t currently on an Avid Support plan, you should sign up for the yearly Avid Support renewal plan for $299 USD, which includes software upgrades/updates and support for one year from the date of purchase. That’s like paying for a single upgrade, but getting a whole year’s worth of updates and upgrades, plus a team of world-class support experts available when you need help. If you neglect to join the Avid Support plan in 2014 (or at the end of your support contract), you will have to purchase the product anew, or subscribe to a monthly or annual plan in order to continue to receive the latest features and support.

If you haven’t upgraded Media Composer recently (you own a release prior to Media Composer v6.5), you can effectively “upgrade” your license to v8 by purchasing an Avid Support renewal plan at $299 in 2014. This includes the Avid Support plan that provides software updates/upgrades and support for one year. At the end of that year, the software will continue to work, but to continue receiving new features and support, you will want to let the plan auto-renew yearly for $299 USD.


So it looks like you can buy the yearly Avid support plan no matter what version you own. But then you must continue to pay for the support indefinitely if you want to get upgrades in the future. --- Or am I missing something?

FCPX Missing Media

Today for the first time I got missing Media in FCPX. And with SD material at that, a first for me in FCPX.

Also the audio sample rate shows 6kHz instead of 48kHz. That's fucked-up.

---
Actually I'm not sure how to name this phenomenon, since I tried to Relink these missing files, and the Relink Window shows NOTHING selecting either "Missing" or "All".

I any case the clip is there in the Browser, it's there in the Timeline, but it's EMPTY.

There is no info except for Name/Start/End/Duration in the Browser nor in the Inspector. Everything else is empty, but the "container" is there.

---
Got nowhere trying to Relink, so I re-imported the Media, and that WORKED.
It "populated" the previously "empty" clip in both the Browser and the Timeline.

The info for the clip is back in the Browser and in the Inspector.

Incidentally that duplicated the clip, now present twice in the Browser. Still the "gone missing" clip shows incorrect SR at 6kHz, but the re-imported Media/Clip displays the correct SR. So I "Move to Trash" the old clip and now everything is back to normal.

---
Note: I remember having the "Remove silent channels" option turned ON in the Import windows, there might be a bug with this. I made sure to turn it OFF before re-importing.

---
Note2: After re-importing, my audio was still EMPTY - I had several tracks of audio in the clips, but they were all turned OFF except for one.

I had to turn a second track ON and OFF again in the Inspector in order for FCPX to have the audio come back in my single track in the Clip and the Timeline.

---
Have you ever experienced something similar?

Apple Motion 5 is pissing me off

Each time I forget to save and I playback the Timeline up to the end, it CRASHES.

Like it's trying to loop but it can't (why?) and gets stuck. I have to turn Loop Playback off or else it crashes.

Why? Why???  I want to be able to loop playback, instead of having to click constantly to reset the playhead.

And I don't want to save after every move, and I don't want to commit to a move right away, most of the times I want to micro adjust / undo / redo multiple times before I'm happy and finally hit Save.

Is it too much to ask?

FCPX Dates in the browser have turned red ... Quid?

Today as I opened FCPX, all dates - and "Projects" - in the browser have turned RED !

They were white yesterday, now crimson red. What does this mean???

... Now it's back to white - after closing re-opening FCPX. What gives???

FCPX Color Correction inactive on stills ?

Is it just me or is FCPX's (10.1.1) Color Correction inactive on still images?

Workaround is to apply an adjustment layer, but that's not very satisfying...


Update (10.1.3):

It is active, but it does not update as you do it, or it sometimes updates at random.

i.e. you apply a correction but you do not see it until .... later, like when you close and re-open the app.  That's not good.

Same thing seems to happen when you reframe a still.  Looks like it's not doing anything, but then later... it gets updated.

Update (10.1.4):

Same as previous version.


Are stills CC / Reframing behaving properly in your projects?

FCPX 10.1.1 (and 10.1.3) features request

Please have FCPX open a Library with what was previously loaded into the Timeline, not a random Project.

If that's not possible (sic.) please just load with an empty Timeline.

Also add a Close button to the two "Timeline history" arrows.

And as a matter of fact, it would be just fine to have a "Timeline history" window/tab added to the Timeline Index.

As to show: Clips/Tags/Roles/History,  so that one can choose in which order and what to show in the said "Timeline history" -- Instead of, or in addition to the arrows.

Relative to this issue, open Projects and Compound Clips seem to be closing and/or disappearing from the Timeline History at random. Please explain or fix this behavior.

- OK it's not exactly at random:

1) If I go backward with the arrows to the first thing opened in the Timeline, and I open something that's not already open, everything closes but the very first thing opened, and loads the newly opened thing... I don't get this, close everything but the newly opened thing.

2) If I go to wherever position relative to the arrows, and open something new, it closes all things forward... Whaaat? What's the logic behind this?

3) If I go forward with the arrows to the last thing opened in the Timeline and I open something that's not already open in the Timeline, everything stays open... That's actually OK with me.

4) If I open something that's already open, it moves to wherever it is relative to the arrow navigation... I guess that's OK with me as well.


This is all too confusing, just give us a History tab and History list and a Close button please.

FCPX Export with shortcut ⌘+E

This has been driving me crazy for a few weeks:
I can't ⌘+E to export my Timeline / Project? Why? You can in Motion !!!  But of course, you can in FCPX as well. Go to Share / Add Destination.
Right-click onto the Destination you want to export with (I choose Export File... )
Select Make Default from the drop down menu.  Bang! Now I can ⌘+E all I want!

I found out about the shortcut in the Commands / Customize, searching for "export".
I was ready to make my own, but I saw ⌘+E already listed there as a shortcut for Export Using Default Share Destination, but... a Default Destination wasn't assigned.
Now it is!

⌘+E     Bam! 

FCPX frame rate conform

   Frame rate conforming cannot be easier in FCPX:
- Bring your clip into the Timeline. (29.97fps clip into 25fps Timeline for ex.)
- Select the clip, then go to the Inspector (+4)
- Under Video > Rate Conform, select Frame Sampling = Frame Blending or better yet Optical Flow.  The later takes longer as FCPX needs to analyse the clip first.
Done. And it looks pretty good!

Apple Motion adjust Timeline duration

    To adjust Timeline duration in Motion:
- Click on the arrow located right to the counter display.
- From the drop down menu select: Show Project Duration.
- Adjust time by click+dragging into the HH:MM:SS:FF display.
- Then click on the arrow again and select back to Show Current Time to display cursor position.

Apple Motion and FCPX

I cannot import Motion files into FPX the way I did with FCP7.  But on Apple's website it says:
"Shared Render Engine
Final Cut Pro shares a render engine with Motion and Compressor for consistent speed and quality. The shared engine allows Motion templates to play back in Final Cut Pro without rendering. The engine renders in linear-light color space for exceptionally realistic results.

Well Motion templates, not really useful at this point.  But then it also says:
"Shared Render Engine
Motion shares a render engine with Final Cut Pro and Compressor for consistent speed and quality across applications. The engine allows Motion projects to play back in Final Cut Pro without rendering, so you can get to work immediately."

Motion projects, OK great! But HOW??? Templates?  I don't see this working.

Apple FCPX OpenGL error 506 workaround

From time to time, FCPX 10.1.1 gets stuck rendering.
The background task hourglass is stuck in a 0% - 100% loop and nothing happens.
Up to now I had to restart each time this happens (several times a day) to get out of the dreaded loop.

For info, when force-quit Apple report says:
"Final Cut Pro[1385]: *** OpenGL error 0x0506 (invalid framebuffer operation) in function "GL_CHECK_CURRENT_ERROR"

This morning after getting stuck again, I clicked: Modify/ Render selection.  That got FCPX out of stuck mode and to render normally again!  No need to force-quit/restart!
So this might be a workaround until the problem gets fixed in future version.  Make sure that something is selected in the timeline/project. Shortcut: Control + R

--- Update (March 20):
It does not always work unfortunately, if I react took late, I cannot get out of the loop.
The weird thing is that sometimes several hours pass before I get the dreaded loop. And then it happens a lot. After a while, it does not appear again.  I can't figure a reason yet.

--- Update (April 23):
I've now worked several days and the dreaded loop has not showed up. ;)   Same project(s).
What's different?
- I moved all the media outside of the FCP bundle.
- I also purged a bunch of old rendered files.
- I moved all the media and the FCP bundle to a larger Raid drive. It was a similar Raid before, but smaller, with only a few 100'sGB of free space left. Now I have several TBs of free space.

--- Update (May 9):
Alas... It's creeping back. Again I've been crippled by this error. Not sure why or when this happens. There is nothing in particular that I can pinpoint as the culprit.
If only I could use my Control + R in time, but I'm usually too late.  Cringe, cringe.

--- Update (much later)
Someone is asking if I figured this out... I don't remember!...

Since then I swapped my MacPro 3,1 for a MacPro 5,1 and all is fine.  I also upgraded to newer OsX (from Mavericks to Yosemite) and newer FCPX versions.

I believe upgrading FCPX to 10.1.2 and subsequent versions, and upgrading the OsX got me out of trouble on the MacPro 3,1: Yosemite=good, Mavericks = bad.

Another thing for sure is that I turned background rendering OFF in FCPX and that is now my default setting. This probably helped as well, or at least it sorts of became a non issue.

Let us know how it goes for you, and list your specs in the comments.
Thanks!

FCPX 10.1.1 on Mac Pro 3,1 2008

FCPX 10.1.1 runs relatively smooth and fast, on Mac Pro 3,1.
OSX Mavericks, 16GB RAM, Sapphire Radeon 7950 Mac edition, BMD Mini Monitor PCIe.

It crashes occasionally, once every other day or so... But I have not lost a single move so far. i.e. after reloading, I'm right where I was before the crash.  Except for the Timeline randomly loading / closing projects.
It lags at times when I have the Inspector and the effects Browser open at once. It is smooth when they are closed.
---
See my other post about the Open GL error.

Final Cut Pro 7 Log & Transfer - Warning: do not play media while transcoding!

    In Final Cut Pro 7, viewing / playing back a clip while it's Log & Transfer transcoding is happening might lead to a incomplete transcode of the media - a truncated / shortened clip.

This happened to me several times with some Canon MXF and P2 footage.  And with short duration media for what I can tell.  Long media files seem to be immune.

So no playing around while transcoding, and for added safety, after the transcoding is complete, I check the duration of each clip against the original media duration  before I move on.  If they appear different, I trash the transcoded file/clip and re-transcode.

Why is that Apple?

Radeon 7950 Mac edition on MacPro 3,1 early 2008 OS X Mavericks

Reporting Radeon 7950 Mac edition in MacPro 3,1 working fine.
---
Plain Mavericks, no drivers installed (Sapphire or others.)
No glitch, no flicker, no lag, no hang to report after over 40hrs.  400hrs. of use.
--- Update (May)
I do get the occasional "flicker" reported by other users, on single monitor config, odd.
It's more like a "zap" though. It really happens rarely, but I noticed it up to three times on a single day while working in FCPX.
It's very short, less than a second and I didn't notice it before with two monitors attached.
---
Graphic card working well with FCPX, Motion, and Adobe CC suite (Premiere, AE, PS, AME.) 
---
Radeon 7950 3GB Mac edition
MacPro 3,1 early 2008
Quad Core Intel Xeon 2.8GHz
16GB Ram
OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 (upgraded from 10.9.1 clean install.)