FCPX (10.1.4) Missing Plug-in (Effect) difficult to track down - pt1

FCPX shows a really haiku like "something's wrong" message in the form of a road sign: yellow triangle with a question mark in the Browser.

It does not tell you what is wrong.  So you have to dig inside the project.

When it's some media missing, you finally get to where the problem lies, and you get a red screen and a line of text that tells you "Missing File", so you finally know what's wrong and you can remedy.

But in the case of missing plug-in, no explanation. I get a red screen where the plug-in is missing, but it does not tell you anything else.  Hard to know what's going on.  Granted, the red screen looks different, a strip of film with some sort of overlay layer  - hint  hint.

It would be so helpful and immediate to have at least a line of explanation: "Missing Plug-in", or "Missing Effect" would be great. Just like we get "Missing File" when some media is gone awol.

In addition, or alternatively, the question mark/yellow triangle could pop onto the missing plug-in in the Effects window, and / or in the Video Animation. (Currently nothing happens.)

That would make tracking down missing plug-ins a breeze.


Next would be to display some Metadata (Right-Click) for the plug-ins, which would give you the info as to where the hell they are coming from, say if you want to download or buy them to finalize a project.

Currently you only have the name and that's it.  Good luck tracking down the developer, especially with generic names like "Vignette"...

I can see how using many custom Effects / Plug-ins can quickly become a troubleshooting nightmare when sharing projects.

Update:
After digging into the FCPX manual, I have to say there is a pretty thorough list of alerts. 
Still it would be so helpful to have text in addition to the icon itself (like the Missing File one), so one doesn't have to learn all these...

FCPX (10.1.4) and LUT Utility and Neat Video Pro noise reduction

Got myself the LUT Utility from Color Grading Central and its working great... With (most) global adjustments to the image.

Qualifier, Power Windows... do not play nice.

What works:
- Color Match
- Color Wheels
- Primaries
- RGB Mixer
- Curves

What is ignored - as one would expect:
- Sizing
- Data Burn-in

What does not work (screws the LUT):
- Qualifier
- Power Windows
- Blur


Well it makes perfect sense since LUTs are mathematical transforms of the color space.

We are used to so making many tweaks to the image at once that it blurs boundaries.  Wouldn't it be nice if they all followed?

Anyway, make sure to disable all no-go adjustments in Resolve before exporting your LUT. And if your image looks funky... Well you know where to look.

---

Here is something else:

I also use Neat Video Noise Reduction Pro plug-in for FCPX, and when I do it must be above LUT Utility in the list of Effects.

If LUT utility is applied first, I can't select a noise profile in the Option window of Neat, the window is empty - all black or all white, no image.

I suppose it's good practice to always put LUT Utility at the top of the list of effects.

Red Giant Universe 1.3.1 crashes FCPX 10.1.4

Red Giant Universe craps FCPX out!

Knoll Light Factory EZ, be damned!  As soon as I hoover over the lame demo plug-in - shit it's just too easy!  Sure as crap FCPX gives me the dreaded beach-ball of death!

I'm Uninstalling this stupid package right now, (Universe 1.3.1 if u need to know.)

Sorry Red Giant, fix this please!

Sony A7s footage import in Avid MC, FCPX, Resolve, Adobe

Avid MC 8.3 doesn't like the Mp4 (AVC) files created by the Sony A7s.

I can actually AMA link, but there is no image, and Avid gives me a "Wrong Format" instead of an image.  Now, the AVCHD .MTS footage from the A7s imports just fine in Avid.

FCPX 10.1.3 and 10.1.4 import the Mp4s, BUT IGNORES THE TIMECODE!
Here is a frame grab of the import window, All clips start at TC 00:00:00:00

Resolve Lite 11.1.2 imports them, BUT IGNORES TIMECODE as well.  ;((

Adobe (CC 2014) Premiere, After Effects and Adobe Media Encoder imports them just fine WITH Time Code.


Adobe has the upper hand here people...

Apple, BMD, Avid please make the A7s AVC files recognized properly!



Notes:
I have the latest XAVC Sony Plug-in installed for Avid: PDZK-MA2_v3.32  PDZK-MA2_v3.40
I have the latest XAVC Sony Plug-in installed for FCPX: PDZK-LT2_1.2.1


What's your experience with A7s footage?  Leave comments!

Avid MC 8.3 gives me a "Wrong Format" error when AMA linking A7s Mp4 footage

--- Update 1/25/2015 ---

All right, as of Jan 30, 2015 there is now a (SUPPOSEDLY) MC 8.3 compatible Plug-in which is PDZK-MA2_v3.40, available here: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/pdzk-ma2

But first, uninstall the old v3.32, on Mac: 
1) Navigate to <SYSTEM DRIVE>/Library/Application Support/Avid/AVX2_Plug-ins/AMA/
2) Delete the MVP_SonyXDCAMEX.avx and SonyXDCAM.avx files
3) Empty the Trash to completely erase the files from the system.

Then Install v3.40.

In MC's Console ama_listplugins it shows the following:
MVP_MSP_SonyXDCAMEX_64bit Sony Corporation 1.9001
SonyXDCAM_64bit Sony Corporation 3.4000.0.381

And... IT STILL DOES NOT WORK, STILL GIVES THE WRONG FORMAT!

In Console, I get the following:

------ AMA Link To File(s) ------

The video track contains non-trivial edit list(s).Forcing sample provider mode for video.

Color transfer characteristics information unavailable

Color primaries information unavailable

And If I select the accompanying XML file to the MP4. I get an error message:
Unable to link to file or volume.
You may need to Download & install the AMA plug-in from the Avid AMA website.

Great!  What a great compatibility!  I'm not the only one.
http://community.avid.com/forums/p/131877/752994.aspx


--- Old article below ---

I have Sony's PDZK-MA2_v3.32 plug-in installed.

In MC's Console ama_listplugins it shows the following:

MVP_MSP_SonyXDCAMEX_64bit Sony Corporation 1.9001

SonyXDCAM_64bit Sony Corporation 3.3200.0.287

I can import the Mp4 footage, but I cannot open it.