Don’t Upgrade FCP-X or OSX!

UPDATE 29th Sept 2020.
The issues have now been resolved so it is now safe to update.


27th Aug 2020
If you are a mac user and especially of you use it to edit footage from a Sony camera I recommend that you do not upgrade the operating system to OSX 10.15.6, Pro Video Codecs to 2.1.2 or upgrade FCP-X to version 10.4.9 at this time.

At the moment there is clearly an issue with footage from the FX9 after these updates. It is not clear whether this is due to the new Pro Video Codecs package 2.1.2  that is comes as part of the update to OSX 10.15.6 or whether it is just related to the FCP-X 10.4.9 update. Some users are reporting that some FX9 MXF files can not be previewed in Finder after updating as well as not being visible in FCP-X.

While so far it I have only seen reports that footage from the FX9 is affected, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Venice material is also affected.

I would suggest waiting for a few weeks after the release of any update before updating and never do an update half way through an important project.

UPDATE: Sony know about the issue and are working with Apple to resolve it. It only seems to affect some FX9 footage and possibly some Venice footage. It appears as the culprit is the Pro Video Codecs update, but this is yet to be confirmed. I would still suggest waiting before upgrading  even if you are using a different camera.

16 thoughts on “Don’t Upgrade FCP-X or OSX!”

  1. I upgraded and didn’t have any problem importing .mxf from my FS5 (Slog 3). Version 10.4.9. Mac OS 10.15.6 Catalina. Interesting that it automatically added a Sony LUT, something I don’t think happened in earlier versions.

  2. The latest gossip is that Apple is passing the buck to Sony for not following the requirements for compatibility and that Sony needs to create some sort of workflow plugin to re-enable support in FCPX.

    1. Well if Sony didn’t follow the compatibility requirements why was the plugin accepted previously and why did it work previously. Also it only breaks certain clips, and only from the FX9. So the plugin is still enabled and if you have an FS7 all seems to still be OK. The codec in the FX9 is not a different codec to the FS7.

      It’s very strange, but Sony are working with Apple to resolve whatever has gone wrong.

  3. I upgraded without thinking and paid the price. I shot on a Sony FS-5 and edit on Final Cut Pro. Yesterday, I tried to output a 40 minute fine cut to colleagues to critique and it failed a dozen times. Spent four hours on with Apple Care, second level tech, said they hadn’t heard there were problems. He was very nice, patient, knowledgeable.

    Shots in my cut became corrupted that weren’t before. My head was spinning so fast I don’t even remember how we re-imported non-corrupted shots because going back to the original media and trying to import directly, didn’t work. The FCPX Import saw those shots as corrupt too.

    1. It seems to only effect FX9 material, but I would wait until it gets resolved unless there is some urgent need to upgrade.

  4. I might be wrong, but I think the Pro Video Formats update is causing issues.

    I update FCPX to the latest version 10.4.9 and everything works as it should with the FX9. No missing files, no missing plugins, older projects works too….

    Hope this help!
    OSX Mojave 10.14.6
    FCPX 10.4.9
    Pro Video Format 2.1.1

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