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I am exporting a sequence from FCE 3.5 with these settings:

Export Using QT Conversion…
Quicktime Movie>Options
    Deselected "Prepare for Internet Streaming"
        Size>Dimensions>"HD 1920x1080 16:9"

The export progress window pops up and tells me that it will take 9 minutes. Over the course of the next 2-3 hours, it bumps up to 4 hours or so. After letting it sit overnight, the progress window reads 2 days. I have tried this twice and I still get between 44-48 hours in the morning after it has sat overnight. Any suggestions why this would be taking so long?

Computer Specs:
13" MBP running 10.6.8
2.3 GHz Intel Core i5

EDIT: I am not exporting it to a DV Stream. I accidentally put it as exporting to a DV Stream, but I was actually exporting it to a QT movie.

enter image description here
   Render window after sitting all night (probably close to 15 hours)

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What size is the material you're editing? DV doesn't do HD. –  terrydev Aug 12 '11 at 23:09
The material is full HD video. –  daviesgeek Aug 12 '11 at 23:10

1 Answer 1

up vote 0 down vote accepted

I figured out why it was taking so long. The reason was because I store all my video on an external USB drive. When I exported it, I exported it to that external USB drive. To fix the problem, I exported from the external USB drive to the internal drive.

Update: I also found out that I need to render all my video first, then export it. This dropped the export time from days down to 20-45 minutes. One of my other problems was that I needed to make sure my footage was in the Apple Intermediate Codec format. Then, FCE doesn't have to bend over backwards to accommodate an "unsupported" format.

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And what is the interface of the external drive, and what are its specifications? I suspect it's a USB hard drive. For any work with video, you need an external drive with FireWire 800, eSATA, or, some day, Thunderbolt. –  Wheat Williams Aug 18 '11 at 22:28
Edited my answer to reflect your question. And, by the way, I am seriously considering switching to a FireWire 800 drive. How would you use an eSATA drive on a MBP? –  daviesgeek Aug 18 '11 at 22:47
eSATA: Use the ExpressCard slot in the side and buy an inexpensive interface. is.gd/XGIOea Wouldn't necessarily recommend it. I did it because I needed to use the same eSATA drives formatted for NTFS and Windows, on Dell computers that have an eSATA port. –  Wheat Williams Aug 18 '11 at 23:01
I was just curious as to how to use an eSATA drive on a Mac. Thanks! –  daviesgeek Aug 18 '11 at 23:15
I have a MBP 13" which doesn't have the ExpressCard slot. –  daviesgeek Aug 18 '11 at 23:22

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