Troubleshooting Final Cut Pro 4: Incorrect time estimates

The way that Apple's Compressor Batch Monitor calculates the remaining time for a job in Final Cut Pro 4 can often generate strange estimates. For example, if you are trying to compress a Final Cut movie into MPEG2 format, the Batch Processor will contain two jobs: one to compress the audio-track and one to compress the video track.

The compressor starts with the audio track, which will be done very quick (a couple of minutes, depending on your system speed). When finished, Batch monitor indicates that 50 percent of the total job is done. However, the Batch Monitor takes the audio track as a reference for the total job.

In one MacFixIt reader's example, the audio track was converted in one minute, Final Cut Pro interprets that the job is 50 percent done, and the Batch Monitor calculates the total time remaining time to be two minutes.

However, if you look with further detail into Batch process, the estimated time remaining for the video track to convert is significantly longer. In the same reader's case, nine hours.

The bottom line is that total batch processing time cannot be judged from a quick glance at the monitor progress indicator.

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