• I think most problems are caused by not knowing the restrictions on chapter markers. This is from the FCP 6 manual:
  * No chapter marker should appear closer than 1 second to the beginning or end of
  your edited sequence.
  * A chapter marker should be at least 1 second away from any other chapter marker.
  * A maximum of 99 chapter markers can be placed within a single program.
  * When you export from a sequence, only sequence markers are exported; markers in
  clips are ignored.
  * When you export a clip from the Browser, the clip's markers are exported.


• Markers within nested sequences will not be exported.


• You must select DVD Studio Pro Marker and not Chapter Marker under the QuickTime export options.


• Don't put chapter and compression markers in the same marker!


• I have had better luck with DVD Studio Pro Marker rather than All Markers in the QT export dialog.


• Be aware that if you export a QT movie with markers and then import it into Compressor, you will lose your chapter markers if you do not have Compressor 3 (included with Final Cut Studio 2).


• I have heard of people having success by trashing their preferences. We have a free utility that will automate it for you - Preference Manager.

• Bug fix: A check is now performed for unmounted external volumes. If you set your backup location to an external disk and unmount it, the app will copy files to the default location until you plug it back in.
• Feature: Added New Folder button to Browse dialog.
• Feature: A lot of you requested it and here it is: you can now back up FCP button bars, keyboard layouts, column layouts, window layouts, track layouts, custom settings and user plugins.

• Bug fix: The help link is now correct.
• Feature: You can now set a custom backup location (in Preferences). This feature was highly requested.
• Feature: If a backup exists, you now have the option of overwriting it.
• Feature: There is now a "Show in Finder" button in the Restore dialog.

Update: We've now developed an automated solution for this with System Toolkit in FCS Maintenance Pack.

Everyone hates it - the annoying "please register" screen that pops up every 5 or 6 launches of Final Cut Pro and Apple's other ProApps. Of course, the easiest way to get rid of it is to just register but that may not always be practical or advisable. Many companies do not connect their editing machines to the internet (quite rightly) and some of the tinfoil hat-wearers among us might not be keen on giving their personal data out to Apple.

Whatever the reason, here is a method of stopping the Final Cut Pro registration screen from appearing again without having to register.

1. Make sure all Final Cut Studio applications are closed.

2. Go to /Library/Application Support/ProApps and open the file Final Cut Studio System ID.

3. In Property List Editor, click the arrow next to Root and you will see some details about the unique ID that FCS has created for your machine. On this machine, I upgraded from Final Cut Studio 1 to Final Cut Studio 2, so I have two IDs listed under 100-1 and 100-6. If you look under fullKey1, it tells me that the original ID is marked 100-1 so the new one (FCS 2) must be 100-6.

Yours may differ a little but if one doesn't work, try the other.

Update: If you don't have the Apple Developer Tools installed, you won't have a copy of Property List Editor on your system. In this situation we recommend using System Toolkit in FCS Maintenance Pack.

4. On the 100-6 option (or whatever yours says), double-click the data under the Value tab to select it and then copy it to the clipboard.

5. Go to /Library/Preferences and open com.apple.RegFinalCutStudio.plist.

6. Click the arrow next to Root and delete all of the entries in the list.

7. Now select Root and click New Child. Enter the name AECoreTechRegInfo, select Data as Class and paste the value you copied earlier into the Value column.

Update: For Final Cut Studio 3, you need to add an additional String with the name AECoreTechRegister and value of YES.

8. With the entry you just created still selected, click New Sibling up the top and type AECoreTechRegSent, keep the Class as String and enter a value of YES. Your final plist should look like this:

9. Save the file and enjoy a nag-free Final Cut Studio experience. It works for all applications in the Studio, not just FCP.

It is worth noting that this works for all of Apple's ProApps including Shake, Aperture and Logic. For Shake, use /Library/Application Support/ProApps/Shake System ID and /Library/Preferences/com.apple.RegShake.plist. The issue is especially annoying with Shake because if the registration screen appears, Shake will "forget" the project or file you wanted to open, so you have to open it again.

Also, if you do want to register but don't want to keep opening and closing the application until the registration dialog appears, just delete the com.apple.RegFinalCutStudio.plist file, launch FCP and it will appear immediately.