4.5G RAM & still getting DropFrame Error

I just added 2G for a total of 4.5G on my G5 Dual 2.3 w/FCP5 to avoid getting that dropped frame error window. I made all the adjustments it recommended and it still persists. Do I have to set a preference to utilize the new RAM?

I doubt dropped frames are due to memory isues.

What kind of Hard discs are you using?

Which codec is your source footage and your timeline in?

What storage device are you using for the footage? The number one cause of dropped frames is misformatted, mismatched or overfull drives.

As the guys have said its a Media not memory issue - make sure you are using a spearate Hard Disk for your footage and NOT your system disk.

Also make sure you have at least 10% free on your media drives - better to keep it to more like 20% or you will notice a drop in performance namely stalled footage or dropped frames.





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Also make sure that you dont have to many or better yet no other apps or lil widgets running in the background while u capture. Harddrive's have this thing called "Sustainable Datarate"(my terminology may be a a bit wrong here) which basically is the amount of data that the HD can read/write at any given time. So if ur running other apps which are sourcing from that harddrive while capturing media to that drive you maybe be exciding the Sustainable datarate of that hard drive thus causing ur media to drop frames.

Also check what format of media u are capturing. DV is 3.7mb/sec, DVpro50 is 7mb/sec, Mjpeg HIGH quality(Mjpeg never has a constant datarate) is about 12mb/sec. Now depending on ur hardware you may not be able to capture DVpro50 or above if ur running baseline hardware. But you should be able to capture DV without probs.

What Hard Drives do u use and what kinda of connections do they have? is it an IDE or sata drive, USB or Firewire connection? and if its firewire is it FW400 or 800?

I'm using a LaCie 250GB hard drive.

If you click on the Apple symbol and select About This Computer, it will tell you how much memory you have. The system goes out and looks at startup and finds everything healthy.

Let me project a bit.

Your problem is playing a project back from your FireWire LaCie drive into a camcorder or camera for delivery. Did I get that?

If you're running FCP5, you should also be at QuicikTime 7 and Tiger. People who split those three things have all sorts of unstable troubles.

If your camcorder and LaCie drives are both connected by plugging into FireWire connectors on one Mac, that can cause troubles.

Are any of your drives filling up? Select all of your drives one at a time and press Apple-I for an INFO panel. No drive should be over 90% full. Don't leave out the System Drive.

There is a list of things that caused stuttering frames in earlier FCPs. A lot of these are still valid.

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Koz