Jumpy video playback in FCP

I am having trouble pin pointing why this timeline (my online editor gave to me) is playing back with a "6 frames a second look". It's all jumpy. I am playing it right off the hard drive on my Power Mac G5 2.0 GHz. Could I not be tweeking something right in FCP? I am working with very compressed files. Less than 100 MB for a 43 minute show. My editor says I should try upping my RAM from 512 to 2 GB. Does FCP work off of RAM? I thought only programs like After Effects rely on lots of RAM. Or do I need a 4 drive RAID?

512 is "cutting edge" and you really should have at least 1 gig. 2GBs is better. What kind of media is this? DV? DVCPRO HD? HDV?

Michael Horton
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Stu_Jaimison Wrote:
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> I am having trouble pin pointing why this timeline
> (my online editor gave to me) is playing back with
> a "6 frames a second look". It's all jumpy. I am working with very compressed
> files. Less than 100 MB for a 43 minute show.

100 MB for 43 minutes? Chances are it is only at 6 frames a second or maybe 15. How was it compressed to that size file?

The guy encoded these files at DVCPro HD 1080p 23.98. They are NOT supposed to be palying at 6 frames a second. The computer (or RAM) is being strained and it is not playing back right.

Internal drive? External FW drive? Ram will help in this case since you only have 512 and FCP requires at least 1 gig for HD but it sounds like your hard drive can't handle this. Your sequence settings do match this, right?

Michael Horton
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DVCPro HD is NOT a very compressed file. There is NO WAY your files are DVCProHD if the entire 43 minute sequence is 100MB. A file of that length, at that codec and frame rate should take up about 32 GB of hard drive space. That is not taking into account any un-used footage in the project. Either you are mistaken with the file size or with the codec used to create the file. Do a get info on the file and report back with the results.
Did the editor give you a self contained quicktime of the timeline or the whole project?
It wouldn't hurt to add more as your RAM is low. You do not need a 4 drive raid, you can play DVCPro HD on a FW400 drive.

Sounds like the editor gave him a compressed file originally done in DVCPRO HD. Can't quite understand this workflow though if that's the case.

Michael Horton
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In my view, you shouldn't be editing with these files at all. Send them back and ask them for the clips at online quality. If the files are compressed so much -- 100MB is small even for TWO MINUTES of footage -- then there's a good chance they lost timecode as well, and if you perform edits with these and then get the high-quality footage, your timeline may not link back to the online media. Sounds like this media was tailored for web download. 100MB for 43 minutes is about 90 times too small...at DV NTSC 29.97fps, let alone DVCPro HD, which should be more like 370MB...per minute.


www.derekmok.com

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Your sequence settings do match this, right?

I didn't realize that my sequence settings need to "match up" with the RAM of the computer or other computer speeds. Really? I'll go poking around.

These DVCPRO files are indeed compressed. When I view properties it says: codecs: DVCPRO HD 720p60. Integer (Big Indian). Dimensions: 1280 X 720. A 30 second clip is 173 MB, a 7 second clip is 49 MB, etc.

sequence settings and RAM have NO correlation at all. you just need more ram - PERIOD. im surprised you can even open FCP...

I ran FCP4.5 with QuickTime 6 for about 14 months with only 512MB and had no problems even with light compositing work, keying, and eight to 14 tracks of video at DV quality. No noticeable increase or decrease in performance since I added a gig worth of RAM.


www.derekmok.com

> These DVCPRO files are indeed compressed. When I view properties it says: codecs: DVCPRO
> HD 720p60. Integer (Big Indian). Dimensions: 1280 X 720. A 30 second clip is 173 MB, a 7
> second clip is 49 MB, etc.

That sounds more like it. So when you wrote "less than 100MB for 43 minutes", you meant 100GB? Then no, you're not working with "very compressed files" as you said. Did you guys do your homework before proceeding with your editing? This is the kind of stuff you should have known ahead of time.

First you said the files were "encoded at DVCPro HD 1080p 23.98", now you say it's 60p. You need to consolidate your information with your editor. You still haven't told us what storage device you're using to store and access the media. DVCPro HD needs at least FireWire 800 to playback properly.


www.derekmok.com

I've tried running off my computer's hard drive (Power Mac G5, 2GHz Dual Processor 512 MB) and I've tried running it off a Lacie Bigger Disk Extreme via firewire 800. Still the same jumpy picture with frames being dropped and seriously lagging audio. Often the space bar won't even stop it from playing. This thing is wiggin' out!

I'll know Friday if a RAM upgrade is the solution or not when FedEx comes knockin' with a full 2 GB.

> Often the space bar won't even stop it from playing.

Those are the magic words. Yes, indeed it can be a RAM issue. It's also a classic sign of corrupt or miscaptured media. Do these clips play OK *anywhere*?

DVCPro HD isn't even the most taxing of formats -- it's got an even lower data rate than Uncompressed SD.

Is any of the drives connected to your station over 90 per cent full? If so, you must clear at least 10 per cent free space on all of them or the computer will go batty.

Are you running any Antivirus applications? If so, dump them.


www.derekmok.com

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It's also a classic sign of corrupt or miscaptured media. Do these clips play OK *anywhere*?

The editor plays this timeline FINE on his machine (Firewire 800 RAID 0 - a 2 drive RAID). On my end my Lacie Bigger Disk Extreme is like 95% FREE!

I believe the Panasonic Varicam HD camera always runs at 60 frames per second and that is why it "says" DVCPRO HD 720p60, but in reality these files I'm dealing with now are 23.98.

> The editor plays this timeline FINE on his machine (Firewire 800 RAID 0 - a 2 drive RAID). On
> my end my Lacie Bigger Disk Extreme is like 95% FREE!

Is your Lacie drive properly formatted? It's also often mentioned in here that Lacies suck ass...

However, since you've already tried playing from an internal SATA drive, the disk format is probably not the culprit. You *do* have the proper codec to playback the footage, right?

> On my end my Lacie Bigger Disk Extreme is like 95% FREE!

What about your system drive, or your second internal drive if you have one? *All* disks connected to the system must have at least 10 per cent free space.


www.derekmok.com

Thanks derekmok. Put 2 more GB of RAM in there bringing the total to 2.5 GB and that solved it. RAM was the solution. Didn't realize FCP worked off of RAM so much. BTW instead of buying from Apple I went to memory4less and saved about $150.00

You'rw not zoomed into the Canvas window by any chance Stu. Click in the Canvas & do Shift+Z & see if the playback improves.

Dave