uncompressd HD freezes

Hi,

I have uncompressed HD footage that I cannot play without rendering it to a lower res. If I try to play it or scrub through it, it just shows one frame or skips randomly.

The footage was digitized uncompressed (DVCPRO HD 720p60 (960x720) ). I'm currently using FCP 4.5. Will upgrading to FCP 5.0 enable me to play this footage?

Or do I need to upgrade my video card (currently ATI RAD 9600 XT).

If it is the version of FCP, will it even work on my system (OSX 10.3.9; dual 1.8 ghz powerpc G5; 1 gig ddr sdram)?

Thank you for any advice on this,
DD

The version of FCP isn't your issue. What you need is a RAID array capable of playing back uncompressed HD footage.

But you said uncompressed DVCPRO HD 720p...that isn't uncompressed. That is DVCPRO HD compression. Uncompressed 8-bit and 10-bit are the uncompressed formats. DVCPRO HD 720p60 requires a firewire 800 drive at least, or an internal SATA drive or eSATA drive or RAID to play back.

How did you capture this footage? Via firewire?


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dt

Yes, it was captured with a firewire 400 into FCP from a Panasonic AJ-HD1200A deck.

These are the specs of the footage (960x720; 59.94; DVCPRO HD 720p 60; 48k audio; 13.9MB/sec).

I am using a Firewire 800 drive for most of the footage but some clips are on an internal Serial ATA drive.

So if it's not uncompressed footage that's the problem, what is it?

-DD

How are the drives formatted?


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All of the drives are Journaled HFS+
-DD

Were you wanting more information besides that?

Sorry...wasn't paying attention.

Just seems like the drive isn't keeping up. What sort of firewire 800 drive is it? You get better performance from a G-Raid or LaCie D2, as they are two drives hardware Raided in a case. Is this a single drive?


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The 800 isn't the issue. I copied the file to my desktop on my master drive (internal serial ATA) and it still freezes. The audio continues to play even though the video plays a few frames and then freezes.

I tried playing them with Quicktime 7.1.5 and both audio & video play perfectly. That is why I'm thinking it is an issue with FCP 4.5 not handling the footage correctly. I created a brand new project. Imported the one file and tried to play it in the Viewer window. Freezes the video.

This does not occur on every file I import. If the file is 1 gig or smaller, both audio and video play smoothly.

Hi Shane,

Seeing if this new information shed any new light on this situation.

Thanks,
DD

relggid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The 800 isn't the issue. I copied the file to my
> desktop on my master drive (internal serial ATA)
> and it still freezes. The audio continues to play
> even though the video plays a few frames and then
> freezes.
>
Uh....yeah, still an issue. Never store media on your SYSTEM drive. It won't play back smoothly either. Why? it is busy managing the OS. You'd need a SEPARATE internal SATA drive.

> I tried playing them with Quicktime 7.1.5 and both
> audio & video play perfectly. That is why I'm
> thinking it is an issue with FCP 4.5 not handling
> the footage correctly. I created a brand new
> project. Imported the one file and tried to play
> it in the Viewer window. Freezes the video.
>
Did you capture this footage with FCP 4.5, or a later version?

> This does not occur on every file I import. If
> the file is 1 gig or smaller, both audio and video
> play smoothly.

That points to slow drive issues.


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The quest continues. I guess I'm used to PCs where the system drive always seems to operate faster than any other drive attached.

Ok, so I copied the 4-gig test file off of my master drive and over to a separate 200gig internal SATA drive. Same thing happens where Quicktime plays it fine but FCP does not. The files were captured with FCP 5.0. Here are all the stats for the system followed by the two internal SATA drives, and then the Firewire external:

Power Mac G5; PowerPC G5 (2.2); 2 CPUs; CPU Speed = 1.8 GHz; L2 Cache (per CPU) = 512 KB; Memory = 1 GB; Bus Speed = 900 MHz.

k2-sata-root:
Maxtor 6Y080M0:
Capacity: 76.33 GB
Model: Maxtor 6Y080M0
bay_name: A (upper)
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Protocol: ATA
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Serial ATA
OS9 Drivers: No
File System: Journaled HFS+

ST3200822AS:
Capacity: 186.31 GB
Model: ST3200822AS
bay_name: B (lower)
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk1
Protocol: ATA
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Serial ATA
OS9 Drivers: No
File System: Journaled HFS+

FireWire Bus: Speed: 800 Mb/sec Speed
1394 Storage Front Panel*:
Capacity: 931.52 GB
Manufacturer: Maxtor
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: Yes
BSD Name: disk2
OS9 Drivers: Yes
Speed: 800 Mb/sec Speed
File System: Journaled HFS+

Can we glean any information from this as to the cause?
Thanks for staying with this issue,
DD

Are you veiwing it on a timeline that is set to the same CODEC? Or does it skip in the viewer window too?

Ben



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Captured in FCP 5, trying to use it in FCP 4.5. That could be the issue. FCP updates often include updates to the codecs as well. I'll wager than FCP 4.5 is having issues playing back the newer codec.

Why didn't you capture with FCP 4.5?


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Yes, it does it in the Viewer as well. Plays a few frames and then freezes (not audio though) until I press stop.

Someone else captured it on machine with FCP 5 several months ago and then gave me the footage but I only have 4.5.

Can I run FCP 5 on an OSX 10.3.9 system? Or do I have to go to 10.4.4 (and $129)?
If I have to go to 10.4.4, is that an upgrade or a full system install?

Thanks again,
DD

Okay, I'm done. All I needed was to upgrade to FCP 5.
I still don't know if it was because of the capturing with FCP 5 or because 4.5 doesn't handle all types of HD.

It still infuriates me that Apple makes you buy new things with every new software release. For example, I wanted FCP 5 but in order to use that I have to buy their operating system upgrade. They never seem to release software that is backwards compatible.

Anyway, thanks for trying to help me with this.