Tips for playback on Final Cut and Quicktime

I have never had smooth playback from final cut, and often not from quicktime either.
I am trying to play back 720p resolution with "none" compression, and can only get about 3 seconds of playback before it just freezes.
Dual 2.3GHz G5 power PC. This makes it pretty much impossible to work smoothly, and I need answers to give the boss.
All I can think to do was max out the cache in Quicktime's settings in the system setting, but nothing changed. THe options in the RT playback settings don't seem to make any difference either.
I have tried h264, motion JPEG, Animation, and the codec doesn't seem to make a difference.

Playing quicktimes with VLC always works better. Why is this?

Please help, soon.

>I am trying to play back 720p resolution with "none" compression

"None" is not meant for real time playback. It is used more for archival/roundtrip lossless workflows..

>I have tried h264, motion JPEG, Animation, and the codec doesn't seem to make a difference.

Yes, the codec makes a difference. You need to convert it and edit it in an editing codec (eg. ProRes HQ), in a ProRes HQ timeline).



www.strypesinpost.com

"None" is not meant for real time playback. "

This is what confuses me because real time playback is definitely not what I'm getting. I might be misinterpreting the term.
And a lossless workflow is exactly what I need. This is for our company demo reel and we want the final output to match our original TGA image sequences, and perhaps output to blue ray or HD quicktimes.

I also have over 1500 clips, so converting them all is going to be a serious process.

I'd use Compressor to batch convert all them. How did you start with that codec in the first place? I haven't heard of any camera that shoots None.



www.strypesinpost.com

Not camera footage. I work in visual effects and the final output from Fusion is a TGA sequence. We then converted to 'none' because of it's lossless quality for editing and archiving.

Missed that earlier reply when you mentioned TGA sequences.

"None" is an 8 bit RGB 4:4:4 codec with no compression scheme applied. Other lossless RGB codecs include TGA, Animation, Png, etc... M-Jpeg/H.264 aren't lossless.

Video is usually in YUV with 4:2:2 chroma subsampling. You can convert them to the Apple Uncompressed 422 codec (which is chroma subsampled, but has no data compression) but you'll need a fast RAID array and a capture card to support it.

>and perhaps output to blue ray or HD quicktimes.

"HD quicktime" is very vague. Quicktime is a container format that supports a wide range of codecs. Knowing what your final deliverable is, usually solves the question of what to convert the footage to.



www.strypesinpost.com

Nobody has asked the important question yet: What kind of framestore do you have?

Uncompressed 720p24 requires a sustained data rate of more than 40 MB/s from your drives, and that's 8-bit YUV. "None," which is an RGB codec, will require more. My guess is that your framestore isn't giving you data fast enough for your system to play back in real time.

Most likely the final output will be H264 because of file size and clients can download it easier. We will creating a flash version for the website, and will use a straight 'none' version to create DVD's.

I am not able to open compressor for some reason

We had run some tests comparing none with tga, animation, and jpeg a to see the color / image quality and test playback.
Most of the pc's and the mac in our office had the least trouble with 'none' so we went with it.
Now I'm not sure what to do.

I'm not sure what a framestore is?
All of the quicktimes are stored on a drobo, 6TB on 3 disks with a firewire 800. I have also tried just playing a single clip from the fesktop and can only get about 3 seconds before it just freeze frames.

Jeff Harrell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nobody has asked the important question yet: What
> kind of framestore do you have?
>
> Uncompressed 720p24 requires a sustained data rate
> of more than 40 MB/s from your drives, and that's
> 8-bit YUV. "None," which is an RGB codec, will
> require more. My guess is that your framestore
> isn't giving you data fast enough for your system
> to play back in real time.

Oy. You are in over your head. And I say this with love, as somebody who's been there many times.

A Power Mac with a Drobo attached to it is not a suitable system for trying to cut uncompressed HD. The "none" Quicktime component is, as Strypes pointed out, 4:4:4 RGB, making it not a very good choice for video. Being unable to open Compressor is a sign that something is seriously wrong with your editing system; your playback problems could be related to whatever's causing that, or it could just be a side-effect of trying to use a freakin' Drobo as a framestore.

If you're just going to the Web and to standard-definition DVD here, your best bet might be to punt this uncompressed business and just cut your original footage into a 720p24 DVCPRO HD timeline. You'll have to render every shot before it can play back in real time, but the reduced data rate (about 13 megabytes a second, down from more than 40) might let you squeak by.

In order to cut uncompressed HD, a Final Cut system needs to be configured in a very specific way. Yours isn't. Your options are either to configure your system for uncompressed HD, to stop trying to do uncompressed HD and go with something that your system can handle, or to send the work out.

OK. So after a big sigh, I have copied everything into a new sequence, 720p24 DVCPRO HD, and changed my render cache to one of the DROBO disks so that I would have enough storage to render the whole thing. Once rendered I will work from that timeline to select the desired clips, arrange, and edit.
When I'm done the creative work, can I copy the finished timeline back to the original 'none' timeline and use that to output so as to avoid any extra compression?
I just tested with a few short clips and it seemed fine.

For the future...

Get rid of the Drobo (except for backup) and get a decent RAID such as one of Caldigit's

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When I'm done the creative work, can I copy the finished timeline back to the original 'none' timeline and use that to output so as to avoid any extra compression?

Unless you are going to film or HDCAM SR then why bother? You are going to DVD and not Blu-Ray so as long as you are getting a good picture out of the DVCproHD or ProRes sequence going to an uncompressed might not show in the final delivery - maybe try a couple of tests and see.

One other suggestion for your web output - get the x264 CODEC as it does a far better job than the Apple H.264 implementation: [www.versiontracker.com]



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

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I am trying to play back 720p resolution with "none" compression

You need superfast RAID array to play that back in realtime.

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All of the quicktimes are stored on a drobo

...and that ain't it. I am in agreement with Ben = CalDigit:

[www.caldigit.com]

Call Jon...tell him what you are trying to do and their smart peeps will hook you up.

Keep the Drobo for backup ONLY (or a very large paper weight ).

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.