• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  Dropped Frames during Mulitcam edit

  Posted by Joe Somodi on March 22, 2006 at 4:41 pm

  When I play my multicam clip in the timeline (three cameras) and try to edit on the fly by clicking on the various windows in the viewer, I am getting a report of dropped frames. This is happening frequently. I have troubleshot the dropped frames a lot and it seems to creap up at me from time to time. I just upgraded to FCP5 and didn’t experience this much drop frames reporting.

  Any help would be appreciated.

  Joe

  Some details below about my system:

  I am running a PowerMac G4
  CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (2.1)
  Number Of CPUs: 2
  CPU Speed: 800 MHz
  L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
  L3 Cache (per CPU): 2 MB
  Memory: 1.5 GB
  Bus Speed: 133 MHz
  Boot ROM Version: 4.2.5f1
  Serial Number: XB1360Q1KSJ
  Sales Order Number: M8361LL/A

  3 512MB of Memory
  GeFoce2 TwinView (for display)

  Joe Somodi, Editor
  Gryffen Productions
  NYC

  Jeff Carpenter replied 20 years, 1 month ago 3 Members · 6 Replies
• 6 Replies

• 

  Debe

  March 22, 2006 at 6:22 pm

  What are you using for media drives?

  debe
• 

  Jeff Carpenter

  March 22, 2006 at 6:23 pm

  1) Make sure that dynamic playback is on. This makes sure that your system isn’t trying to stay at full quality video. This will let the quality drop a little instead of dropping frames.

  2) Your system is still pretty good but you might be in a situation where you’re not making the most of your system which you need to be doing. I’d suggest closing ALL other applications while you’re editing. Also, go into the Final Cut Prefrences and find the RAM usage section and make sure that Final Cut is using up all the RAM it can get its hands on.

  3) Your video card isn’t so hot. Are you using Tiger? It shifts a lot of things from the CPU to the graphics card but if you have an older card then it can’t do as much of that, which taxes your processor. You should call up Powermax or Small Dog Electronics (google them) on the phone and actually talk to someone. Explain what system you have, what monitors you have, and say you’re looking in the $150-$250 range. Probably anything in that price range will help you out although you could spend even more if you wanted to.

  I think that doing all 3 of these steps will help you extend the life of your G4 system even more.
• 

  Joe Somodi

  March 22, 2006 at 6:39 pm

  I hope below is the info you are looking for. I also have two external drives I use for larger projects. Both Lacie. One 500gig and the other 250gigs.

  SCSI Bus:

  ATA IC35L120AVVA07-0:

  Capacity: 115.04 GB
  Manufacturer: ATA
  Model: IC35L120AVVA07-0
  Revision:
  Removable Media: No
  Detachable Drive: No
  BSD Name: disk3
  OS9 Drivers: Yes
  Target: 0
  SCSI LUN: 0

  2 Media:

  Capacity: 115.04 GB
  Available: 13.31 GB
  Writable: Yes
  File System: HFS+
  BSD Name: disk3s9
  Mount Point: /Volumes/2 Media

  ATA IC35L120AVVA07-0:

  Capacity: 115.04 GB
  Manufacturer: ATA
  Model: IC35L120AVVA07-0
  Revision:
  Removable Media: No
  Detachable Drive: No
  BSD Name: disk1
  OS9 Drivers: Yes
  Target: 1
  SCSI LUN: 0

  3 Media:

  Capacity: 115.04 GB
  Available: 17.43 GB
  Writable: Yes
  File System: HFS+
  BSD Name: disk1s9
  Mount Point: /Volumes/3 Media

  ATA Maxtor 7Y250P0:

  Capacity: 233.76 GB
  Manufacturer: ATA
  Model: Maxtor 7Y250P0
  Revision:
  Removable Media: No
  Detachable Drive: No
  BSD Name: disk2
  OS9 Drivers: Yes
  Target: 2
  SCSI LUN: 0

  Macintosh HD:

  Capacity: 69.84 GB
  Available: 31.23 GB
  Writable: Yes
  File System: Journaled HFS+
  BSD Name: disk2s10
  Mount Point: /

  Media 4:

  Capacity: 163.67 GB
  Available: 45.6 GB
  Writable: Yes
  File System: Journaled HFS+
  BSD Name: disk2s12
  Mount Point: /Volumes/Media 4

  Joe Somodi, Editor
  Gryffen Productions
  NYC
• 

  Joe Somodi

  March 22, 2006 at 6:40 pm

  Jeff:
  Thanks. I will give this a shot. I am assuming as I upgrade software, hardware needs it eventually too.
  Joe

  Joe Somodi, Editor
  Gryffen Productions
  NYC
• 

  Joe Somodi

  March 22, 2006 at 7:57 pm

  As I temp workaround:
  Am I in any danger to choose not to see the warning message for dropped frames when I am working (specifically in the multicam mode) so that I can continue to use the fast/on the fly feature (by selecting the various windows in the viewer) as the clip plays in the timeline?

  Joe Somodi, Editor
  Gryffen Productions
  NYC
• 

  Jeff Carpenter

  March 22, 2006 at 8:45 pm

  No problem at all. It’s just a playback thing. You only have to worry if you like to playback to tape from the timeline. At that point you’d want to turn it back on or use the “Print to Tape” feature.

  But for editing, as long as they don’t bother you, dropped frames don’t matter much.

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