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HDV plays differently in FCP, QT and VLC – with VLC the best
If one were to search my posts, they’d see I’ve been struggling with loss of High-Quality playback in FCP. I still haven’t got it back and now have some new info to shed on the subject.
I’ve just discovered that my 1080 30p HDV files play almost perfect in VLC (there’s occasional fps drifting, but it’s relatively minimal). In QT, the same files play with a slower fps (while the Inspector toggles between 29-30.4); looks more like 15fps. And in FCP, they play at full frame rate, but with forced Medium Quality degradation (the High greyed out).
Some here (and elsewhere) have pointed to possible CPU or video card problems. At the moment, I don’t have 3 days to part with my computer for diagnostics testing that will probably yield the same unfruitful results as before. Does this info provide any insight to anyone that may still help me restore HIGH QUALITY PLAYBACK IN FCP – if it is, in fact, fixable from my end?
Chris
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3 Replies
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What is your ultimate goal? To play this HDV footage on a computer monitor? or to have it play on a TV from say a DVD, or BluRay disk. Or broadcast TV? Or is your target web only?
The only way to really see what your footage ACTUALLY looks like, is with a capture card and external HD monitor or HDTV. Anything else and you aren’t seeing what you actually have.
And if your goal is computer screens, you won’t be playing the full HDV format, as that is limited to machines with FCP. You’ll be compressing to H.264, and that is what you might need to test.
NLE’s ALL lower the quality of playback to ensure smooth playback and editing. Always have.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
If I haven’t made this clear already, I HAD High Quality Playback with my current set-up and everything was working just fine, until I suffered some sort of kernel panic — after which, FCP has greyed out my HIgh Quality setting. That is what I want back. Focus is critical in HD, and medium quality makes everything look soft. Without the ability to see what I’ve shot – on my Apple Display – it’s impossible to choose takes and I am therefore having to do a VLC or QT runaround which is a total waste of time.
Now I’d really appreciate it if someone could please enlighten me as to why VLC seems to be outperforming FCP and QT, and if this is then pointing to a software issue that is fixable.
(Thanks to all who respond and try to to help. I will do my best to try to give back to this forum, and if I don’t have the answer to someone’s problem, I won’t pretend to.)
Chris
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[Christopher McDonell] ” suffered some sort of kernel panic — after which, FCP has greyed out my HIgh Quality setting. That is what I want back”
Then it sounds like some serious system resource was damaged. The best thing to do would be to back up your files and data, erase the hard drive and do a clean install of the OS and applications. Clean sweep. Get back what you need.
FCP uses QT as the engine, so if FCP is bad, and QT is bad…they rely on the same thing. VLC doesn’t…but I won’t pretend to be a software engineer so I don’t know exactly what it does. IF QT is damaged, then FCP has the same damage. An OS reinstall is your best bet.
If it messed things up so bad that you can’t tell focus in FCP, then that is BAD. Get yourself back to a good working system.
Sorry for the assumption.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def
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