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Choppy Playback in FCP
Hi, I’m fairly new to the forums here on Creative Cow, so I will do my best to be as detailed as I can so hopefully someone can help me. I am having difficulty with playing back footage in FCP 6. I am editing footage from the new Canon 5d Mark 2 camera. I have already converted the Canon mov files (which were originally shot in H.264, 1920×1080, 30 fps) to Apple ProRes 422 using MPEG streamclip.
My preset for converting the files in MPEG Streamclip is as follows:
Compression: Apple ProRes 422 (second option)
Quality: 100%
Frame Size: 1920×1080 (unscaled)
Frame Rate: left blank (should read the Canon preset frame rate of 30 fps)
Interlace Scaling – deselectedAfter batching all the files I imported them into Final Cut Pro. My sequence preset is Apple ProRes 422, 1920×1080, 30 p, 48 khz. The files seem to play fine at first, but then they started to playback choppy on the timeline. Also, I have exported the footage and played it in Quicktime 7 and it plays through without a problem.
I have an 320 GB external drive that I keep only this project on it, including the Capture Scratch files. My machine is a MAC OSX version 10.5.8, processor 2.66 GHz quad-core intel xeon, 6 GB 1066 MHz, DDR3. I am running Final Cut 6.0.6.
Do you think my playback is choppy because the external drive can’t keep up? If so what do I do? Anyone know what could be happening here if it is not the external drive?
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11 Replies
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Did you also convert the audio from 44.1khz to 48khz? The 5D has generated more posts about choppy playback than almost any other topic in the past year. Finally Canon has a software update that fixes the frame rates and audio sample rate, but you still need to convert to ProRes.
Peter Wiggins kindly made a Compressor droplet that sorted out frame rate and audio sample rates. My guess is that the audio is still 44.1khz and that is why the playback is suffering.
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The connection between the drive an FCP is…?
USB?
Firewire?
eSATA?
Internal SATA?
Spaghetti noodle?
Bread Crumbs?Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Thank you! The audio is still at 44.1 Khz. I can’t believe a little thing like that would make playback so choppy! So, if I convert the audio to 48 Khz it should be fine? I did some editing already, do you think I can just replace the files with the newly converted ones and have them update my edit? Or will I have to start from scratch?
Thank you so much for this info!
Laura
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If you redo the files using the same names, put them into a different folder and then force a reconnect to the new files in that folder and it should be all good.
That said, backup your project file before you do that and don’t overwrite the original converted files just in case.
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The connection between the drive and FCP is USB.
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[Laura Fisk] “The connection between the drive and FCP is USB.”
**BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ**
Wrong answer. Well, it was the TRUTHFUL answer, but it is the WRONG connection for video. Never ever use USB for video. Well, some people have gotten away with it for DV, but NEVER EVER for HD ever. Or higher end SD formats. USB is just not the right connection type for video. You need at least FW800 for what you are doing. Firewire. eSATA would be better.
USB is a no no.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Great, I thought it might have something to do with the USB and the drive. But what can I do, the project is on that drive? What external drive do you suggest I get so I can transfer it over? Or would it be possible to just work off my computer’s hard drive?
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro4,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8 MB
Memory: 6 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/sThanks for all of your advice!
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[Laura Fisk] “But what can I do, the project is on that drive?”
Transfer it to another drive. Keep the same file structure, maybe even the drive name so you won’t have to reconnect.
[Laura Fisk] “What external drive do you suggest I get so I can transfer it over? Or would it be possible to just work off my computer’s hard drive? “
NEVER NEVER off the system drive. Ever. That has the OS and is keeping it busy.
BEST…get an internal SATA drive and put it in one of the three free drive bays. REALLY easy to install. Get (3) 1TB drives and you have a LOT of space. And they are pretty fast. If you MUST have an external, then get a FW800 drive….G-Raid, CalDigit, MaxxDigital.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
I would still recommend redoing the ProRes files with the correct audio sample rate. Maybe do that as a batch overnight to the new drive and then reconnect in the morning to your backed up sequence.
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I’m looking to buy a Western Digital – Caviar Black 1TB Internal Serial ATA Hard Drive. The product features are:
1TB maximum storage capacity
Serial ATA interface
Data transfer rates up to 3 Gbps
7200 rpm for fast read/write times
32MB cache buffer
Compatible with PC and MacIt looks good to me, but what do you think?
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