• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  jerky playback

  Posted by Jim Curtis on January 24, 2011 at 4:35 pm

  This is a riddle I’m having a hard time figuring out. I have some XDCam EX footage. 1080i. Playback is jerky in FCP Viewer and Canvas (native settings), at 50% Zoom setting, whether I have Unlimited RT or Safe RT selected. It looks like it’s playing back at 15 FPS some of the time.

  However, in QT Player, Premiere Pro CS5 and Media Composer 503 as AMA, it’s as smooth as you please.

  I get this a lot with XDCam EX, and haven’t been able to find a cause. I have an AJA Kona LHi installed, but it’s not being used (View>Video Playback is OFF).

  This doesn’t effect exports, just the viewing experience. Does anybody have a fix (other than transcoding all footage to ProRes)?

  I trashed prefs, which seem to get corrupted several times a day when working with XDCam EX (worst codec ever), but that doesn’t help.

  Thanks,

  Jim Curtis
  jamesphilipcurtis.com

  MacPro (Harpertown-Early 2008) 2×4 3GHz; 32G RAM all the same brand; 10.6.3; QT 7.6.6; FCS3; Kona LHi in PCI slot 3 (8.0.1); Primary display: 30″ ACD; Secondary: HP LP2480zx DreamColor (A) via AJA HDP2 SDI to HDMI converter and (B) DVI from MacPro.

  Jim Curtis replied 15 years, 7 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Steve Eisen

  January 24, 2011 at 6:46 pm

  The only way to view proper playback it to hook up your Kona to a broadcast monitor.

  You have it, you should use it.

  Steve Eisen
  Eisen Video Productions
  Vice President
  Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group
• 

  Jim Curtis

  January 24, 2011 at 7:48 pm

  I figured it out. I imported the same media onto my MBP, from the FW800 drive. It plays smooth there. (I’m playing it from a RAID 0 on my desktop.)

  So, this led me to believe that my Kona card was causing this, even when it’s disengaged.

  BTW, playback was jerky using the Kona for playback as well.

  A respected colleague just informed me (on another FCP list) that this is a known issue with XDCam EX, introduced with the latest ProKit Update.

  I didn’t have the latest AJA LHi driver installed when I first posted. I do now. It fixed the issue.

  It’s seems strange to me that the driver causes problems with playback even with the card bypassed. But, that seems to have been the case. Sorry for the false alarm. I should have checked the AJA site before I posted.

  Jim Curtis
  jamesphilipcurtis.com

  MacPro (Harpertown-Early 2008) 2×4 3GHz; 32G RAM all the same brand; 10.6.3; QT 7.6.6; FCS3; Kona LHi in PCI slot 3 (8.0.1); Primary display: 30″ ACD; Secondary: HP LP2480zx DreamColor (A) via AJA HDP2 SDI to HDMI converter and (B) DVI from MacPro.

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