CS4 AVCHD Playback problems

[Adam Chesbrough]

I have been participating in this fourm for some time and recently upgraded to vista 64bit, wipped the system, and set up RAID0 (stripped) array, and purchased Adobe production premium CS4 hoping that I would finally be able to edit at will. I have the following system:

Dell XPS 730 H2C
-Processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 Yorkfield 3.0GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 130W Quad-Core Processor
-RAM : 4GB
-Graphics Cards: Dual ATI Radeon HD 3870X2
-Harddrives: dual 1TB HD’s running 7200 RM (I changed the setup to striped, RAID0 since that is what the back of the CS4 packaging required)
-Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit

When editing, my CPU usage never tops 75% and my RAM doesn’t get above 2GB; because the computer isn’t maxing out I thought it might be something on Adobe’s end. Could it be the graphics cards (isnt there a way to send all the graphics cards power to one monitor or program?, should I try overclocking the system. If I overlay two AVCHD clips on top of eachother then the video doesnt stream at all.

If this computer can’t editing HD using Premiere Pro than what can, I can’t imagine that the majority of people are going out and buying $6K+ macs

[Raj Swahali]

Just in case anyone thinks getting a Mac will make everything smoother, It will , but only if you decide to edit with Final Cut or iMovie. I am very frustrated also with Cs4 and having a 3 ghz 4 core Mac Pro that not only doesn’t play back avchd smoothly but Cs4 always ends up crashing with a usual notice that the “ImporterProcessServer” must quit or “pproheadless” has quit.

I’m not ready to switch to FinalCut as I have a lot invested in CS4 but have no idea what to do next. I might convert all files to the AIC codec prior to editing and see how that works out.

[Adam Chesbrough]

I have a friend at Abobe who forwarded my concern to the tech people over there, this is the response that I was given:

The performance lag is due to a few things. A Quad core will play the video fairly straight forward on the timeline. The quality of the preview will still look like draft quality due to the fact that we are de-compressing on the fly. If his video is 1920×1080 @ 30 fps , it’s a lot of information to de-code. Some people have moved to 1920×1080 @24 to get smoother playback in previews. This is just previewing the timeline, it has nothing to do with actual HD output , still very high quality.

We have users using Adobe Media Encoder(AME) to convert their AVCHD media to P2 Movie (DVCPro HD). The user can select the Watch Folder option in AME (File>Create Watch Folder) and Select the P2 option 1280×1080 (this will still produce 1920×1080 on the output) Tonce the media is converted, he would choose the DVCProHD 1280×1080 60i preset and will have very smooth playback/preview on the timeline. This one of the main workflows our highend customers have used for years.

The real issue with AVCHD is that 4 cores still have a tough time de-coding on the fly and 8 core do a better job. There are several companies working on GPU solutions that will offset the Quad or 8 cores from having to do the de-code and letting the GPU/Graphics card do the work. These solutions are coming.

I would highly recommend adding 4 more GB ram for a total of 8.

[Jiri Fiala]

It`s simple: AVCHD is unusable in Premiere CS4. It battles with straight cuts only, any effects or CC would render it absolutely useless. AVCHD hit the market few years too early, NO ONE, especially none of the consumers who happily think they will edit footage from their 300 USD HD camcorder on their PC, has the power to tame it.

The second thing is, PPRO CS4 is a buggy mess.

[Ted Curtis]

Hi Fred,

Do you mind telling what video card you’re using? I’m headed in the same direction with the purchase of a Mac Pro 2.8, 16G of ram, and an 8G Raid 5 from Caldigit.

Thanks,
Ted.

[Fred Campagna]

ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB

[Ted Curtis]

Thanks Fred!

[Derek Ellis]

I am still working through the HD Premiere Pro CS4 playback in timeline “stutter” problem. Previous postings/advice tell me I need at least 2.8 Ghz and nothing less than quad, 64 bit and 4 gig Ram. I just did a test on a laptop/workstation (need mobility to do work on-site) with a 17 inch WUXGA 1920 by 1200, 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9800M GT, Xeon x3360 Quad Core 2.83Ghz. (Eurocom/Alienware/Sager – same specs)

It worked for me, I had no stutter in program or source panels. It was a fairly simple 2-3 minute clip with minimal editing. Went to a flash file for screening at a conference. In short, it worked.

My question – I want to build in some future capacity but not break the bank. Should I move up to the Intel Extreme Quad x6800 2.93Ghz – for $460 more, or the Xeon x3370 Quad Core 3.0 Ghz for $155 more.
Or not.

[Derek Ellis]

Want to thank this forum and forum writers for the advice on HD playback.

I have a HDV Canon XH-A1 and wanted to use the HD capacity but did not have the “horsepower” on my core2 duo 2.1Gz Memory 4 GB Vista 64 machine to do it. Through the posts on your forum, it became evident I needed more to do the job.

I opted for a mobile solution – a Eurocom Vista 64 – Xeon Quad 3.0 Ghz, 4 GB memory with a Quadro nVidia card and could not be happier. No shudder/HD stutter, fast response and Premiere Pro CS4 does what I need it to do. When at my home/office, I hook it up to a 23″ HD Acer monitor.

Again thanks for the advice to go 3.0Ghz.-Quad Core.

[Shaun Kurian]

I would like to confirm as well that updating my video card solved the issue of AVCHD garbled playback on my Premiere CS4 machine. Here was my problem: HD shot from an XDCAM would playback fine, but HDV footage brought in as AVCHD would play garbled in the timeline monitor– for some reason the source monitor showed normal playback, but not the timeline monitor. Simply updating cs4 to 4.0.1 did not work for me.

In case anyone could use the specs, I have CS4 on:

Windows XP Pro 32 bit, Version 2002, Service Pack 2
Pentium D 2.66Ghz
3.00 GB RAM
ATI RADEON X600 256MB (v 8.1) upgraded to X300/X550/X1050 Series
(v 8.591)
ATI RADEON X600 SECONDARY upgraded to X300/X550/X1050 Series Secondary (v 8.591)

–Shaun