Dropped frames at playback in FCP 5.1 on Mac G5 Quad

[Tony]

Khashyar

I believe you are expecting much more out of the system while “tasking out ” the system beyond what it is capable of doing in RT.

Instead of wasting more time trying to get the system to keep up with your expections modify your workflow to make the best out of what the system can do.

Time is money the more you waste with the wrong workflow the less time you have for creative decisions.

One last note turn off the audio waveforms if you don’t need them. The will put more “load” on the CPU.

You may also wish to consider purchasing a more power raid drive system internal or external to increase the RT functions. The speed of the CPU is only part of the formula in acheiving faster RT performance.

Tony Salgado

[Khashyar Darvich]

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to update you on the dropped frames issue, so that others might benefit if they are having the same issue.

I tried a mix down of the audio, and I was still experiencing occasional dropped frames.

I called Apple, and they told me something interesting- that they do not support or recommend external drives with Final Cut Pro, and that I need to call the drive manufacturer.

I was curious about how the drive was performing (since I assumded that a new G-Raid 800 firewire drive should be fast enough to handle a DV project.

I downloaded the Kona AJA system test, and to my surprise, the drive was intermittantly showing subpar performance (reading and writing, at times, as low as 3 mb/sec. That definitely is not normal.

I called G-Tech, explaoined the problem to a tech specialist there, and he asked me whether the drive was making a clicking noise and whether the power light ever went off when it was in use– (it had). After checking my drive’s serial number, he said that the G-Raid drive was one in a batch with a defective power switch, and that I should not use the drive at all untl I brought it in (to their Santa Monica, CA plant) and had the switch repaired.

I live in Los Angeles, so I brought it in, and 2 hours later, I had my drive back.

I fired it up, and it seems to peform MUCH better , smoother and faster than ever before– I can now scroll through my FCP timeline quickly, and all of the video on the timeline is accessed seemingly instantly. Before, at times, video on the timeline was accessed with slight sluggishness, when I quickly scrolled through the timeline.

So, it seems that it was a defective power switch on the drive…

If that prognosis changes, I will let you know.

And, by the way, I have ordered another G-Raid 1TB drive through B&H, so that I can back all of my media from the primary drive… I’m glad and feel fortunate that I didn’t lose any media from my project.

Thanks again for everyone’s feedback,

Khashyar