Dropped frames – how important?

[Rob Grauert]

All “Drop Frames” means is your computer can’t play back video in real time because your hard drive or RAID is too slow for the video format you’re trying to playback.

I unchecked that box once to see what would happen if it stopped warning me. The audio and video just went out of snyc – not permanently – just for that instance where I was playing back video.

It will affect your output if you are outputting to tape. Not if you are exporting a reference or self-contained file.

Robert J. Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com

[David Roth weiss]

[Jim Bell] “How important are dropped frames in timeline playback?”

Very.

[Jim Bell] “I note the warnings can be turned off. Is this advisable? “

Definitely not advisable.

[Jim Bell] “Is there something I should do to prevent dropped frames?”

As you suspected, increase throughput with faster hard drives and you stop dropping frames.

[Jim Bell] “Is it just in playback or final output too? “

Even worse, it’s capture, playback, and output. Dropping frames on capture or output can ruin your whole day (or your whole project).

[Jim Bell] “I only have 4GB of ram… is that the culprit?”

No.

[Jim Bell] “how much will another 4mb help FCS apps particularly motion? “

Won’t help with dropped frames at all. Will give you more realtime performance with less rendering though.

BTW, the whole thing about the red line and having to re-render sounds doesn’t sound right. Are you sure your sequence settings properly match your media?

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Jim Bell] “. got redline calling for render..”

If you have no filters or anything applied to the clip and you’re getting a render line, your Clip and Sequence Settings don’t match. If they match, you should never get a render warning.

One things many folks don’t realize is that audio tracks can actually cause dropped frames. In the case of our current documentary, we have 24 audio tracks in the timeline and need a very fast media array to play this in realtime. If you’re running a smaller RAID, even 8 or 10 tracks of audio and just one track of video can sometimes cause dropped frames. Despite the fact that audio files are so much smaller.

Turning off the Dropped Frame warning just for playback is not so bad since you’re just playing back the video to watch. Not advisable but not the worst thing in the world. You have to remember though if you’re just laying off something by hitting “Play” in the timeline, any dropped frames will go to the tape / dvd whatever.

You NEVER want to turn off the Dropped Frame warning during Edit to Tape / Master to Tape. that would be a huge no-no.

So the Dropped Frame warning is most important during the Ingest / Master phase and while you should keep it on at all times, you could turn it off for just editing.

But I think you have a mismatch in your footage and sequence that is causing most of your issues.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media

“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” featuring Sigourney Weaver coming soon.

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[Jim Bell]

Thanks for the tips… In regards to settings, I can look up sequence settings easy enough but when I click on clip settings in the modify menu it returns a msg that says `No items have files that are applicable to this operation.”

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,

JB

10.6.1 Macbook Pro 17″ w/express 34, G-Tech 2 TB GRaid, TC Electronic Impact Twin FW audio interface

Hindsight is always 1080p – Thanks to Zane Barker, this made me smile…you too?

[Rob Grauert]

to find out the settings of your clip, highlight the clip (in your bin or timeline) and press Command + 9. That should bring up a window that shows you your clip’s settings

Robert J. Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com

[Mark Suszko]

OK, I confess, I have turned it off after trying for over a week to find a solution, but – and maybe I’m not looking hard enough – on our final output, we have not actually *seen* any dropped or out of snych frames. I am sorry to blaspheme, and here Lent’s not yet over, but there you go, your mileage will undoubtedly vary, and I don’t suggest anybody copy what I’m doing.

[Jim Bell]

Something i forgot to mention was the audio being added to the vid in the timeline is an external dialog recording which is in mp3 format. Whereas it originally played with dropped frames, now I get the redline everytime I drop it in… Thoughts? I have heard fcp doesn’t like mp3s… is this true? seems odd… Thanks, jb

10.6.1 Macbook Pro 17″ w/express 34, G-Tech 2 TB GRaid, TC Electronic Impact Twin FW audio interface

Hindsight is always 1080p – Thanks to Zane Barker, this made me smile…you too?

[Rafael Amador]

[Jim Bell] ” I have heard fcp doesn’t like mp3s… is this true? “
Right.
Any compressed format (video or audio) needs to be de-compressed before processing, that means an extra task for FC.
Convert your audio to any PCM (48Khz, 16/24 bits) format and you won’t need to care about rendering the audio.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Jim Bell]

Thanks Raphael…

One point I’ll add for future newcomers is that you don’t need to hunt for a file converter… Just setup your import preferences in itunes preferences and then it will just be a right click on the file and select to create the aaif. Easy.

jb

10.6.1 Macbook Pro 17″ w/express 34, G-Tech 2 TB GRaid, TC Electronic Impact Twin FW audio interface

Hindsight is always 1080p – Thanks to Zane Barker, this made me smile…you too?