Dropped Frames in FCP with no solution in sight…

[Michael Gissing]

[Stephen Best] “I don’t think the machine is the problem. Final Cut Pro is the problem.”

What an ignorant thing to say. If it were remotely true than this forum would be full of people saying they share the same problem. In fact it isn’t.

So tell us Stephen, what your machine config is and how you installed which version of FCS and OS and you might actually provide an inkling of useful information to help these rare instances. It might be having FCS and CS5 on the same machine is your problem. The fact that you are running CS5 would make me wonder if you have an Nvidia card rather than ATI which was my hunch for Anthony’s issue. If so please say so we can narrow down and look for a pattern for these rare recalcitrant systems.

[Jeff Greenberg]

I have a couple of thoughts/guesses/questions.

First, is there a deck attached?
What about USB items?
Have you tried a new user?
Are you running other apps?
What matrox item is attached to your system?
Have you tried a clean install of the OS (I have a way to do this that is easy/fast and non destructive to your existing system.)

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer
Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
Avid & Color Videos Vasst.com
Compressor Essentials Lynda.com

[Stephen Best]

If my comment is “an ignorant thing to say”, it would seem no further information is required for you to make up your mind.

You may believe that users should have to take extraordinary measures, and seek arcane advice on forums like this, in order to make a piece of software work as advertised, I don’t.

It’s absurd–and ought not be tolerated by customers–that the latest version of Apple’s FCP installed clean on an Apple computer using the latest Apple OS and that exceeds all of Apple’s technical requirements doesn’t work properly, while another video editing program, not even authored by Apple, does.

But perhaps this is something you consider acceptable.

Regards
Stephen Best
https://stephenbest.ca

[Anthony Dias]

LOL… you guys should take it easy on each other…

Stephen, I know how you feel man. Even though my issue is playback related as I have not tried doing any capture except when I first bought the system – I had purchased an AJA Io and I couldn’t get it to work properly (maybe due to operator error) which I promptly returned to B&H.

—

This posting was originally going to be a scathing letter to Apple letting them know how I truly feel about investing thousands of dollars into a machine and software that doesn’t work as advertised. Even after multiple updates/upgrades.

However, I thought twice about that because what I really wanted was a solution to my problem and not defensive responses from other happy FCP users who have never had issues with their software (do they really exist?)

The sad truth is that computers are complicated systems. Also, unfortunately for me as a semi-pro, Apple seems more interested in developing consumer software that they keep updating rather than developing a robust solution for Media creation.

Anyway, as a long time Apple customer, I do believe that I should expect Apple’s Hardware and Software to “just work”.

Unfortunately for me, it doesn’t “just work”.

But this NVIDIA thing may be the culprit… who knows???

I am going to do some more trouble shooting and report back if I find any solutions.

[Anthony Dias]

Yeah, I’ve done that before… well, not with a vacuum cleaner… I bought an anti-static mat, grounded it, put on an anti-static wrist band and opened the computer up and dusted it with compressed air…

I even removed a two sticks of RAM which I suspected as being problematic.

I used to run 14 GB of RAM and now I’m only using 10 GB.

I am really starting to suspect that it is the NVIDIA card for the simple fact that the scopes start off running real smooth and degrade over time.

I’m just not sure I can convince my Boss to let me invest another $500 into an ATI upgrade.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions 🙂

[Anthony Dias]

Jeff,

I am interested in your clean install method. In fact, I’m thinking of just buying a brand new hard drive to install ONLY Final Cut Studio.

I have tried alternate User accounts.
I have tried disconnecting EVERYTHING except for the FW Hard Drive, and even that sometimes too.
I have tried running ONLY Final Cut Pro. And I still get the dropped frames. But anyway, that would defeat the purpose of the machine in my point of view. I think I should be able to run at least Photoshop, After Effects and Final Cut Pro at the same time.
I am using the Matrox MXO2 LE with software 2.0 (I have tried ALL the available versions. The latest is 2.1 which has severe issues with Core Audio).

Thanks for your input,
-Tony

[Jeff Greenberg]

[Anthony Dias] “I am interested in your clean install method. In fact, I’m thinking of just buying a brand new hard drive to install ONLY Final Cut Studio.
“

Short story. Boot on your OSX DVD. Install to an external HD, OSX. Update to 10.6.6.
Then, insert your FCS 3 DVD. DESELECT all the Motion/DVDSP/STP templates (yields a very fast install.)
Total process less than 2 hrs. Probably closer to 1.
Run software update until it’s all up to date.

Now, with your project on an external drive, see if this works.
If it does, something specifically is wrong with your install.

[Anthony Dias] “I have tried running ONLY Final Cut Pro. And I still get the dropped frames. But anyway, that would defeat the purpose of the machine in my point of view. I think I should be able to run at least Photoshop, After Effects and Final Cut Pro at the same time.
I”
Tony, I agree with you. But until you isolate what is causing the problem, then we have to/should eliminate everything else, to see if we can find out the culprit.

I think you have something that is running in the background, eating up either processor cycles or VM to such a degree that it’s causing your system to stutter.

Typical culprits, are Browsers (especially flash), Background Rendering (Compressor and AE). I’d be curious to look at your VM of your activity monitor when your system starts to stutter; both at the Page Outs, Swap size and what app is eating away at the processor.

It could be (but I doubt) that it’s something that you at one point installed, removed and forgot about, that is leaving a trace.

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer
Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
Avid & Color Videos Vasst.com
Compressor Essentials Lynda.com

[David Roth weiss]

[Stephen Best] “You may believe that users should have to take extraordinary measures, and seek arcane advice on forums like this, in order to make a piece of software work as advertised, I don’t.
“

Stephen,

I know you’re an experienced editor with many years of film editing under your belt, and I know you clearly feel that wrangling a non-linear editing system like FCP should be right in your wheelhouse, but honestly, your frustration with FCP is simply misguided and just plain silly.

Face it, not everyone in the world is born with the innate ability and know-how to troubleshoot professional non-linear editing systems. Going back over your posts through the years it certainly seems you’ve had troubles with every one of the NLEs you’ve owned… And today, editing a zillion different formats and frame rates of HD video as we all do now can confuse anybody from time to time, even those of us who are “the experts.”

The fact is, the technical expertise necessary to properly build, maintain, and operate a sophisticated NLE like FCP does require arcane advice from experts for many users. FCP’s $1150 price tag is a barrier to no one, and so there are users at many different levels, from rank beginners to experienced editors like Walter Murch among its more than 1.5 million users.

And, let’s face it, the majority of users are simply too freaking cheap to hire a consultant or to have their systems built and maintained by pros, so they come to this forum because we are a collection experienced professionals, here 24 hours a day, from every corner of the world, who are willing and able to help.

I assure you, maintaining a working FCP system is not rocket science, but it is science nonetheless. So, if you’re having issues that are so frustrating that you feel compelled to gripe aloud about Apple, that’s just misplaced energy, and you really should hire an expert. Editing is difficult enough on its own even when there are no technical issues, so be good to yourself and hire the expert technical help you deserve.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.com

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

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

[Anthony Dias]

Jeff,

thanks for the suggestions. I will try the “clean and exclusive” external hard disk install but it may take a week or two before I can actually carve out some time to do it.

I did suspect Safari at one point and as of late, I have been doing all web browsing on my laptop but I still have the issues on my desktop.

I recently downloaded xBench and I’m going to see what kind of results I get before launching FCP, while using FCP normally and after I start getting dropped frames.

As for the Activity Monitor, I’ve taken a bunch of screen shots before and after but have not been able to figure out what, if anything, is causing the dropped frames.

I am away from the desktop until Tuesday, or else I would upload them so people who wanted to could scrutinize my Mac’s processes.

again, thanks,
-Tony

[Anthony Dias]

David,

although I agree with your statement:

The fact is, the technical expertise necessary to properly build, maintain, and operate a sophisticated NLE like FCP does require arcane advice from experts for many users.

Apple’s marketing makes it seem different:

Powerful new features and time-saving improvements help you work faster than ever.[apple.com]

A Mac is designed for a long, productive life… Born to perform.
To make a better computer, only quality components and materials will do… Get great performance from every Mac.

Every Mac comes with the latest technology. From the small-but-mighty Mac mini to the powerhouse Mac Pro, all are equipped with blazing-fast Intel processors, high-performance graphics, and high-speed DDR3 memory. And Mac OS X Snow Leopard is custom-made to take advantage of every bit of that technology. So no matter which Mac you choose, you get superior performance for just about everything you do: managing your photos, editing video, even playing graphics-intensive 3D games.[apple.com]