Dropped Frames on Playback WHAT???

[Jerry Hofmann]

Safe taxes the machine the most, in that it will report errors, and dropped frames sooner… try setting it to unlimited, and set the rest of the settings there to a lower quality playback. If you render material that has any effects applied, it will playback in high quality without dropping frames.

Any unrendered material is going to tax the machine the most. Doesn’t matter what the effect is, but unrendered material will cause the dropped frame error sooner. It’s just the way it is…

Jerry

Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann

DVD:https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup

8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX Cinema Displays

[Joseph Hung]

Thanks everyone. I have run TechTools and drives seem fine. I will try to keep it on Unlimited, but in the past it brought more errors than not. That’s a good point though Jerry, and didn’t think of it that way. Even with filters, effects, I always render it, whether it’s a green or red bar.
Still stumped. And thanks for the feedback.
Joseph

Mac 2.66 GHz Quad Intel Xeon
OSX 10.6.4
FCP 7.0.2
AE CS4
Quicktime Pro 7.6.4
8GB RAM
2x1TB RAID O (All Media Scratch Disk)
Blackmagic Intensity Pro
ATI Radeon X1900
Panasonic Lumix GH1, Panasonic HVX200A, Panasonic DVX100A, Canon 5DMKII, 7D

[Rafael Amador]

[Joseph Hung] “I have run TechTools and drives seem fine. “
is your System directories what you have to fix. Also Files Finder Info, B-trees etc.
Rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Joseph Hung]

Oh and I should add that energy saver and screensaver and all that is always off. I always render. When I’m doing grading or anything image critical, I do need to see things in high quality to make the best decisions.

Jerry: You’re saying even though my playback setting are on medium or low, if I render the clip with effects, etc. it will automatically play at high?

Mac 2.66 GHz Quad Intel Xeon
OSX 10.6.4
FCP 7.0.2
AE CS4
Quicktime Pro 7.6.4
8GB RAM
2x1TB RAID O (All Media Scratch Disk)
Blackmagic Intensity Pro
ATI Radeon X1900
Panasonic Lumix GH1, Panasonic HVX200A, Panasonic DVX100A, Canon 5DMKII, 7D

[Jerry Hofmann]

Yes they will playback in full quality even if the playback settings are set to be lower. All these lower playback quality settings are ignored if you set it to “Safe” BTW… They only come into the mix when Unlimited is selected.

https://supermeet.com/live/index.html

In that presentation, there’s a dandy explaination of all those RT settings and how to use them to their best advantage.

Jerry

Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann

DVD:https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup

8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX Cinema Displays

[Joseph Hung]

HUH, didn’t know that. Still learning everyday, and till the day I die.
Thanks Jerry, I’ll take a look at that link.

Mac 2.66 GHz Quad Intel Xeon
OSX 10.6.4
FCP 7.0.2
AE CS4
Quicktime Pro 7.6.4
8GB RAM
2x1TB RAID O (All Media Scratch Disk)
Blackmagic Intensity Pro
ATI Radeon X1900
Panasonic Lumix GH1, Panasonic HVX200A, Panasonic DVX100A, Canon 5DMKII, 7D

[Anthony Dias]

I agree with Rafael and highly recommend DiskWarrior… not so much for the dropped frames problem (which it might fix), but for the simple fact that it fixed a RAID 1 pair of drives which my computer was unable to read/write.

DiskWarrior is not a defrag tool, Instead it fixes any directory problems there might be on your drive… you can see more info on that here https://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior/details.html

Another thing you made me think about was when you said “I always render it, whether it’s a green or red bar. ”

My preference is to use the “Render All – Both” command (Option-R) with all the options checcked.

But whatever render command you use, if you select it with your mouse up in the menu, is everything checked up and down the line?

Also, on the timeline, where do the dropped frames usually occur? is it at transitions, edit points or randomly in the middle of a clip?

Do you have “show audio waveforms” turned on? (does the dropped frame occur when your playhead reaches the far right of your timeline and then causing the timeline itself to scroll over)

Are you viewing your Canvas at 100%, 50% or 67% (or whatever %).

Where are your Waveform Cache and Thumbnail Cache located? (if they are on your main drive, and if your main drive has been idle/spun-down and suddenly you need to access it…)

What happens if you have iTunes running in the background, with the volume all the way down, playing music off of your main drive (you know, to keep it spinning).

What if you use 16bit audio instead of 24 bit?

Do you get dropped frames if you use ProRes 422 (LT) instead of HQ (duplicate a sequence, change the setting, render EVERYTHING, and see if you get dropped frames?)

Do you get dropped frames in SD?

I guess I’m just throwing random questions, but sometimes, that’s the way you’ll find your bottleneck.

good luck, and if you ever figure it out… do let us know…

[Anthony Dias]

I just realized that perhaps FCP doesn’t have live scrolling… I’m not sure where I got that from… maybe all the audio apps I use that do have that functionality?

[Joseph Hung]

The dropped frames are random, at edit points sometimes, at transitions, in the middle of the clip.

The audio waveforms are usually turned off when I’m not dealing with audio. I try to keep it all pared down by turning off clip names etc.

Canvas and Viewer are at Fit To Window. Turning off Mirror on Desktop helps alot, but what the heck? I have to go through so much just to watch it down?

16 bit audio will mess up our workflow by throwing off timing since we’ve been working in 24. I also keep my RT Audio to 4 tracks usually, depending on what I’m doing, and on Low in my User prefs.

The link Jerry sent was helpful in understanding RT Extreme. I’ll try some new settings.

Unfortunately, the opening of the show is tomorrow night, so I don’t want to do anything drastic at this point. I’m going out to BluRay tonight. When I get this done, I will Media Manage and then clean up the system and RAID a bit and see if that helps. At this time I plan to do some serious testing with my project (backed up of course) and I will report back to this thread. I will also look into Disk Warrior.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Mac 2.66 GHz Quad Intel Xeon
OSX 10.6.4
FCP 7.0.2
AE CS4
Quicktime Pro 7.6.4
8GB RAM
2x1TB RAID O (All Media Scratch Disk)
Blackmagic Intensity Pro
ATI Radeon X1900
Panasonic Lumix GH1, Panasonic HVX200A, Panasonic DVX100A, Canon 5DMKII, 7D

[Joseph Hung]

Sorry Rafael just saw your response. I’m a little afraid to run anything of that sort right now. But I will definitely do this after I deliver this, and with a media managed backup offline.
Thanks!

Mac 2.66 GHz Quad Intel Xeon
OSX 10.6.4
FCP 7.0.2
AE CS4
Quicktime Pro 7.6.4
8GB RAM
2x1TB RAID O (All Media Scratch Disk)
Blackmagic Intensity Pro
ATI Radeon X1900
Panasonic Lumix GH1, Panasonic HVX200A, Panasonic DVX100A, Canon 5DMKII, 7D