-
Dropping Frames
Okay, I am new to FCP, but old at non-linear editing. I’ve moved from working with a company that had a tech guru for when problems arised to working on my own and trying to figure this stuff out myself.
I have tried the suggestions the program recommends when dropping frames and I have looked through forums. Nothing has helped.
My FCP 5 can play DV fine. However if there is any compositing it will drop frames. While it can play a fade in and out with the effect from the folder dragged onto the timeline, it will not play the fade in/out if I try to control the opacity on the clip itself. It will also only play HDV for a few seconds before dropping frames.
I have an iMAC G5 2.1 processor and 2.5 GB memory. I was told this would be enough for mostly cut editing and basic effects, although perhaps not heavy effects.
I would like to do a speed test on my hard drives, but I do not own FWB disk tools. Is there a Mac utility that can do this, or a freeware program?
Other suggestions?
Thanks,
Dan
-
5 Replies
-
Well, trying to play the video, read the system and write to the drive is quite a lot for just one drive. I would recommend to put the video on an external drive (7200rpm firewire) and you should notice better performance. However the limits to the processor, drive speed and mother board speed will still limit you from doing a lot of compounding of effects.
It is just the limits to that processor and hardware setup. HDV take a great deal more processing power than DV so that is where I think it is falling down on HDV. The external drive should help but will not eliminate all your issues.
Hope this helps-
Matthew
Quad 2.5 G5
OSX 10.4.X
Ram 4GB
FCP 5.1/AE 6.5/DVDSP4 -
Thanks for the reply.
I guess I did not mention, but I do have an external hard drive. I put the media files on the external HD and the application and other program files on the internal HD. Still, I only get a few seconds of HDV to play before it drops frames. On DV, I can’t even put a lower third on top of a clip without it dropping frames. 2.1 Ghz, 2.5 gb of ram. I doesn’t seem to make sense, to me. This, it seems to me, should be plenty of power to play back a clip. Perhaps I am wrong. But I was told differently when I bought it.
Thanks,
Dan
-
The “sales” pitch! I’ve been a victim of that before. The G5 single processor just doesn’t have the guts to more than a basic edit. A lower third question, is that Photoshop file? On my machine the only thing I get real time is Color Correction, fades and wipes. All graphics and effects I have to render.
I wish that FCP had more secondary hardware to add functionality such as keys and composites in realtime but not yet, unless you get a Cinewave.
As for your HDV not playing that seems more like a system wide slow down. Make sure you don’t have any Virus software or your machine running other processes. Norton can kill editing systems, in my experience.
Hope this helps-
Matthew
Quad 2.5 G5
OSX 10.4.X
Ram 4GB
FCP 5.1/AE 6.5/DVDSP4 -
Apple has a way of saying, “Oh sure this can do anything!!” until you buy it.
The lower third is a photoshop file. Which if it had to just render I would understand, but it stops playback whether it is rendered or not.
My virus software is turned off …
Thanks,
Dan
-
If it’s stopping playback after a render, it has to be system problem or drive too full. Even a 400 G3 can play DV after a render.
Hope this helps-
Matthew
Quad 2.5 G5
OSX 10.4.X
Ram 4GB
FCP 5.1/AE 6.5/DVDSP4
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up