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EX1080P Timeline Chokes With Multiple Tracks
I’m editing a 30 min. doc shot in a EX1080p25 VBR sequence with material shot with my Sony EX1 . I’m now to the point where I have three picture tracks and I’m getting the dreaded “Warning — Dropped Frames” prompt randomly. Everything seemed to be fine before I added the two addl video tracks. And even when I don’t get the prompt the timeline is extremely slow to load unless I quit and restart Final Cut. Are my drives too slow (Raid 5), my card, my computer….what do I need to change to be able to edit 3 or 4 streams of video without choking and rendering constantly?
Here’s my setup:
Mac Pro 8 core w/12 gbs Ram
OWC 4 tb QX2 set up for Raid 5 (read/write clocked at over 200mb p/s)
Newer Tech Maxpower 6G eSATA Controller in slot 2
AJA IOHDPS. Talked to one tech at OWC and he said I should set the QX2 to RAID 0 because RAID 5 was not fast enough. Could that be it?
Thanks ahead of time. -
4 Replies
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Shorten the length of the sequences you are working in at any given time, and only have one sequence open in the timeline window. Maybe break it down into scenes?
That said, GOP structured media takes more system resources than non GOP. It’s not the speed of the drives you have being too slow. It’s that the computer has to read a bunch of frames from each stream just to play one frame of it for you. not all of the information about each frame is actually contained in a single frame, rather it’s information is derived from the frames around it. So it’s the CPU being taxed as well as the drives.
You might experiment with this in fact. Take three of the layers from a section and export the clips to ProRes 4:2:2 (an “i” frame format) and take a peek at how much easier it may be for you to play three of these streams at one time. You could even export your files as ProRes Proxy, do an offline that way, then reconnect to the XDCAM files for your “online” finish.
The other thing you can do is simply turn off the warning and move along… You might not even notice the dropping frames. Once a render is done you’ll be back to only playing one stream at a time in the event you need to record back to tape any way…
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
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
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The iohd requires that you use ProRes as your timeline codec to get realtime playback via your monitor when using that device, that is what I assume your playback issue resolves from.
gary adcock
Studio37Post and Production Workflow Consultant
Production and Post Stereographer
Chicago, ILhttps://blogs.creativecow.net/24640
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Nothing to do with the monitor. Its the timeline that’s choking.
A.James
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[Ashley James] “Nothing to do with the monitor. Its the timeline that’s choking.”
IF the IoHD is attached to your computer and your timeline is set to use the device- the timeline will choke under RT extreme.
The Ex camera uses Long GOP mpeg compression that processor dependent to decode and playback, if you are also trying to output that signal via the IoHD it is going thru a secondary step to convert it it prores for playback.
gary adcock
Studio37Post and Production Workflow Consultant
Production and Post Stereographer
Chicago, ILhttps://blogs.creativecow.net/24640
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