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How can i get my DVC Pro 720 24p Footage to playback smooth in Final Cut Pro 6???
Hi, this is my first time Working with and Editing HD Footage in Final Cut Pro. Here is the system im editing on.
A Brand New Macbook Pro 2.5ghz, Core 2 Duo, 4GB Ram, 200GB 7200rpm Internal Hard Drive, Final Cut Pro 6, and running the HD footage out of a Western Digital 1TB Firewire 800 7200rpm External Hard Drive. I have 88GB’s free on my internal hard drive, and i only have 30GB used on my external 1TB Hard Drive. Correct me if im wrong, but my sequence is set to DVC Pro HD 720 24p, My scratch disk is set to my external, as well as the waveform, audio render files, etc. Now, as far as playback settings go in the system settings, its all default. And any other settings in final cut pro 6 i have left all on default being that this is my first time Editing this type of footage.
Now, im not trying to edit uncompressed HD footage here. I shoot some test footage with a Panasonic HVX-200 on P2 of course at 720 24p HD. I logged and transfered the footage into final cut ever so easily, and when i play a clip in Final Cut in the preview window, not the source window, the preview window, the footage is playing back, but to me it seems like the footage is not playing back smooth, and its really really bothering me because it feels and looks very uncomfortable to edit. Something cant be right here. Is this just reality of HD setting in and im in denial or is there something i have not set correctly for me to be able to achieve smooth playback in the preview window without having a SHIT image on the screen???
All your help is greatly appreciated and i just want to be able to edit what i got here. But its unbarable to edit with it playing back like this Also, maybe its just me, but it also seems like the audio when its playing back is not playing back in sync with the video, like as if its off sync, and i did nothing to the footage yet, it seems like that just by when its playing in the preview window. On mouth moving footage, its deff off sync by ALOT. like the audio finishes before the visual image is done. And no i did not shoot 60 fps. 60fps as most of you may know will not record audio on the HVX-200. Please help, i feel helpless. This sucks.
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10 Replies
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I dunno what to tell you. I get DVCPRO HD to play back smoothly on a much lesser system. My Powerbook G4.
But…actually, I do have an answer. You need to have at least 10% free on your media drives. So with a 1TB drive, you need to leave 100GB free. Might get away with 50-80GB free. But you are far below that. That is the only thing I can think of.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
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do you have any other stuff on the firewire-port?
even if you connect it to the fw400-port the fw800port will drop to lower speed -
Yea, my 1TB barely has anything in it. Now, my internal hard drive in my lap top has 88 GB free. is that enough or do i need to clear it up even more? What about settings in final cut, is there anything i need to have set? It plays back, dont get me wrong, it plays back fine, but maybe its just me, but it does not seem like its smooth the way it should be. Something is for sure wrong when u hear the audio not synced with the video image your seeing. the audio finishes before the clip is even done playing.
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i had one hard drive connected to the fw400 port, and my 1TB drive connected to the fw800 port. No i did not have the 1TB going from fw800 to fw400 cable hooked up. 800 to 800.
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[Tony Velez] “Now, my internal hard drive in my lap top has 88 GB free. is that enough or do i need to clear it up even more?”
Never, ever put media on your primary Mac HD. This applies to any Mac. All media only goes on your dedicated media array.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
Read my Blog!
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Yes, already knew that. Thats why im running it all out of an external fw800 drive. Hence, the 1TB connected via fw800. Does anyone know of any settings i might need to change or set for me to see this stuff playing back smooth?
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[Tony Velez] “i had one hard drive connected to the fw400 port, and my 1TB drive connected to the fw800 port. No i did not have the 1TB going from fw800 to fw400 cable hooked up. 800 to 800.”
Still, this will drop your FW speed down to 400 because the FireWire bus is shared between the 800 and 400. Try it without the 400 drive hooked up. There’s nothing else obviously wrong with your setup. As you said, the media is coming off an external drive with plenty of space on it. But if you’re dropping frames like crazy due to FW bus problems, you might get the trouble you stated.
Final Cut Pro 6.0.4, Mac OS-X 10.4.11, Quicktime 7.5, After Effects 6.5 Pro, G5 Quad 2.5, Kona-LHe V5.1, 4.5GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 7800-GT 256MB, G-RAID 2x1TB FW800, 6TB RAID-5 (Enhance E8-ML, Highpoint 2322), Panasonic HVX-200P P2.
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I have the same issue playing 720p files in fcp. It’s nearly impossible to edit. The timeline gets hung up on every transition and moving clips around takes FOREVER.
Imac 2.4ghz intel core 2 duo with 2gb memory. 80gigs free on a 300gb hard drive
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720p24 from P2 works great on my system. I don’t have the most up to date or maxed out system in the world, but the components were chosen to be more than adequate for the tasks they do. Not enough RAM could be hurting your system’s performance. A slow media drive can be just as harmful.
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I would suggest you get the aja system test (or decklinks) and test your media drive with it. then disconnect everything except the media drive and check again
do you see a difference in performance?
please post the numbers here.
If you have no perfomance-problems with your drive it must be something else…
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