Jerky Video on FCP

[Shane Ross]

How you you viewing your footage out of that card?

This is NOT the way to monitor, or color correct the footage. Either route the signal via firewire to a deck or DV converter box, THEN to an NTSC monitor, or use a capture card. DO NOT use the graphics card for this. You won’t get a true representation of your colors.

I am not sure how you are even monitoring…out the Radeon via what connector?

[Shane Ross]

Long Frames? Are you working with HDV?

[Sharilynn]

Hi Shane,

Sorry to push your buttons.

I’m using Decklink Pro and and a Sony DSR-45 to feed the footage into the monitor. No, I’m not on HD. The color correction is major. The original footage, shot on VHS tape in 1990, was not color balanced for indoor lighting. So most of it is saturated with an awful orange, yellow color cast. FCP gets rid of that nicely.

I forgot to check the actual clip with the Long Frames tool. That’s why it was greyed out. I was checking the sequence. FCP indicates I have no Long Frames. But, when the clip in the sequence is not locked, it does play jerky. I still don’t know why.

Shari

[Shane Ross]

Sorry if I came across….however I came across. Your posted workflow made no sense to me.

[ShariLynn] “I’m using Decklink Pro and and a Sony DSR-45 to feed the footage into the monito”
Now, you made no mention of this Decklink and DSR deck in your original post. You mentioned that you were using your 9800 card to feed the monitor. Thus my reaction. It really helps to give correct information in the first place.

Now, I had no clue what Long Frames were, other than what I know about HDV. So I looked them up:

“Long frame marker: During capture, some frames may be captured with a longer
duration than is acceptable. This can lead to playback and output problems. To mark
long frames, you can choose Tools > Long Frames > Mark. If your clip has long
frames, you can try recapturing the clip or avoid using that part of the media file.
For more information, see Volume IV, Chapter 9,

[Sharilynn]

Hello Shane,
The point is that I DON’T have long frames. If I did, I would know what to do.
Shari

[Shane Ross]

Ahhh. OK. Re-read original post. OK.

Hmm….Trash preferences, repair permissions? That is my standard fix. If not, then…let us know.

How are you routing the signal for CC?

[Sharilynn]

Hello Shane,
It seems that a review of the problem is in order:

1.) I downloaded and have reviewed raw footage from a digitalized VHS tape. The tape was made in 1990, and is not color balanced for indoor lighting. The raw footage is completely Long Frame free, and runs smoothly, without any problems (except color and poor recorded sound).

2.) I have been editing and color correcting this footage on FCP Pro.

3.) I have installed on my Dual Drive G5, a 9800 Radeon video card.

4.) I watch the footage both by TV monitor and with two computer display screens. The TV monitor is connected to my Mac via a DSR-45 and Decklink Pro. I did not add the detail of the hook up to my first post because I could not see how the hook up would contribute to the jerky video problem, given that the problem shows up on the computer display as well as the TV monitor.

5.) After color correction and editing, the footage does not run smoothly, but is jerky in the Play format. I do not know why. The reason I mentioned the video card in my first post was because I was wondering if that contributed somehow to the problem. I should have mentioned that in the first place, rather than give you a vague sentence that led you to believe I was connecting the card somehow directly to the monitor.

6.) When I lock the sequence and the run Play, the footage runs smoothly, just as it did before editing and color correction. I do not know why.

I need to know why it runs jerky when the sequence is unlocked, and why the footage runs smoothly when the sequence is locked.

If you don’t know, that fine. It doesn’t make me think the less of you, or of your impressive experience in the editing field, which I highly respect. But I would appreciate you handing me and this problem off to someone else who may have the answer to this problem. Thank you.

Shari

[Sharilynn]

Ah, I can try permissions and preferences. Seems a bit iffy, but why not? I don’t know about routing the signal for CC. Is that Close Captioning? Can you please explain further?

Shari

[Duncan Craig]

The graphics card has little (if anything) to do with your problem I expect.
What version of FCP are you using?

If it is FCP5 check that you don’t have Real Time (RT) pull down in the timeline set to safe and the quality/framerate set to high too.

It maybe that it has decided to drop the framerate on playback to keep up with the CC (Colour Correction) but it’s unlikely.

The next logical thing would be to start a new sequence (check the settings for the sequence are correct Apple+0) and paste the items from the old timeline into it, see if the problem persists. If it still has the problem, do a few edits ino the new sequence add the CCs again, and check, then restart mac and check again. If the problems come back, you must have a prefernces problem I would say. But without seeing the drops myself, as well as the setup of the machine (how snappy it feels, the colours of the bars on the timeline etc) there are too many variables.

Post a screengrab of the Mac (APPLE+SHIFT+3) on a free picture hosting site, and post a llink here.

Also post your full setup, mot impotantly the versions of OSX and FCP you are using.

And as stated before, always grade (CC) to an NTSC monitor (Or PAL if you’re like me)

[Sharilynn]

Ah – by CC you mean Color Correction. Of course.

In FCP AV Settings:
Sequence Preset and Capture Preset are both DV NTSC 48 kHz. Device Control Present is Firewire NTSC. Video Playback is on Blackmagic NTSC – 8 bit (720 x 486). Audio Playback is Decklink Audio.

In System Settings:
Effect Handling, Blackmagic 8 bit (2Vuy) is handled by Blackmagic SD. All other effects are handled by FCP. These are the recommended settings by Blackmagic.

In User Preference:
Render Control, the Rendeer and Playback boxes are all checked (i.e. Filters, Frame Belnding for Speed and Motion Blur), with Render Frame Rate and Resolution both at 100%.

Does that help? Hopefully? Is the problem here somewhere?

Shari