Premiere pro and MXF video files

[Duke Sweden]

Yeah, there are guys here with work stations that don’t get smooth 4K playback. It’s why I gave up trying to get a pro workstation. Even way outside my budget doesn’t handle 4K, I’d have to go way way waaaaaay outside my budget, and I only do this for fun so it’s not worth it for me.

The fact that the proxies play so smoothly you should count as a blessing. Like I said, I made SQ 720p proxies, it played beautifully, but I could see blocking on the dark area. But I did my color grading on the proxy and when I switched to the original file, it was smooth. I suppose you could do color correcting and grading on the original, then switch to the proxy when playing back and adding effects.

[James Wallace]

Apologies for resurrecting an old post, but I’ve been having a similar issue playing back MXF’s with one of two mac pros that are similarly specced using the latest version of Premiere Pro 2017.

MacPro 1:
Mid 2010
2 x Quad-core 2.4ghz Xeon
22gb RAM
GTX 680 2gb

MacPro 2:
Early 2009
2 x Quad-core 2.26ghz Xeon
24gb RAM
GTX 660 2gb

Mac Pro 1 plays MXF files perfectly smoothly on the timeline. The same files in the same project on MacPro 2 play for around 3 seconds only before becoming choppy and completely unwatchable and certainly not editable.

Although MacPro 1 is newer with a slightly faster processor is has less RAM. The only thing I can see that might make the difference is that 1 is using a GTX 680 and 2 is only using a GTX 660. Could this really make the difference between perfect playback and none at all??? Or could there be something else going on here?

Both machines are sourcing the footage from a very fast networked server, so disc speed should not be an issue, they are both capable of playing back timelines with multiple layers of raw red footage, so I’m puzzled about the massive difference in MXF performance.

Any ideas folks?

Cheers

[Duke Sweden]

Well, all I know is, my new PC (specs below) plays everything smoothly, even with effects and lumetri added. My only problems, which appear to have been fixed, was with Media Encoder failing every once is a while.

Dell XPS 8920
Intel i7 core 7700 build
GeForce GTX 1050ti
32 Gigs of RAM
3 7200 RPM SATA Drives
Windows 10 64-bit
Premiere Pro CC 2017 v.11.0

[Tero Ahlfors]

[James Wallace] “issue playing back MXF’s”

What format does the MXF contain? Also have you checked the activity monitor when playing back?

[James Wallace]

The MXF’s are straight out of a Canon C300 which I think are AVC here is Premiere’s property details.

I tried checking activity monitor during playback on the problematic machine and this is what I found:

Premiere’s RAM usage stays at a consistent 9.06gb whilst playing back the MXF timeline. The software settings are such that it should allow Premiere to use up to 18gb of the machines 24gb if necessary so I’m nowhere near maxing out the RAM.

CPU usage jumps to around 80% for the first few seconds whilst playback is smooth then settles to around 23-25% when the footage is choppy and unwatchable, so again not maxing out the CPU.

The same machine under the same conditions plays back a raw red footage timeline smoothly with a consistent 40-50% CPU usage and around 4.5gb RAM usage.

Thoughts?

[Greg Janza]

I work with a lot of mxf media and have no performance issues with it but I also have a more powerful graphics card ( GTX 970).

I think your graphics card in the second mac isn’t powerful enough for mxf.

I Hate Television. I Hate It As Much As Peanuts. But I Can’t Stop Eating Peanuts.
– Orson Welles

[Andrew Johnstone]

I am running into problems on an edit using native MXf files from my Sony FS7.

I am cutting on my iMac which has 16GB RAM and a NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512 MB. Probably not enough horse power, but i can’t afford a new machine right now…!

I am trying to set up a native time line that the Sony MXF content will sit on, but not having any success…

Ideas?

Andy

Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com

[Greg Janza]

you’re right, your computer doesn’t have enough power so the simple solution is to either transcode to pro-res or DNxHD or make proxies.

I Hate Television. I Hate It As Much As Peanuts. But I Can’t Stop Eating Peanuts.
– Orson Welles