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That ‘Dropped Frame Errror’ thing… still..
Hey folks, I could really do with your help having suffered yet another stalled playback of a sequence because I forgot to uncheck the ‘Report dropped frames after playback’ box after a crash… again. Something I always have to leave checked.
Almost instantly, as I start playback of a sequence:
“Warning – Dropped frames.
One or more frames were dropped during playback. If this occurs frequently, try:
* Turning off “Unlimited RT”.
* Lowering your compression data rate.
* Closing open sequences.
* Lowering the preference for real time audio tracks.
* Increasing the speed of your system and/or disck drives and/or network connection. ”pops up. And it always has. I’ve upgraded everything on my Mac apart from the Drives – which run at 191Mb’s allowing for 48fps of uncompressed 8-bit HD video (which is what I’m currently working in – but it must be added that even if I’m working in DV resolution, it’ll still drop frames. The same thing happens when I’m working at DV resolution on a Firewire 800 drive too, so I’m going out on a limb and not blaming the Raid.
All the specs are below, but it’s a 2.26 dual quad Nehalem Mac with 11Gb of Ram, an HD extreme 3 video card and a quad fibre channel card for managing data in and out of the Raid 5 raid (with 6.5tb space and 3 of that free at the moment).
I’ve got quality set to High, frame rate set to full, multiclip is off, RT effects are on safe (as I have to render everything because of colour shifts bewtween rendered and unrendered clips) and even though there’s no audio to play currently, I have that playback set to low/faster. Only the sequence I’m wanting to play is currently open, and the frames drop whether it’s the full sequence, a nest of the sequence, or my pet-hate, a mixdown of the sequence.
But like I said, this always happens, and I don’t like the fact it’s skipping frames (especially as I’m working on a stop frame animation edit right now, and need to know I’m seeing all 25 frames).
I’ve trawled the forum, and some folks have similar questions, but they tend to be on older, slower Macs with less ram, with slower drives and not matching circumstances. Sure, I’m working 8-bit uncompressed, but the drives are fast enough, and like I said, it happens regardless of video resolution anyway.
Does anyone have any ideas? Is there something deeper into the program that causes this? I hope someone can help, not the best thing to happen in front of the client with the purse strings!
John
John Steventon
JKL Editing
http://www.jklediting.com
“Success is merely a failure to imagine more…”2.26 Dual Quad Nehalem Mac Pro (11Gb Ram) / 2 x 23inch Apple Displays / FCP 6.05 / Decklink HD Extreme 3 + Multibridge / JVC HD Monitor / Atto Celerity Fibre Channel with Infortrend 6.5tb Raid 5 Storage / And a smile.
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8 Replies
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You still can’t rule out the RAID, as there are other factors besides drive speed. But, assuming it is functioning normally..
What Easy Setup are you using while playing your sequence?
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Of course, I’m not that ruling that out completely, but the speed the drives run at, the in and out speed of the fibre channel card, and the fact that it runs happily on an Avid doing uncompressed work makes me less inclined to think it’s that. (Don’t worry, I don’t dual run it on Avid and FCP at the same time – I always re-configure it professionally).
Easy set-up is Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 (HD) / 25fps / Blackmagic 1920 HD 50i and the playback setting is Blackmagic HDTV 1920 25hz 8 bit (1920×1080).
Which is everything as it should be.
John Steventon
JKL Editing
http://www.jklediting.com
“Success is merely a failure to imagine more…”2.26 Dual Quad Nehalem Mac Pro (11Gb Ram) / 2 x 23inch Apple Displays / FCP 6.05 / Decklink HD Extreme 3 + Multibridge / JVC HD Monitor / Atto Celerity Fibre Channel with Infortrend 6.5tb Raid 5 Storage / And a smile.
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Have you made sure that there are no media or render files on your system drive?
I usually do that by right clicking on the Sequence Icon in the Browser and selecting “Reconnect Media” just to take a quick look down the list to see where all the media and renders are located. If something is on the System Drive it will need to be moved over to your Raid.Good Luck,
Victor
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Hey Victor, thanks for the reply – alas, media management is something I’m rather anal about even at the best of times. But with 800 animation sketches to look after (and backup) before transferring everything off to Avid for grading, media management on this job is 100% paramount, and as such, all media and render files are slotted into their own designated areas on the Raid and checked for strays regularly (which I’m happy to say nothing’s gone astray yet).
Thanks for the suggestion though. Keep ’em coming!
John
John Steventon
JKL Editing
http://www.jklediting.com
“Success is merely a failure to imagine more…”2.26 Dual Quad Nehalem Mac Pro (11Gb Ram) / 2 x 23inch Apple Displays / FCP 6.05 / Decklink HD Extreme 3 + Multibridge / JVC HD Monitor / Atto Celerity Fibre Channel with Infortrend 6.5tb Raid 5 Storage / And a smile.
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I am actually have the same problem on a new Mac Pro. Running Final Cut Pro 6.0.6 With a Raid Fiber Channel Drive. The Files are Uncompressed 8 Bit.
The Job was started on an older mac with slower CPU and less Ram running off the same Fiber Channel Drive and never had a problem.
I thought It could be the FCP setting but i have copied the same preferences over and still no fix.
MacPro4,1
Duel Quad-Core Intel Xeon 2.26 GHz
Memory: 8 GB -
I have found a work around to the problem but not a fix. It is mainly due to a problem with the new Mac Monitors with the Mini display port cable and a Blackmagic card.
Try Turning off External Output monitors and see if you still get drop frames. As I said though this isnt a fix but more finding the problem. I will call Blackmagic and see what they can say about the issue.
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Am edting DV footage and have the same problem with just one sequence. I have tested the speed to my external firewire 800 disc both ways and it looks fine in the activity monitor. I tried do set scratch disc to my internal drive and disconnected my firewire apogee soundcard but the problem is still there. If anyone have a suggestion let me know ; )
FCP 6.06
MacPro4,1
Quad-Core Intel Xeon
2.26 GHz
Memory: 8 GB -
I’m afraid I never stumbled on a solution. Still does it, on any resolution, with really fast, really empty drives.
I have, however, completely forgotten to try the work-around suggested earlier about it being a Blackmagic card problem – and will try that tonight.
THe work-around I came up with, in case you’re interested, was to export everything as DNxHD Quicktimes, and do all the grade and ‘put to tape’ part of the job on an Avid.
Go figure…
John
John Steventon
JKL Editing
http://www.jklediting.com
“Success is merely a failure to imagine more…”2.26 Dual Quad Nehalem Mac Pro (11Gb Ram) / 2 x 23inch Apple Displays / FCP 6.05 / Decklink HD Extreme 3 + Multibridge / JVC HD Monitor / Atto Celerity Fibre Channel with Infortrend 6.5tb Raid 5 Storage / And a smile.
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