[Anthony Dias]

The only thing hooked up to the NVIDIA card is a 30″ NEC LCD3090WQXi-BK monitor…

The NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT card came with the computer. It is not a custom option, it was what Apple was offering at the time. Apple also offered an ATI card but I don’t remember the model.

So, in other words, I use the Matrox box to monitor my TV signals. It outputs HD and SD simultaneously.

The NVIDIA card is just for my LCD computer screen.

[Anthony Dias]

In my case, external monitoring makes no difference.

I have an HDTV hooked up to the Matrox MXO2 LE via HDMI and I have the SD signal coming out of the Matrox’s CVBS jack and split out to two different old-school Sony NTSC monitors. (I know this isn’t the best monitoring setup, but it’s good enough for what I am doing).

After a fresh restart, I can monitor in 10-bit YUV 1080i (or p) while simultaneously pumping out SD and everything works fine. For about 20 or 30 minutes.

Then, when the dropped frames begin, they happen no matter if external monitoring is on or off.

The reason I find this odd is that in my experience, a computer will do the same task in about the same time and manner over and over again.

So, my guess is that something is going on that is taking resources away from the computer at about the 20 or 30 minute mark.

It isn’t time machine, because I experimented with turning it off for a couple hours.

I don’t know if it is SpotLight kicking in? That thought just now occurred to me.

I also don’t think it’s the FCP backups because they are set to back up a project every 5 minutes.

All my media is split between the two RAID arrays.

When I run the AJA speed test app, my internal raid is about twice as fast as my external raid, but they are both performing well above the requirements of ProRes LT.

Anyway, as I’ve told some of the other people helping me out, I think I have a series of new tests to do which will hopefully weed out my problem.

I will report back as soon as I can.

thanks for your input, 🙂

-Tony

[Anthony Dias]

Hey Jeff, do you have a link to this “Preferred guide”. Perhaps one that was published in 2009?

I realize that my issue is relatively unique and I appreciate everybody’s help. I won’t be back in the studio until tomorrow and then I have to get some work done.

I will be trouble shooting some more and I plan on finding what is wrong with my system and when I do, I will report back.

-Tony

[Anthony Dias]

David,

although I agree with your statement:

The fact is, the technical expertise necessary to properly build, maintain, and operate a sophisticated NLE like FCP does require arcane advice from experts for many users.

Apple’s marketing makes it seem different:

Powerful new features and time-saving improvements help you work faster than ever.[apple.com]

A Mac is designed for a long, productive life… Born to perform.
To make a better computer, only quality components and materials will do… Get great performance from every Mac.

Every Mac comes with the latest technology. From the small-but-mighty Mac mini to the powerhouse Mac Pro, all are equipped with blazing-fast Intel processors, high-performance graphics, and high-speed DDR3 memory. And Mac OS X Snow Leopard is custom-made to take advantage of every bit of that technology. So no matter which Mac you choose, you get superior performance for just about everything you do: managing your photos, editing video, even playing graphics-intensive 3D games.[apple.com]

[Anthony Dias]

Jeff,

thanks for the suggestions. I will try the “clean and exclusive” external hard disk install but it may take a week or two before I can actually carve out some time to do it.

I did suspect Safari at one point and as of late, I have been doing all web browsing on my laptop but I still have the issues on my desktop.

I recently downloaded xBench and I’m going to see what kind of results I get before launching FCP, while using FCP normally and after I start getting dropped frames.

As for the Activity Monitor, I’ve taken a bunch of screen shots before and after but have not been able to figure out what, if anything, is causing the dropped frames.

I am away from the desktop until Tuesday, or else I would upload them so people who wanted to could scrutinize my Mac’s processes.

again, thanks,
-Tony

[Anthony Dias]

Jeff,

I am interested in your clean install method. In fact, I’m thinking of just buying a brand new hard drive to install ONLY Final Cut Studio.

I have tried alternate User accounts.
I have tried disconnecting EVERYTHING except for the FW Hard Drive, and even that sometimes too.
I have tried running ONLY Final Cut Pro. And I still get the dropped frames. But anyway, that would defeat the purpose of the machine in my point of view. I think I should be able to run at least Photoshop, After Effects and Final Cut Pro at the same time.
I am using the Matrox MXO2 LE with software 2.0 (I have tried ALL the available versions. The latest is 2.1 which has severe issues with Core Audio).

Thanks for your input,
-Tony

[Anthony Dias]

Yeah, I’ve done that before… well, not with a vacuum cleaner… I bought an anti-static mat, grounded it, put on an anti-static wrist band and opened the computer up and dusted it with compressed air…

I even removed a two sticks of RAM which I suspected as being problematic.

I used to run 14 GB of RAM and now I’m only using 10 GB.

I am really starting to suspect that it is the NVIDIA card for the simple fact that the scopes start off running real smooth and degrade over time.

I’m just not sure I can convince my Boss to let me invest another $500 into an ATI upgrade.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions 🙂

[Anthony Dias]

LOL… you guys should take it easy on each other…

Stephen, I know how you feel man. Even though my issue is playback related as I have not tried doing any capture except when I first bought the system – I had purchased an AJA Io and I couldn’t get it to work properly (maybe due to operator error) which I promptly returned to B&H.

—

This posting was originally going to be a scathing letter to Apple letting them know how I truly feel about investing thousands of dollars into a machine and software that doesn’t work as advertised. Even after multiple updates/upgrades.

However, I thought twice about that because what I really wanted was a solution to my problem and not defensive responses from other happy FCP users who have never had issues with their software (do they really exist?)

The sad truth is that computers are complicated systems. Also, unfortunately for me as a semi-pro, Apple seems more interested in developing consumer software that they keep updating rather than developing a robust solution for Media creation.

Anyway, as a long time Apple customer, I do believe that I should expect Apple’s Hardware and Software to “just work”.

Unfortunately for me, it doesn’t “just work”.

But this NVIDIA thing may be the culprit… who knows???

I am going to do some more trouble shooting and report back if I find any solutions.

[Anthony Dias]

I have tried limiting “real time audio” to 2 tracks only, forcing me to render audio if I ever go above that.

And in cases where I had multiple audio tracks running simultaneously, rendering the audio made no difference in the playback quality whatsoever. In other words, if the sequence played fine, 8 real time audio tracks did not matter.

in fact, I’ll have to verify this, but I’m pretty sure that I have had sequences with NO audio tracks which played fine one moment and dropped frames after an undefined period of time (usually within 30 minutes).

[Anthony Dias]

Well, in fact I have turned the scopes off and left the window open. It also happens when I use the Standard Window Layout.

Anyway, whether I left them on or off, it still doesn’t explain why it works great for a while and then chokes 30 minutes or so later on the same exact sequence.

Put it this way:

Scenario 1
Restart the computer and launch FCP only.

Sequence “The Tomato” is 5 minutes long in ProRes LT. Scopes are off in the drop down triangle menu and I’m using the standard window layout, so the scopes aren’t even activated anyway.

I’ll do some editing. Razor blade here, extend edit there, transition over there, render all, render audio, slip n’ slide, hit home, press the spacebar.

The 5 minute sequence plays great.

30 minutes later, after doing the same type of thing and after rendering everything, the same sequence starts dropping frames.

Scenario 2
Restart the computer and launch FCP only.

Close all sequences. Open a sequence called “Two apples and a rose” which is 4 minutes long.

No editing, no nothing, just press the home key and press the space bar – it plays great, perfect.

then, leave the computer alone for about 20 or 30 minutes

come back to the computer, hit home, press the space bar, so far so good for about 5 or 10 seconds thenBAMM dropped frames! Turn off the warning, but video playback is crap.

Anyway, I appreciate your help, but I think it’s one of those things that you would have to see to believe. Maybe I should record it and post it on the internet so people can see what I’m talking about. But I don’t have time for that right now.

And in case your wondering, I have experimented with turning off all internet connections on the mac pro, disconnecting the ethernet cables, and using my laptop for any internet activity.

But this problem persists and it is really maddening.

-Tony