[Brian Tario]

[Adolfo Rozenfeld] “Your octo-core computer should play back a RAM Preview for 1080 comp at full resolution and full frame rate very easily. And without skipping frames at al. Machines way less powerful can do that.
So there’s something getting in the middle.”
Yes, yes and yes. I couldn’t agree more. Really. My original post explains how much worse my performance is on this new system versus my older CS3 system.

[Adolfo Rozenfeld] “the “video desktop” feaute in some AJA and Decklink cards make the card appear to the system as if it was a display card, and this can cause extremely slow performance. So, check the AJA control panel and see if this could be the case.”
I’ve checked the control panel and it’s setup for Beta SP analog I/O. I don’t see anything that could be a video desktop feature. Do you know which tab that function is in? I know when I installed the AJA drivers I specifically used the installer that does not contain the “Desktop Display” feature. (As referred to on their support page.) BTW, this Kona card is the same card that was in the older CS3 box until a couple weeks ago so I know the card works. I’ve had it for almost 3 years.

[Adolfo Rozenfeld] “I also recommend re-creating the preferences,”
Already tried that, no difference.

Anything else to try?

[Brian Tario]

You bet. I wish it were that simple. This box is fully up to date as of late last week – OS, QT, CS4, FCS2, Episode, Sonicfire Pro, etc. Could it be related to the AJA Kona LHe or the new AJA plug-ins for CS4? The AJA tech I spoke to yesterday hadn’t heard of any problems, but maybe I’m the first with this particular config. Any other thoughts? This is truly awful, I’m using my old box with CS3 for billable work while this ridiculously expensive upgrade streams Pandora all day. Help please!

[Brian Tario]

I’m wondering if it’s related to the fairly new AJA codecs for CS4. Maybe removing those would help. I did speak with AJA support yesterday and their tech was getting similarly poor RAM preview results. Hmmm…

[Brian Tario]

[Kevin Camp] “are hitting the zero on the numbers pad to perform a ram preview”

Oh yeah, but I understand why you’d ask. I’ve been using AE since 4.1 in 2000 and I’ve never had problems like this on the various Macs over the years.

[Kevin Camp] “might want to contact adobe support.”

I opened a ticket with them yesterday and haven’t received a response yet.

[Kevin Camp] “i’m not having any problems — 2008 2.8ghz macpro, 12gb ram, decklink card”

I’m so jealous. You’re running CS4 Prod Prem also? Do you have any of these plugins installed?:
BCC6
Zax Invig Pro
most of the Trapcode plugs
Red Giant Datamator, Text anarchy, Planespace

I’ll try the other maintenance things you suggested but I agree they’re not likely to fix this problem. But who knows, at this point I don’t care if the fix makes sense or not.

[Brian Tario]

[Kevin Camp] “there’s no reason why a ram preview will not play from ram in realtime unless there is another factor like a video output card (aja, decklink, etc) that is interferring.”

I totally agree, that’s exactly why this is so frustrating!

[Kevin Camp] “if you have a video output card installed, try turning off previews to it (preferences>video preview, set previews to monitor only).”

I do, an AJA Kona LHe. It was and remains off in the Video Preview tab of Prefs. That’s set to “Computer Monitor Only”.

[Kevin Camp] “quit ae, then hold shift-option-command while starting ae, click ok when it asks to reset the preferences.”

Done. Then I tried the exact same test setup from scratch without adjusting a single thing in the software from the new default prefs. Same results. This is a completely brand new install of the OS, apps, etc. Built from scratch last week and up to date as of late last week. It sure works great for streaming Internet radio though! Grrr….

Please keep those ideas coming. Anyone from Adobe want to make a comment or suggestion? Thanks, Brian

[Brian Tario]

Thanks Dave, I appreciate your help. But no, the video preview is set to “Computer Monitor Only”. I’ve also disabled OpenGL in the Previews tab. And called AJA tech support. And opened a ticket with Adobe support.

Are you running CS4 on a current Mac too? Is it working for you? I’m also getting weird intermittent render problems. Freezing, jumping – within the rendered QT file. Too bad I don’t get paid for troubleshooting! Very frustrating…

[Brian Tario]

you can get full frame rate RAM previews on computers with a fraction of the power. No need to skip frames

Absolutely true. This is insanely frustrating for that very reason.

Does the AJA have a video desktop? I don’t mean the video preview feature in AE, but some of this cards allow you to send a second desktop to a video monitor. Make sure this is turned off

I’m not sure I’m following you. While I do have a broadcast monitor connected to the Kona I don’t use it as a computer monitor. I have 2 CRTs for that purpose. I believe AJA offers two plug-in options and I chose the one that doesn’t give the ability to use a broadcast monitor as a computer monitor. Is that what you mean?

[Brian Tario]

My RAM preview settings are auto for fps and resolution. Setting it to skip 1 or 2 frames gives me a non-real time playback of about 8 fps. Setting it to skip 5 frames gives me real time playback, but only at 5 fps. That’s great that it’s real time, but at such a low frame rate, it’s not very useful.

I really appreciate all your help, please keep it coming! Thanks!

[Brian Tario]

No footage at all actually. This is strictly an AE generated project with some bitmap and vector GFX/image assets. And it’s really not that heavy. Minimal effects and minimal moves…mostly in 2D too!

[Brian Tario]

OpenGL was enabled in the prefs, but disabling it and restarting had no affect on the preview. It’s still about 8fps.