FCP Playback problems

I

image works

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Anyone having problems playing back 720p in FCP 5.1 with OS 10.4.7. Pans and tilts are stuttering during playback regardless of the frame rate I shoot in. This occurs with P2 media and footage recorded to a Firestore. I have tested on multiple machines including a quad G5 with a high speed disk array. It appears not to be a hardware issue. When viewing the clips it looks like playback is skipping frames but if you step though all frames are there. Opening clips in QT reveals the same problem. Playback in the HVX-200 is fine.
 
Exactly what is your high speed disck array?

The reason I ask is that I get solid playback off the boot drive of a PB 1.67
 
dropping frames

dropping frames

disk array is 2 sonnet 500p's that averages 350mb per second, so I don't think bandwith is the issue. I beginning to think it is a bug with FCP.
 
Have you tried a re-install? How much Ram is in these machines you tried it on? Are your copies of QT Pro and FCP Studio "Legit"?
 
dropping frames

dropping frames

4 gigs of ram. FCP studio registered. See if you can reproduce the problem. Try a pan at a constant speed and bring it into FCP 5.1.1 with OS 10.4.7
Cam setting are 720p30pn
FCP timeline is 720p30
Play back the clip and I bet you'll see what I'm seeing.
Having reproduced the problem on 3 machines I don't think a reinstall will work but I might try if nowone else can suggest anything.
 
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Could this be the old "optical image stabilization is on" problem? It wil do that during pans. It's supposed to do that. Just a thought.
 
I'm on a Quad-Core and a dual 2.0 G5's, both play fine. I use an FS-100, also.

First, I'd upgrade to 5.1.1.

Is it stuttering due to RT playback, or is the Sequence fully rendered at all render levels? I'll assume you mean the playback on the computer screen, not an external monitor. What is your computer screen, CRT, LCD? There are several factors that can influence playback.

Are you seeing this in the Timeline only, or also from the Viewer?
 
It's an dell 23" lcd monitor and it happens in the viewer and the canvas. I think the stuttering (strobing) is happening because the dell monitor is fixed at 60 hertz. I have to see if I can find a way to change that. A 75 hertz option is showing but not available. We are waiting for a broadcast monitor for color grading but untill then I'd like to get this dell working properly.
 
I bet it's a computer monitor compatability problem. I do DVCPRO-HD daily in FCP 5.1.1 on a Quad Core with a 30" Apple Cinema HD Display, obviously I'm going to tell you I have no playback problems ever.

In the RT drop-down menu on the top left of the Timeline, are you set to Safe or Unlimited set for your RT mode? Also, be sure you have the Playback Video Quality and Playback Frame Rate both set to Dynamic. But it's not an FCP bug, as I and a few other FCP editors using P2 material are not having this playback problem.

Are you sure your Seqeunce and clips are all set to exactly the same settings? Cause on a Quad Core with enough RAM, you can drop clips that don't totally conform to the Sequence settings and still get RT playback, it's just jumpy.
 
Can you change the refresh rate on you 30" apple? My Dell 23" only allows 60 hertz. As far as timeline settings clips are shot at 720p30pn in the cam and timeline settings are dvcpro hd 720p30. With "safe" choosen in the rt drop down menu the red render line does not appear. I also have the dropping frames alarm invoked and thats not sounding either. I'm going to plug in a crt monitor to test my theory and see if the pans and tilts stutter on that.
 
There is no refresh rate on my Cinema display.
Change your Sequence to 29.97fps?
I just shot a short bit in my back yard, 720p30p, imported into FCP, made a 30p Sequence, played back fine. Even set the playhead control to Open so both Canvas and Veiwer play together. Worked fine. It has to be a hardware configuration, or a Sequence configuration. What are all your Sequence settings?

I just used Snapz Pro X to capture it and uploaded it here (please down load first):
www.wolfdigitalmedia.net/public/720p30Test.mov
It's a 1.5 MB QT file
 
Can you change you refresh rate on the apple monitor? Still can't find a way on the dell. Clips are shot in 720p30pn and timeline is 720p30. No problem there cause I would get a render bar is there was a format issue. RT is set to safe and playback of frame rate and resolution are high. Thanks for the feedback.
 
I have just had a very similiar problem when I burned a DVD of some footage I shot 24pn. I am using FCP 5.1 on my MacBook Pro running OSX 10.4.6.

I can see some subtle stuttering in the canvas on my cinema display when in FCP, but it became much more noticeable when I played the DVD on a television monitor.

Have you tried outputting your shots to tape or DVD? Did it become more noticable?
 
Do NOT set your playback to High, set it to Dynamic, trust me.

Yes, a MBP may stuter due to the graphic card not being all it should be. I've seen that before, but on a Quad Core, it's smooth as silk.
 
What shutter Speed did you shoot? Some DVD players don't support Progressive scan encoded videos, so it may be one of the main causes- encoding to dvd.

Shutter speeds bellow 48 bring heavier stuttering to 24p footage. 24p footage will never look as smooth as, say 30p or 60p when panning due to fewer frames per second to portrait the movement.
 
Yes the settings are correct in FCP. Can you change the refresh rate on your apple monitor and what is it set at? I tryed a crt monitor and the strobing problem is not present. Thanks for the feedback.
 
Did you get this fixed.

Did you get this fixed.

image works said:
Anyone having problems playing back 720p in FCP 5.1 with OS 10.4.7. Pans and tilts are stuttering during playback regardless of the frame rate I shoot in. This occurs with P2 media and footage recorded to a Firestore. I have tested on multiple machines including a quad G5 with a high speed disk array. It appears not to be a hardware issue. When viewing the clips it looks like playback is skipping frames but if you step though all frames are there. Opening clips in QT reveals the same problem. Playback in the HVX-200 is fine.
Click to expand...

Hey there imageworks, did you ever get resolution on this because it is driving me absolutely insane.

I have an iMac intel maxed out with every thing right from apple. I get these little stutters in my pans that are just unacceptable. I thought maybe still it was just having a hard time playing the footage. Ridiculous I thought being, and to confirm I downloaded some footage else where and it plays back flawless.

And what has my tail thumping is when my footage goes to DVD or a QT file for web the little stutters are right there too. This is not cool.

I am shooting 720/30p and 720/30pn and I get the same result.
 
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