8 tracks & I'm frustrated. Please help!

brandondull

brandondull

Well-known member
I am editing a music video. I lined up my 8 video tracks so I can cut them down to how I want a rough layout to be, & when I play the video as raw footage. It's lacking like crazy. I edit on fcs3 on a 27inch iMac with 4gbs ram. (its the i7 processor) also anymore then 3 tracks I get the render line. All my programs are closed & Internet is off. So final cut pro is the only thing open with one project file & one sequence. Any idea to what is going wrong???
 
Have you tried running that timeline with the Activity Monitor utility running? That should tell you if you are over taxing your processors or RAM. What format is the video you are cutting? Also, why are you lining up 8 video tracks in your sequence timeline exactly?
 
I'm replying on my iPhone right now but not to sure of the codec... the footage is shot in 1080 HD 30fps on my HVX200a.
 
I have 8 full tracks in my timeline because it's 8 different takes. It's easier for me to cut them down how I want them because there is no story line to the video; it's all point and shoot footage. You know what I mean? What way do you edit your footage?
 
If it is multiple takes of the same performance, I sync all of my takes in the browser, by setting them to the to a common start point (In point set to same point in audio track), lay the audio track into a sequence, then cut clips from the browser into the sequence. Since I have synced them, I know that I can navigate by timecode and it will match. I have never used the multi-cam feature of FCP, yet. I come from linear film and tape to tape editing and the way I cut is comfortable for me. I have also found that it is not necessary for every shot to exactly match the audio to work. Sometimes you may find that a shot of the bass player, the guitar player and other members of the band, shot at the same time are great shots, and if you are tied to exact sync, you will have to choose only one. Sometimes you can cut in out of sync stuff, and it works great.

This is just they way I cut. I understand how you cut and if you are comfortable with it, stick with it. There are many ways to do the same thing in filmmaking.
 
I sorta understand the way you cut. It would be lacking cuz I have an 8 track build up in the timeline right?
 
Am I correct in understanding that you are trying to run 8 streams of DVCProHD 1080/30p off a USB2 drive?

Eight tracks off a fast FW800 RAID would be difficult.

USB2 has no where near the performance to achieve this.

Switch to a fast FW800 drive or preferably something like CalDigitVR.

Research the difference between USB2 and FW800.

Here's a start: http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm
 
Isn't USB 2.0 faster than a FW800? Or is it not? Also he should be running off a Raid set. He needs to set one up especially running that many streams of HD video.
 
draven4 said:
Isn't USB 2.0 faster than a FW800? Or is it not? Also he should be running off a Raid set. He needs to set one up especially running that many streams of HD video.
Click to expand...

No it is not, heck firewire 400 is faster than USB 2.0. It's basically the way the devices communicate. USB uses something like Master/Slave which is why the speed always fluctuates. Firewire does not communicate with devices like that and basically maintains the same output making it the ideal ( outside of esata ) for external drives.
 
Thanks for the info Cieloent. I was looked up more info after you gave this advice. Yeah you're right. It's funny how if you go to Fry's and Best Buy all you see them selling now are USB 2.0 hard drives. I asked them long ago and they told me USB 2.0 if faster than firewire. It's a bit more complicated than that. You're right and firewire 400 and FW800 is the way to go for sustained Data transfers. From what I got from reading up on the web USB 2.0 is only good for small bursts of Data. Anyhow thanks for your help.

In addition to that... like I said earlier a Raid Set should be used in HD video. Pro Post houses always work off Raid Sets period.
 
draven4 said:
Thanks for the info Cieloent. I was looked up more info after you gave this advice. Yeah you're right. It's funny how if you go to Fry's and Best Buy all you see them selling now are USB 2.0 hard drives. I asked them long ago and they told me USB 2.0 if faster than firewire. It's a bit more complicated than that. You're right and firewire 400 and FW800 is the way to go for sustained Data transfers. From what I got from reading up on the web USB 2.0 is only good for small bursts of Data. Anyhow thanks for your help.

In addition to that... like I said earlier a Raid Set should be used in HD video. Pro Post houses always work off Raid Sets period.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's almost impossible to find firewire drives in stores. I'm not 100% sure but I think ( could be wrong) that apple invented firewire and that could be one of the reasons why it's not really used so much.

I come from an audio background where we always used firewire so it is the only real reason why I know that firewire while maybe not technically faster than usb is better because of the way it communicates.

Esata is better than both though, I think USB 3.0 might top them all when it finally hits the market though.
We are all here to help each other

peace
 
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