Powerbook Edit Questions

B

Brian Petersen

Well-known member
I have a pretty powerful 15" Powerbook:
1.67 Ghz
2 GB Ram
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 Graphics card with 128 MB of VRAM

I've started to edit DVCproHD stuff from my HVX and I've had some hang ups. I can edit 24p stuff without much of a skip or dropped frame, but whenever I deal with 720p60 (not slow mo. 60p playback) my system can't handle it and I'll get a dropped frame after a minute of playback or so.

I understand that the 60p stuff is more intensive. The 60p stuff has a data rate in FCP of 14.1, while the 24p stuff has a data rate of 5.9. Am I to understand that my powerbook with all the fixings can only edit 24p stuff with the lower data rate? If so, then that's pretty sad. Hopefully I'm just not doing something right. Are any of you editing 60p stuff on a powerbook with no problems?

Also, someone explain to me the data rate that FCP is giving me for my files. I understand the difference in data rate between the 60p stuff and the 24p stuff, but I don't get the actual numbers. I thought 720p60 was 100mbs. I guess that is different than the data rate FCP says the clip is at 14.1 MB/sec. Can someone explain to me the difference?
 
You have to match your sequence settings to the material you are editing. So when you edit 720/24P you have to set your setting to that, and when you edit in 720p/60p, you have to change the sequence settings to match that. If you intercut the two in a single timeline, you either need to render or it will play back very choppy.

If you are already doing this, then it's something else. It could be the bus is saturated, your disks are fragmented or some other item.
 
tak,

The sequences do have the correct settings. When I'm in 24p the timebase is 23.98 and when I'm in 60p the timebase is 59.94. It never has to render anything. The "Compressor" under quicktime setting is always DVCPROHD 720p60. That never changes, only the timebase.

I have tried working with the 60p stuff on two different drives with the same result so it couldn't be disk fragmentation. I don't know how to tell if the bus is saturated. How would I go about doing that?

Are you not having any of these problems. I'd love for someone to say it's working fine on there machine so I can continue to trouble shoot, but I'd hate to keep doing this if it's just a limitation on the machine.
 
Are you using the internal drive for the scratch disc?
For editing video you should have the video clips on a separate external harddrive. We use G-raid's with no problems.
 
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