Choppy 60fps playback on Final Cut Pro no matter what

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Level 1

8 points

Choppy 60fps playback on Final Cut Pro no matter what

Hey guys, I've been using FCP for some time and never had issues until now.

I have a pretty high-end iMac, the maximum spec you can buy not named iMac Pro with i9 processor, 64gb RAM, 16gb video, etc.

I'm having playback issues with 60fps clips in FCP. This only happens when previewing the clips.

I have to drag them to the 24fps timeline and render them and then they run smoothly.

Why is it that they don't run smoothly during playback preview?

All clips were shot with Sony A7IV 60p 200M 4:2:2 10 bit using S-Cinetone as color profile. Shutter speed at 1/125.

I'm editing from an external drive (Samsung T5).

The project is 1080x1920 (vertical video) @ 24fps. All clips were shot with vertical video in mind.

With this iMac, I have never had to use proxies or optimized media in the past, so I'm working with the original files.

Any help is certainly appreciated. Thanks so much.

iMac 27″, macOS 11.4

Posted on Mar 6, 2022 12:13 PM

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Answer 1

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,805 points

Mar 6, 2022 12:16 PM in response to aagodoy2

Start with EtreCheck. Post an EtreCheck report https://etrecheck.com giving the application Full Disk Access in Privacy System Preferences. Copy the report and use the Add Text button to paste the result into reply box.

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Answer 2

Mar 9, 2022 1:21 AM in response to aagodoy2

To playback, FCP has to read and decode the media, all 60 frames per second. It is far less computationally demanding to decompress ProRes than HEVC, for example. ProRes files are big and contain every single frame in its entirety; H264 and HEVC are much more heavily compressed and only store some key frames, for others they store how each differs from the previous frame. This creates much smaller files. They easier to load from your drive but much more work for the CPU to produce the actual images.

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Answer 3

Mar 6, 2022 12:20 PM in response to aagodoy2

Please do post the Etrecheck report that Tom requested.

Also: is FCP up to date? What drive contains your media? Internal? External? HD? SSD? How is it formatted? How full is it?

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Answer 4

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,805 points

Mar 6, 2022 1:55 PM in response to aagodoy2

I thought Luis would pick this up because he’s so eloquent on CleanMyMac. Basically it’s malware on pro apps systems. It needs to be fully uninstalled.

The other problem is Chrome and the keystone daemons. Those need to be removed. See https://chromeisbad.com for why this is, and how to remove them completely. After removing you will need to delete and reinstall FCP.

Hopefully that will help. The problem with CleanMyMac is that it can damage the system, and if that’s the case you might have to do a system wipe and clean install.

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Answer 5

aagodoy2 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 6, 2022 12:25 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Wow, you guys are fast. It's my first time using these forums and I'm impressed. Thank you both for your quick replies.

The clips are stored and being accessed by FCP from an external drive (Samsung T5 via USB C connection). The drive is 50% full.

FCP version is 10.5.4

Here's the report you guys wanted. Thank you both for your help.

iMac Report

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Answer 6

aagodoy2 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 6, 2022 12:29 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Hey Tom,

Thanks for your prompt feedback. It's greatly appreciated. I thought I replied to all, but it looks like my reply was only to Luis. My apologies.

Here's the report you asked for. Again, thanks for your help.

iMac Report

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Answer 7

aagodoy2 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 6, 2022 2:52 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Thank you both Luis and Tom. Wow this is shocking because I’ve been using Clean My Mac for years and I thought it was good for Mac systems to be honest.

So, are these the steps that I need to take?

Uninstall Clean My Mac
Repair Chrome
Uninstall FCP
Install FCP

Is that correct?

If so, do I need to install other software to replace Clean My Mac or not?

Thank you guys so much.

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Answer 8

spherico

Level 2

474 points

Mar 6, 2022 7:11 PM in response to aagodoy2

Hmm,

while Tom and Luis may have solved the problems I just want to ask what you mean by “choppy”.

Playing 24 of 60 frames always somehow is “choppy” cause frames are dropped in a pattern. What are your playback settings?

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Answer 9

aagodoy2 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 8, 2022 2:17 PM in response to aagodoy2

Hey guys, I'm still working on getting this problem fixed thanks to Luis and Tom's suggestions.

In the meantime, I wanted to comment on something that I don't really understand...

I mentioned that when playing 60fps clips, they were choppy and there were frame drops, etc.

I did a test and transcoded all of those 60fps videos to Optimized Media and everything ran buttery with no issues.

Why does this happen? Is there a technical explanation?

The drawback, of course, is the super large files I have to deal with.

As I said, I didn't have to transcode anything in the past with this iMac given its high specs.

I'll keep working on removing those Chrome things, I already removed CleanMyMac.

Thanks again for all your help.

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Answer 10

aagodoy2 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 12, 2022 9:58 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hey guys, thanks so much for all the detailed explanation and your help and support.

Unfortunately, even after removing CleanMyMac and removing Chrome traces in the system, the playback preview choppiness remains.

I have to transcode the media for that not to happen.

Does that mean I have to do a fresh system install?

If so, any tips or suggestions on how to do this without losing all my things/preferences/etc.

Thanks so much!

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Answer 11

Mar 6, 2022 1:57 PM in response to aagodoy2

Tom said it all.

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Answer 12

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,805 points

Mar 6, 2022 5:54 PM in response to aagodoy2

You need to uninstall both applications and keystone launch daemons installed by Chrome. The website I linked explains where to find the components.

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Choppy 60fps playback on Final Cut Pro no matter what

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