Horrible playback speeds

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Ajo_1984 Author

Level 1

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Horrible playback speeds

I just purchased motion 5 a few days ago and am having major problems with almost any sort of playback. I currently use a 13" macbook with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4 GB of ram.

Just about any project I try to create ends up being played well behind real-time. Even if I adjust the quality settings to "Draft" and the resolution to "Quarter", it is still not playing at real-time. (In other words, the seconds shown in the program go slower than real-time seconds)

I tested this out on a few simple, random creations of mine, but also tested it out on a few of the blank composition templates apple provides. (atmospheric, skyline, etc). All are slow. The only time I can get playback to actually play at real-time is when I completely remove everything from the storyline altogether.

I am hoping that there is something I am missing that is bogging the software down. It doesn't make sense that Apple would put 2 GB of memory as the requirement (4GB recommended) and then it not work on my system. 😟

As a side note, the program itself will also freeze for short bursts (usually 5-10 seconds) when I doing random things... and of course I get the lil pinwheel thing. This has never happened on any program EVER on my computer.

Have tried restarting, making sure no other programs were open, etc. Any thoughts/help would be absolutely appreciated!

Ajo

macbook, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Jul 22, 2011 1:28 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 22, 2011 2:41 PM in response to Ajo_1984

Motion 5 relies on the graphics processor of the Mac you're using.

People with MacBook Pros notice a huge difference between using one GPU vs. the other. On those machines, in the Energy Saver system preference panel, they should choose "Higher Performance" instead of "Better Battery Life"

If your MacBook is Early 2008 and Late 2008 model is described in this note, its graphics processor is one of the ones listed in this list of graphics cards and computers which aren't compatible with Motion 5 and Final Cut Pro X.

You might be able to get a refund if the Mac App Store didn't state that the GPU on your computer wasn't suitable when you bought Motion.

Alex

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Answer 2

Ajo_1984 Author

Level 1

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Jul 22, 2011 6:57 PM in response to Alex Gollner

Here is my info for my graphics card:

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M:

Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M

Type: GPU

Bus: PCI

VRAM (Total): 256 MB

Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)

Device ID: XXXXXX

Revision ID: XXXXXXX

ROM Revision: 3385

Displays:

Color LCD:

Resolution: 1280 x 800

Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)

Main Display: Yes

Mirror: Off

Online: Yes

Built-In: Yes

Display Connector:

Status: No Display Connected

I looked at the list you linked to, and from what I could tell, I should be fine? I have enough VRAM, and I couldn't find my card on the "This is too old to work" list.

Is this really the problem or I am just missing something here? 😟

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Answer 3

Ajo_1984 Author

Level 1

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Jul 22, 2011 7:55 PM in response to Ajo_1984

Not sure if you are going to be able to see this screenshot or not, but I checked the Activity monitor while using motion playback. It showed my percentage of CPU being used by motion at well over 100% at times. (Not even sure how that is possible)

I am no expert, but that to me doesn't look like a graphics problem, but more like a memory problem. (Again which doesn't make sense to me given that Apple says 2GB is required for motion, 4GB recommended.. I have 4GB)

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Answer 4

Jul 23, 2011 8:28 AM in response to Ajo_1984

If you have a Core 2 Duo, that means you have two CPU cores - hence the percentage can be over 100.

I have two GPUs in my MacBook Pro.

One – the 9400M – is much too slow. In the Energy Saver, I've chosen "Higher Performance" - that means my computer uses the 9600M GT instead - which has 512MB of RAM

I have 4GB of RAM and a 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo. Motion 5 has been fine for me. I've had no problems on a 2.6 GHz

MacBook Pro either.

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