SLOW DISK warning on HD multiclip playback

Question

SLOW DISK warning on HD multiclip playback

I have a sequence with 3 HD cameras (1920x1080 60i) synced in a multiclip. I'm continually getting the "Warning - Dropped Frames" messages indicating that it was caused by slow disks.

I've noticed that when I have 3 HD cameras in a multiclip I will get this occassionally but in this project I am getting it continuously, every 5 to 10 seconds. The only thing I can think of is that my scratch disc is too full - it has approx 300 gigs available and it is a 3TB drive. That should be plenty of free space as to not effect playback in FCP7, but I am not sure (that's why I'm posting this question 🙂 )

I am working on a MacPro 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with 10GB 800 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM. Again, seems like that should be plenty fine to handle 3 HD cams - especialy since the drive FCP is reading from is an internal 3TB, ie, not USB or Firewire. I am running Snow Leapord V10.6.8

Any advice would of course be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Eric P

MacPro / PowerBook G4, Mac OS X (10.6.6), FCP 7.0.3

Posted on Aug 28, 2011 4:12 PM

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Answer 1

poconorm

Level 1

95 points

Aug 28, 2011 8:03 PM in response to Eric Pensenstadler

You do have a second drive as your scratch right?

Ooops, sorry I re-read. You do have a sratch.

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Answer 2

Aug 28, 2011 8:14 PM in response to poconorm

OK, but were you thinking of setting the scratch disk to a different drive than the video files are stored on?

Eric

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Answer 3

poconorm

Level 1

95 points

Aug 28, 2011 8:31 PM in response to Eric Pensenstadler

The disc that your video files are stored on must be separete from your operating (ie FCP) disc.

That's what I meant but I think you're already doing that - no?

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Answer 4

Aug 28, 2011 8:50 PM in response to poconorm

Correct. I figured that's what you meant after you said that you re-read the post, but I wanted to respond anyway to see if there might be some merrit to even separating the scratch disc and the file-storage drive, but I didn't think so.

I really appreciate your reply though. Thank you.

Eric

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Answer 5

poconorm

Level 1

95 points

Aug 28, 2011 9:01 PM in response to Eric Pensenstadler

FWIW, I've got an 8 core Mac and get the dropped frame warning too on HD multi-clips. Just check the "don't warn again" box. It won't make any difference to your output it's just saying it's dropping frames when playing your timeline to keep up. It's not really noticable on viewing and like I said - no effect on output. Not sure but you'd probably need a raid set-up to avoid that warning.

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Answer 6

Aug 28, 2011 9:15 PM in response to poconorm

Thanks. I read that in another post archived from a couple years ago. I just wasn't confident that turning off the warning was ok to do. I think I'll just go with that for now. When I eventually clear up some space on that drive I would be interested to see if this issue continues. Like I said, I get it occassionally too, but this time it's almost nonstop. It's just hard to believe that having 300 gigs of free space on a drive might not be enough! I used to have entire drives that were 300 gigs! (as I'm sure you did too).

Thanks again,

Eric

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Answer 7

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Aug 28, 2011 9:20 PM in response to Eric Pensenstadler

What is the codec of the clips you are editing?

x

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Answer 8

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Aug 28, 2011 9:20 PM in response to Eric Pensenstadler

A SINGLE internal drive will be too slow for 3 streams of ProRes video. You would need a RAID of at least two or more. It's fine for two streams, but obviously too slow for the third.

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Answer 9

poconorm

Level 1

95 points

Aug 28, 2011 9:20 PM in response to Eric Pensenstadler

It's not the amount of free space you have it's FCP's 4 gig 32 bit prcessing limit with a bottle neck in e-sata transfer speeds. Check the warning box and you'll be fine.

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Answer 10

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Aug 28, 2011 9:26 PM in response to poconorm

Nonsense.

I can run 12 streams of HD on my system as long as it is a processor friendly codec.

Hence my question - what codec?

x

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Answer 11

poconorm

Level 1

95 points

Aug 28, 2011 9:39 PM in response to Studio X

I'm curious. I shot a music video with 23 different angles and just for fun, synced them and loaded them in to see what would happen. It was shot DVCproHD/24p on a 8 core @ 2.26 machine with 12 gb ram with regular e-sata internal. I got to work with 5 streams only after checking the above said box. I never tried it with Prores. Could I have got more with it?

The op wasn't saying his three streams won't work, he was saying he was getting a warning. That's all.

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Answer 12

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Aug 28, 2011 9:42 PM in response to poconorm

Getting a warning means that the computer cannot play that many streams...it is stopping.

DVCPRO HD is a far lighter data rate than ProRes. It is 8-bit, thin raster (anamorphic)...and ProRes is 10-bit FULL raster (square pixels). DVCPRO HD is far easier to work with than ProRes.

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Answer 13

Aug 28, 2011 9:47 PM in response to Studio X

It's ProRes422 HQ. Footage shot on Sony NX5U (AVCHD files), cards transferred to external drive, then L&T to second drive using ProRes422 HQ.

I think Shane and poconorm are on to something though. Isn't that one of the big ta-do's with FCP X is that it can handle 64bit processing?

Studio X also has a point though, if the cameras shot on a more FCP friendly format maybe that would help.

But either way, part of my original question would remain... although the dropped frames warning might be somewhat common, it is usually sporatic. But this time it's nonstop - so what's the difference?

I did uncheck the "show warning next time" but now the video just jumps and freezes until I pause. So now I'm left pausing every 5 seconds. hmmmmmmm.

Going to bed (east coast). Will look forward to your replies tomorrow. Thank you for your help.

Eric

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Answer 14

poconorm

Level 1

95 points

Aug 28, 2011 9:49 PM in response to Eric Pensenstadler

You've answered your own qestion. ProRes422 HQ is a total overkill for your needs. Down convert to regular or even light and I bet you can check that box and have no trouble if it even pops up at all.

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Answer 15

Aug 28, 2011 9:59 PM in response to poconorm

I knew that HQ was a bit more than I needed, but I read somewhere that plain ol' ProRes422 had some drawbacks and wasn't "good enough". Maybe I'm thinking of the ProRess proxy setting?

So do you recommend for end-purpose being BluRay and not broadcast, using ProRes422 (not HQ, Proxy, or LT) (although you did say LT would be fine as well)?

I guess I'm still a bit confused with all the options so I just chose the best one. My amigo said it best: "the nice thing about standards is that there's so many to choose from"!!

I think tomorrow I'll L&T just the ceremony (this was a wedding) using ProRes422, sync them and then report back.

E

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