FCPx is seriously lacking Playback Performance Compared to Other Apps
I LOVE FCPX and this is NOT intended as a rant.
I cannot wrap my head around this following fact
Thesis :
Playback of an H.264 | 1080p Movie File (No Audio) @ High Quality PB Setting & 25fps
The Movie File is residing on a drive capable of RAW Image Sequence Playback
CPU = MBP Retina, 2.6GHZ, 1GB Graphics set to High Performance, SSD Drive & 16GB RAM
I have never (on any CPU) been able to reliably playback above inside FPCx. The movie will start off just fine but half-in it will start to get choppy.
(No Effects etc applied of course)
Today, I wanted to trouble shoot it...
I started with Activity Monitor (Checking CPU Cycles) and here are the results from different apps when hitting play in accordance with above thesis
FCPx = a WHOPPING 245% Resulting in choppy playback
Adobe Premiere Pro (Set to High Quality) = 20-30% = Smooth Playback
Quicktime Player 10 = 9%
VLC Player = 9%
Quartz Composer = 9%
I tested this on 5 different Macs and ratios between the apps are concurrent.
Why on earth would FCPx need so many CPU Cycles to playback the SAME files others are playaing back at 10 times less the cycles.
In my book there must be something seriously wrong with its programming - at least in its playback department.
I am on ML 10.8.2 and FCPx 10.0.7 and Playback is a nightmare in comparison to the other apps. And it has been that way since 10.0.0
I have tried to create optimzed media... PR 422 as well as 4444 and here are the results
FCPx 100-120%
PPRO 1-2%
QT Player 10 1-2%
VLC - NOT APPLICABLE as it does not play PR
This too is downright rediculous in comparison...
If anyone has ANY clue to why this is a fact --- I would love to hear about it...
Thanks
T.