Rory Mells

Q: Choppy playback in Canvas...

I have my settings for the clips I've rendered in Compressor matched to the sequence settings.

 

I turned all my clips into ProRes 422 HQ and am trying to playback in the Canvas, video is choppy.

 

If I switch the compressor setting in Quicktime video settings to h.264 (in the General tab of the timeline), the playback is fine, however then every single clip must be rendered that I drag onto the timeline or make any changes to.

 

Please help, I've been using this software for 10 years, never had issues like this before.

 

Regards

Posted on Feb 28, 2016 8:22 PM

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Q: Choppy playback in Canvas...

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  • by Shane Ross,

    Shane Ross Shane Ross Feb 28, 2016 10:56 PM in response to Rory Mells
    Level 8 (42,999 points)
    Feb 28, 2016 10:56 PM in response to Rory Mells

    What hard drive are you using to play this media from? What type of connection to the computer? 


    What are your sequence settings? 

     

    Don't use H.264...FCP doesn't do well with that format.

  • by Rory Mells,

    Rory Mells Rory Mells Feb 29, 2016 6:12 AM in response to Shane Ross
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Video
    Feb 29, 2016 6:12 AM in response to Shane Ross

    Hello,

     

    Using an external 2TB WD digital hard drive via a 3.0 USB connection for media...

     

    I'm going to have to use H.264 on the timeline, it's the only format that plays back contrary to the fact!! The only thing is I have to render every single clip then re-render if I make any trims or edits. After that though it plays perfect in the canvas. This is going to be a long, painful edit looks like

     

    Should I just drag and use my native .MP4 files from the camera? They seemed to be working fine before but things started getting choppy too.

     

    Maybe my iMac hard drive is going to fail soon, it's a mid 2007. I thought I was using uncomplicated formats (non 4K and the such) but FCP7 is really starting to give me a headache already, I'll persist and see what transpires. Who knows what the next step will be, iMovie is an option but something I'd rather not do.

     

    There are many Sequence Settings to elaborate on, anything specific? General tab, Video Processing, Timeline Options, Render Control?

     

    Regards

  • by Shane Ross,Helpful

    Shane Ross Shane Ross Feb 29, 2016 5:05 PM in response to Rory Mells
    Level 8 (42,999 points)
    Feb 29, 2016 5:05 PM in response to Rory Mells

    Your drive may be USB3, but the connection on the computer is USB2, and USB2 is not fast enough to play ProRes HQ, nor any flavor of ProRes. It's not a good connection for video playback. You need at least a Firewire 800 connection in order to play back that footage on that computer.

     

    "I'm going to have to use H.264 on the timeline, it's the only format that plays back contrary to the fact!! "

     

    I highly recommend NOT doing that. FCP has serious issues with H.264, mainly being sync. If you don't have issues when you edit, you'll have issues when you export. H.264 is NOT a codec FCP 7 works with.

     

    "The only thing is I have to render every single clip then re-render if I make any trims or edits. After that though it plays perfect in the canvas."

     

    When the clip settings are different than the sequence settings, this is the result. BUT, don't make H.264 sequence settings...convert the footage to ProRes 422 (not HQ, larger file sizes for zero difference over ProRes 422. HQ is meant for high end camera conversions, Red, Alexa, etc).

     

    "This is going to be a long, painful edit looks like"

     

    Then don't do it. It'll be very painful because it is the absolute wrong thing to do.

     

    "Should I just drag and use my native .MP4 files from the camera? They seemed to be working fine before but things started getting choppy too."

     

    No. FCP 7 doesn't work with MP4 files either. That's just a different container for the H.264 codec. FCP craves FCP codecs. ProRes. You just need a different drive.

     

    "There are many Sequence Settings to elaborate on, anything specific? General tab, Video Processing, Timeline Options, Render Control?"

     

    CODEC...or rater, COMPRESSOR. The sequence settings must match the clip settings exactly. To do this, make a new sequence, add a clip (ProRes) and when it asks "do you want to change the settings to match," click YES.

  • by Rory Mells,

    Rory Mells Rory Mells Feb 29, 2016 5:07 PM in response to Shane Ross
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Video
    Feb 29, 2016 5:07 PM in response to Shane Ross

    Thanks for all the helpful advice.

     

    The footage is from a Canon C100 Mark II. Is it acceptable to use 422 HQ for this camera's footage?

     

    Regards

  • by Shane Ross,Helpful

    Shane Ross Shane Ross Feb 29, 2016 6:05 PM in response to Rory Mells
    Level 8 (42,999 points)
    Feb 29, 2016 6:05 PM in response to Rory Mells

    It's not needed. That camera shoots 8-bit AVCHD. ProRes 422 will be fine. ProRes HQ will get your 50% larger file sizes with zero increase in quality.

  • by Rory Mells,

    Rory Mells Rory Mells Feb 29, 2016 6:09 PM in response to Shane Ross
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Video
    Feb 29, 2016 6:09 PM in response to Shane Ross

    Ok, thanks.

     

    When I go to export for the best quality though, like for a screening on a big screen, should the project be exported as a ProRes HQ file?

     

    I'll let you know how FCP works after the files are transferred onto my G-RAID drive which has Firewire 800 ports.

  • by Shane Ross,

    Shane Ross Shane Ross Feb 29, 2016 6:18 PM in response to Rory Mells
    Level 8 (42,999 points)
    Feb 29, 2016 6:18 PM in response to Rory Mells

    If you want. But again, no quality will be gained. Only a larger file size...and a name that sounds more impressive. But quality wise...identical.

  • by Rory Mells,

    Rory Mells Rory Mells Feb 29, 2016 8:37 PM in response to Shane Ross
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Video
    Feb 29, 2016 8:37 PM in response to Shane Ross

    Footage is still messed up, even when hooked up with Firewire 800 to the G-RAID, looks like it is lagging behind, kind of like slow motion, not quite.

     

    Not sure what is going on, these are just Pro Res files being dragged onto the timeline and I'm trying to play them in real time. I guess I could try and get used to it, although it's not really great at all.

     

    The files play perfect in Quicktime, it's until I get them into the FCP7 timeline they are slow and messed up.

  • by Rory Mells,

    Rory Mells Rory Mells Mar 1, 2016 5:51 AM in response to Shane Ross
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Video
    Mar 1, 2016 5:51 AM in response to Shane Ross

    Just going to have to use iMovie, so frustrating!!!!!!!!!!

  • by Shane Ross,

    Shane Ross Shane Ross Mar 1, 2016 8:48 AM in response to Rory Mells
    Level 8 (42,999 points)
    Mar 1, 2016 8:48 AM in response to Rory Mells

    Trash your preferences. Use PREFERENCE MANAGER from digitalrebellion.com to do this for you with one click.

     

    How full is that FW800 drive? At least 10-15% needs to be free.

     

    iMovie would be the worst idea. It highly compresses footage. But I know you are joking in frustration.

  • by Meg The Dog,Solvedanswer

    Meg The Dog Meg The Dog Mar 1, 2016 10:55 AM in response to Rory Mells
    Level 6 (11,138 points)
    Video
    Mar 1, 2016 10:55 AM in response to Rory Mells

    In the FCP Browser, click on one of your camera clips to select it, and once selected, type Command + 9 to see the item properties for the clip. Either report those properties here or take a screen shot of the item properties and post that screen shot here.

    Next, click anywhere on your timeline and then type Command + 0 {zero} to see your sequence settings. Either report those sequence settings here or take a screen shot of your sequence settings and post that here.

     

    In the Timeline upper left corner, click on the RT button and make sure your timeline is set to Unlimited RT playback, Dynamic video quality, and Dynamic Frame Rate playback. These setting only effect the editing experience, not the final quality of the timeline.

    Screen Shot 2016-03-01 at 8.51.14 AM.png

     

    MtD

  • by Rory Mells,

    Rory Mells Rory Mells Mar 1, 2016 7:37 PM in response to Meg The Dog
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Video
    Mar 1, 2016 7:37 PM in response to Meg The Dog

    Something right happened when I changed the settings in the RT button. Thank you, plays perfect now...

     

     

    Screen Shot 2016-03-01 at 8.34.45 PM.png

     

    Screen Shot 2016-03-01 at 8.28.43 PM.png

  • by Rory Mells,

    Rory Mells Rory Mells Mar 1, 2016 7:41 PM in response to Shane Ross
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Video
    Mar 1, 2016 7:41 PM in response to Shane Ross

    G-RAID drive is 2TB, have 1.1TB free....

     

    Yes I was joking and back in real editing business!!

  • by Rory Mells,

    Rory Mells Rory Mells Mar 1, 2016 8:27 PM in response to Shane Ross
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Video
    Mar 1, 2016 8:27 PM in response to Shane Ross

    Also, for this Canon C100 Mark II footage, the Render selection below came up, is this the correct one to select?

     

    Just not sure as there are 4 selections to choose from:

     

    Screen Shot 2016-03-01 at 9.23.11 PM.png