Dropped frames in canvas on FCP5HD

I just sat down to review the FCP5 editing tutorials on my new macbookpro. However, the the canvas window keeps tripping,I get a dropped frames warning window. It says to turn off "unlimited RT" and/or Lower my compression data rate. I've got the RT settings for playback video quality set at low and playback frame rate set at dynamic which is what was recomended if this problem occured.It didn't help. How do I turn off unlimited RT? how do I lower my compression data rate? Or what can I do to fix this really annoying problem?
Thanks
KJ

You can only install applications on the system drive. That is, on your laptop's hard drive.
Media files SHOULD go onto the external drive.
One recommended setup is this:
Laptop hard drive:
- applications
- project files
- waveform cache
- thumbnail cache
External hard drive
- autosave vault
- all media files
- audio and video render files
The reason you put your autosave vault on the external is you want it on a different drive than the project file. If one or the other dies you have at least something to go from.
Also, get yourself yet another drive or a bunch of DVDs to use a backups for non-timecode material.
good luck.
x

Similar Messages

Captured video is OK but getting dropped frames in Canvas

I've read through the posts about dropped frames, but can't find a solution. Please help!
When I capture video and play it back in the viewer, it looks normal. But when I pull the video into the Timeline and edit it, the video on the Canvas looks choppy and frames appear to be dropped. When there's fast movement in the shot, it looks "ghosty". I've fully rendered everything as per the user manual, but I'm still having issues. Even when I export the project to a QuickTime movie and burn it on a DVD, the problem remains.
As per the scratch disks tab of system settings, I'm capturing and rendering on an external FW800 drive with 13.5 GB space left. But when I look at the item properties of each clip, the "source" says it's on my internal system drive. Is this normal and if not, perhaps this is a source of the problem?
-2 GHz IMAC Intel Core Duo
-OS 10.4.11
-Memory 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
-FCP 5.0
-DV footage
-Cache files are saving to system drive
-Playback settings: safe RT, high quality, full frame rate, pulldown pattern 2:3:2:3.
-QT version 7.5
Please help!

You said you had about 13GB remaining on the drive. How large is that drive altogether? Also, how large is this project? How much space does all the content take up and how long and complicated is your timeline? The answer to these questions may not get you the answer you're looking for, but it's a start in the right direction. If it's a feasible length and size, you shouldn't have any problems as far as RAM or processing power, so you're good on that. You might also want to change the specs you have. Apparently you've updated your OS since filling it out.

What am I doing wrong? Dropped frames on a 1.4MB Quicktime file?

I am new to all this and get more confused by the day.
So, it looks like HD express runs and is supported on Macbook, so, why is just importing a 1.4MB quicktime file plays fine in preview, but drops frames in canvas? Having used PC programs I am not used to these kinds of problems and wonder if I have something set up wrong!
I have external HD and 2 GB DDR.
The demo flash preview on the website makes it look like you can do all sort of things!
I also set up the system correct, at least I think I did! *User Settings, Program Settings, etc.
PS the file is 18 seconds long...
Thanks!

The standard QT file from the net? What's that? Every file on the net seems different. Sorenson, Flash Video, H.264. What does item properties say the clip is exactly? Most of these compressed formats don't play back in vieo editing applications properly. They're delivery formats not intended for production. FCE is DV and HDV only video editing application. Those are the formats it works with.

Canvas Playback - Fixing Dropped Frames!!??

Hey all - I'm trying to edit some compressed HD video footage on my new Mac Pro and I'm for some reason getting the "Warning - Dropped Frames: One of more frames were dropped during playback" message whenever an edit happens in my video..
I'm editing in a sequence matched to the clip settings, with one layer of video and this is my computer's specs:
2x 2.4GhZ Quad-Core "Westmere" Processors
4x 2GB 1033MhZ RAM
1x ATI HD5870 GPU
1x 1TB 7200RPM SATA HDD (Stock)
What could possible be the problem? I know this computer should be able to play back video without any hassles, it was expensive enough anyways!
And no - the Canvas is not overlapping any other windows or vice versa.
And yes - I've tried everything it said to try on the Apple support page, and even then, it shouldn't have this problem in the first place with default settings.
Thanks a bunch!
-Zack
Message was edited by: ExplosiveDuck

Tom Wolsky: If you go to an Apple Store, they have H.264 all over the TVs and tout how well it works as compression. I would be willing to bet a high majority of people I know who use Windows would never have heard of H.264, and I would be willing to bet that the high majority of Mac users I know would definitely have heard of H.264 - that has legs to it.
Also, like I said before, if I knew that H.264 was the problem I wouldn't have asked my question the way I did.
It could have been: Software bug, hard drive issue, indexing issue, wrong setting, bad install, etc. etc.
It was much quicker and easier for me to post a question with the information available to me than to search through all the different possible problems. Obviously, there were people here that are much better at diagnosing problems than I am, and that's why I posted a question and turned to them rather than trying to tackle the problem on my own.
Seriously, how many questions are posted on here that have "easy-to-find" answers somewhere else on the boards or through "simple" searching on the internet? Yet somehow you've managed to post 23,000 times - are each of them just to tell people why they're wrong and that they should look before they ask, along with not offering help?
I think a key difference is that I made this post in complete innocence just looking for help, I didn't have any hostile intent and didn't make a post just to make someone feel a certain way or to prove some point I find worth proving.. I'm doing that now, but only in response.
Still haven't been home to try that Canon thing - will post soon about that.
-Zack

Dropped frames during playback in FCP 7

I have searched high and low, asked every FCP expert I know, and noone can help me.
So I turn to this forum and you the users for help.
I just upgraded from an old DVCAM to a new Canon 60D, which shoots full HD. Usually I never have problems editing with or without text, but all of a sudden I got dropped frames when I put text on my project. No warning of dropped frames though. Just some skipping and pausing before the clip continued.
I was running FCP 6 but upgraded to FCP 7 in hopes of it removing the problem. It just got worse. Now I can't even playback video or text by itself (I am testing with 5-10 second bits). Whenever the screen should go blank I instead get the unpleasant warning of dropped frames. The same thing happens when I play text by itself or over the video. When I try exporting it (to see if it is just a playback error) QT and VLC Player both show the most hideous grey, green and pixellated versions of my (still very short) clip.
And if anyone suggests changing RT options - where do I find those options? The RT button on my timeline only shows the options: "play base layer only", "use playback settings" and "Full quality" - and the problems keep showing up in all three selections.
Could my settings be off? I am not sure I have found the right ones for the footy from a Canon 60D.
I hope someone is able to help me with this. It is the most frustrating experience I have ever had through my many years with FCP.

Switching from DV to HD can be a nightmare if you were 'getting away with things' using DV material that you really won't be able to in HD.
First - Where is the media? If it is on the system drive of the macbook pro... get it off of there!! It should be on an external drive - FW800 will get you going better than anything else...
Second - simple fix, but make sure... are any of your windows overlapping? is your canvas window set to FIT TO WINDOW? If there are scroll bars in your canvas or viewer that would be bad too.
Third -- let's figure out what and how you are converting the material off the 60D.
What is the workflow you are using? You should probably be editing in some form of Apple ProRes... I like the LT setting - minimal quality loss with max gain in bit rates.
http://library.creativecow.net/articles/rossshane/tapeless-workflowfcp-7/video-tutorial
Check out that video and see if it doesn't answer a few questions...
Good luck,
CaptM

Final Cut Pro 7 export drops frames

I exported a video from Final Cut Pro 7 to a Quicktime .mov file. The file plays fine on a mac, but when I try to play it on a pc it drops frames throughout the video. I have other .mov files on this pc also exported from fcp7 that play just fine. Please advise. Thanks.

If you are talking about the Canvas and Viewer windows... make sure that their size is set at FIT TO WINDOW Top left button in the viewer and canvas window.
If you are talking about something else, please give us some more details.
rh

Jumpy timeline, dropped frames - please help!

I am experiencing a persistent problem with a jumpy timeline that surges forward - (it looks like dropped frames). I have all of my media on an external hardrive with 160 GB to spare, I have formatted that HD as Mac OS extended "Journaled". I have made RT as "Safe" and video quality as "dynamic", frame rate as "dynamic". It seems to be unnoticable when I reduce the size of the canvas to below 50% but at that point I am going cross-eyed in trying to decipher the picture on the screen.
Question 1:
Do I need to reformat my HD without " Journalled" or is this not a problem?
Any other ideas how to resolve?
Question 2:
What is Pulldown Pattern and what setting is best for my project (720 x 480 DV/DVCPRO - NTSC 29.97 fps)?
Any help in these matters would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Thanks for your suggestions.
All in all, I tried everything but to no avail. i suspect that in my trying to figure out solutions, i may have made some illogical formatting/preferences for my media and project on the hole. I ended up just starting from scratch with a new project, rudimentary preferences, imported my media - and it has been perfect ever since.
For anyone with similar issues, I highly recommend reading this article. It troubleshoots everything having to do with this subject.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58640
Thanks for your help!
Richard
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo, 2GB SDRAM, FCP 5.1.2

Final Cut Pro -- Preview window drops frames

this is quite annoying, basically the preview window drops frames and is quite slow? It seems the program window is unaffected. I have my local drive as the source drive and an external firewire drive as the scratch disk... Any further thoughts?
IMAC 20" 2.16 Core 2 Duo
1GB Ram

If you are talking about the Canvas and Viewer windows... make sure that their size is set at FIT TO WINDOW Top left button in the viewer and canvas window.
If you are talking about something else, please give us some more details.
rh

30p with a Canon XA10 - need help with Final Cut 7 "FIELD DOMINANCE" setting and an explanation of "drop frames". Thank you!!

I shot footage using a Canon XA10 and there are issues with the HD quality not looking as crisp as it should. I am trying to make sure the settings in Final Cut are right. Need help confirming what should be in "Field Dominance" --- have seen discussions about making sure it's set to "none" but I'm confused as to what to do.
Also someone suggested I use "drop frames" to change from 30p to 24p within Final Cut. He couldn't explain how to do it so any input appreciated as well as any thoughts on whether this is a good option to try.

If you're shooting 30p, field dominance should be set to none. Since you need to use log and transfer to bring this material in to fcp, I would assume it would be set correctly automatically. Are you sure you've set the camera properly?
Drop frames will not change 30 p to 24p. Dropframe timecode simply refers to the number assigned to each frame which drops an occasional number (not any frames) so the timecode duration is the actual duration, since 30p videoi is actually 29.97 frames per second which each frame assigned a timecode number.
This is very basic video stuff and requires some basic knowledge of video. Wikipedia is a pretty good resource for much of this stuff plus there are lots of great resources on the web. Look up interlaced and progressive video, 24p and 30p.
And as far as judging quality, you can only get an accurate view of the quality in fcp when you have a video card attached to a video monitor. The viewer and canvas are only an approximation of what the quality is. Minimally, set the canvas or viewer to 100% to get a better approximation of the quality.

Dropped frames on the timeline... why ??

Hi everybody,
This is my first post here... i'm French, so please excuse my english
I have a little but very annoying problem on Final Cut Pro 7.
I work with a Canon HV40, HDV 1080 25p.
The FCP project is set on HDV 1080 25p.
When i play the imported footage from the browser in the viewer : everything's fine.
But then, when i take a clip, put it on the timeline, and read it in the canvas, some frames seem to have disappeared. Like 1 or 2 times per second (i haven't really counted), one frame is missing. I have no error message for that, as if it was perfectly normal...
I read like half the internet to find out about this problem, but no answer seemed good enough for me.
Some clues to solve the puzzle :
1/ every other program was shut down.
2/ the very same frames are missing, every time i play the timeline. So i guess it doesn't seem to be random.
3/ When i use the left and right arrow keys to play the timeline "frame by frame", i can see that the frames are really missing. My conclusion is that it's not a problem of power, or ram or whatever. The frames really seem to have disappeared. When i export the project, the frames are missing in the created film too.
4/ Again, playing clips in the browser is absolutely fine. No dropped frames. The problems appear when the clip is on the timeline. Maybe the timeline has properties that i haven't coreectly configured ?
5/ This is the very first time i use FCP... this means the solution can be very simple (I used to work with Pinnacle Liquid Edition, on PC)
If anyone has an idea...
Thank you very much for your help.

Here are some new elements !
I decided to hunt every missing frame, and the answer is : one missing frame every 25 frames. Which means 24 frames are normal, 1 is erased, 24 normal, 1 missing, and so on.
This confirms :
- it's not a random bug
- it's related to the number of frames per second
- I am the one who did something wrong... Final Cut is probably innocent !
I zoomed on the time line. The timecode goes :
00:00:00:00
00:00:00:01
00:00:00:02
00:00:00:22
00:00:00:23
00:00:01:00
This would mean 24 frames per second ?!
I thought i had set everything i could on HDV 1080p25 or 25 fps everytime FCP asked... turns out i was wrong.
When I click "Sequence", "Settings", i can see Quick Time Compressor is set at "HDV 1080p25", but Timebase says 23,98.
I guess it could be the problem... do i have to change the Timebase ? How do i do that ?
Thanks again for your help.

Illogical Dropped Frames driving me MAD!!

Hi everyone I would REALLY appreciate help with this as I'm ready to pull every single hair of my head out!
I get dropped frames when I try and play my sequence. So far my sequence is 1 minute long... Haven't been able to get much editing done cause of this problem! I can't play the sequence for more than 2 seconds before I get the dropped frames error message.
I can import absoultely fine. I can play the clips in the viewer fine. Only playing the sequence in the canvas is a problem.
Stats:
OS X 10.4.7
iMac G5 1.8ghz 512mb sdram
Final Cut Pro 5.1
QT Pro 7.1.2
Clips are 25fps, 1440x1080 HDV 1080i50
Data rate 3.5mb/s
48k 2 mono 16 bit sound
All kept on my 200gig (10 gig spare) external directly connected firewire harddrive MacOS Extended (journaled) format.
RT is set to safe. Not sure how to lower compression rate or rt audio tracks and concerned that will effect the quality (don't need to watch in full quality put want to be able to export project when finished in full quality).
Please can I have some tips for as to what to do so I can play my sequence? If you can give me details on how to change the settings as I'm not a complete whizz on FCP yet!
Thanks so much!!
Hannah

Glad you got it sorted, Hannah.
Extra RAM is well worth the money - but remember, with 22 GB free on your HD, you're really on the limit there. Have you used Render Manager to ditch unwanted render files?
Tools > Render Manager.
Render files can be very big and are soon redundant. They can also cause problems. If you remove them, It may take a while to re-render but it will do no harm and it will free-up space.
Andy
Can I offer you a tip?
When you go back and edit your post from the Preview on this Forum, delete everything after the last word you typed - that way your System Profile won't be repeated over and over again!
G5 Quad 8GB. 250+500 GB HDs. G-Raid 1TB. FCP 5.1.1. Shake 4.1. Sony HVR Z1E Mac OS X (10.4.7)
"I've taught you all I know, and still you know nothing".

Digital Cinema Desktop Preview - Dropping Frames Without the usual message

Hi,
I recently started having a problem with the Digital Cinema Desktop Preview. When my video plays full screen it drops frames and the "Drop Frame" message does not come up. Basically the image stops (or freezes temporarily) and the audio keeps going. Eventually the video starts playing again, but it always stops again and the Drop Frame message never appears. And yes, "Report Drop Frames During Playback" is checked on. I am an experienced user and I have never seen a problem like this. It started recently after the update to 7.0.1. The video plays fine in the canvas window. The problem only occurs when I go full screen (using the Digital Cinema Desktop Preview option), which I would like to use. It was working perfectly, until recently. Any ideas????
No - there is not a bunch of stuff on my computer.
No - it does not matter if the video is DVCPro HD, HDV, or standard DV (I am using all three and I have tried different project files. I have tried files on one of the internal drives and different projects on external hard drives, all have the same problem.)
No - new software or files have been added to my computer
Yes - I trashed the preference about a dozen times. It does not help.
My system is less than a year old
MAC PRO
Mac OS X 10.5.8
2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
6 GB 1066 Mhz DDR3
FCP 7.0.1
All thoughts are welcome!
Thanks,
j

So far so good.... Thanks Andy!
I did look through the previous posts, but must have missed that one. I just replaced the "DesktopVideoout.component" file. It seems to be working! The real test will be after a day of editing later this weekend. Thank You! And Happy Thanksgiving!
j

Drop frames on a DV timeline- no effects- why?

I am running a Dual Quad 3.0 GHz Intel
10.6.1
16 gig
FCS 3
ATI 4870
FW 800 capture drive.
The same system I ran under Leopard.
Ever since I installed Snow leopard- I am getting dropped frame warning like crazy???
On dv timelines with no effects.
If I try to adjust the audio volume using the audio mixer I get dropped frames.
This is something I did all the time without issue.
Now I get a warning to turn off unlimited (which BTW is off) lower compression rate, increase speed, etc.
Please- what can be happening?
I suppose I could turn off the warnings- but should I really be dropping frames for something so simple - with this kind of maxed out of hardware?
I did a fresh install of everything.
Snow leopard- FCS3 - all my third party plug-ins....is there something in some folder that needs to be deleted (which always seems to be the case with software upgrades)
repair prefs, ect.
Is anyone else having issues since switching to SL
or am I the only fool and I should revert back until it's really ready to handle FCS3?

I just posted this to another, similar, thread. I neglected to mention that my G5, on which I'm having no problems, is running 10.4.11.
Your problem may be related to mine: in FC7, dropped frames during play of very short and simple Std DV projects, occurring only when canvas is synced with viewer in video tab mode (same exact scenario on my G5 running FC5 results in no dropped frames whatsoever). Considerable troubleshooting and consultation with technicians at Apple, during which the problem was duplicated on their own machines, led to their determination that a bug exists in either FC7 or Snow Leopard 6.1, and the issue was sent to Engineering for further analysis and resolution. This was a week or so ago, and I assume this will be fixed in a future update of FC7 or SL. Meanwhile, I've turned off "Report dropped frames during playback" in User Preferences. It's done its job for now.

Dropped frames - jumpy playback

I just moved an old FCP3 project to an external drive and opened the project in FCP5. I'm getting dropped frames and generally jumpy playback in the canvas. This may have nothing to do with FCP3 > FCP5 conversion- just thought I'd mention it. Perhaps just a simple oversight in one of my settings. Any ideas would be extremely helpful.

#12 Dropped frames on capture/playback
Shane's Stock Answer #12:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58640
1) Do not capture to your main system drive. Since it is busy reading the operating system and application files, it will intermittently drop frames during capture.
2) Do not under any circumstances run any anti-virus/filesaver software. Including Norton and Virex. Sure, Apple doles out Virex for free, but FCP doesn't cooperate with it very well.
If you absolutely feel you must keep Virex installed on your system then use Kevin's script to shut it off before you use FCP:
http://www.pistolerapost.com/viewing/virexhalt.zip
3) Check the format of the drive you are capturing to. It should be Mas OS Extended, jornalling off. If it isn't, copy your files from it and re-initialize it. If it is any other format, you will encounter problems. If not at first, then eventually.
4) Trash the FCP preference files. Use FCP Rescue available here:
http://www.pistolerapost2.com/fcprescue
Shane

HD play back returns dropped frames on a 10 second playback w/transition

when playing back a clip in the timeline and I have a transition I get a pop up about dropped frames. I am playing back in HD and I have striped my drives for speed, but still the same thing. I have searched the logs and find no matches. I hope you can view the screen capture. I do know that HD plays a factor but tried the options, any ideas
/Users/lrehklau/Desktop/Screen Capture.tiff

Andy
The original footage is 1080i, cannon xh a1, but having it down convert to 720p-60. The 300x2 raid is 500+ free space, I just started the video.
After sleeping on it, I had a thought, I have a BlackMagic intensity pro capture card. I have it playing back on a 27" screen to see the true quality of HD, Its nice, so I thought that maybe on play back its outputting to the canvas and to through the BM card to the TV. I turned off the the video playback in the video properties and I am now able to play a sequence of clips with transitions without any problem.
Thanks for your response, it helped make me think, now off to tackle the BM card

Dropped frames in canvas on FCP5HD

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