DVD stutter

I have Final Cut Studio on Power Mac G4 Tower, 1 GHz, 1 GB Dual Processor with External 250 Lacie HD. I am trying to burn a 27 min FCP project with DVDSP on TDK DVD-R 8X. The project will play for 7min, and then stutters and becomes pixelated and just unwatchable. The DVD plays on the mac but not on my JVC DVD player. Could someone walk me through the steps and settings I should be using from FCP exporting using compresser to DVDSP burning settings?
I really appreciate any tips and help I could get.
Katherine

Keebler said:
From the tests I ran, yup...BV is better.
I couldn't believe the difference in colour (BV's were much deeper and richer).
That's my experience too, although I'm not sure I'd call it deeper and richer, more like simply darker. In any case, I'm not sure I would call that a benefit because in my hands Bitvice causes brightness shifts from the original DV source whereas Compressor's MPEG2 output is nearly an exact match for the original. Personally, I'd prefer that the output looks as much like the input as possible. If I want a darker image I'll adjust the video in my FCP sequence, I don't expect the MPEG2 compressor to change my video for me.
However, I'm using NTSC sources and output so maybe you'll see different results with PAL. Also, since I'm using Apple's MPEG2 Playback component to view the finished results I guess that Apple's Compressor has a potential advantage because they are handling both the encode (to MPEG2) and the decode for playback.
In any case, Bitvice is a good product, they have a demo that you can download so it's worth a look to see if you prefer their output.

Similar Messages

DVD Stutter with Satellite L series

DVDs have been playing just fine for the past year, but last night they started to stutter, audio and video.
I've compacted the HD and freed up as much memory as possible by turning off AV etc, but this wasn't necessary before.
Any suggestions as to what's happened and how I can correct it are much appreciated.
Alex

What is your notebook model?
Did this stuttering start immediately? Maybe a option would be to clean the lens of the drive with a special lens cleaner for CD/DVD drives.
I suggest you to start with cleaning and if the problem persists then contact your local servicepartner to let your machine check by a toshiba technician.
Cheers

DVD Stutter and Stall

I am having a heck of a time making DVD’s that don’t stall or stutter, I guess I need a starting point.
What I do is stop frame capture 8mm and super8mm film, it plays on a special projecter and is passed through my Canon HD video camera to my computer. It uses a program called CineCap for the capture and then the speed change.
My computer uses the following
Intel I-5-2400 cpu 310 GHz
20GB Ram
Win & 64 bit SP1
AMD Radeon HD 6800
After I get the avi file on the hard drives I import and work it in Premiere Pro CS4 then I have done exports at varying rates and also Dynamic Like to Encore. I have even tried taking the exported videos and used Win DVD maker but everything stutters.
My last attempt was done with these numbers
Input
Type: AVI Movie
File Size: 10.2 GB
Image Size: 1920 x 1080
Pixel Depth: 32
Frame Rate: 29.97
Total Duration: 00;06;08;00
Average Data Rate: 28.4 MB / second
Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1.0
AVI File details:
Contains 1 video track(s) and 0 audio track(s).
Video track 1:
Size is 10.21G bytes (average frame = 971.28K bytes)
There are 11028 keyframes.
Frame rate is 29.97 fps
Frame size is 1920 x 1080
Depth is 24 bits.
Compressor: 'MJPG', Blackmagic 8 bit MJPEG Codec
Output
MPEG2 Blu-Ray
HDTV 1080i 29.97 High quality
no audio
Bitreat: VBR, 2 Pass, Min 4.05, Target 5.06, mat 6.03
summary
NTSC, 1920x1080, 29.97 drip frame [fps] Upper, Quality 3.0
audo no summary available
mininum bitrate [Mbps] 4.05
Target bitrate [mbps] 5.06
Maximum Bitrate [Mbps] 6.03
GOP Settings
M frames 3
N frames 12
Thanks any help would be appreciated

Well I have tried the scaling down to SD and video looks goof but still full of jitters.
I have tried slowest possible burns on two different computers using ISO files and things are still very inconstant.
I am to the point of saying it is my Verbatim and Sony media is the problem.
in the world this week what are the best media to use? I have been using -R for years but I am seeing that +R is better. I would like to use printable disk if possible but a good nonprintable is better than a printable coaster, I already have a bunch of those
Thanks

DVD Stutter, Write speed, etc.

Would some kind soul explain to me what is the problem with burning an 8x dvd at 8x? I have seen all the suggestions (slower media, changing bit rate, yada yada yada) and they have been helpful. Thanks to all. Slower media seems to be the ticket for me.
But why is this a problem? I use FCP/DVDSP, encode in either Compressor or via DVDSP, and burning at 8x causes jerky video and audio. Slower media, better results. Also, I burned a backup dvd (just data), and got a notice that suggested burning at 4x because it was "more reliable". What is the TECHNICAL issue here?
Why in the name of Steve Jobs' backside can I not burn an 8x dvd at 8x and have reliable results?
Thanks. I needed that.
--Dana

Hi,
AFAIK the quality (if defined as: what the viewer will see) also depends on the error-correction capabilities of the player used. A DVD burned at 1x (assuming that "over-burning" will not happen, neither using DVDSP, Toast or Disk Utility - at least I have never seen that or even heard of it) will always be better in terms of being "more compatible" (yes, I know, bad wording) as it will be handled correctly by more players (those with less sufficient error-correction). That's the theory...
In real life, I have not heard of any problem using 1x, 2x and 4x ever. As we are just using 8x for distribution since less than 2 months I cannot say anything reliable about it yet.
On the other side: Several (ok - more than one I definitely know of) specification documents for DVDs to be used in transportation and defense sectors clearly demand suppliers to burn at 1x speed. For sure that's a different topic, but it indicates that there are technical reasons to assume that quality is higher using 1x.
Cheers,
Uwe

Burnt DVDs stutter on playback

hi,
i have a imac g5 with 250gb drive. About a year ago i converted a bunch of DV video tapes to dvd and had no problem. Now im doing another batch. My finished discs keep having trouble with stuttering on playback. Its mostly just the first half of the disc. The second half seems fine.
I have made several attempts. I thought at first it was because i was burning IDVD in the background and other usage on the computer was messing it up. So i did it again and left it in the foreground with nothing else going on. I quit all other apps. still no good.
Do i need special requirements to do this? like a certain amount of free hard drive? I hav 24gb left, but i can throw a bunch of stuff away and get over 100+ available if needed.
Is it because i have third party video playback plugs for playing videos off the web? Or is my quicktime version wrong, etc.? these are reaches, but i wonder if something like this would mess me up. I dont think so because the problem seems to only be in the first half of the dvd so it seems like a burning issue.
any thoughts?
jeff

I could be wrong, but I don't think that any of the possible causes that you mentioned apply here. Among the causes that I think could possibly apply are a dirty or defective burner, too fast a burn speed, a DVD media problem, or possibly some problem with your DVD player.
Try to save your iDVD project as a disk image (an option under the File menu. Then play it on your Mac's DVD app. If it plays fine, then burn a DVD using the Disk Utility app on your Mac. Burn at 4x speed or less, and use a good quality DVD-R media like HP, Verbatim, Fuji. Also, you might try playing your DVD on a different DVD player to see if it is the player that is the problem.
You didn't mention whether you were using PAL or NTSC formats, whether the project played OK on iDVD playback, or whether your playback was on a consumer DVD or your Mac DVD player, or whether you were using DVD-R or DVD+R.
Good luck with this. Hopefully some others in this forum will have some suggestions as well.

Stutter/Jitter in DVDs

I've noticed a stutter or jitter in the movies on DVDs I've created using iDVD 08. The effect is as if some frames had been periodically dropped throughout the entire movie. The problem does not exist in the original iMovie 08 video or the video viewed in the Media Browser. The DVD stutter is visible on two different DVD players and the Apple DVD player application, so I believe the problem is an artifact of iDVD 08 or the settings I've selected. I double-checked the iDVD preferences, and I am using NTSC, Professional Quality settings.
I reviewed the other "stutter" problems mentioned in this forum, but none seem to have quite the same symptoms as mine. The fact that others are complaining about the problem implies the problem is with my set up, but I've not been able to identify the culprit yet. Any thoughts?
Thanks, Will

Some additional info on the issue: the stutter/jitter appears to occur only when the large.m4v file from the media browser is converted to another format. The two cases I've noticed are: a) burning a DVD with iDVD 08 (.m4v to MPEG2); b) importing the large.m4v file into iMovie HD (.m4v to DV I believe). The stutter/jitter doesn't occur when the medium.m4v is converted. The stutter/jitter doesn't occur when I play the large.m4v file with QuickTime Player, so I presume large.m4v is itself OK.
Does iDVD 08 and iMovie HD use QuickTime to perform the conversion? Could I have a QuickTime setting that is somehow causing this problem? If so, I would have expected to see the stutter/jitter after converting the medium.m4v file also, but for some reason it plays properly.

FCP and DVDs

Hi guys,
I've used FCP to edit our indie-film (28-minute, dramatic short), exported it to Compressor for MPEG-2 High Quality Encode, and then burned a master with DVD Studio Pro. We had a very reputable duplication facility burn 200 discs for film festival distribution.
I'm now getting occassional users (not all) complaining some DVDs 'stutter', skip or freeze at different points during viewing. When I get the DVDs back from these users and play them on my DVD player, I have no problems. My player may be a better quality than some others.
Can anyone give me some advice on this?
Thanks.

What you should do is try to find the lowest bitRate that give acceptable results and also make sure that you are Dolby/aPac the audio. In general the higher the total rate of audio and video and the closer you come to filling a disc to the brim, the more chaances of stuttering/playback issues (more so on duplicated discs as oppossed to replicated discs)
Yes 6.8 is the bitRate.
You may want to check these threads out for more information where for some details about encoding and some things to keep in mind for compatibility
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2212949&#2212949
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=2215134#2215134

Disc issue: urgent! Artefacts and stutter in dvds.

Dear All,
I'd appreciate any advice.
I'm using idvd5 with a g5 powermac 1.8ghz on osx10.4. (Even though this is an older version of idvd, I post in this forum because I'm not sure the problem is unique to that version).
I've been burning copies of a 70-minute video onto dvd. For months this has been working fine.
All of sudden, the dvds burnt from this file have issues. The discs play fine for some or nearly all of their length and then they stutter, break-up, and have various colored artefact blocks appearing randomly on the screen. This happens at different points in each disc.
I don't know what this issue can be it. It is not a problem in the original quicktime movie from the DV, I've checked that. I have tried re-mastering the dvd without success. As far as I can tell it is not a problem with the dvd brand because the same issue occurs over several brands.
Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Richard
UK

Hi Richard,
If you haven't already, please also post your question/s in the appropriate forum / iDvd5 which is the version of iDvd you are apparently using. Your post might get the attention it deserves in that forum.
Good luck on this.

SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro stutter during DVD playb

I've just recently installed the SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro into my PVR. I am connecting to my stereo system via the SPDIF connector using a coax cable. I've set, via AudioHQ, to pass through any Dobly Digital and DTS signals to my amp therefore the Audigy card is doing no decoding of any kind for digital signals.
The player I'm using is the latest VideoLAN player available (v0.8.4a) and have also set the player to use SPDIF output. When I try to playback my DVD's using VLC, the audio stutters constantly. I know it's not a DVD problem because when I switch the player back to normal stereo, the audio comes through fine.
My amp also detects the signal properly as it goes from Dolby Pro Logic to either Dolby Digital or DTS depending on which audio track I use from the DVD.
My system has a P4 3.0GHz CPU, GB RAM, 200GB HD (partitioned 0GB for OS, ~80GB for PVR recording, 0GB swap), with XP SP2. My swap is system managed and the OS has set it to ~.5GB.
Has anyone experienced the same or similar problem? Any help would be appreciated as I've banged my head against the wall all weekend long trying to figure this out.
TIA...

I have absolutely same problem.
I use Audigy 2 Platinum.
Operation System:
Win XP Pro 32bit
Driver:
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy series Driver v.2.8.000
Applications:
Creative MediaSource Player-Organizer v.3.30.2
Creative MediaSource Plugin for Remote Control v.2.30.02
I use 5. configurations of speakers.
When, I use remote controller to adjust volume.
Front left and right channels working correctly.
Center, Low Frequency and Back Left channels apply max high volume level and don t apply any other volume levels.
Back Right channel apply max low volume level and don t apply any others volume levels.

DVDs unwatchable (stutter) in Frontrow

If I play a DVD in Front Row from either a disk or a ripped VIDEO_TS folder the DVD suffers from major stutters that happen about every two seconds. Also I am finding that Front Row often defaults to the wrong audio track (for example CARS defaults to Track2 which is DD2.0 rather than Track1 which is DD5.1).
Neither of these problems are apparent in DVD Player. Originally I have similar issues in DVD Player but I eliminated them (tuned out to be the audio setting not using pass-though). Now DVD Player plays back the movie smoothly and with correct audio.
I expected these setting to pass though to Front Row but they do not. To all extents and purposes DVDs are unwatchable in Front Row.
All other video files work fine. It is just DVDs that are messed up. Any ideas?

Bump^
Any ideas as Frontrow still stutters badly on DVDs?

Mouse pointer stutter as well as DVD pauses

I recently experienced problems with playing DVDs AND my mouse pointer (trackpad). The DVDs are interrupted with subtle pauses, which makes it rather unpleasant to watch a film. The mouse too is interrupted, stops in the flow and then jumps back on track. I haven't experienced difficulties before, but I had recently installed a USB Modem (+software) to get online, which never worked. I deinstalled, however, the "stutters" in DVD and mouse pointer persist. I ran Disk Repair - nothing noted. Any ideas?

OnyX is a utility that runs OS X maintenance scripts. Perhaps that would help: http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/onyx_tiger.html

DVD and mouse pointer stutter

I recently experienced problems with playing DVDs AND my mouse pointer (trackpad). The DVDs are interrupted with subtle pauses, which make it ratehr unpleasant to watch a film. The mouse too is interrupted, stops in the flow and then jumps back on track. haven't experienced difficulties before, but I had recently installed a USB Modem (+software) to get online, but it never worked. I deinstalled, however, the "stutters" in DVD and mouse pointer persist. I ran Disk Repair - nothing noted. Any ideas?

How did you solve this? I'm getting this on my mouse, my DVDs and, sometimes, on my downloaded video.
I recently upgraded to QT 7.4.1. I've heard there are problems with that upgrade. Any ideas?

DVD's "stutter" when playing

Recently, both home made and commercially produced DVD's are "stuttering" on my iMac. CD's, however, play correctly.
Stuttering is the term that can best describe the halting nature of the problem.
Is there any simple way to determine if this is a hardware failure of somethime that can be controlled with user settings?
Many thanks,
Steve G.

On rare occasionif you have done a lot of copying you will get a lot of cache buildup that can cause a shutter in your optical drives performance in several different ways including error messages, spitting the media back out and the shutters.
You might give each of these a try and see if it eliminates your problem. If not then I lean toward a Hardware issue.
Macjanitor.
http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/downloads.html
Cache Out X.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/14850
Onyx.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/20070
I personally run these, all 3 once a week to keep all the extra garbage cleaned out of my computer. One last tip, when you run Onyx be careful not to delete your Browser Bookmarks.
Cheers Don

Stutter in iMovie 5 & 6 - causes and workarounds

This topic discusses the problem of stutter in the playback of iMovie 5/6 projects — where the playback pauses repeatedly. The cause of the stutter is discussed here, with possible workarounds.
Over the last several weeks I've examined several stuttering projects, one provided by Marilyn Hudson and three by Benny Alford. Thanks to you both. They were very helpful.
I also examined several projects I created myself, after discovering how to force a project to stutter.
The tests I ran suggest that stutter is caused by the number of audio clips in the timeline of the project. When a large number of audio clips have been added to a project, the project begins to stutter. The stutter worsens as more audio clips are added, eventually causing the project to play very poorly, if it plays at all. The stutter improves as you remove audio clips, eventually allowing the project to play normally.
Frank Farmer, whose forum topic about stutter describes the problem nicely, is a good read:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=495288&tstart=0
Benny's topic is also very helpful:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=511773&tstart=100
BEFORE WE BEGIN, A CAVAET OR TWO...
Identifying software problems is never easy, especially when you don't have the code to read. So my conclusions may not be accurate in every respect. There may be "gaps" still to fill.
Certain features of the stuttering problem can vary from user to user and from project to project, so what I say may not apply to everyone or to every project. Likewise, your experience may not apply to others.
In light of that uncertainty, I hesitated a bit to even post this message, for some conclusions may be "wrong" for some users. Hopefully they will be "right" for most.
If your experience is hugely different than mine, please say. We will all benefit.
THE PROBLEM
Stuttering takes several forms. It may include pauses in video playback, pauses in audio playback, audio distortion, or some combination. I believe these all have the same cause, creating a variety of playback symptoms. (The behavior may vary because of a difference in video cards and other hardware features. The amount of RAM doesn't seem to matter. I didn't have lots of Macs to test.)
Stutter is not simply an inconvenience or nuisance. Stutter can make it impossible to edit a project. Playback becomes so poor you can't view the editing you've done.
Severe stutter can also make simple tasks impossible to do, like moving the playhead, starting/stopping playback, selecting clips, undoing changes and saving. Your editing grinds to a halt.
HOW THE PROJECTS WERE STUDIED
When I began I didn't know what I was looking for, of course. I had never seen stutter in any of my projects, but had read reports by others and had some guesses. I poked and prodded the projects looking for clues, aided by software I wrote to help evaluate the type and number of project clips. I tried to explore as many possible causes as I could think of, ruling out possible causes.
THE CAUSE
Every project I tested could be forced to stutter by adding a large number of audio clips. Conversely, every stuttering project could be made to stop by removing audio clips. The exact number of audio clips that caused stutter varied, but not the pattern.
Based on what I saw, the major contributing cause to stutter — perhaps the only cause — is the number of audio clips in the Timeline of the project. That will definitely cause the problem, not the length of the project, nor the project size, nor the iMovie version, nor the number of video clips.
I was unable to find any other contributing factor. You can't prove a negative, however, so I cannot be certain other causes don't exist. As we discuss this topic more perhaps other factors will emerge.
SEVERITY
The severity of the stutter varies by the number of audio clips in the timeline. Stutter begins with a few simple "popping" sounds, and gets worse as more audio clips are added. The popping is replaced by pauses and audio distortion. Stutter continues to worsen as you add more audio clips, eventually making the project hard to edit.
WHAT KIND OF AUDIO CAUSES STUTTER?
All kinds of audio clips cause stutter. The type of audio you add doesn't seem to matter. It's the total number of audio clips that matters, not the type.
The audio can be any of these types:
1) Songs imported to the project from iTunes or elsewhere;
2) Audio extracted from video clips; and
3) Voiceover clips — narrations you record in iMovie.
WHAT COUNTS?
It's the number of audio CLIPS in the Timeline that matters, not the number of audio files you import or create. Importing a song adds one clip to the timeline and one file to the project. Splitting that clip adds additional clips, increasing the likelihood of stutter. Splitting extracted audio clips adds to the clip count too.
Every audio split you do adds to the total, increasing the likelihood of stutter.
WHAT DOES NOT AFFECT STUTTER?
I saw no evidence that these factors contribute to stutter:
1) The number of audio and video files (files stored in the project's Media folder).
2) Overlapping clips in an audio track.
3) The length of audio clips.
4) Which audio track the audio clips reside on.
5) The number of video clips.
6) The length of the project.
7) The size of the project (file size).
8) The size of the iMovie Trash.
HOW MANY AUDIO CLIPS WILL CAUSE STUTTER?
It varies a bit, so it's hard to say exactly. Projects I tested from one user began stuttering at 60 audio clips. Others began at 125. The number seems to vary from Mac to Mac. My guess is a typical maximum is 90-100 audio clips, but that's just a guess.
Although the number of clips may vary from user to user, my guess is the number may be relatively constant for all your projects. Your projects might tend to start stuttering at about 60 clips, 90 clips, 125 clips or whatever. But that's just a guess.
One of the reasons a precise number of clips is difficult to say is that the stutter itself varies from occasional popping to long pauses, affected by the number of audio clips. It's sometimes hard to know exactly when stuttering begins. As you remove audio clips from a stuttering project, for example, the stutter may appear to go away, but you may later hear occasional popping. Then when you remove five more audio clips you achieve perfect playback.
COUNTING AUDIO CLIPS
Note that iMovie 5 and 6 lets us count the number of audio clips in the Timeline. When you select clips with the mouse, iMovie displays the number of selected clips at the bottom of the iMovie window.
Unfortunately, the clip count is not displayed when the "Select All" menu command is used to select clips. You must physically drag across the audio clips to see the total.
HOW CAN I FIGURE OUT THE CLIP LIMIT FOR MY STUTTERING PROJECT?
It's not hard to figure out how many audio clips your Timeline can hold without stuttering. You can do a simple test where you remove audio clips until the stutter stops.
First Save the project. (Do NOT Save the project again during the test.) Then select ten audio clips or so, and hit the Delete key. Check for stutter. If the project stutters, remove more clips. Continue removing audio clips until the stutter stops, then count the remaining audio clips. To count the remaining clips, select all the audio clips with the mouse and check the total reported at the bottom of the iMovie window. Subtract a few — just to be safe — and that's your clip limit. (If you hear occasional popping sounds later, subtract another five clips.)
To restore the project to its previous state, choose File > Revert to Saved.
IS THIS JUST AN iMOVIE 6 PROBLEM? OR JUST AN iMOVIE 5 PROBLEM? OR WHAT?
Stuttering occurs in both iMovie 5 and iMovie 6. I saw the same stutter in both.
There were indications that stutter begins earlier in iMovie 6 — with 10% to 20% fewer audio clips. That may explain why some users report that stuttering began when they upgraded to iMovie 6. iMovie 5's tolerance for audio clips seems a bit higher, so projects that play okay in iMovie 5 might begin stuttering when upgraded to iMovie 6. They may have been "on the edge" in iMovie 5, but when upgrading to iMovie 6, they start stuttering.
Stuttering also occurs in iMovie 3 and 4. I could create stuttering projects in iMovie 3/4 too.
The only version of iMovie that refused to stutter was iMovie 2. (I stopped the test after adding 400 audio clips.) Note that iMovie 2 may use very different QuickTime routines than later versions of iMovie, which may explain its reluctance to stutter.
SO, WHERE'S THE PROBLEM?
In spite of what I just said about iMovie versions, I suspect this is not an iMovie problem. The problem may lie elsewhere. Here's why:
1. It's possible to create stuttering movies in QuickTime Player too, completely independent of iMovie. I used QuickTime Pro to add audio tracks to a movie, and found that a normal QuickTime movie can be made to stutter. It behaves just like iMovie. (QuickTime Pro's "Add" command lets you add multiple audio tracks to a movie. Each audio track is equivalent to an audio clip in iMovie.)
2. QuickTime Player also stutters when it plays the small QuickTime reference movie iMovie places inside the iMovie project. (iMovie 2 has no such movie, suggesting its reliance on QuickTime is different.)
The existence of stutter in both QuickTime Player and iMovie suggests the problem is in the QuickTime software itself, not iMovie. iMovie and QuickTime Player both use QuickTime system routines to edit/play our movies. I suspect that's where the problem lies. (I mean the QuickTime system software underlying both the QuickTime Player and iMovie, not the QuickTime Player application.)
CAN I EXPORT PROJECTS STUTTERING PROJECTS TO THE CAMERA?
No, a stuttering projects cannot be successfully exported to the camera. The copy on the tape will stutter too. If iMovie can't play the project smoothly, it can't export smoothly to the camera.
CAN I EXPORT STUTTERING PROJECTS TO QUICKTIME?
The stutter does NOT affect exporting to a QuickTime movie. That export succeeds, I suspect, because the export to QuickTime is not a time-sensitive operation, unlike the export to the camera. The QuickTime export can take as long as required.
The ability to export successfully to QuickTime lets us use some of the workarounds described below.
CAN I BURN A DVD OF A STUTTERING PROJECT?
Yes, you can successfully burn a DVD of a stuttering project. The iDVD encoding acts a lot like exporting to QuickTime, apparently. iDVD takes whatever time it needs to encode the project; it's not a time-sensitive operation.
CAN STUTTERING PROJECTS BE REPAIRED?
Projects cannot be repaired so they will never stutter. The only permanent fix is for Apple to fix QuickTime, if that's where the problem lies.
Workarounds can remove the stutter, however, allowing you edit the project successfully.
IS THERE AN EASY WORKAROUND?
The workaround ADJUST PLAYBACK SETTINGS below is pretty easy to implement. Trouble is, it doesn't always work, and the improvement may only be temporary. But the workaround is easy to do, so it's worth a try.
This workaround adjusts your iMovie playback settings and Mac monitor settings to make it easier to play the movie. That reduces the playback burden on your Mac and may raise the number of audio clips the project can contain before stutter begins.
This workaround may also make it easier to edit your project, making it easier to apply OTHER workarounds. So it's a good first step before implementing (better) workarounds.
ARE THERE OTHER WORKAROUNDS?
Yes, there are several effective workarounds. They all eliminate the stutter in the iMovie project.
The workaround to choose depends on the amount of editing yet to do, and whether or not you want to preserve all the clips in the project as discrete clips. And, of course, the workaround must be convenient for you. Some require more "expertise" than others.
It goes without saying that the simplest workaround is to try to limit the number of audio clips you include in the Timeline. That's not an ideal solution for all projects, obviously, but when you can do it, that's the best solution.
The other workarounds are posted below, one workaround in each message. As you try them, please reply to that message when suggesting changes and reporting errors. Future readers should check for updated versions of workarounds posted later in this topic.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
• The type of stutter we see varies quite a lot. One project I tested, the large project authored by Marilyn, showed considerable VIDEO stutter when played on her iMac. The audio played fine. There was so much stutter the project could not be edited. When I moved Marilyn's project to my PowerBook 1.5 GHz G4, worse video stuttering occurred.
But when played on my desktop Mac (Dual 1 GHz PPC G4) the VIDEO played just fine but the AUDIO stuttered. The audio slowed down, as if playing in slow motion. A clip's audio could sometimes be heard well after the playhead moved beyond the end of the audio clip.
• It's easy to create a stuttering project. Here's how: Create a new project, record a few seconds of audio voiceover, Copy the voiceover clip and Paste it at the end of the project 9 times. (To move the playhead to the end before you Paste each time, press the End key on your keyboard.) Then select all 10 audio clips, Copy them, and Paste at the end of the project 9 times. The project now has 100 audio clips. Try playing the project. If it fails to stutter, Paste again at the end of the project. Repeat Pasting at the end until the stutter begins. Stutter will get progressively worse the more clips you Paste.
• I saw some strange window behavior when editing badly stuttering projects. The iMovie window began behaving strangely. Activating windows in OTHER applications windows stopped working normally. Clicking in the window of another application would activate the window — allow me type in it, for example — but the iMovie window refused to allow it to come forward. The iMovie window remained on top, although its three red, orange and green window titlebar buttons were disabled. It was as if the iMovie window had changed into a palette that refused to go to the background. Re-launching iMovie resolved the problem.
WHAT ABOUT iTUNES MUSIC?
There are reliable reports that (some types of?) iTunes music may affect stutter. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to reproduce that problem, no matter what music I tried. I can't suggest what type music to use — or avoid.
There is a workaround that has worked successfully for some. That is to use iTunes to burn an Audio CD of the songs you want to use, then import the songs directly to iMovie from the Audio CD. See the workaround "BURN SONGS TO AUDIO CD" below.
THIS IS GETTING LONG
There's more I could say, but it won't add much value. We'll learn more as we gain more experience, I'm sure.
Good luck with your projects. Let's hope the underlying problem, whatever it is, is fixed soon. In the meantime, share your insights and discoveries.
Karl

WORKAROUND 3: Divide and Conquer.
BEST SUITED FOR
This method is best suited for projects where you still have quite a lot of editing to do, and the project is stuttering badly.
This is my favorite workaround, for it allows you to continue to edit the clips normally as discrete clips, but in a stutter-free environment.
SUMMARY
To reduce the number of audio clips in the project, this workaround divides your project into two smaller projects. Each project — each Part — contains a smaller number of audio clips so it plays smoothly. You can edit the clips normally, for the project plays smoothly.
Later, when you have finished editing the Parts, you re-assemble the Parts back into a single project. The method of reassembly we use will not cause stutter in that project.
As you add more audio clips to each Part, you may see a Part begin to stutter again, just like the original. You've hit your audio clip limit again. It's not a big deal. You simply divide that Part in half again to reduce the number of audio clips, and the new, even smaller Parts will play smoothly.
Usually it's necessary to divide a stuttering project just one time, but more may be needed.
ADVANTAGES
Each Part of the divided project contains half the clips of the original project. The clips are preserved as discrete clips, which allows you to edit clips normally. (Other methods join the video clips, audio clips, titles, and transitions into a single clip so they are no longer editable as discrete clips.)
DISADVANTAGES:
1) Because the project has been divided into two (or more) Parts, it's not possible to play your project from start to finish.That's not a big problem, but it's not what I would prefer. (If playing everything is important to you, see the MODIFIED DIVIDE AND CONQUER paragraph below.)
Of course, you'll be able to play all the Parts together when you re-join the Parts later.
2) This workaround can require significant amounts of disk space, especially if the clips imported from the camera are long-running clips. (An hour-long lecture, for example, with no scene breaks.)
If the clips are small, dividing a 10GB project in half will use an additional 10GB disk space (the total for the two Parts). As you split the Parts, it will temporarily use more.
If the clips in the original project were long-running clips, each Part may require the same disk space as the original project. If the original project was 10GB, each Part may use 10GB. This is because of iMovie's non-destructive editing feature, which copies the long Media file for the long clip in the original project to each Part.
Later, when joining the two Parts into one project, allow 13GB for each hour of total run time.
3) If the project contains many clips, it may be difficult to divide the project's video and audio tracks accurately. iMovie bugs may make it difficult to correctly select and delete clips. Care must be taken when selecting and removing clips. More details below.
TO DIVIDE THE PROJECT, FOLLOW THESE STEPS
• Open the stuttering project.
• If you haven't done it yet, adjust your Mac and iMovie settings as described in WORKAROUND 1: Adjust Playback Settings. This may make it easier for you to divide the stuttering project. (Return your settings to normal after dividing the project.)
• In iMovie preferences > General, turn ON the checkboxes "Snap to items in Timeline" and "Play sound effects when snapping." We will create bookmarks in a moment, and this makes them easier to use.
• From the iMovie menubar, choose View > Switch To Timeline Viewer. (Ignore if the Timeline already uses that view.)
• Locate a good place to divide the project in half. In a moment, you will move the playhead to that place and create a bookmark. Later, you will divide the project there.
(If the project already has many bookmarks, consider removing all the bookmarks to make it easier to find your new bookmark. Use the iMovie menu command Markers > Delete All Bookmarks.)
• If your audio clips are heavily grouped in one area of the project, split the project in the middle of that area, not the middle of the project. You goal is to divide the number of audio clips roughly in half.
• Look for a location like this, which is ideal:
- At the start (or end) of a video clip.
- Where that end of the video clip has no audio clip below it.
If you can't find a clip end that has no audio clip below it, move the playhead to the start/end of a video clip, select the audio clip below it, and split that audio clip.
If the video clip is so long you must split it, split the video clip where there is no audio clip directly below it.
• Place the playhead where you want to divide the project, precisely at the start (or end) of a video clip. Create your bookmark.
• Write down the location (the playhead position) of the bookmark you created. If you've moved the playhead away from the bookmark, first re-locate the playhead exactly over the bookmark. Use the menu command Markers > Next Bookmark (or Previous Bookmark) to go there.
The playhead position is displayed just under iMovie's video Monitor. The time shown will be something like "33:52:10". Write it down.
• Save the project. Quit iMovie.
• In the Finder, click on the project and choose File > Duplicate. The Finder will require several minutes to duplicate the project. The Finder will name it "<Project Name> copy.iMovieProject", where <Project Name> is the original name of your project.
• When the Finder is done duplicating it, rename the duplicate project "Part 1 <Project Name>.iMovieProject". (We'll refer to this part now as "Part 1".)
• Open Part 1 in iMovie.
• In a moment, you will remove all the video and audio clips AFTER the bookmark, leaving the video clips and audio clips BEFORE the bookmark intact. They will comprise Part 1. iMovie sometimes makes it hard to select the clips you want to remove, so go slowly and carefully here.
• Read this paragraph and the three after it before you continue. Starting at the end of the project and moving towards the bookmark, select groups of audio clips in the bottom Timeline track and delete them. (Select the clips, then hit the Delete key.) After removing a group of audio clips from the bottom track, remove (any) audio clips above them in the middle track, then remove the video clips above those. Removing the video clips makes the timeline shorter, easier to work with.
• As you approach the bookmark, be careful. When you select an audio clip that's located close to the bookmark, iMovie sometimes (inappropriately) selects an audio clip or two BEFORE the bookmark, even though you don't drag over it. (I suspect those are audio clips where Direct Trimming has been used, and iMovie gets a bit confused.) It's important you not remove any selected audio clip located before the bookmark. You must unselect those before hitting the Delete key. To do that, hold down the Command key — the Apple key — and click on any selected clip located before the bookmark. Make sure only the audio clips you want to delete are selected, THEN hit the Delete key.
• If you mess up, don't worry. Use iMovie's Undo command. Or to undo all your changes, choose File > Revert to Saved, which reverts Part 1 back to when you opened it.
• Sometimes iMovie fails to delete all the video clips you've selected. (Another bug.) As you approach the bookmark, zoom in on the Timeline to view the bookmark area more closely. After pressing the Delete key to delete the video clips you've selected just beyond the bookmark, make sure all the video and audio clips after the bookmark were removed. If not, press the Delete key again.
• How go back and do what you just read.
• When all the audio and video clips after the bookmark have been deleted, save Part 1.
• Play Part 1. If it doesn't play smoothly, it still contains too many audio clips. That's unusual, but it happens. Later, you will have to divide it again, but don't worry about that now. You can divide it again after finishing Part 2.
• To discard the clips no longer needed in Part 1, empty the iMovie trash. Emptying the trash will save the project again, automatically. (It may be necessary to also empty the Finder trash to recover the disk space.)
• We now move on to Part 2. It's a bit different, so don't skip reading these instructions.
• Quit iMovie, closing Part 1.
• Duplicate the original project again. Name this copy "Part 2 <Project Name>.iMovieProject".
• Open Part 2 in iMovie.
• IMPORTANT: For Part 2, it's crucial that you lock the audio at the second half of the project before removing video clips in the first half, which you are about to do. Locking prevents the audio from sliding over when you remove the video clips in the front half, losing sync with the video.
To lock the clips , move the playhead to the start of the first audio clip you'll keep, then select all the audio clips and choose Advanced > Lock Audio Clip at Playhead.
• Starting at the bookmark and moving back towards the start of the project, select audio clips in the BOTTOM audio track and delete them.
• Repeat for the audio clips in the TOP audio track (the middle timeline track.)
• You are about to remove the video clips before the bookmark. There's a couple of things you need to know first.
1) Removing the video clips will dislodge the bookmark. Ignore its new position. The bookmark will no longer be located next to the dividing clip. That's okay. You won't be using the bookmark again.
2) iMovie may not actually remove all the selected video clips when you hit the Delete key. A few video clips may remain, still selected, at the (new) beginning of the project. Do not click the mouse for clicking it will unselect those clips. Before clicking the mouse, use the zoom slider below the timeline to zoom in on the (new) start of the project. If you see selected clips there, hit the Delete key AGAIN to remove them.
• If you don't understand what you just read, read it again. Then select all the video clips before the bookmark and delete them. Zoom in to check for any selected clips that were not deleted, and press the Delete key again, if necessary.
• Save Part 2 and empty the iMovie trash.
• If everything worked as it should, the Part 2 audio and video should still be in sync and the project should play smoothly. If it doesn't play smoothly, Part 2 still contains too many audio clips. You'll have to divide Part 2 again later.
• If either Part 1 or Part 2 needs to be divided again, use the same technique we just used, but instead of duplicating and dividing the original project, duplicate and divide Part 1 or Part 2. First read WHAT IF THE PARTS BEGIN STUTTERING LATER? just below for a naming suggestion.
WHAT IF A PART BEGINS TO STUTTER LATER?
As you add add more new audio clips to Part 1 or Part 2, these projects may eventually start to stutter, just like the original project did. That's okay, for now you know how to eliminate stutter by dividing the project. When dividing Part 1 or Part 2 use new names like "Part 1A" and "Part 1B", or the names that work for you.
HOW TO RE-JOIN THE COMPLETED PARTS
When you are done editing all the Parts, you will likely want to join the Parts back together in a single project that you send to iDVD, export to QuickTime, or export to the camera. (See below when exporting to the camera.)
Don't worry, the method we use to join the Parts won't increase the number of audio clips, so the joined project won't stutter.
FOLLOW THESE STEPS TO RE-JOIN THE PARTS
1. Create a new iMovie project. Name it "Joined <Project Name>.iMovieProject" or something. Save the project.
2. One by one, locate the movie "Timeline Movie.mov" that's inside each of your Part projects and drag that movie into the Joined project timeline. (Dropping the movie on the Timeline imports Part 1 to the Joined project.) First import Part 1, then Part 2, etcetera.
To locate the Timeline Movie inside the Part project you must first open the project package to see what's inside. In the Finder, Control-click on the project icon and choose "Show Package Contents" from the popUp menu. A Finder window will open, showing the contents of the project package.
Double-click on the Cache folder. Inside you'll find the QuickTime movie "Timeline Movie.mov". (It's a special kind of QuickTime movie, called a reference movie, that has no audio or video of its own, just pointers to files in the project's Media folder.)
Drag the Timeline Movie.mov into the Joined project timeline. That will import the audio and video of that Part as a single clip to the Joined movie. Because all the audio clips are "flattened" as part of one video clip, the Joined project has no audio clips, only one video clip for each Part. So the Joined project won't stutter.
When all the Parts have been imported, add your Chapter Markers for iDVD to the project, if desired, and send the project to iDVD.
EXPORTING TO THE CAMERA
When exporting the divided project to the camera you may prefer to export the individual Parts projects instead of the Joined project. The reason is that the Parts projects contain discrete clips, just like the original project, while the joined project contains only a few clips, one for each Part.
When exporting a project to the camera iMovie preserves the clips as clips. Later, if you re-import that tape back to a new iMovie project, iMovie returns the exported clips as clips.
If you want your tape to contain all the clips of all the Parts, export the Parts to the camera, not the Joined project. The clips will return as discrete clips when the tape is re-imported. Clips like titles and transitions will no longer be editable, but they will return as discrete clips.
(Some clips in the Parts don't return as discrete clips. Any adjacent clips iMovie has edited are merged into one clip when exported to the camera. So two adjoining title clips will return as a single clip.)
MODIFIED DIVIDE AND CONQUER
If you want to able to play Part 1 as you edit Part 2 — instead of playing one Part at a time — you can modify the Divide and Conquer method to include Part 1 in your Part 2 project. This requires more disk space, but that may not matter.
When you done editing Part 1 and are ready to start editing Part 2, drag the Timeline Movie.mov from Part 1 to the beginning of the timeline in Part 2 (after locking the audio clips in Part 2). That delivers all of Part 1 as a single clip in Part 2. That lets you play Part 1 as you edit Part 2. (When joining the Parts, skip importing Part 1 to the Joined project. It will arrive with Part 2.)
FINALLY
This is the most complicated workaround, but for some projects, arguably the best. If I've missed something, please say so we can avoid problems.
Karl

Jitter, stutter, or jerky playback on output

Hi friends,
I've edited a video in Premiere Pro CS4 and it plays smoothly in the timeline. However, when I export it for DVD output, and then preview it in Encore, every minute or so, it will play one frame out of order. I don't know whether to describe this as a jitter, a stutter, or jerky playback. The preview is accurate: if I burn a DVD from Encore, the DVD will have the same glitches in playback. Again, Premiere plays everything fine.
The frame can be pulled from before or after the current point in the timeline. The first glitch occurs at 08s 15f and plays frames in the clip in this order: 1,2,3,4,17,6,7,8,9... Then it goes to 01:24:15 and partway into another clip does this:
24s:14f
24:15
24:00
24:01
24:16
25:02
24:17 (back to normal)
Both of these clips with these symptoms have a lot of movement (people moving independently in the frame, plus camera movement), but there are other clips with nearly as much movement, and they do not have a problem.
The source footage is AVCHD 720 30p in a matching timeline. I do have some SD footage later in this timeline. This SD footage was captured to the computer via Firewire from a Canon Optura. It is "Scaled to Frame Size" and rendered in the timeline, and is causing zero problems. I exported using the Media Encoder. I am outputting to DVD using the MPEG2-DVD and NTSC Widescreen preset, with the aspect ratio changed from 16:9 to 4:3 and the quality set to 4.5.
I'm running Premiere Pro version 4.2.1 and Encore 4.0 on an Intel Core 2 Duo T9550 2.66 GHz with Windows 7 (64 bit), 4 GB RAM, a 5400 RPM 320 GB hard drive running the OS and the video files located on a USB 2.0 7200 RPM hard drive.
If any of you have ideas, I would be grateful.
Thanks,
Russ

I've been having this problem since installing Snow Leopard with QuickTime 10 way back when and it's caused me real problems with video rendering. I think it's a codec issue as my raw video files play back ok (H.264 codec), but when I export them and save as Photo jpeg or motion jpeg etc the playback has about 4 or 5 seconds of jerky playback near the beginning of the file.
I've just tried opening all my test files with QuickTime v7 and was staggered to see them all run perfectly. It is indeed very annoying.

DVD stutter

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