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#1
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video slowdown
hi all.
i sometimes work with a composer who is running an intel-based Mac, OSX 10.4.8 and PT 7.2.1. in the past we have had no problems with video tracks in the session but on the current project, MP4 video tracks are slowing down the session like mad. file size and resolution are comparable to projects we've done in the past, but the current MP4 files are making the system behave very sluggishly. canopus is being used for the video monitor. offset has been entered. its just a general computer sluggishness, not a timing or offset issue. thanks for any help. |
#2
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Re: video slowdown
MP4s have always made my system run like molasses. Especially selecting and dragging regions. Often the wrong thing happens because the response to the mouse is so slow.
Convert the video to another codec. |
#3
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Re: video slowdown
In my experience, ProTools isn't really all that great when it comes to working with video files other than quicktime. I can think of two things to try: one cheap, one not.
The first thing you could try is running the video off of a third hard drive. I've noticed substantial speed increases when I have separate os, audio, and video drives; and that's with uncompressed video files in excess of 18gb. The other thing you could do is get an Avid Mojo. Hope that helps. |
#4
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Re: video slowdown
thank you everyone for the suggestions!
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#5
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Re: video slowdown
One correction and a suggestion. First Quicktime is not a codec, there are really no "Quicktime" videos. Quicktime is a wrapper/ player. If it has the proper codec installed then it can play a file if not not. If it is designated as the player for a file that file will show up with a Quicktime file icon (even if Quicktime can't actually play the file). So MP4 is just as much a "Quicktime" file as any other media file.
MP4 is, I think, basically the same as h.264 and it uses keyframes and then builds the frames in between keyframes on the fly. This works OK going forward but is VERY slow going backward. What we found with h.264 files was that if you have the picture folks set key frames to every frame (the setting reads like "keyframe every ____ frames" set it to 1) then the file played back very smoothly forward and backward and looked great. So this might work for your MP4 as well. Quote:
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#6
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Re: video slowdown
converted the .mp4 to quicktime.mov and it works great now. thanks all for the help.
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#7
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Re: video slowdown
Hi,
I have this problem also. I have a 2.5 hour show that weighs 3 gigs as an mp4. I'm doing the conversion to .mov at DV-NTSC but it is taking forever (more than 12 hours). Am i doing something wrong?? What settings did you use to do the conversion. Thanks. |
#8
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Re: video slowdown
If you are transcoding, it can take a very long time. I've never tried this, but you might just try renaming the file extention from .mp4 to .mov and see if a simple naming convention helps anything. Noiz2's suggestion for setting more keyframes on the original transcoding to MP4 files does make a huge difference on how the file plays back. It's all about compression.
__________________
Rick Sanchez http://www.posthastemedia.com MacPro 2x2.66 GHz Dual Core "WoodCrest" Mac OSX 10.5.8 / 4 Gig Ram ProTools 8.0.4 Digidesign/Magma PE6NE-I upgraded 6 slot expansion chassis. (Host card in Slot 2 of MacPro) HD3 Accel BlackMagic Decklink Studio 2 (In Slot 3 of MacPro) SurCode / Dolby Media Meter 2 Izotope RX2 Advanced / Sonic NoNoise Waves Platinum 7.x / Serato PitchnTime Melodyne Studio / Altiverb XL / Speakerphone KOMPLETE 7 EQuality / Massey L2007 TC MasterX |
#9
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does the window size and aspect ratio matter on playback speed?
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#10
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Yes, they would - the bigger the window (and by that, I'm assuming you mean the native resolution of the video file), the more data it has to deal with.
Typically the codecs that use the most compression or interpolation (H.264 being a classic example) are the ones that slow the system down the most, as they require the most CPU usage to decompress/interpolate. The trick with using keyframes for every frame is that you're forcing the video to entirely 'render' each frame entirely (rather than using an algorithm to interpret data between keyframes), which is practically the same as converting it to a .DV file or other less compressed format. We recommend always using different drives for audio and video, as video is very data-intensive and uses a lot of disk bandwidth. Another possible trick is to reduce the number of CPU's in your Playback Engine settings, so as to give the computer more CPU time to use for video. This is probably the least desirable option and may not work on every system. I'd recommend it only if you're in a pinch and don't have time to transcode the video to .dv. |
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