Video playback / priority issue...

[komakaze]

Is this a bug or why is it that video-performance is getting worse on increasing priority?

I'm on an 2xQuad 2.26 Nehalem with the ATI card, PT 8.

[StavrosSound]

In what way is it "worse"?

Whare all all of your buffer settings and video preference settings? What type of codec is the file using? What type of drive is running through (interface)?

DVNTSC should be no problem, and H.264 as well, but that codec's sweet spot in PT is a datarate around 3Mbps...Anything much higher and it starts behaving badly.

[komakaze]

Codec is H.264 in that case, but I also tried Mp4 and Huffyuv –[bleep]also I tried experimenting with my other playback settings.
"Worse" is worse, id est stuttering close to freezing.
The drive question, I don't get it. S-ATA? What do you mean?
Datarate might be the issue? Why? Still, if I increase priority it should be better, not worse... no?

[StavrosSound]

Well, If its SATA it should be okay. H.264 mgiht seem fishy... open the file in Quicktime, and APPLE+I it, and report what the data rate is.

[The Dougfather]

Use DV, it's the lowest overhead codec for Pro Tools, mpeg streamclip will convert your file or DVD to DV for free.

[komakaze]

Yeah, I know all that – as said before, I was experimenting with different codecs. DV is not an option as I need to have a higher resolution and quality is of concern in that setup. So, all the codecs I tried resulted in the same behaviour.
EDIT: If datarate is an issue, I'm screwed, it's gotta be close to HD. Why the hell is datarate provoking this behaviour, as I thought the priority settings where meant to prevent this?

[StavrosSound]

Well, priority is just dealing with processing priority...datarate is datarate. Sometimes there are core streams, such as when some NLE's encode DVNTSC... There a core, high-res imager when viewed in PT as "High Quality" quicktime playback (maintains quality of DVCPro HD), but then there's the lower-res "standard" quality that plays under all defacto conditions... 2 streams in one. I have no idea how those are made, but any DVNTSC files from a FCP machine has had this quality.

If you want a more HD quality, try using Photo JPEG... Will retain very high quality and be roughly the same file size a DVNTSC file.

Maybe its thermals or something basic too? Outlandish, I know, but my H.264s used to freeze during playback in PT for no reason, arbitrarily (the audio continued on). Was as bad as the PPI issue. Added another outtake fan, and all those problems disappeared and have not returned, still 9 months later.

[komakaze]

Photo JPEG, I didn't try yet. Good hint.
And no, thermals is no issue.
I don't know what to suspect anymore – thing is, playback with normal priority is close to acceptable, medium is more like a slideshow and highest leads to a freeze...

[BRH]

Why do you need High Resolution video to edit audio?

[komakaze]

In that case I need it for the installation of my diploma thesis. And to be honest, that's an redundant question. If you're doing sounddesign for an HD-format, let's say an 3D Animation with1080p, you might want to see ALL the details to find the right sound, no?