HELP! PLEASE! Movies are skipping frames!

David Chapman · November 17th, 2009, 11:37 AM

My Macbook Pro plats files fine in h.264 and I can edit with ProRes all without skipping.

Which graphics card do you have?
What is your hard drive speed?

If you have the Early 2008 17" (no black glass), then your processor should be at least 2.5GHz and your graphics card should be NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB.

It is more than likely you opted for the larger capacity hard drive at 5400rpm and not the 200GB at 7200rpm. Check this by getting the model number of your internal drive from Disc Utility and copy/paste that into Google to search for specs. If you do have a slow drive, you can pick up another drive at 7200rpm and install it yourself.

These were your HD options:
250GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive (hard to do HD)
200GB 7200-rpm drive3 (fastest for video)
300GB 4200-rpm (slowest)

Mauricio Copetti · November 17th, 2009, 10:27 PM

This is my hd: seagate ST9160823AS serial ata 2, 160GB, 7200rpm, graphic card the same as yours, but with 256mb. I think I cannot change it without changing the whole motherboard, right?

David Chapman · November 17th, 2009, 11:06 PM

So... your files are playing without skipping now? Problem solved?

Liam Hall · November 18th, 2009, 02:25 AM

My advice is try playing the files from an external firewire drive.

Mauricio Copetti · November 18th, 2009, 06:53 AM

David, I wrote this (I'm just getting used to write fro this forum)

This is my hd: seagate ST9160823AS serial ata 2, 160GB, 7200rpm, graphic card the same as yours, but with 256mb. I think I cannot change it without changing the whole motherboard, right?

I tried to play it from an external USB 7200rpm hard drive but didn't work.

thanks

Cody Dulock · November 18th, 2009, 08:32 AM

If you are still having playback issues on your computer, try using VLC player. Quicktime will not play back the clips smoothly on my computer but VLC player will.

David Chapman · November 18th, 2009, 10:18 AM

It looks like it comes down to your graphics card. You can upgrade the card yourself.

For reference, my Macbook pro has the 512MB graphics card and can play everything fine. My Quad-core Mac tower (G5) has a 256 and not everything is as smooth.

November 17th, 2009, 11:37 AM	#16
David Chapman Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 346	My Macbook Pro plats files fine in h.264 and I can edit with ProRes all without skipping. Which graphics card do you have? What is your hard drive speed? If you have the Early 2008 17" (no black glass), then your processor should be at least 2.5GHz and your graphics card should be NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB. It is more than likely you opted for the larger capacity hard drive at 5400rpm and not the 200GB at 7200rpm. Check this by getting the model number of your internal drive from Disc Utility and copy/paste that into Google to search for specs. If you do have a slow drive, you can pick up another drive at 7200rpm and install it yourself. These were your HD options: 250GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive (hard to do HD) 200GB 7200-rpm drive3 (fastest for video) 300GB 4200-rpm (slowest) __________________ David Chapman www.davechapfilms.com

November 17th, 2009, 10:27 PM	#17
Mauricio Copetti Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: CAMPO GRANDE, BRASIL Posts: 47	my god! This is my hd: seagate ST9160823AS serial ata 2, 160GB, 7200rpm, graphic card the same as yours, but with 256mb. I think I cannot change it without changing the whole motherboard, right? Last edited by Mauricio Copetti; November 18th, 2009 at 06:48 AM. Reason: misunderstanding

November 17th, 2009, 11:06 PM	#18
David Chapman Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 346	So... your files are playing without skipping now? Problem solved? __________________ David Chapman www.davechapfilms.com

November 18th, 2009, 02:25 AM	#19
Liam Hall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: London, England Posts: 969	My advice is try playing the files from an external firewire drive. __________________ Writer-Director-DOP www.liamhall.net

November 18th, 2009, 10:18 AM	#22
David Chapman Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 346	It looks like it comes down to your graphics card. You can upgrade the card yourself. For reference, my Macbook pro has the 512MB graphics card and can play everything fine. My Quad-core Mac tower (G5) has a 256 and not everything is as smooth. __________________ David Chapman www.davechapfilms.com

November 18th, 2009, 06:53 AM	#20
Mauricio Copetti Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: CAMPO GRANDE, BRASIL Posts: 47	David, I wrote this (I'm just getting used to write fro this forum) This is my hd: seagate ST9160823AS serial ata 2, 160GB, 7200rpm, graphic card the same as yours, but with 256mb. I think I cannot change it without changing the whole motherboard, right? I tried to play it from an external USB 7200rpm hard drive but didn't work. thanks

November 18th, 2009, 08:32 AM	#21
Cody Dulock Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: arlington, texas Posts: 420	If you are still having playback issues on your computer, try using VLC player. Quicktime will not play back the clips smoothly on my computer but VLC player will.