60p stuttering playback
 

I have been editing some surfing footage that I shot at 720HQ 60p. I am using the sequence settings for this format. I am noticing that the footage seems to stutter off and on as it plays back. I have a short piece up on blip.

http://blip.tv/file/640017?filename=...unoPier832.mov

I thought maybe it was only on the export H.264 but I have gone back an looked at the original footage in QT player as well as in FCP and it seems to be doing it in both situations.

What it looks like is that the footage is switching between 30p and 60p. I am new to the progressive world moving up from DV and hdv 60i. Not sure what I am seeing.

I am working on a 2.33 MBP with 2 GB of ram and working through FW 800 drives for media. Not sure if this system may be having a hard time keeping up with play back of XDCAM EX footage.

Thanks for any feedback!

I think your system may be having trouble keeping up. My Dual G5 has the same issue with your footage - stuttering on playback, but it doesn't always stutter on the same frame when you play it again.

It looks like the footage is fine - all the frames are there and when I set QT Player to play back at half speed, everything looks smooth.

Also, the playback FPS in the QT inspector seems to be varying during playback.

I am surprised - perhaps there is something particularly hard for the codec in there, like all of that fine water detail and no motion blur.

I'll test it next week when my 8-core 3.2 arrives. If it stutters on that machine, we'll know something is really up.

Nice footage.

Plays back at 60fps for me right up to the point where the guy goes on the pipe, then it drops to around 30. Did you slow it down there?

Really is awesome footage that.

*edit*

It runs perfect off of bliptv, but it does hitch up if I download the source file and play it.

Weird.

Gents,

I posted a similar comment yesterday morning and I have come to 2 conclusions.

1) I screwed up and had 720p 25fps instead of 720p 30fps. Corrected that operator error helped me to a large degree with my jittery footage.

2) I currently have a Mac Pro desktop with 2 x 2.66 GHz dual core processors, but only 1 gb of ram. I think my system would benefit greatly with an additional 3gb of ram...at least.

Ram and drive upgrade?
 

As I wrote my first post I started thinking that it may be too much for my MBP. Since I blew my load on the EX1 a new Mac Pro is out of the question at the moment. Perhaps bumping up the ram and using eSATA drives will help. Anyone have an opinion on the this.

Yes Paul, I slowed last clip to 50% to test the slo mo smoothness of 60p. When shooting a contest I can not overcrank everything I shoot. But i often want to slow stuff in post.

Brad what machine are you playing it back on? Does your own 60p playback without a hitch? if you are shooting any 60p that is.

Thanks as usual for feedback!

I'm sorry Charles. I do not have my EX1 yet. Just a few more weeks. ;)

I'm just enjoying all the appetizers you keep sharing. Seriously, I love your stuff and have been following your posts and soaking up all the info like a sponge!

Hopefully this 60p glitch will get sorted out.