Question about editing software

Luke · Feb 19, 2015

Folks, can you shed some light on what software you are using and computer specification to edit movies?

As I am recording footage at 1080p @ 60fps and each time I load Vegas, Adobe Prem and Avid Media the playback preview is like a slideshow... Did anyone else run into this problem before?

Normal playback is fine for example of VLC.

Thanks,
Luke

InspiredOne · Feb 19, 2015

Sounds like it could be your computer and not the software. Editing HD take a considerable amount of muscle.

Luke · Feb 19, 2015

AMD Octa Core 4.0Ghz 8Gb RAM AMD 6900 HD series 2gb DDR5

gwhiz2k · Feb 20, 2015

Luke said:
AMD Octa Core 4.0Ghz 8Gb RAM AMD 6900 HD series 2gb DDR5

Just so this is out of the way, you didn't try viewing the video from the SD card, right? That won't be nearly fast enough to view HD video, especially @ 60fps.

While on the subject, HD speed is often overlooked for a video editor. Slow drives are often the biggest bottleneck.

I just did some 1080p @ 60fps here today, and was able to edit fine on my circa 2008 PC. In Premiere, I set the playback resolution to 1/2, then it plays nice and smooth. If I try to playback at full res, it's choppy.

One more note: Premiere (not sure about the other software) is much better with an Nvidia (Cuda) card for the "Mercury Playback Engine". Premiere can take advantage of the GPU for hardware rendering. My HP Envy laptop (with an Nvidia card) is better for editing, mostly because of Cuda.

Kilrah · Feb 20, 2015

gwhiz2k said:
Just so this is out of the way, you didn't try viewing the video from the SD card, right? That won't be nearly fast enough to view HD video, especially @ 60fps.

Sorry it falls on you... but it drives me crazy everytime I read that. How do you think the camera WROTE that footage in the first place if the card was too slow to READ it back?? Especially knowing that write speed is always lower than read speed.

Makes no sense at all, and it is absolutely no problem to play footage from the card. As a hint... the camera can do so.

What may be a limitation is the card reader you're using to read the card, but not the card itself.
The card that comes with the Inspire writes at about 20MB/s, and reads at 30.

The comment about Premiere is correct, unless you have an Nvidia CUDA-compatible card it will not use the graphics card for anything. Everything will then fall back on the CPU. AMD have tons of octo-core models, would be good to know exactly which one you have.

gwhiz2k · Feb 20, 2015

Kilrah said:
Sorry it falls on you... but it drives me crazy everytime I read that. How do you think the camera WROTE that footage in the first place if the card was too slow to READ it back?? Especially knowing that write speed is always lower than read speed.
.

The read-speed of the card is probably irrelevant, since the majority of the time, people are using a USB adapter, or card reader, which most of the time is using USB2.0 speeds. I know my card reader only does USB2.0, which is not fast enough to edit (or even view) high quality video. So yes, it DOES make sense.

Also, I meant to write "edit" not "view".

Kilrah · Feb 20, 2015

An USB2.0 reader, unless it's crappy, will read the card at 20MB/s. More than enough, even for editing.

sparksthewolf · Feb 20, 2015

Reading the card is one thing having it pulled into the editor tue editor rendering it and than sending it back out to the moitor is a different story copy the data to the hard drive if it still is choppy than it could be your ram 8g isint much now a days

Sent from my SCH-I605

blade strike · Feb 20, 2015

Correct any computer used for editing should have a minimal of 16gb and should be a cuda compatible

gwhiz2k · Feb 20, 2015

My desktop has 8GB. Not really an issue, as long as you close down other large apps you don't need (like Chrome running 10x tabs). I have Premiere set to use the majority of my RAM. Only issues I run into are with shorter After Effects RAM Previews. 8GB gets used up pretty quick. Premiere doesn't use up as much RAM as AE. Done lots and lots of HD video with the old desktop.

On the other hand, my Envy laptop has Cuda, i7 and 16GB of RAM. It's definitely better, but the difference is not huge. My older desktop is still quite capable, just a little slower.

Bene · Feb 20, 2015

I'll throw this out on this string... I tried on another string and didn't get a reply. I think I have a bad camera. I have tried multiple frame size and rates, and a few flight tests (wxr issues here), and I keep getting this strange "moray" effect in the video. If I pause the video it goes away and the image is clear. I'm cutting on FCP X and I have a very, very, beefy Mac. So I'm thinking its the camera. Has anyone else seen this? I have attached a screen grab. Look at the bricks on the house.

gwhiz2k · Feb 20, 2015

Bene said:
I'll throw this out on this string... I tried on another string and didn't get a reply. I think I have a bad camera. I have tried multiple frame size and rates, and a few flight tests (wxr issues here), and I keep getting this strange "moray" effect in the video. If I pause the video it goes away and the image is clear. I'm cutting on FCP X and I have a very, very, beefy Mac. So I'm thinking its the camera. Has anyone else seen this? I have attached a screen grab. Look at the bricks on the house.View attachment 523

How are you previewing it? (I think you mean "Moire"). It's often an issue when viewing something (still or video) at something other than it's actual size. Try changing the size of your preview (ie: full-screen/windowed) and see if it goes away.I just replicated the exact thing in Premiere with a preview of "fit" (fits the video in the available viewing space). When I resize to 100%, it's gone.

I don't know FCP, but the moire effect is not restricted to any platform or software.

Also, is your image a screenshot of the software, or the actual output? Try exporting a single frame instead and see if there's still moire at 100% view.

Bene · Feb 20, 2015

Sorry spelling was not my best subject! Obviously! Good idea on the preview, tried different size previews and it still shows up. If I do a "zoom" preview it actually zooms into the moire effect. The weird thing is it only appears while playing the video, both off the timeline and of the preview of the clip. If I stop, try to export a grab off the timeline it clears up. I uploaded to vimeo and their compression cleaned up a bit but it still is poor quality. I really suspect I have a bad camera.

Kilrah · Feb 21, 2015

Most likely not the camera. What if you just open the file and play it in Quicktime? No FCPX. Should look great.

Your FCPX is likely set to use reduced resolution previews or proxy files, i.e. it makes a smaller, lighter file that is basically SD resolution and looks like **** but allows you to see what you're doing without taxing the machine. When you pause it loads the still from the full resolution file. Don't know what version of FCPX you're using, but at some point you had to turn that off before rendering or it would also use the low resolution previews for rendering and the result obviously looked crap.

This is meant for slow machines that can't handle the full resolution file comfortably, if you have a beefy mac don't use proxys. FCPX has "generate proxy media" and "generate optimized media" options when importing a clip, don't use that and check FCPX/project preferences to use original media.

Bene · Feb 21, 2015

Thanks Kilrah,
I thought for a second that's exactly what it appears to be! It was a "duh" moment, but I unfortunately I'm running optimized/ original. It almost does act like a proxy file though. Thanks for the input. BTW I'm running FCP X 10.1.4

Kilrah · Feb 21, 2015

Ok. Well just play the file outside of fcpx, if it looks OK your camera is fine and something is wrong with the editing.

sdjackaerial · Feb 21, 2015

Luke said:
AMD Octa Core 4.0Ghz 8Gb RAM AMD 6900 HD series 2gb DDR5

Hey Luke--what video card are you working with? This is where it's at.

Luke · Feb 21, 2015

As advised already ATI Raedon 6900 HD 2gb ddr5.

gwhiz2k · Feb 21, 2015

Luke said:
As advised already ATI Raedon 6900 HD 2gb ddr5.

Luke, as I mentioned above, ATI/AMD cards are not the best for video editing in premiere (and possibly other editors), because the GPU is not leveraged for playback. In order to take advantage of the Mercury Playback Engine in PP, you need an Nvidia card (with Cuda).

As I also said above though, I can still edit large high def files on an older Core 2 Quad with a Radeon, as long as I set the quality to at least 1/2. On my laptop with the Nvidia card, I can go higher.

DRONEONER · Feb 21, 2015

Luke said:
Folks, can you shed some light on what software you are using and computer specification to edit movies?

As I am recording footage at 1080p @ 60fps and each time I load Vegas, Adobe Prem and Avid Media the playback preview is like a slideshow... Did anyone else run into this problem before?

Normal playback is fine for example of VLC.

Thanks,
Luke

One note Don't use sony Vegas, terrible program for Editing, it is known for not handling different frame rate footage well, can be a cause for your issues, it will work in a pinch but its Junk in my opinion.. Premiere and FCPX handle the footage just Fine, unless your Computer is to slow. Avid is over kill unless you own it but i personally Hate Avid and Stick with FCPX as my main and Premiere. I run a triple monitor Setup with FCPX and Edit on a regular basis for work. Computer needs to have a minimum of 8gb and a fairly decent video card, I recommend 16gb min

(i have 32gb on a late 2013 27in imac. )

(I dont Use FCPX cause im a apple guy i find its a better tool), but i use Premiere and Photoshop alot