MacBook Pro FCP Proxy Playback problems

[Sam Roberts]

I'm having difficulty getting both 4k and 2k "P" proxies to play back on the FCP timeline with my MacBook Pro. I get red render bars. I understood the MacBook Pro could play these P files back in real time without having to render them. Am I wrong about this?

I suspect it may be a settings problem but for some reason I lose all the settings but 2 (use playback setting/Full Quality) in the RT drop down box when these P proxies are dropped onto the timeline.

It's a new laptop....2.53GHz, 4gb memory.

Oh yeah...if it makes a difference..... I am using the MAC's internal drive because my Caldigit outboard drive hasn't arrived yet...could that be it?

 

[Alex Carr]

Set your Timeline RT to Unlimited instead of Safe,

Also set your Playback and Quality yo Low or adjust to your computers speed. _P proxies probably play in Medium Quality on your Spec'd System.

 

[Noah Kadner]

Yeah- playback is never going to be that great from Proxies on a MBP. I barely get full speed playback on my 8-core Mac Pro sometimes, depending on the complexity of the timeline and the drives in use so....

Noah

 

[Sam Roberts]

Set your Timeline RT to Unlimited instead of Safe,

Also set your Playback and Quality yo Low or adjust to your computers speed. _P proxies probably play in Medium Quality on your Spec'd System.

well I tried but like I said for some reason those settings become unavailable in the RT dropdown box as soon as I drop the clip on the timeline. Works OK on my Mac Pro but not on the MAC Book.

EDIT: I got it....the problem was solved by not allowing FCP to change the timeline settings when you drop in the clip.

Thanks Alex.

 

[Joyfool]

could your plugin be corrupt? may be worth reinstalling the redcode qt plugin... Also have you tried scrubbing with Clipfinder? Not sure if it can sense timecode.

 

[Ivan Cortazar]

EDIT: I got it....the problem was solved by not allowing FCP to change the timeline settings when you drop in the clip.

Could you say what settings does your sequence end up with? I am really curious because this has been a discussed issue that I was never got a proper answer from Red or anyone. My conclusion is that there is a bug on the Final Cut quicktime plugin, because the P files won't play on a Mac Book Pro (mine is the latest 2.8Ghz 4GB Ram) Anyone managed to play a P proxy with RT mode on a Mac Book Pro?

I say it is a bug, because I find odd that the M Proxies will play with the RT set to the minimun (not realtime though), but the P proxies won't even let you choose RT mode.

My work around is drag and drop the P proxies into the sequence and then change the Sequence compressor to Redcode. Then the red or yellow line disappears and it plays fine. I think real time or close to real time. The problem is that you won;t be able to apply any filter or transitions. You can only do straight cuts. (This is really odd, because in M proxies, since I can use RT I can apply effects, go figure)

I also find strange that the M proxies can play in RT mode being the Sequence compressor Prores 422 HD but the P that are only 512 x 288 won't play.

Unless I'm proved wrong, I am convince there is a bug or something to do with final cut that prevents us from editing on P proxies on mac book pros.

I really hope Red takes care of it, because that would be a great workflow for us editing on the road with mac book pros.

 

[Luca Immesi]

This is work for my macbook pro on 16:9 proxies
1 Set the default timeline (usually dv ntsc etc.)
2 Set Unlimited RT and quality low and framerate to full
3 use M proxies for 4 k
4 use H proxies for 2 k

You can mix them also in the same timeline. P doesn't work very well.