AVCHD timeline playback choppiness - 2 Questions

[dalemccl]

I've read the threads related to this, but have two specific questions that I haven't seen covered. This is for VS11.5+ and Pro X2 trial.

I have Smart Proxy selected in preferences, but playback in the timeline is still choppy. Audio is smooth but video jumps and freezes and jumps again. It usually plays OK for the first clip or two then starts to get choppy. This is with 1920x1080 AVCHD, which I know is very resource intensive.

I have an Intel quad core Q9550 2.83 GHz with 4 gigs of RAM under Vista Ultimate 64 bit. The PC is not internet-connected, so I have not installed anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc. which would steal resources away from the video editing software.

Two questions:

1. I have a low-end ASUS ATI-Radeon EAH3450 video card ($30 --- actually only $20 after $10 rebate). Would a higher-end card aid timeline playback?

2. When does VS/Pro X2 create the proxy files? It takes about 30-60 seconds when I first open the files (usually between 10 and 30 clips) using the folder icon at the top of the library window. Then it presents a box with a list of the file names asking if I want to change the sequence of the files. When I say no, it takes a while before they show up in the library with thumbnails. Then after they are in the library, I add them to the timeline, and that takes a while too. Where in this sequence is it generating the proxy file(s)? Or has it even been created at that point?

[etech6355]

1) - Not Really

2) Hit "F1" or the " ? " and read the manual that explains more about the proxy files. I would make sure they are all generated before you start editing.

Look under "Tools -> the Proxy Manager(s) to see if all the files on the timeline have proxies created. The choppiness may be that VS is still creating one of the proxy files. I usually assign the proxy file folder to a different drive from where the source HDV videos are at.

[dalemccl]

1) - Not Really

2) Hit "F1" or the " ? " and read the manual that explains more about the proxy files. I would make sure they are all generated before you start editing.

Look under "Tools -> the Proxy Manager(s) to see if all the files on the timeline have proxies created. The choppiness may be that VS is still creating one of the proxy files. I usually assign the proxy file folder to a different drive from where the source HDV videos are at.

Thanks for the tip about using a different drive for the proxy files and for pointing out the Proxy Manager tool.

When I looked at the Proxy Manager with a project in the timeline, only a few of the clips of the many in the timeline had proxy files, and there were none in the queue to be created. So it is not clear how VS decided which clips to create the proxies for. It is obvlously not triggered by just playing the clip.

I discovered that right-clicking on a clip in the timeline shows an option to create a proxy file for that clip. And doing a "select-all" on the timeline, and then right-clicking, gives the option for creation of proxies for all the clips in the timeline in one operation. Then the creation of the proxy files can be monitored in the Proxy Manager Queue so that you know when they are all done.

Once the proxies are created, there is an obvious difference when previewing the timeline. The playback is smooth, and the video in the preview window is obviously lower in resolution than the original AVCHD clips (which is expected).

Thanks for your help by pointing out the Proxy Manager tool. This makes working in the editor so much easier. I had assumed that because I checked-marked "Use Proxy Manager" and "Automatically Generate Proxy Template" in Preferences, that the proxies were generated automatically at the time they were opened (I thought that is why it takes so long to open a group of clips).

[Ken Berry]

In X2, SmartProxy is enabled by default. In your case, you presumably would not mind that! But for others, it could be annoying -- as it is for me, for instance, when dealing with HDV high definition mpeg-2s as opposed to AVCHD mpeg-4. (I find I don't need SmartProxy for that...)

The other thing to remember is that, regardless of how powerful your computer is, it takes considerable time for all the proxy files to be generated. You have to leave the program running, even if you are doing other things in other programs. If you switch off the program, for instance, I am not sure that SmartProxy resumes where it left off, and this just might account for the fact that not all your files in the project had proxies created for them.

Ditto with the final application of the edited proxies to the original AVCHD. Again it takes some time to do them all. And I think that this is at the root of complaints by some users that they got varying results after using Smart Proxy. In other words, I don't think they allowed all of the proxy edits to be applied to all the files, and somehow or other some of the proxies got mixed up with the fully altered AVCHDs...

[s0n1cm]

yeah I foolishly rushed out and got the upgrade to X2 and thought for some reason it would be more like Vegas and not need the proxy files but alas it does... Just got back from a week away with 1920x1080 files and even on my Quad core it took about 4-6hours to generate all the proxy files under 11.5+...

Look forward to the day they get the same codec as Sony that allows real time editing of HD content.

[Ken Berry]

Just as many of us look forward to the day when Sony makes its proprietary codec available for other companies to emulate!!