Re: Just got the GH4, Editing Help Needed

Hi Ken and All,

Just got the Panasonic GH4. Shot some test MOV footage in 4K UHD (3840 X 2160 - 30P) .

- I put the video files in my Pegasus Thunderbolt Raid Drives.

- Imported into FCP 10.1.2. and left the footage where it is. (did not copy into the library which also lives on the Pegasus.

- Created a Library for GH4 Tests. Created an Event for today's test footage and a Project with a 1080 Timeline.

- Put all clips into the timeline.

Here's the issue. With the playback quality set at either "Better Quality" and at "Better Performance", the video stutters when played back from the browser as well as in the timeline. When I exported the video out of FCP, it looks great!

Also, I went out and shot some additional tests in 1080/60p 100Mbps and Playback is perfect, video looks great.

I am editing on a Retina Macbook Pro with 2.7 GHz Core i7, Latest OSX, 16GB Ram.

Shouldn't I be able to have smooth playback while editing with this set up?

Thanks for any advice!

Larry

PS: I also tried keeping the timeline at the Native resolution of the UHD files just to test and of course, everything still stuttered.

Larry,

Your MacBook Pro probably is not up to the task (your Pegasus is). This is why Apple invented 'Proxy', which you should be using.

When you put the footage into your 1080 timeline you got a render bar, right? If you render out you should be able to playback with no issues.

--ken

Hi Ken,

OK, had to get some editing done for a new project but watched some tutorials on editing with Proxy, created some Proxy with the 4K files and it worked well. Then, just now, tried the original footage and for some reason, it all plays back just fine. Weird, its as if FCP needed some time to adjust to the bigger size media. I still think as you said, using Proxy is the way to go. Thanks!

When you import footage into FCP the application needs some time to create waveform and thumbnail previews. It does this in the background. If you start editing while background processes still run you may get stuttering playback, especially with 4K formats.

Another cause for stuttering playback is having Background rendering turned on. Most people leave this turned off and render manually whenever it is needed.

But Ken is correct: for this kind of work on this kind of machine you will find the Proxy workflow a much more convenient choice.

Best wishes,

Ronny

Thanks Ronny!

Discovered two things today...

First, I thought that the MOV files coming out of the GH4 (Which I just received on Friday) were in the best Pro-Res format for Final Cut Pro 10.1.2. I assumed this because I never transcoded or optimized any video that I shot on my GH3 and it was fine in FCP. But today, I spoke with a filmmaker with a very similar set up as mine who is shooting on the GH4 and he said that with 4K, I really need to optimize the footage when I import it into FCP. So... I just tried it and it edits the optimized footage perfectly without using Proxy media. I guess this is the route to go...

Also, now that I am back from travels and using the new Pegasus2 Raid, it was going into sleep, spinning down, very often and so I called for tech support and they showed me how to disable the spinning down. (I can also set the spin down for any length of time I want) Let's see if this also makes a difference.

Any more feedback is welcome!!

Thanks so much, Larry