Jittery Video H264 - only started recently

[aevan]

Just recently I have started having an issue with HD H264 mov files. They play fine on my desktop, but import them to Cubase and they play jittery like they are dropping frames.
I believe they have all been edited on Final Cut Pro. If I load them into Quicktime Pro and re-render them out at the same size with the quality set to high instead of full they play fine, but this is a pain to do
and it should work without the need to do this IMHO.
I'm posting this in both OS sections becaue I have the same problem on my Windows system and Macbook Pro as well. I have the latest update of CB5.
The original mov files play fine in Logic Express also, just not in Cubase.
Anyone else having issues?
THanks.
_________________
Pentium Quad 6600, 4 GIG Ram, SSL Alphalink converters plus RME Fireface 800, UAD-1 card x 1 UAD2 x 1, Reason 5 and a lot of outboard +
Macbook Pro i7 2.66 mobile

[ltf3]

Hi

I thoroughly recommend against using H264 video for any post production video playback. It's a great compressor, FCP defaults to this codec if you use a simple "Export/Quicktime Movie", it has a small file size .... But it will hammer your processor/s. Almost no general purpose computer is adequate to playback H264 (unless it's web sized... and it's all you are doing ) and doing it while realtime audio processing is happening is just never going to work.

So export your FCP movies as Apple ProRes Proxy, MJpeg, AIC ... it will work much better.

Maybe when we all have 16 cores and 32 GIG RAM .... or someone builds a hardware H264 decoder on a card things will change. But 'til then you need a different format.

Inconvenient fact.

Best

Lee
_________________
Lee Faulkner

Cubase 5.5, OS10.6.4, QT X, MacBook Pro 2.66 Dual Core Intel i7, 4 GIG RAM.

[aevan]

Thanks for the reply Lee. What I don't get is why it plays fine on the desktop, but not in Cubase even when there is no audio imported with it, and no audio on the timeline, just one video.
I also don't get why it plays fine with a bunch of audio tracks going in Logic Express on an older slower Macbook Pro than mine. Surely there must be some sort of issue with the way Cubase is handling the file...
_________________
Pentium Quad 6600, 4 GIG Ram, SSL Alphalink converters plus RME Fireface 800, UAD-1 card x 1 UAD2 x 1, Reason 5 and a lot of outboard +
Macbook Pro i7 2.66 mobile

[ltf3]

HI


I won't deny Steinberg's appalling record of native video playback within Cubase and Nuendo (which as a video post tool and at 3x the cost of cubase seems worthy of legal action! ), it should be much better.

Having said that, your trouble shooting process isn't quite as bulletproof as it might seem...

1: the H264 plays back OK on the desktop. Yes, but QT is handling it natively and the computer is devoting all its resources to the task. I have seen fairly powerful Macs choke on a sufficiently compressed H264 even in QT alone.

2: Playback in Logic is good. Again yes. Logic (and Soundtrack Pro/ Garage Band/ iMovie/ ) seems to handle all video playback more elegantly than Cubase and other video enabled apps. I believe that once running Logic uses a *totally* different audio buffering system to ensure audio playback than implemented in Cubase and Nuendo. IMO this frees up system resources to dedicate to the decompression of the video. In a nutshell Logic seems to mutlitask media more efficiently than Cubase. I also suspect Logic developers (being Apple insiders) also have access to all sorts of Quicktime based secret sauce that others have to cook up themselves... perhaps they handle the video playback in a different way to Cubase too?
The trouble with this is that you have to use Logic .... ( I actually like Sound Track Pro ... no MIDI... but it's a nice sound design platform. Not stable enough for work though).

3: So that brings us to Cubase. The 5.5 video playback is *way* better than before. I havn't tried it with H264 , and your experience tells me not to waste the time experimenting! Thanks...
However Steinberg divide up system resources it seems to still not be able to provide the juice for H264 playback. (remember H264 employs temporal compression .... there is no frame structure in the file so keeping sync must be a bear...). Why a mutli-core system can't handle it I don't know ... why Steinberg don't just automatically convert imported video to a playable format I don't know either. But what I do know is not to burn yourself out trying to make H264 work ... just export or (ask for ) ProRes422 Proxy or LT or MJPeg from FCP and it will be better. Plus the export won't take as long!

Best

Lee
_________________
Lee Faulkner

Cubase 5.5, OS10.6.4, QT X, MacBook Pro 2.66 Dual Core Intel i7, 4 GIG RAM.