Hello everyone,

I got a problem and would really like some help. I used to be an Avid editor, but then I got this gig and did FCP for 3 years, now I'm switching back to Avid and picked up a copy of MC Software Only to brush up and have around the house. Of course it's not working, and thus I'm asking for some help.

So my problem is video does not playback in the Composer Window, either side. You hit play and the video stays frozen on the first frame while the audio plays. Hit play again and the video updates to the current frame. You can drag your mouse around and it updates frames quite fast, but will not play back at normal speed or any speed provided by JKL. I have tried DV25, Imported QT Animation Codec, and Avid Title media (rendered) and nothing seems to work.

I don't have any external devices hooked up. Nothing firewire is plugged in except my hard drive. The Special>Devices menu is set to IEEE 1394, but that is only because I can't set it to anything else. I know my video card doesn't have the power to do full screen playback, but I don't really need that right now. I've tried disabling the OpenGL on boot to Avid, turning off the video card and lowering the number of streams in the Video Display settings, lowering the quality (which does make the still image look poor, but does not make the video play), centering the Composer window, and even changing the monitor resolution.

I'm kind of our of ideas of what to try next. At first I thought it had something to do with MC trying to playout via firewire, but i unplugged everything. Then i thought it was my video card, but it recognizes it and wants to use it for OpenGL. Older versions of MC used to run off this ATI card, and the new iMacs and MacPros use ATI chips, so I'm not sure if that is really the issue either. I also kind of doubt it's CPU power because 1.67G4 Powerbooks are qualified by Avid so a 1.42 Dual G4 should work. So yeah, I got no clue and any help would be wonderful. Specs below.

Thanks so much,
Sam Zimman



MC Software only 2.8
OS 10.4.11
QT 7.3
Dual 1.42 G4, 2GB RAM, ATI Raedon 9000 64MB
GRAID 500GB FW800
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/stats/powermac_g4_1.42_dp_mdd.html

Gotta upgrade the machine I'm afraid Sam... that G4 and in particular that video card are not even close to supported anymore.

i'd have to agree because everytime I've seen that problem it's video card related.  The supported Powerbook G4s have the ATI 9700 which is a newer chipset

Do you think a NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti or ATI Radeon 9700 Pro would make it work? Both cards have 128MB RAM and AGP 4x, AND I could probably score one for under $150. I was really just trying to hold out on buying a new MacPro till after Avid released a Leopard version. I didn't want to deal with the downgraded OS and the Tiger video drivers and all that stuff. Plus it'll give me a little more time to save up that $3k I'll need.

I have the exact same problem - and I'm using NVidia GeForce 8800. I don't think it's necessarily a video card issue.

I'm running on Windows Vista, with compatability set to Windows XP on the Avid exe file. Everything else seems to work - except this.

I get the "power scheme" dialoge box - when I run it - even though I've setupped a power-scheme with everything set to "Never" in Windows.

I tried most of what the first poster has tried - any other ideas will be appricated...

- Yuval

No, your problem is Windows Vista. Doesn't matter how you set the compatibility, the Avid is going to give you fits.

You need to be on XP if you want to run an Avid software version.

Before despairing about your computer or video card, check the VIDEO DISPLAY settings. Disable OUTPUT TO DV DEVICE. You lose an external monitor if you're using one, but that may free up the video playback in the composer window.

I myself try things out and have managed to get an Avid Xpress Pro 5.7 setup working well with a dirt cheap Asus mother board with onboard graphics and sound. A lot of tinkering but in the end getting the latest graphics driver installed solved the mentioned no video playback issue for the asus board. If you still want to give it a go, then that's probably your last resort. But don't waste your time unless gutting machines is your hobby.

Otherwise, if you are going to fork out cash, buy things that match the system requirements. If you don't you'll most likely spend more money in the longrun.

Also, a laptop of mine which worked with Avid Xpress 4.6 didn't work at all with the 5.x versions and Avid Marquee titles would render with the desktop ghosting across it. In summary, that experience showed that even though an older version may work on a machine, the new versions could easily stop working.

That said, for the money making machines they're all properly configured.

HTH.

 

Vista is there nothing it can't ruin ?

Hi Sam,

It's almost certain to be your graphics card. I have a G4 dual 1.25gHz with 2GB Ram and a Radeon 9800 Pro running Leopard. I had AXP on the machine, but have just upgraded to MC 2.8. Both run and can be used  with DV material but obviously performance is rather sluggish, but it does work.

When I was still using AXP I had to revert to the original Radeon 9000 card for a while (the 9800 fan died and it fried itself) and I also found that AXP would not playback the video in the source or composer windows.

Hope this helps,

Steve M

 Did you get it going again Sam ?

I have not gotten it working yet.  I kind of gave up and stopped looking at this thread out of dispair.  I am tempted to try buying a new video card, but I gotta do my finances and see if it makes sense investing anything into this old machine or just buy a new one.

Thanks to everyone for replying.

New machine.... new machine!