Re: RAM PREVIEW ERROR: need 2 or more frames to playback by Dave LaRonde on May 15, 2008 at 6:30:33 pm
This could be a footage problem!
Dave's Stock Answer #1:
If the footage you imported into AE is any kind of the following -- Native HDV, MPEG1, MPEG2, mp4, m2t, H.261 or H.264 -- you need to convert it to a different codec.
These kinds of footage use temporal, or interframe compression. They have keyframes at regular intervals, containing complete frame information. However, the frames in between do NOT have complete information. Interframe codecs toss out duplicated information.
In order to maintain peak rendering efficiency, AE needs complete information for each and every frame. But because these kinds of footage contain only partial information, AE freaks out, resulting in a wide variety of problems.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA
Re: RAM PREVIEW ERROR: need 2 or more frames to playback by Dave LaRonde on May 16, 2008 at 9:27:57 pm
[sofia tyler]"Is this also the case for, APPLE PRO RES 422 and other FULL HD CODECs"
You mean like DVCPro HD? Nope, it's fine. ProRes 422 is okay, too. The rule of thumb is "stay away from HDV footage that's still in its native capture codec".
If you do a lot of chroma key work, consider this: HDV is to real-live HD what DV is to Digibeta (or any other professional SD format). In fact, the quality hit going from HD to HDV is a lot bigger. If you think DV's heavily compressed, HDV's a LOT worse!
I'd use HDV for chroma key work, but I'd use it ONLY in SD projects -- you can hide a lot of color resolution sins by reducing the scale. But HDV chroma key work in a an HD project? Certainly not for a project I expected to get paid for.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA
