Old 04-24-2019, 02:13 PM   #1
Vasto
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Default Impossible Smooth Playback with ProRes

Hi there,

I'm sorry for opening the nth thread about this, but I'm really going crazy with that issue and I've really tried anything written here and on the wiki.

Basically it seems impossible for me to make Reaper play smoothly any video file except low bitrate h264.

I'd need to work with ProRes files so here's the basic things I've done:

- changed container from .mov to .mkv: unsuccessful
- scaling from 2160 to 1080, but still: unsuccessful
- deleted the FFMPEG.dll, moved the latest ffmpeg shared into /plugins: unsuccessful
- substituted VLC with MPC-H: unsuccessful
- VLC setup to use openGL and/or DirectX (restarted after changin): unsuccessful

ProRes files are generate with FFMPEG itself (prores_ks 422 HQ)

My configuration is:
CPU: i9-9900K (liquid cooling)
RAM: 32gb 3000mhz
GPU: RTX2080
SSD: Samsung EVO

OS: Windows 10
SW: Reaper (latest)

Should I just give up and convert everything in low bitrate h264 to achieve a smooth playback in Reaper?

Best

Last edited by Vasto; 04-24-2019 at 02:26 PM.
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Old 04-24-2019, 03:31 PM   #2
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I'm able to view 1080p ProRes HQ files just fine in Reaper, smooth playback. I don't use 4k files so maybe that's the issue; also I'm on a Mac but with pretty similar specs--32 gigs of RAM although you didn't say how much GPU memory you have (I have a dual GPU with 6 gigs).
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Old 04-24-2019, 05:53 PM   #3
EpicSounds
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did you try any of the options when you rt-click the video window?

are you playing back audio from the file as well?
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Old 04-25-2019, 05:34 AM   #4
Vasto
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I've this problem with both ProRes 422 @4k/60 and FHD/30-60

Quote:
Originally Posted by EpicSounds View Post
did you try any of the options when you rt-click the video window?
Yes, I've tried almost everything "on sight" that's why I can't understand the issue

Quote:
Originally Posted by EpicSounds View Post
are you playing back audio from the file as well?
Nope, video is without audio track, I have this issue even with the sole video inside of the project
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Old 04-25-2019, 06:41 AM   #5
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Can you play those files smoothly on your computer outside of Reaper, e.g., with Windows movie player or VLC media player?

I just tested and can play Prores HQ files smoothly in VLC media player on a Microsoft Surface tablet with integrated Intel graphics, but the same video does not appear in Reaper at all -- the audio plays, but when I open the video window it's black.
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Old 04-25-2019, 01:01 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bjohn View Post
Can you play those files smoothly on your computer outside of Reaper, e.g., with Windows movie player or VLC media player?
Of course I can play my ProRes 422 HQ - 4K/60fps with both VLC (even if I have dropouts) and MPC-H (perfect) players:
I'm on an i9-9900k + RTX2080, I can play two instances of MPC-H simultaneosly with 4K/60fps ProRes, without any frame dropping,
that's why I'm sure the problem concern something inside of Reaper and VLC.

When using VLC I need to enable openGL in video settings, otherwise it doesn't play.

Quote:
Originally Posted by bjohn View Post
I just tested and can play Prores HQ files smoothly in VLC media player on a Microsoft Surface tablet with integrated Intel graphics, but the same video does not appear in Reaper at all -- the audio plays, but when I open the video window it's black.
Same here: I can play the video in Reaper but it's like 1 frame every 4 seconds

In another post I read some users solved everything by changing ProRes container from .mov to .mkv using MKVtoolnix: I've tried both MKVtoolnix and FFMPEG to change the container but nothing solved my issue.

Last edited by Vasto; 04-25-2019 at 01:25 PM.
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Old 04-25-2019, 01:39 PM   #7
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I just did a test of a short prores 422 file and it seems fine on my macbook pro.

2560x1440 @30fps
decoding with VLC
video load is ~10%
disk read is ~30B/s

audio buffer size at 256

how big of a file should I test?
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Old 04-25-2019, 01:58 PM   #8
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Thanks EpicSounds,

I actually know that it MUST work properly,
what I can't figure out is why it fails on my specific case and only inside of Reaper+VLC.
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Old 04-25-2019, 01:58 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EpicSounds View Post
I just did a test of a short prores 422 file and it seems fine on my macbook pro.
Okay, I just tested a 3 gigabyte Prores HQ file on my Mac Mini in Reaper and it plays back fine.

So I think we're isolating this to a problem with Reaper in Windows. Seems to work fine on the Mac.
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Old 04-25-2019, 02:15 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bjohn View Post
So I think we're isolating this to a problem with Reaper in Windows. Seems to work fine on the Mac.
more specifically I think it's a VLC/FFMPEG inside Reaper problem.

Last edited by Vasto; 04-25-2019 at 02:34 PM.
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Old 05-09-2020, 10:21 PM   #11
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I wanted to give this thread a bump as I've been trying to solve this playback issue myself. I'm running Reaper 6 on Windows 10 and the playback is choppy on 4k footage. Everything edits and renders fine but it's a real pain in the arse trying to fine tune edits and the like and nearly impossible to preview them back with the 4k.
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Old 05-10-2020, 03:29 AM   #12
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I would recommend creating separate video and audio files from the video you're importing and then use those inside REAPER, or at least select "Ignore audio" under "Video file item properties" (Ctrl+F2).

Read Justin's response in this thread from more information as to why.

Essentially, if you have a 25fps 4K (4096x2160) Apple ProRes HQ file with a bit rate of 786Mbps (94MBps) inside REAPER the file will be read twice - one read for the video stream and one for the audio stream - both at roughly 786Mbps, even though the audio stream will be only a few mega bits per second. So your hard drive will need to read at 786Mbps x2 = 1572Mbps (188MBps). If you have dissolves or picture-in-picutre in your edit then that will double to 3144Mbps (376MBps) during the dissolves/PiP. Your system will also have to be up to the task of processing this data throughput.

Justin did mention that the operating system (Windows) cache "should" service the separate read requests, but I haven't seen it work.

I use an FFmpeg script outside of REAPER to separate the video and audio into 2 files - a video .mov, and audio .wav. This is done without re-encoding the video or audio - it's a stream copy. Another method, which can be done within REAPER, can be found here.

To be honest I actually use another FFmpeg script to re-encode whatever video I wish to import as an HD (1280x720) ProRes Proxy video file and a separate audio file as I use a 10 year old Mac Pro, Boot Camped with Windows 10, with VLC as the decoder within REAPER. Having separate files for video and audio files drastically reduces the system overheads on my computer.
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Old 03-20-2021, 03:45 PM   #13
Sraj
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Default Impossible Smooth Playback with ProRes

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vasto View Post
Hi there,

I'm sorry for opening the nth thread about this, but I'm really going crazy with that issue and I've really tried anything written here and on the wiki.

Basically it seems impossible for me to make Reaper play smoothly any video file except low bitrate h264.

I'd need to work with ProRes files so here's the basic things I've done:

- changed container from .mov to .mkv: unsuccessful
- scaling from 2160 to 1080, but still: unsuccessful
- deleted the FFMPEG.dll, moved the latest ffmpeg shared into /plugins: unsuccessful
- substituted VLC with MPC-H: unsuccessful
- VLC setup to use openGL and/or DirectX (restarted after changin): unsuccessful

ProRes files are generate with FFMPEG itself (prores_ks 422 HQ)

My configuration is:
CPU: i9-9900K (liquid cooling)
RAM: 32gb 3000mhz
GPU: RTX2080
SSD: Samsung EVO

OS: Windows 10
SW: Reaper (latest)

Should I just give up and convert everything in low bitrate h264 to achieve a smooth playback in Reaper?

Best
Convert The (prores_ks 422 HQ) to (Pro Res 422 LT) , and always avoid (h264)
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