Apple Final Cut Pro 5 - Manual (Page 1297)

510 Part III Output
RT Extreme supports features such as dynamic real-time, multiclip, and native MPEG-2-
based video playback. Real-time effects are displayed in the Canvas, the Viewer, Digital
Cinema Desktop, or on an external video output such as a DV output via FireWire or a
third-party video interface.
Note: Not all codecs are supported by RT Extreme, but the most commonly used ones are.
Most of the effects that come with Final Cut Pro are capable of playing back in real time.
For more information, see “
Supported RT Extreme Playback Codecs ” on page 517.
How Many Effects Can Be Played in Real Time?
Each filter, motion parameter, or effect that you apply to a clip makes greater or lesser
demands on the processing capabilities of your computer or on the video card you’re
using to handle real-time effects playback. Once the total processing demands of all
applied effects exceed the capabilities of your system, you have several options to
improve real-time performance:
 Reduce the playback quality options in the Real-Time (RT) pop-up menu in the
Timeline, or in the Playback Control tab of System Settings.
 Play your sequence using the Unlimited RT mode instead of the Safe RT mode.
 Choose the Play Base Layer Only option in the RT pop-up menu.
 Render any necessary clips before you can play them back.
 Turn off external video monitoring.
About Real-Time Playback Quality
If your computer can’t play back a particular sequence because too many effects or
video streams are playing simultaneously, you can reduce the playback quality of your
sequence to free up more processing power. While you edit, you can use reduced
playback quality, and then choose full-quality for final output to tape.
You can reduce playback quality in two ways:
 Playback video quality: This controls the visual quality of your video frames. The
lower the quality, the more real-time effects your computer is capable of calculating.
 Playback frame rate: This controls how many frames Final Cut Pro can process in real
time. The lower the playback frame rate, the fewer frames Final Cut Pro has to
calculate per second, so more real-time effects can be achieved.
Note: Playback frame rate does not alter the actual editing timebase (frame rate) of
your sequence. This setting only affects playback.