Tips for Optimizing Video Playback

When using Pro Tools to play video files, the quality of the playback is dependent on the following:

Speed of your computer and hard drive

Size (in pixels) of the video file

Quality of the video hardware used to capture and play back the digitized video

Codec and level of compression used

For more consistently smooth video playback, here are some suggestions:

Use an Avid video peripheral.

Use the fastest computer possible.

Set Scrolling option to None (Options > Scrolling > None).

Recompress the video at a reduced pixel dimension, for example 320 x 240 pixels to 640 x 480 pixels.

Use a video clip with less compression (heavily compressed files require more processor speed to decompress for display).

Hide the video track when not needed (or change from Frames to Blocks view).

Ensure that any unnecessary software is not running.

Resize the Video window to a small desktop size, for example by using half size instead of whole or full screen.