550D Footage playback stutter with fast cuts

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You're off to a good start with the MOV file info and some of your hardware specs, but there are still some key details missing.

Jeff

Can't you use low res clips and then link to the hd clips once the edit is complete?

Based on the information given so far, my best guess is that your system just isn't up to the task.

With this kind of media, ideally you want a fast machine, with an Intel i7 model processor, at least 8GB (and preferably more) RAM installed, and at least three fast hard drives.  I suspect if you had that, there would be no problem.

Don't know if this will help but if you never shoot, you will never hit anything.

Rewrap the .MOV files in a MTS wrapper (leaving the H.264 codec intact). It may be that this step will avoid the 32 bit QT server and its inherent slowdown.

I'm not familiar with the CCCP codec pack, but when I hear the word 'Codec pack' I almost get a severe heart attack. Most of the time it is disastrous, requiring a complete reformat and reinstallation of OS and programs.

Basically when scrubbing you need really fast disks and it appears you do not even have the practical minimum of three physically different 7200 RPM SATA disks installed. One disk will not do.

Just a wake-up call: DSLR is one of the most difficult codecs to handle. It really requires a beefy computer. Second, and that is where a lot of people make mistakes, is that editing requires a lot of disk I/O and the problem with SATA disks is that the connection is half duplex. Traffic is only allowed in one direction at a time, it can't read and write at the same time, so in effect traffic going in one direction must wait for the traffic from the opposite direction to have passed before it can use that single lane. That always causes delays, especially when you take into consideration the Windows housekeeping tasks that also require the use of that single lane.

Just the other day I tested the required sustained transfer rates with a single track AVCHD timeline and it needed around 50 MB/s, with three tracks it went up to around 95 MB/s and with the addition of RED 4K material and some more tracks, it needed more than 300 MB/s transfer rate for simple playback. Scrubbing the timeline requires even more.

Also see http://forums.adobe.com/thread/810750?tstart=0

CS5x edits the footage natively, while iMovie, Final Cut Transcode the material to a less complex codec.

I tested the required sustained transfer rates with a single track AVCHD timeline and it needed around 50 MB/s

Given that the data itself only requires 5 MB/s or less, I find that hard to believe.  You sure you didn't add an extra 0 there?

Single track AVCHD just playing the timeline.

What does this look like:

You can do that in the Bridge.

Single track AVCHD just playing the timeline.

 

What does this look like:

It looks like it's time for you to take some of your own tweaking advice there, Harm.  Here's what I got.

1 stream...

4 streams

That's from a single drive. Yes, it peaked at around 50, probably to fill the cache, but then leveled off to the expected average of 5MB/s for 1 and 20 MB/s for 4.