Protools Quicktime video playback “stutters” when output through an Aurora Fuse card.

Background
Beginning with version 5.1, Pro Tools has had a problem with “stuttering” QuickTime video playback when using the Aurora Fuse card. Working closely with Apple and Aurora, our investigation found that this problem was not specific to
any one component, but was occuring during the intricate interaction between three different components, namely Pro Tools software, Apple’s QuickTime software and Aurora’s Fuse card drivers. (Note that we were also able to recreate the stutter using non-Digidesign CPU-intensive applications).
Unfortunately, because of the complexity of this issue, finding a solution has taken more time and effort than we had hoped

Solution:
The good news is that Aurora has been able to make a relatively simple modification to their drivers that significantly reduces the stutter in real-world situations. These new Fuse drivers have been qualified for use with
Pro Tools 5.1/5.1.1 are now available at the urls listed below. Pro Tools 5.1 and Pro Tools 5.1.1 users experiencing this problem should be directed to these websites. (Please direct any of your customers who do not have internet access
to Aurora Video Systems’ Customer Support.)

Be aware that these new drivers are not a guarantee of perfect video playback. Sufficient overloading of the host processor will cause poor video capture and
playback on any system.

Following is the joint public announcement from Digidesign and Aurora Video
Systems:
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Pro Tools users with certain configurations of Pro Tools software, Apple CPUs and Aurora Fuse cards have experienced intermittent stuttering in the output of QuickTime movies to external monitors when their sessions rely heavily on the
host CPU (RTAS plug-ins, automation, track count, edit density). Intensive host processor usage will affect video playback on any system. To mitigate this condition, Aurora has developed new drivers for the Fuse card which dramatically
reduce the stuttering previously seen with processor-intensive applications like Pro Tools.

These drivers are now available for free download from Aurora:
http://www.auroravideosys.com/pub/Aurora_Fuse_2.0.2_Installer.hqx

or from the Digidesign Support/Downloads/Utilities section:
http://www.digidesign.com/download/ptutil.html

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