-
iMac 2011 stuttering when using 3rd party plugins, any hardware (or software) suggestions?
Hi, When using FCX color correcter and a few FCX plugins, my iMac plays back smoothly. Adding Lock & Load stabilization plus CrumplePop ToneGrade results in stuttering playback.
I’d appreciate knowing if there is a (Thunderbolt?) product by Matrox or another manufacturer that would reduce the bottleneck and beef up performance. Drives are 7200rpm, firewire 800.
Also, I’ve tried editing original media, and I’ve “optimized media” and wonder if it’s best to just convert to ProRes422 to begin with?
iMac specs listed below… Any product advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!~ Steve Underwood
Computer: iMac 27″, (Mid 2011), OS X 10.7.5
Processor: 3.4GHz, Intel Core i7, Memory: 24GB
AMD Radeon HD 697OM, FCX 10.06, FCP 7.03
ThunderboltComputer: MacBookPro (Mid 2009), OS X 10.7.5
Processor: 3.06 GHz Intel Core2Duo, Memory: 4 GB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB, Software: FCPX, FCP 7.03 -
8 Replies
-
Does the video stutter when you render the clip?
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
Rendering… Another issue altogether. I was just now able to render the clip and it plays back fine (with ToneGrade & L&L applied), but recently I couldn’t get a single selected clip or the entire timeline to begin rendering. Tried pulldown menu “modify>render clip” (or all), also used shortcut commands. Now it’s rendering just fine…
So, the render time for one (30sec) clip is pretty slowwww. Is that my only option to view tweaked clips smoothly?~ Steve Underwood
Computer: iMac 27″, (Mid 2011), OS X 10.7.5
Processor: 3.4GHz, Intel Core i7, Memory: 24GB
AMD Radeon HD 697OM, FCX 10.06, FCP 7.03
ThunderboltComputer: MacBookPro (Mid 2009), OS X 10.7.5
Processor: 3.06 GHz Intel Core2Duo, Memory: 4 GB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB, Software: FCPX, FCP 7.03 -
Stabilising is one of the most processor intensive operations there is, I’m not surprised it’s stuttering, even on my 8 core Mac Pro I always render stabilised clips first. Also stabilised clips do take much longer to render – there’s a lot of processing involved!
Steve Connor
‘It’s just my opinion, with an occasional fact thrown in for good measure” -
The processing is being done by the graphics card and processor so not sure how a thunderbolt peripheral would help. FW800 isn’t helping you get many rt streams, but since it sounds like you’re just dealing with 1 then that’s not it. Just sounds like you’re asking alot. You’ve got like 5 things going on? Color correction, 2 plugins, lock and load and tone grade? 3rd party is probably the culprit. Might not be optimized for the graphics card, etc.
Have you tried switching to “better performance” in playback settings?
-
Playback is set for “better performance”. My typical plugin scenario usually involves Lock/Load, FCX color correction and ToneGrade.
(Btw, my main focus has been free diving underwater videography w/7D… editing is a steep learning curve at this point.) That said:
“FW800 isn’t helping you get many rt streams, but since it sounds like you’re just dealing with 1 then that’s not it.” Not sure what this means. Can I access more rt streams?
And, would it help to work off another kind of drive (Thunderbolt?) instead of FW800?
I’d asked about hardware solutions. Is a Matrox Mini (or Mini Max w/Thunderbolt adapter) of help here? Seems to focus on encoding chores and HDMI & analog in/out for broadcast quality monitoring…
Any and all guidance is deeply appreciated… – Thanks! ~ Steve -
I have FCPX on 3 systems, the most current being top of line Retina MacBook Pro, and either FCPX’s own stabilization or Tone Grade alone is enough to cause skipping until rendered. Just a lot going on, I think. Perhaps you could use proxies and then render at the end?
Best,
John -
Yeah, you’re asking for RT playback with three plugins involved? All deeply render intensive? Perhaps a faster drive would allow the system to read ahead a bit but I still think this is just processor bottleneck.
A faster drive would make things generally zippier and playback more streams. I use 7D footage alot and I don’t transcode it. Things run just fine for me. I use a Pegasus thunderbolt raid 5 which is about 7x faster than FW800. FW800 limited to about 80Mb/sec. The pegasus is coming in at 400-500Mb/sec.
A matrox/blackmagic/aja etc won’t change any of this. All the processing is done with the processor/gpu.
-
In workflow sequence, will adding Lock/Load as a last step cause quality overall issues? I usually only need to add small amounts.
Bret, Just spoke to Videoguys… In my price range, saw G-Technology G-RAID 4TB with Thunderbolt $599 (https://www.videoguys.com/Item/G-Technology+G-RAID+4TB+with+Thunderbolt/93832323037403.aspx) They said to try it, if it helps keep it, return if not satisfied… Thoughts?
Also (Bret), w/7D&5Dmk3 footage… Is ‘optimize’ performing the same transcode as what I’d do by transcoding beforehand to ProRes422? Also, if I edit w/proxy footage, will I see the actual full detail when sharpening w/ToneGrade or, since it’s smaller file sizes, not an accurate image? I’d prefer to not transcode, of course. Any quality issues other than making the iMac work harder?
Thanks again…
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up