-
Premiere GPU acceleration
So I installed a new Quadro 4000 in my mac pro. I’m editing a short using 4k r3d’s on a 1080 time line. I was expecting to be able to play back in real time on full quality. That’s what Adobe and others have been boasting about with GPU acceleration. “Multiple layers of HD footage, multiple effects and transitions”. Here’s a video of single layer timeline with 1 or no effects added to the r3d (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEtsIgeyBq4). Is there something that’s going over my head. Playback is non existent. The time code is moving in real time but the image is like 1 frame every 4 seconds. I have to set it to 1/4 quality to get a smooth preview.
Here’s my system specs.
Mac Pro
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3.2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 8
Memory: 16 GB -
18 Replies
-
Kevin,
You have the same identical system as mine. I am sure that you did this already, but have you downloaded the new drivers from NVIDIA? The ones that came with the card need to be updated or it will behave poorly. Also, have you upgraded to OSX 10.6.6 before or after the card install? -
Check on all accounts. How’s playback on your set up?
-
Have you installed the Premiere Pro CS5 (5.0.3) update? That update is required for the CUDA processing features to be used for your card.
Also, tell us more about your drive setup. I find that the bottleneck for 4K R3D footage is often drive speed. For example if you’re reading media from the same disk as the one from which you’re running the OS and applications, things’ll be slow; the same goes for reading media over a relatively slow connection (such as USB).
Most people work with playback resolution set to 1/4 or even 1/8 when working with 4K files. Consider that your computer monitor isn’t even large enough to show all of the pixels in a 4K image, so there’s no point in processing all of those pixels. I work at 1/4 or 1/8 for playback and full for paused resolution.
———————————————————————————————————
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
——————————————————————————————————— -
All my drivers and updates are installed. I have an internal Raid configuration. The clips are on a seperate drive from the OS. Also the 4k files are scaled to fit the 1080 sequence so watching that at 1/8 is very low quality when I want to see how my color correction and effects are blending.
-
Playback resolution is full. Paused Resolution is Full. 24p Conversion is Interlaced Frame. External Device: None. Aspect Ratio Conversion: Hardware If Supported.
-
Playback resolution is full. Paused Resolution is Full. 24p Conversion is Interlaced Frame. External Device: None. Aspect Ratio Conversion: Hardware
-
Yes…CUDA misinformation still abounds…(sigh)
Keep in mind that “HD” is less than 2K…and it isn’t RAW. You have RED RAW 4K…5X HD in pixel count, and faaaar more computation necessary to decode RAW than say DVCProHD (very easy to decode, sub-frame resolution, low bitrate, and what makes up the bulk of most Adobe demos), XDcamHD, or even 10 bit CineForm or ProRes.
Keep in mind that CUDA acceleration takes over ‘effects’ processing for CUDA designated effects…it DOES NOT (I’m going to make a notepad doc with all this typed out as it’s getting to be 2 or 3X a day for me lately)…it DOES NOT DO VIDEO DECODE.
Your CPUs are what needs to do the video decoding…CUDA will belp because now your CPU doesn’t have to do the math for that color correction or other effects and it can focus on video decoding…but the CUDA card will not accelerate straight, unaltered video playback.
I don’t know of anyone who can achieve full frame, full res, full rate 4K RED RAW playback on any desktop system…you can use full res on pause to check things like focus, etc, but even a 30″ DVI-driven LCD only does 2K widescreen pixel-for-pixel, so there really isn’t a way to view it.
The beauty of CS5’s ability to handle RED RAW is not that it plays back at the full frame size, it’s that it will run at 1/4 res and allow you to edit to cut down the scene, in motion and in context while it’s still in RAW and you haven’t had to bake anything in as far as a primary color correction before you convert to some other format like ProRes…or worse, converting, then color correcting on the flattened image format.
You get to cut it, use the Adobe interface or RED CINE to make those primary color corrections that are embedded into the metadata on decode on the -selects- used in your edit because you’ve had the ability to cut it down as RAW…and then you can send something downstream that’s ready for higher end finishing like DPX files with linear or log curves, over-range color values, etc… Which I do not believe is available on any other NLE option (though I will gladly accept correction on that if I’ve overlooked something…).
So…you have a very good workflow there…maybe the best for RED available at the moment…but 4K is still 4K, it’s just a LOT bigger than HD. That doesn’t mean you don’t have a very effective toolset in front of you, just that you have to know what to expect.
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions, -
[Kevin Dietrich] “Also the 4k files are scaled to fit the 1080 sequence so watching that at 1/8 is very low quality when I want to see how my color correction and effects are blending.”
Where the files shot at “HD for 4K” (3840×2160) or regular ole’ 4K (4096×2304) …or are they Mysterium clips shot at 4.5K (4480×1920)?
…and you are using a RED sequence preset so the frame interpretation is correct, yes?
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions, -
Regarding Tim’s comment about misinformation about GPU acceleration:
Yes, there has been a pileup of misunderstandings and miscommunications regarding Mercury, CUDA, and performance in Premiere Pro CS5. That’s why I wrote this. That thread is intended to include definitive, concise answers to the questions that people ask about this subject.
———————————————————————————————————
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
——————————————————————————————————— -
Interesting.. I thought one of the obvious pro’s was to have full CUDA support for heavy formats such as RED RAW and h264 (5D / 7D / AVC). But i guess a CUDA-system (MacPro / Quadro 4000) will still see a nice improvement in RT even with out this.
Does Premier support a RedRocket card for R3D decode and then use CUDA on top of that for processing? Also if you look at a DaVinci setup, they use a GUI and a PROCESSING GPU, how does this work in Premier CS5?
————————
Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Post Production Services
http://www.freecloud.se
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up