-
Mac Pro issue that REALLY bugs me…
Ok gang…
Here’s a question for everyone that owns a G5 and a Mac Pro. Why is it that when a project is edited on a G5, the native video plays in real time and shows a green line at the top of my sequence, but on the Mac Pro, the timeline tells me that the video needs to be rendered but will play in realtime and gives me an orange line?
This ALWAYS occurs with realtime transistions like a simple dissolve. It also occurs when using the Color Corrector 3-way. BUT the G5 shows me something different.
To export a program to disc, I have to render the entire timeline on a Mac Pro, but not on a G5.
_______________________________
Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com -
12 Replies
-
[Wayne Carey] “Here’s a question for everyone that owns a G5 and a Mac Pro. Why is it that when a project is edited on a G5, the native video plays in real time and shows a green line at the top of my sequence, but on the Mac Pro, the timeline tells me that the video needs to be rendered but will play in realtime and gives me an orange line?”
Are you using the same version of FCP on both systems, and what are the specs of each system? This sounds like it has something to do with differences in each system’s profile (for example, does your G5 have 8 Gigs of RAM and your Mac Pro only have 2 or 3?). The orange line means that you have UnlimitedRT on, and that FCP will try to play it back to the best of its ability (if UnlimitedRT was off, this line would be red and you’d see “UNRENDERED” in your canvas when you were playing these sections of the timeline). However, it’s important to note that your footate is not playing back natively on your G5 either. The green line indicates that FCP can play the indicated section of the timeline with preview quality, but this is in no way native/Full quality playback, and should still be rendered. If you go to ‘Sequence::Render Selection’ you can see all the colors and what they represent.
Also note (just in case I read the post wrong), if there’s an orange line over your whole timeline, and you’re expecting your footage to play back natively, your sequence settings may be incorrect.
[Wayne Carey] “To export a program to disc, I have to render the entire timeline on a Mac Pro, but not on a G5.”
I assume you mean exporting a movie from FCP? Can you explain this a little more? Are you getting an error, or a prompt to render? FCP should never render before an export. If it needs to render, it does it as part of the export process, when it hits that section of your timeline.
-Ben
-
[Ben Insler] “Are you using the same version of FCP on both systems, and what are the specs of each system? This sounds like it has something to do with differences in each system’s profile (for example, does your G5 have 8 Gigs of RAM and your Mac Pro only have 2 or 3?).”
I’m sorry… I didn’t specify the system specs.
G5 Dual 2.7 with 4.5 gig of RAM, ATI X800XT, AJA Kona 2, ATTO FC-41XS fiber channel, FCP 5.1.2, Quicktime 7.1.3, Mac OS 10.4.8… all with latest drivers.
Mac Pro Quad 3.0 with 7 gig of RAM, ATI X1900XT, AJA Kona 3, ATTO FC-41ES fiber channel, FCP 5.1.2, Quicktime 7.1.3, Mac OS 10.4.8… all with latest drivers.
[Ben Insler] “The orange line means that you have UnlimitedRT on, and that FCP will try to play it back to the best of its ability (if UnlimitedRT was off, this line would be red and you’d see “UNRENDERED” in your canvas when you were playing these sections of the timeline). However, it’s important to note that your footate is not playing back natively on your G5 either.”
I understand fully what these mean. And let me correct myself, the green line I was talking about is really gray (which means it is native video. The Easy Setup and the sequences all match.)
[Ben Insler] “Also note (just in case I read the post wrong), if there’s an orange line over your whole timeline, and you’re expecting your footage to play back natively, your sequence settings may be incorrect.”
I don’t think so, since these programs are basically offlined on the G5 using DVCProHD and the brought over to my Mac Pro for the finishing. On the G5, I see a lot more gray lines than I do on the Mac Pro. The entire timeline is rendered on the G5 and it will take about 5 – 6 gig of render files. I bring it over to the Mac Pro and now we are talking about 15 -17 gig of render files. Hmmmm…. Doesn’t that sound strange?
[Ben Insler] “I assume you mean exporting a movie from FCP? Can you explain this a little more? Are you getting an error, or a prompt to render? FCP should never render before an export. If it needs to render, it does it as part of the export process, when it hits that section of your timeline.”
No, we use Sony’s XDCAM HD and I will sometimes write it to disc like a regular program that goes to videotape and sometimes I will use Sony’s Export plugin.
All in all, what my arguement seems to be, (my opinion), the Mac Pro has to render more than the G5 with the same materials, same timelines, and same settings. Why is that? I should have to render as much as the G5 but I do.
_______________________________
Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com -
Hi Wayne,
I noticed a similar issue when setting up a Mac Pro with Final Cut Studio, tricked out with a Kona 3, and a MediaVault 1.8 terabyte 4gb array running into a 4gb fibre channel atto card. We were comparing this system to another G5 running the same version of Final Cut 5.1.2, using a second internal Hard Drive as the scratch disk, and the G5 seemed to be “outperforming” the Mac Pro in the way you’ve described above when doing tests under certain circumstances. Anyway, it turned out to be the way our RAM was configured at the time in the Mac Pro and I believe there was some RAM limitation issue with the Atto card. But once the Atto drivers were up to date and we configured the RAM properly by pairing it on each board correctly in the Mac Pro, the Mac Pro no longer gave us the orange render bars where the G5 was giving us the green render bar in comparison. So, long story short, for us it was a ram config issue on the Mac Pro that seemed to inhibit the performance compared to the G5. Hope this helps.
Best,
NathanH
-
Hey Nathan,
The memory configuration did cross my mind. I have it configured the way that ProMax (where I purchased the system) installed it. Can you tell me how yours is configured?
And Walter… if you read this, how is your memory configured in your Mac Pro?
Mine is:
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 1 1 gig
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 2 1 gig
DIMM RIser A/DIMM 3 1 gig
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 4 1 gigDIMM Riser B/DIMM 1 1 gig
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 2 1 gig
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 3 512 mb
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 4 512 mb_______________________________
Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com -
Hi Wayne,
We have 4gigs of ram total in our Mac Pro. Its being used at the moment so I can’t look in the box, but I believe its configured
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 1 1 gig
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 2 1 gig
DIMM RIser A/DIMM 3 empty
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 4 emptyDIMM Riser B/DIMM 1 1 gig
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 2 1 gig
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 3 empty
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 4 emptyI think having unmatched dimm pairs on each riser can give you problems as well as having unmatched risers, such as your 7gig ram configuration.
Here’s a link to some specs apple explains for ram configuration in the Mac Pro when your using FCP:
https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304492
Best,
Nathan
-
I guess as a quick test you could try removing 3.5 gigs of ram from the Mac Pro, configuring it as we have ours with 2gigs paired on each riser. Then see what happens to the performance in FCP.
Best,
Nathan
-
Try swapping the i gig from the 4th slot on A with the 512 on 3rd slot on B, then both sets should be balanced. Let us know how you make out.
Dave Hardy
-
Hi Dave,
I think in Wayne’s current situation he will have to eliminate some of his ram in his configuration to make matched pairs of equal size on each riser, then have both risers matched evenly for this configuration:
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 1 1 gig
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 2 1 gig
DIMM RIser A/DIMM 3 empty
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 4 emptyDIMM Riser B/DIMM 1 1 gig
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 2 1 gig
DIMM RIser B/DIMM 3 empty
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 4 emptyor replace his 512 mb dimms with 1 gig dimms for an 8 gig configuration (8x 1 gig dimms):
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 1 1 gig
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 2 1 gig
DIMM RIser A/DIMM 3 1 gig
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 4 1 gigDIMM Riser B/DIMM 1 1 gig
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 2 1 gig
DIMM RIser B/DIMM 3 1 gig
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 4 1 gigHere’s a quote from apple’s spec sheet for mac pro ram configuration:
“Note: DIMMs must be installed in pairs of equal size from the same vendor. For instance, you must not have one or three DIMMs on either riser at any time. Additionally, two DIMMs from different vendors should not be combined and used as a pair.”
https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304492So if he were to install a 512 dimm on each riser in this configuration:
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 1 1 gig
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 2 1 gig
DIMM RIser A/DIMM 3 1 gig
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 4 512mbDIMM Riser B/DIMM 1 1 gig
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 2 1 gig
DIMM RIser B/DIMM 3 1 gig
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 4 512 mbthen he would be able to match both risers evenly, but he would not have the matched pairs of equal size on each riser.
Its definitely a strict set of circumstances with the Mac Pro ram configuration, but once we followed it, I noticed a positive difference in performance.
Best,
Nathan
-
We have a very similar configuration here (Dual G5 2 Ghz, 4 GB RAM, X800) and MacPro (2.66 GHz, 4 GB RAM, X1900). The MacPro considerably outperforms the G5 now that we removed the original 512 MB modules which we initially left in to have 5 GB. We are considering getting two more 512 MB modules to make them useful again.
It’s like this with the MacPro: paired RAM is a must (or it won’t work), but equal pairs will give you an additional boost.
One thing that springs to my mind: You don’t have accidentially set your FCP on the MacPro to run under Rosetta to make use of older Plug-Ins, or do you?
Regards,
Uli
Author of “DVDs gestalten und produzieren”, a book on professional DVD-authoring in German.
-
[Wayne Carey] “And Walter… if you read this, how is your memory configured in your Mac Pro?”
2 – 1GB sticks on Riser A, 2 – 1GB Sticks on Riser B
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up