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A guide to realtime performance
We work in a Broadcast environment using Digital Betacam for SD production. Working anwhere from HDV to Sony SR in HD.
I know it is a difficult question to answer but I am having trouble getting a indication of the realtime perfomance of Premier Pro on a given system.
At this stage I am not contimplating a io card with hardware FX (ie. Matrox AXIO). I want to see what a the system is capeable of. I understand this is a complicated issue. Depends on processors, RAM, video card, format, storage…etc…etc…etc. But there has to be some kind of general rule or guide line.
On the a Xenon with 2 processors (something like 3.4Ghz) and with a dual channel fibre storage (ie Huge Systems). What kind of realtime performance could I expect in:-
1.Uncompressed 10-bit SD PAL
2.HDV (Working native. Which I dont know if it does. New FCP does so I guess this will too soon).
2.Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 HD 1080
3.Uncompressed 10-bit 4:4:4 RGB Dual-link 1080How many streams of footage could I play in realtime? How many graphics layers? How many effects (Keying, CC etc.)? I understand given the variables that it not possible to give an exact answer. But I would appreciate a guide as to what is possible.
OR.
If anyone has a example of there system and performance, that would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Denzel
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3 Replies
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Premiere Pro doesn’t really support real time effects natively. You would need the video hardware to do that, such as the Axio (which is very expensive) or the Decklink (not so much, but not much realtime).
I don’t know that the Axio supports dual-link. The Decklink board does, however.
If you want lots of realtime effects, you would probably be better off taking the money you would use to buy an Axio and buying a Dual G5 2.5 Ghz system with a Decklink board, thus getting everything you want, realtime + dual-link, for less money. The G5 Decklink is also a more mature solution.
Setting up a G5 system would be far easier as well… unless you’re a dabbler, you’d do well to stay away from a PC solution for HD right now.
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Thanks for the Advice. I actually put this post in the Final Cut Pro forum as well as I am considering a G5 as well.
But am finding it really hard to get a general idea of the performance of the any systems! And no FCP reseller in the area has a decent system.
I understand they dont do hardware FX and there are alot of variety of system configurations. But surely there is some general rule? Or if someone can let me know the perfomance of a systm they are running.
Can anyone help?
Denzel
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Hi Denzel
The only rule is playback without FX. If your disk system can handle it then you can play it back with little or no FX.
However you will be lucky to find a hard drive subsystem that can deliver more than two streams of HD with audio and graphics (370MB/sec).
The Axio is worth while looking at because it uses a software CODEC, even though it’s a hardware solution. Because it’s software it’s adaptable and upgradable. I don’t think it’s fair to compare and Axio with a Decklink as the Decklink is little more than a frame buffer whereas the Axio is a video engine for Premiere Pro.
I have used the Axio and found it to be the multi-steam solution that is missing from the market today – it really fills the gap between AVID and the frame buffers.
Do yourself a favour and get a test drive.
Paul
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