Apple Prores 422 Codec dropping frames

[Jeff Bernstein]

Woe Nelly! Let’s keep everything in perspective here. If we look at raw performance numbers, take a look at barefeats, the computational power between a PowerPC Quad and an Intel Quad is VERY close. Moreover, the Intel chips lack the killer Altivec processor of the G5. While the Intel chips have SSE2, it pales in comparison.

Thus, one would have to presume that Apple has NOT bothered to optimize the codec for the PowerPC. A codec is usually a perfect candidate to have its math vectorized. This is what Altivec does.

I would recommend sending “feedback” to Apple to get the codec optimized for PowerPC.

Jeff

[Ian Webb]

What’s interesting is that Apple provide an intermediate vector programming library so that you don’t have to write “bare metal” code for each chipset.

If the Quad genuinely can’t keep up (I’ve yet to see anyone confirm it can’t), then it would appear that Apple didn’t use it’s own libraries and wrote SSE3 optimized code exclusively. That’s a little lazy in my opinion.

[Tunaking]

After more testing, it seems that only the ProRes (non-HQ) is possible on the Quad G5. I did hit dropped frames on the HQ.

[Carey Dissmore]

I tried capturing some analog component 720p on my PowerPC G5 Quad 2.5ghz/8GB RAM/Multibridge Extreme to the ProRes422 (non-HQ) codec. What I got was a 640×360 video instead of 1280×720. (halved).

I did NOT do exhaustive testing as I was in a hurry. Can anyone else share their experiences with the Quad G5 and ProRes 422 digitizing?

[Walter Biscardi]

[Carey Dissmore] “did NOT do exhaustive testing as I was in a hurry. Can anyone else share their experiences with the Quad G5 and ProRes 422 digitizing?”

It doesn’t work in HD and I’m not sure if it works in SD either. You must have an Intel Mac Pro to capture in ProRes 422.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.

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