Choosing a Mac Pro & Card for a 4k-ready v2.1 install

[Floh Peters]

Regarding 4k output: right now there are not many devices that support 4k inputs; personally I think when 4k devices will be cheap enough to be used in a wide range, there probably will be a new connector or way to hook them up (like HDMI+ or something like that). So if you don´t need 4k output now, I probably would go with a card that supports your analog input options.

You can work with 4k material in a Media 100 4k timeline and get a HD output through e.g. a Kona3 card, though, which makes it easy to work with 4k timelines now.

An 8core MacPro is pretty fast for that, since playback uses a lower res decode anyway. Rendering will be speeded up by the number of CPUs you have, of course, unless you put a RedRocket card into your MacPro. The RedRocket card is the only one that will do acceleration for Red material debayer & decoding right now.

[Maxwell Federman]

Hi Floh–

I have another question–

So far your REDCODE tutorials have been very helpful in securing investors in my upcoming RED cameras venture…

…I’m wondering what type of Mac Pro you used to do the edits demonstrated in your video; in terms of 8 or 12 core, chip GHz, and the amount of RAM ect.

I was able to find a used 8-core 2.8GHz with 10 GB RAM from a local seller for only $1,300 USD and so far I am very very happy with the productivity increase– just wondering if from your experience you may know if the REDCODE editing will be ok on this system or if I may be setting myself up for embarrassment when I import the clips in a few weeks(?)

Thanks again man!

Maxwell Federman
Owner

Capitol City Media
Austin, TX USA

http://www.capitolcitymedia.com

[Floh Peters]

The tutorials were done on a newest Generation MacPro with 8 cores+HyperThreading, with 8GB of RAM at the time of the recording. But I also have edited Red footage on my MacBook Pro (last generation), which actually worked nicely, as well as on a 3 year old MacPro. Of course the newer the system the quicker the rendering times for conversions; but depending on your project and the way you tell a story you don´t need too much rendering at all, especially since you can start editing with the Red files immediately.

Of course if you do complex sequences with many layers you will get into rendering, and depending on your needs probably a RedRocket card would be a good investment then. But if you don´t need to render much during your “regular” editing, this will not change much with Red footage (until you finish your movie/export it/master it to tape or whatever)

I would suggest that you search for some R3D clips on the web and give it a try for yourself to get an idea how well this works.

[Gregg Michaels]

Hi Floh. I’m embarking on a RedOne 4K project, and I’m getting all kinds of Media100 errors when I try to render a 4K clip inside a 1080Psf program. You mentioned using the Kona3 to output a 4K program in high def, I was wondering how you do that in M100. I can see the program via the Kona3 in its low res form, but I don’t have an option to render it to full quality when I’m in a 4K timeline.

GM

[Floh Peters]

What kind of errors do you get when you place the 4k clip in a 1080 timeline? It works fine for me…
If you want to deliver HD, you should start with a 1080 timeline and drop your 4k clips into it. This way you should be able to get good realtime performance and full quality HD output once rendered.

[Gregg Michaels]

Hi Floh. I have the render errors cleared up, with a bad preference and project file.

I was using a 1080 timeline with my 4K footage, while rendering, that’s when I would experience the errors.

I was questioning your comment earlier in this thread referring to possibly using the Kona3 to output to 1080. You mentioned using a 4K timeline to output in High Def. I thought perhaps there was a hardware based downconvert that I wasn’t aware of. I think that I misunderstood your comment.

Thanks for the response.