FCP Mac Pro RT problems

[John Pale]

Neither Avid nor FCP does hardware acceleration anymore. Too expensive for the r& d and support, and considering the computers are getting faster exponentially each year the accelerators would get obsolete too fast. Both Avid and FCP are now dependent on the host CPU and GPU. The hardware is just for input/output.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[David McClave] “It just strikes me that the technology should be so far beyond this by now – given that the old 9600 + Avid was so advanced 15 years ago, eh?”

It wasn’t all that advanced. You were working with what is in essence dv quality or less. It was highly compressed back then. Like I said, if you want that speed, offline in dv, you will be blown away.

Also, pony up for a Smoke system. It will cost you way more than $1500 but the performance is outstanding.

You still get what you pay for. That hasn’t changed.

Jeremy

[Declan Smith]

I don’t believe FCP uses much of the CPU. I have early 2009 mac pro, dual 4-core, snow leopard, and FCS3.

When FCP is running (or rendering) the CPU’s hardly get off the floor. All this CPU power does appears not to be utilised by FCP.

After effects CS4 is much the same, but at least I can fire up multiple rendering versions on the same machine and run the CPU’s flat out to render.

Declan Smith
https://www.madpanic.tv
FCS3 / After Effects CS4 / Combustion / Canon 7D / Canon XL2

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Declan Smith] “I don’t believe FCP uses much of the CPU.”

Most of it doesn’t, but you can see glimpses of what it might be some day. If you read this blog post and check the screen cap, you will see the cores cranking on Snow Leopard, but it’s for log and transfer, which is one of the newest pieces of the FCP puzzle. Hopefully, all of FCP will get written like this some day.