FCP rendering

[Shane Ross]

Faster drive arrays and faster processor speeds are what get you faster render times and more RT performance. Some capture cards add more RT performance with some codecs (HDV, DVCPRO HD) but not too considerable. Mainly the drive arrays and the processor.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Cromwell Karlon]

So you’re saying the more I RAID (2 vs. 4 drive)
the faster my render times and encoding?

[Jeremy Garchow]

[dantewaters] “So you’re saying the more I RAID (2 vs. 4 drive)
the faster my render times and encoding?”

No. Renders and encode times will go faster if the media is reading/writing to fast RAID, but it won’t go up exponentially like you suggest.

Jeremy

[Ben Holmes]

[dantewaters] “the faster my render times”

No. Render times are MOST effected by faster processors and adequate RAM. Faster drives will allow quicker read/write times which will speed the process a bit. The increased RT performance of faster drives is the so-called multistream ability of a fast array to play more than 1 stream of video (access multiple files on the drive simultaneously). The system will still need to render these re-sized/treated streams in the canvas, which AGAIN is most helped by a quick system, not array. Most of the time, your array will not need to access many streams of video, beyond a video and render file, so it’s all a bit of a sales gimmick after a certain point (say 2-3 streams RT).

Certainly a faster array will be more reliable for capture and playback, better for scrubbing etc. but if you are working (say) in SD there is a limit to how fast an array you will need – most of the time a single FW800 array will perform nearly as fast as a much more expensive array in MOST circumstances for a single system. You need enough speed for reliability in capture and playback, but NO ARRAY will make your renders magically quicker (not in any significant way, say 20% quicker or twice as fast).

Ben

PS – Probably get flamed for some if this…

Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd

EVS & FCP specialists for live OB operations.

New HD edit/slomo truck on the road this month. Dual FCP systems/6 slomo positions.

[Shane Ross]

[Ben Holmes] ”
PS – Probably get flamed for some if this..”

I don’t think so. A RAID will increase performance, but only so far. I haven’t taken notes as to how fast renders were on a 2 drive RAID versus a 4 or 5 drive RAID. But there will be a plateau of how fast they are. And they are more dependant on processor and RAM. Just note that the increased READ/WRITE speeds of the raid will beat a single drive any day of the week. Firewire definately.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Cromwell Karlon]

So you are all saying at a 2.7ghz powermac with 4gigs of RAM is slow
seeing as how the encoding of a DVD 1hr 30mins takes 2hrs+?

I would like to see dvd’s done in 1hr maybe 45mins

I must admit my imac 2ghz with 1.5gigs seems faster but it’s not like woahhh it more like 20mins or so…

My question then is what would all of you do in a situation where you wanted more out of your hardware?

[Shane Ross]

[dantewaters] “So you are all saying at a 2.7ghz powermac with 4gigs of RAM is slow
seeing as how the encoding of a DVD 1hr 30mins takes 2hrs+?”

Yes…or longer, depending on your source format. HDV, even longer. I remember that a DVCPRO HD sequence, 95 min in length, took 18 hours to encode…on my Dual 2Ghz Powermac with 3.5GB RAM. Same length with the 2.7Ghz took 14 hours.

Our solution? To buy a capture card (Kona LH) and a DVD-Recorder and output in real time.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Cromwell Karlon]

Shane… that’s funny output in real time… I like that.
But on a budget not to say anything under 200 but lets say under 2grand
What else could one do if projects just have to get down as they come in?

I mean the 2.7 is no slouch I can still use the system as it encodes.
But I know the powermac has to have more strength to it, or is it that
it can take the load and no buckle?

[Cee Dee]

i agree with ben. faster cpu = faster rendering.

even this quad 2.5 g5 is taking long to render dvcprohd… i need 8 core NOW. magic bullet look suite + misfire takes long

[Bret Williams]

When you say Powermac, just what are you talking about? I assume G5, but I’m not sure. You say iMac earlier, but are you talking intel or ppc?

You say 1 30 DVD, but what kind of encoding? Are you using 1 pass CBR or 2 pass VBR? There just aren’t any arbitrary numbers here.

And if you’re exporting from the timeline, is it rendered? You can export an uncompressed timeline, but it’s got to render the timeline as it goes along, THEN compress the DVD.

And why did you say the real time output thing was “funny.” That wasn’t a joke he made. You buy a real time card like Kona 3. You hook up a DVD burner and press play. DVD done. No rendering (for most part) and no compressing. But my suggestion is that since you’re coming close enough to real time that a DVD burner / Kona would be a useless expense if you’re on ANY budget.

To me, the compressing of the DVD is kinda trivial. It’s the design of the DVD that takes days. Menus, interfaces, heirarchy, etc. So yeah, if you’re just burning client one-offs, go buy a burner. Me, I’m kinda embarrassed to hand a client a DVD with those computer-like burner menus. Drop it in a DVD SP template. And for that matter, just use DVDSP to burn it unless you need something other than the aiff audio.

Lots of options here.