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FCPX performance – codecs and external IO hardware
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[Helge Tjelta] “The point is, not all codecs support segmentation or multi-core use. And some programs utilise this very much, hence FCPX is so insane efficient with ProRes.”
But FCPX shouldn’t take a performance hit when using 3rd party I/O gear. Something is wrong with FCPX’s real-time playback engine.
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[andy patterson] “But FCPX shouldn’t take a performance hit when using 3rd party I/O gear. Something is wrong with FCPX’s real-time playback engine.”
I think a lot more is being done internally by FCPX when presenting a signal to the device than other apps do. That’s likely part of the issue here. For example, I have 4K video in a 4K timeline, but the UltraStudio is a 1080 HD device. FCPX takes care of the scaling to send a full frame image out to my 1080 monitors. The same situation using Premiere Pro results in a black screen. In Resolve I have to set the output of the timeline to 1080 in order to see full screen video. Otherwise I see a 1080 window of the 4K image.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[andy patterson] “It seems like you would want to contact BMD and Apple both to correct the problem.”
That won’t fix the problem in the short term.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
New Mac Pro, 8 core, 64GB Ram, d700 GPU and a blackmagic ultrastudio 4k via thunderbolt 2, all media on gtech studio xl at raid 5 via thunderbolt 2. Using Red epic-w raw media in 4K, performance is ok in FCPX. JKL is sluggish and stutters. same footage as prores LT, performance is snappy and quick. JKL is ok, but not as good as via hdmi. Anything above 4K, performance with Red footage slows to a crawl. With prores, audio sync via playback out of a separate USB audio I/O device is fine.
In premiere cc, Red media doesn’t play at realtime via same device. Frame rate suffers unless quality is dropped to 1/8, which leaves it almost useless as images are blocky and poor. With prores, performance improves but not as snappy as FCPX. JKL with prores has stuttering performance in reverse. With premiere, audio sync is lost – weird and frustrating – means we can’t output a 10bit image with audio sync via an external audio device in premiere. Hdmi is much better.
I/O performance needs to be better via thunderbolt with raw, and with prores – agreed. Perhaps expectedly, best performance is found with davinci, especially when you customise your Red debayer settings.
Co-owner at Pollen Studio
http://www.pollenstudio.co.uk -
[Oliver Peters] “I think a lot more is being done internally by FCPX when presenting a signal to the device than other apps do. That’s likely part of the issue here. For example, I have 4K video in a 4K timeline, but the UltraStudio is a 1080 HD device. FCPX takes care of the scaling to send a full frame image out to my 1080 monitors. The same situation using Premiere Pro results in a black screen. In Resolve I have to set the output of the timeline to 1080 in order to see full screen video. Otherwise I see a 1080 window of the 4K image.”
You should not get a black screen because Premiere Pro does the exact same thing with 4K timelines to a 1080P monitor using the Intensity Shuttle. There is no real-time performance loss when using Premiere Pro on a PC. You have to go into the settings to scale down. Watch my video link below at 5:30. Premiere Pro can out put 4K timelines to IEEE DV converter as well. Let me know if it works for your Mac after watching the video.
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[andy patterson] “Watch my video link below at 5:30. Premiere Pro can out put 4K timelines to IEEE DV converter as well. Let me know if it works for your Mac after watching the video. “
You are correct. The “scale down” in the set-up menu fixes that. Thanks.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
Could you use a thunderbolt to HDMI adapter? We connected a Ninja Blade to HDMI to record the screen and lost my second monitor. When I used the adapter I had 3 monitors including the Ninja. This is from a 2013 mac pro.
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[Brian Seegmiller] “Could you use a thunderbolt to HDMI adapter?”
That function is what the CalDigit dock that I was using provides. It’s also what the BMD UltraStudio does, but of course, drivers certainly affects its function. The dock is a pass-through.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Oliver Peters] “You are correct. The “scale down” in the set-up menu fixes that. Thanks.”
Thanks for letting me know it worked.
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I can confirm the issue of FCPX performance when using AV-output via a video interface (BMD / AJA). No machine, no software or OS-version makes any difference for me. It’s the number one issue I’ve had with the app since day 1.
I talked to one of the guys behind “that shared storeage” for FCPX at IBC last year and he confirmed my issue also. Even one of the presenters there editing a feature in FCPX noted “outstanding performance” (as long as AV-output was turned off).
It’s really crap and defiantly is a deal breaker for me. It astounds me they haven’t fixed it by now as the FCPX engine aside from this massive omission is an amazing piece of technology.
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