Mac Pro

[Rafael Amador]

Think about a RAID for your media.
All the processing power is for nothing if the media is not in time.
Rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Walter Biscardi]

[Themis Gyparis] “a. Is the above mac able to handle these two formats flawlessly? If not too much trouble, please report realtime capabilities and any possible issues. “

What RAID are you going to run? Realtime is all about the RAID, not the Mac Pro. An iMac can edit AVC Intra footage just fine with the proper RAID.

[Themis Gyparis] “b. Is there any kind of hardware I should change or add in order to achieve better performance? “

If you plan to use Color a lot (which we do here) get the ATI 4870 card instead of the nVidia.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media

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[Themis Gyparis]

Thanks, guys. So, what type of RAID would you recommend for flawless workflow?

Themis Gyparis
Happy Trimmmer Production and Post Production Studio

[Walter Biscardi]

[Themis Gyparis] “Thanks, guys. So, what type of RAID would you recommend for flawless workflow? “

There’s no such thing as a “flawless workflow.” There are always issues and a good editor finds ways to work through them.

I run and recommend RAIDs from Maxx Digital. We run several versions of the EVO series here, both 8TB and 16TB models that run from 500 to 750MB/s. You want a RAID 5 box really so your work is protected. Sonnet and Dulce also make outstanding products as well, you can’t go wrong with any of these brands.

https://www.maxxdigital.com

They sell all brands there and can set you up with whatever you need.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media

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[Themis Gyparis]

[walter biscardi] “There’s no such thing as a “flawless workflow.” There are always issues and a good editor finds ways to work through them.”

Well, Walter, if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years it’s exactly that and being able to work my way around the problem has always been one of my strong characteristics. But there’s “flawless” and there’s “flawless”. And what I mean by this is that I can’t afford my possible transition to any new work environment or format, to become the reason of new problems that will reduce my speed or productivity, not even by 1%. That’s why I need to know in advance what’s the deal with this certain Mac Pro. Anyway, thanks for the tips and one more question. If Maxx Digital is not an option, will a RAID within the Mac cover my needs for the moment? What would you recommend?

Themis Gyparis
Happy Trimmmer Production and Post Production Studio

[Shane Ross]

The “flawlessness” of the editing setup and workflow setup is entirely up to the skill level of the technician doing the setup. Someone with little Mac experience and zero FCP experience who wants to set up an edit station, that has potential problems written all over it. You need someone who knows what version of the OS and QT work best, how far to update FCP. What hardware works best with FCP given the footage you will be working with and the delivery format you have as a requirement. Getting advice on the web might help a lot, but if you aren’t technically skilled enough to do this, it won’t be flawless. Want flawless? Hire someone to build and maintain your system. Otherwise know that issues might arise that will slow you down. Even the highly technical people here who know the tech well hit bumps. And while we might know how to handle it, it does slow one down. If you didn’t know, it’ll really nail ya.

Capture cards allow for capture and output of footage. Hey don’t add any RT beyond taking the scaling of anamorphic footage off of the processors and gfx card to allow them to address other things.

Red workflows. You’d better really know what you are doing here because it isn’t an easy straightforward process. If you get your ducks in a row, yes. So learn how to line up those ducks.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Morten]

As a newcomer to RED workflow I can say it is quite a different ballgame.

FCP can slowly import as different ProRes flavors through Log & Capture, but max. at 2K and not the best debayering available. There are quite a lot of free applications on REDs site for primary grading and converting the footage in better quality, but beware that it is a slow process.

I have chosen to import in proxy format into FCP and getting an edit done before converting RED footage in high quality, but still haven’t found a final solution for doing the “on-line”.

– No Parking Production –

Finalcut Studio2, Dual G5, Kona 2, ioHD, X-Raid

[Joe Murray]

You have to build the system that works for your most taxing need (i.e. Red) not your least (i.e. AVC Intra). In both cases though, processor speed is necessary for rendering or transcoding these compressed codecs. The machine you’re looking at is acceptable for both tasks although as you know it’s not the fastest option at this point.

The size and speed of RAID you’ll need is more dependent on how you intend to handle the Red workflow. There are several pathways from proxy to finished product – in my experience some projects will be fine finished with Color and rendered to ProRes, some projects receive color correction by a facility dedicated to that process, and you may find some projects warrant uncompressed HD (mostly commercials for this, so they’re short…)

Do you know where you’ll fit into this range of options? That would guide a recommendation for RAID size and speed.

Joe Murray
Edit at Joe’s
Charlotte, NC

[David Roth weiss]

Joe is right on the money.

Let’s face it, there just aren’t that many hardware options when building a MAC: there’s three choices of procs, about three when it comes to deciding on the amount of RAM, two or three graphics cards, and three manufacturers of video I/O cards. Big deal!!! There isn’t one of these choices that’s gonna make or break you, and none is going to make that big a difference in your overall video editing experience.

Raid is where the real action is.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Themis Gyparis] “And what I mean by this is that I can’t afford my possible transition to any new work environment or format, to become the reason of new problems that will reduce my speed or productivity, not even by 1%”

As Shane notes, you’re switching to an entirely new workflow and environment. Expect your productivity to drop by 25% or more when you’re first starting out in FCP. Unless you go out and get yourself a bunch of training right now.

[Themis Gyparis] “f Maxx Digital is not an option, will a RAID within the Mac cover my needs for the moment? What would you recommend? “

I do not use or recommend internal RAIDs for editing with FCP. Others do, I do not, I only run external RAID storage.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media

“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” now in Post.

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