More Mac Pro Stuff

[Jim Curtis]

I ordered a 24-core w/ AMD2 the day they went on sale. After I installed 256 GB of OWC RAM, I had invested around $15K. I already had a super-fast 8-drive ATTO SAS RAID on my MacPro5.1, which I installed in the new Mac.

I use Premiere, and I’m very happy with the speed and the money spent. The GPU stays pretty maxed out on flavors of MP4 source media, but I still get inferior real-time on accelerated effects to what I got in my older MacPro cheesegrater with Nvidia Titan CUDA GPU (on codecs and frame sizes that played nice with that computer model). I get better performance with OpenCL (which Adobe calls “Deprecated”) to Metal (which Adobe calls “Recommended”): more yellow and less red in the timeline render indicator.

I’m hoping that Adobe will figure out how to optimize Metal to approach the capability of CUDA (now unavailable in the 2019 and 2020 updates) before too much longer. I’m hoping my hope isn’t delusional.

As I get more 4K and lately 8K as source media, upgrading was practically a must (I’m a full time contract post provider). Some compressed 4K on the trash cans is frustrating, and totally untenable on older MacPros without resorting to proxy workflows.

I recently cut a RED RAW 8K source project in which the footage played as smooth as butter at 1/2 resolution with Lumetri color correction effects and downscaling to 4K applied.

Biggest disappointment is that the new MacPros require Catalina, which still has problems at 10.15.3. I’m rebooting about as much as I did under OS9, and have had to reinstall it FOUR TIMES. This isn’t unusual, though. Most versions of OSX had problems until the builds got to 10.x.5 or later.

Jim Curtis
jamesphilipcurtis.com

MacPro7,1 24-core – 256 GB RAM – AMD Radeon Pro Vega II 32 GB – 10.15.3

[Morten Carlsen]

Jim,

the single most important thing is (Hope I am not mentioning the obvious)

1. Do NOT and I repeat DO NOT and NEVER use the Migration Assistant to transport data
2. Boot in to recovery mode and disable the security stuff. (I know that one is reluctant but I had to do this for my 3rd pty plugs to even work.
3. Never install Catalina as an update – Clean Install and manually copy over the files needed. DO NOT copy preferences etc. Set it all up new. (It sucks I know but will save time in the long run)

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[Jim Curtis]

Morten, you’re late with your good advice as far as I’m concerned. I received the new Mac in December and did a clean install of all my apps and plugs (and dealt with the security back and forth). I may have used Migration Assistant to copy my Documents, but I know not to use it to copy User settings because that brings over a bunch of useless and obsolete crap that’s been on my Macs for decades that resides in the Library folder. It took me a full day to do clean installs of all the apps and plug-ins I use. Since it was over the solstice holiday, I had time to kill. All third-party plugs work except for two that are 32-bit. Those need to be updated by the developers.

The only issues I’ve had since then I can attribute to the OS are: Finder disappearing, App Switcher GUI on wrong display, Mail messages show no content, Adobe apps not hiding or not coming to foreground. Once, my admin User settings vanished – the Mac reverted to what you see when you start up a new Mac. That was the worst, but since I’m experienced and keep clones, I was able to copy my User folder from the clone and get back in business.

Now, contrary to your advice, I’m recommending that people use the Apple Utility to reinstall Catalina when problems attributable to the OS persist. Since Drive Genius, Disk Warrior, and other OSX utilities aren’t yet available for Catalina, if Disk First Aid doesn’t fix it, a reinstall probably will. I have Gb internet, and a reinstall now takes about 20 minutes – not bad considering how long it used to take on prior builds and regular DSL internet.

I should point out that a reinstall of the OS does NOT wipe out User settings, documents, apps, or plug-ins. It just re-writes the OS. That’s void, obviously, if the user erases the disk before the reinstall.

I’ve been doing full time post production from a home office for 25 years (after 15 years of various production and post staff jobs). I’ve yet to miss a deadline or encounter any job-stopping computer or application issue. I can’t always take a full day off to do clean installs of everything. I have to get back in business long enough to meet deadlines.

While I always appreciate good advice, there is often more than one way to skin a cat.

Jim Curtis
jamesphilipcurtis.com

MacPro7,1 24-core – 256 GB RAM – AMD Radeon Pro Vega II 32 GB – 10.15.3