OSX 10.6 + FCP7 + Avid Unity = 1 Giant Headache

[Kira Hammond]

Hi Folks,
I know this is an old post but some helpful tips. Feel like I’ve seen and dealt with it all when it comes to network storage and video:

All SANs and NAS for that matter suffer from some degree of the following:
– permissions issues
– performance issued due to hitting the max bandwidth
– indexing problems (can’t search for files)

OK so the work around for the following:
– permissions issues
– easiest fix is what the other users say, locally save file. Then move back to the SAN at end of the day for safe keeping. JUST the project file. The data, renders, all of that is A-OK to keep on the SAN. I wanted to note this is NOT just Unity, it’s all SANs, XSan too.

– OK to really fix it you’ll need to get into setting up GUIDs and UIDs and a server side ACL (access control list) which will manage who “owns” a file, and avoid the file locking. It’s something your IT Admin could do for you. It sits in-front of the SAN and plays traffic cop essentially. Xsan was happy with this. Unity you have to be kinda sneaky on, as it’s not supported. Avid dodges the permissions issues through dongle authentication and if you dig down all the files have the same UID and GUID so wa-la no permissions issues. Check the file owner through the command line not the OS, if you find a locked file check the owner. Then you can go to that machine and adjust it’s

– Alright I admit I did a hack once in a small shop that worked, change ALL the machines to the same GUID and UID. It works, avoids 90% of permissions issues. Your IT person will hate you.

– Performance issue
– My personal pet peeve, I haven’t found a SAN or NAS yet that actually publishes bandwidth that’s accurate for the real-world. I used the AJA I/O tester ahead of time to make sure for the CODEC, fps, and audio I’m using the system can handle it. It’s free on AJAs site. Don’t forget to account for ALL the other content you are accessing over the SAN, example: motion graphics which might be in a completely different CODEC esp if you need transparency, alpha stuff only available in a few CODECs.

– Use fiber. Seriously for the amount of headaches you’ll have with Ethernet it’s just not worth it for the common Joe/Jane. Can you get Ethernet to work reliably? Yes, but again time v. money fiber is the way to go.

– Indexing problems
– OK yet another one where there seems to be as of yet no good solution. Issue you’ve got probably hundreds of thousands of files how to index them so you can search for stuff. Neither Unity for Xsan have good solutions. The Unity version is buy this DS system, btw it costs like 50k, or you can buy Interplay it’s around 150k.

– So as of yet there’s no “out of the box” solution to search for files on a SAN that’s reliable.

I will say that I find Unity and FCP very stable in the broad scheme of things, I disagree with the folks saying otherwise.

I would choose Unity over Xsan any day in terms of stability.

In terms of sheer bandwidth performance, flexibility, and cost StorNext is hands-down the winner.

Now if only Xsan would get off Bonjour and DHCP authentication which is about as reliable as the weather man…. I could actually recommend it, as is I cannot in all good faith do so.

I think all three StorNext, Unity, Xsan require an on-site tech guru. Which is lame really. Unity is the easiest to admin of all 3 but the least flexible and lowest sheer bandwidth so yuck there.

For a more hands-off “we have no technical folks on-staff” situation I recommend FiberJet or TerraBlock. Yes I have setup both and left the places to run on their own- no call backs. Amazing!

The Unity niggly things to bite you in the arse:
– VERY dependent on the correct versions of drivers, OS, Ethernet and Fiber Connection clients. It’s worth a support call to Avid, have them use their Log Me In account and go over your Unity with a fine-tooth comb to make sure there’s nothing in conflict.

**Also check your Service Pack on the Windows Unity server, something they forget to mention sometimes.

If you have Ethernet connection issues remember restarting the Port Service is your best friend!

– Naming convention for the Unity drives is super dooper key. You can’t stray even a space or an underscore from what Avid wants. FCP could care less you can call a drive Whoop De Do and FCP is fine, but all your Avid clients will freak out, or have weird stability issues.

– Bandwidth! Remember it’s cumulative too! So if you’ve got one person ingesting HDCAM tapes they are seriously killing your bandwidth. There’s a great chart on the Avid Unity site about what to expect.

I have a feeling what that one person is mentioning with the 30% less deals with the fact that the Avid CODECs (both blessing and curse) is they are specifically meant to work with the Unity architecture to maximize the bandwidth- they are super efficient.

I have a feeling your performance issues are related to two factors:
– not transcoding the footage, so on the fly FCP is chucking over to the video card the real-time conversion. Transcoding to Pro Res is great. Just an FYI the AJA Ki Pro records in Pro Res so if it’s a tape house, just rent one and have em’ dump their tapes directly to Ki Pro. Fast, easy, no rendering involved.

– check your FCP settings. With great range of options comes great complexity. But here’s some settings to keep in mind:
a) Real time tracks, lower it to up performance. More rendering but better playback less stress to video card.

b) CLOSE sequences. FCP has to keep those files up and active if the timeline is open. CLOSE any you aren’t using. This seriously helps.

c) How big is your project file? Project files can creep up in size, I find major instability if a project file is over about 50MB and it happens easily if you’re editor is a digital horder. If this happens convince them to make an “archive project” and move all the old sequences in there. Delete them from the working project file.

For HUGE projects (20+ hours) I use Pro Res Proxy for all the editing (a very picky creative director and client even commented on the high quality considering the heavy compression). Then take that offline, and re-link to the original whatever. Works great on SAN storage that would otherwise be brought to a screeching halt with that much footage in a project, or simply using a less efficient CODEC.

Ya if you have more questions just let me know I have lots of experience here.

Kira

[Jason Byfield]

Wow. That’s one informative post. Thanks for that. I’ve happened to run into most of those problems getting to the point where I’m at.

Just to bring everything up-to-date, my system has been somewhat stable as of late. I took everything to heart and really dug into Avid white papers and utilized our support contract for all it’s worth. Once I had one machine stable, I used the exact same setup for each of the others and so far all has been well.

I started storing projects locally (media on the Unity) and set up an Automator task linked to iCal to copy a dated version of the main project file to a “daily backup” folder on the Unity. Since then I’ve had very little problems and I don’t have to worry about the other editors picking up a project when I need to take a few days off.

I did have an issue where I was getting the dreaded “General Error” in FCP7 so I bounced the project to Premiere CS5 and really haven’t looked back. Now that FCP7 won’t be receiving support from Apple, I’m even considering going back to my roots and using Media Composer again. I just need to get the other editors on board.

Anyway, in closing, thanks everybody for the knowledge. It helped get us through a rough patch (tech transitions are always a beast) and now we’re humming along again.

[Todd Dalton]

Kira, thank you for posting all that amazing stuff!

I’ve also been advised that Unity workspace’s should never go above 1TB… Anyone have any experience of that?

I know that my G-Speed Q raid drives clash badly with Unity because of a driver issue (the ol’ 32/64 bit problem!) so external drives with built-in raid controllers can cause problems.

[Jason Byfield]

I routinely use 1TB+ workspaces and haven’t noticed any wonkiness. Was there a reason behind the recommendation?

[Todd Dalton]

Hi Jason,

The reason was a bit vague but support dept felt that above 1tb the connection can become unstable. 32 bit limitations were mentioned…

So you’ve had no problems with workspace size or even file size? Great news if you haven’t since the same support team set us up with 2 x 3.5tb workspaces which we’ve now filled so no chance of re-allocation!!

It’s a really long story that has played out over a month…

Todd.

[Rhodri James]

How did you eventually fix your missing render issue between FCP and Unity? We’re currently suffering with this issue.

We’re running:
OSX 10.6.8 (32bit kernel)
FCP v7.0.3
Unity Server v5.1.3
Unity 10.6 Client v5.3.3

Thanke in advance.

Rhodri

[Jason Byfield]

Can you go into a bit more detail about your issue? We’ve pretty much dropped all use of Final Cut 7 and now use a mix of about 90% Media Composer and 10% Premiere for all editing tasks.

[Rhodri James]

While in Final Cut and after rendering the entire timeline, if I switch to an app outside of Final Cut and then switch back, I’ll lose the majority of those renders.

Thanks

Rhodri

[Jason Byfield]

If I remember correctly, I had to keep my project file on the local machine to eliminate that issue.

[George Matulik]

Does anyone happen to have the MediaNetwork 5.5.1 installer for Mac?
Thanks