Panasonic Varicam 4k/2k P2 Footage with Avid MC 8.4 on 2009 8 core Macpro slow as @$%^! Any thoughts

Avid Media Composer

Panasonic Varicam 4k/2k P2 Footage with Avid MC 8.4 on 2009 8 core Macpro slow as @$%^! Any thoughts

Posted by Derm Carberry on March 18, 2016 at 5:28 pm

I’m linking to the 2k sub recorder lower res footage from the Pana v35.
All works well until I start building a larger seq of over 20mins then
the system rebels. Up to 20mins to open the sequence.

Setup: 2009 Mac Pro, MC 8.4 , 4gb Fibre on isis system, 4 users sharing.

Any thoughts?
thanks
Derm

Robert Ober replied 10 years, 1 month ago 3 Members · 4 Replies
4 Replies

Shane Ross
March 18, 2016 at 5:37 pm

LINKING TO? Didn’t transcode? Linking always makes the system sluggish. Avid prefers Avid media, if you link to footage, you are dealing with the camera originals, and some decoding might need to take place in real time. And you are using a 7 year old computer…that does matter. Transcoding, or even consolidating if there’s a compatible Avid codec to the footage will make things better.

Shane
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Robert Ober
March 20, 2016 at 12:24 am

Also, how much memory? Work better with a local SAS array?

Even though it’s the lower res it could be h.264 which is still hard to decode. Unlike most(all?) other edit packages, Avid does not use the GPU for accelerating playback.

I have a 2009 MacPro that handles 4k pretty well but I do prefer to use Resolve to give me DNxHR or DNxHD from the camera originals then I relink after picture lock. On the MacPro I have 24GB RAM, SAS RAID 0, and a GTX Titan.

Hope that helps,
Robert

Robert A. Ober
IT Consultant, Vidcaster, & Freelancer
http://www.infohou.com
Houston, TX
Derm Carberry
March 20, 2016 at 11:17 am

Thanks for the replys,

There is 16gbs of RAM, no h.264. The format is AVC-Intra 2K422 from the sub recorder of the Panasonic V35.

I have consolidated my show sequence and that works great! The problem now is bin matching as I continue to edit. Can only manually retrieve the bin to change selects.

d
Robert Ober
March 20, 2016 at 5:37 pm

[Derm Carberry] “There is 16gbs of RAM, no h.264. The format is AVC-Intra 2K422 from the sub recorder of the Panasonic V35.”

AVC-Intra IS h.264. It is intra frame as opposed to the long GOP formats that cheaper cameras use. I have a HPX-300a that shoots AVC-Intra.

The intra frame formats compress each frame individually and are easier to decode/playback than the long GOP (Group Of Pictures) formats and much less prone to artifacts.

Glad it’s working better,
Robert

Robert A. Ober
IT Consultant, Vidcaster, & Freelancer
http://www.infohou.com
Houston, TX

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