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Phillip Bloom goes to the dark side
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I had to prep a feature on an HP Z840.
Just hauling that thing around plus add displays and RAIDs was small apartment moving day 😛 -
[Paul Golden] “FCPX: very smooth. Tried an HEVC export and worked really well. Will probably replace X264 for client WIPS (X264 fails on this machine)”
This caught my attention. Please expand on x264 fails.
Apple doesn’t use x264 so perhaps you’re using something else.
Both Apple’s H.264 and H.265 (HEVC) are their own AFAIK (I know H.264 is their own). -
I’ve been using the X264 encoder for some time now. It’s another component that you can install in the components folder in QuickTime in Library.
Larry Jordan did a deep dive several years ago: https://larryjordan.com/articles/compressor-x264-improve-video/
On iMacs with optimization for H264 it was probably unnecessary, but I found X264 produced better compression with less space and quicker encodes. Especially with my Mac Pro tower and trashcan. With HEVC, it’s probably obsolete. Does anyone know if HEVC is universally readable by Windows & Mac for both desktop and web?
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When I mean it fails, I created a Compressor setting with X264 and in both FCPX and Compressor, the programs errored saying unable to complete compression. It’s odd because I was running the same High Sierra version on my nMP and iMac Pro, but the iMac Pro balked.
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[Paul Golden] “When I mean it fails, I created a Compressor setting with X264 and in both FCPX and Compressor, the programs errored saying unable to complete compression. It’s odd because I was running the same High Sierra version on my nMP and iMac Pro, but the iMac Pro balked.”
If the x264 is looking to take advantage of hardware acceleration that might be part of the issue. In the Mac Pro that would be a negative. In the iMac Pro it might be implemented differently than in the i7 series so it might see “something” but not something it can work with. Just speculating but that would be a hardware difference between the Mac Pro and iMacPro.
Apple’s own H.264 codec is now very close in quality (as of previous versions of Compressor 4.x).
Also if it’s an x264 Quicktime component its deprecated and its also possible that High Sierra on the iMacPro might be just enough different than the MacPro to reject it. I certainly wouldn’t depend on it as all Quicktime components are going to be dead soon enough.Handbrake is using it’s own built in encoder so its x264 is not dependent on Quicktime Frameworks.
Given some of the previous conversations it would be interested to compare Handbrake to Apple’s H.264 on the iMacPro. It’s not the easiest comparison since some of the settings don’t have exact equivalents given x264’s “tune-ability” compared to Apple’s simplicity.
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[Paul Golden] “I’ve been using the X264 encoder for some time now. It’s another component that you can install in the components folder in QuickTime in Library. “
That would be a problem Quicktime is deprecated and all such components will probably break and otherwise aren’t optimized to current operating systems.
HandBrake’s X264 would be a different story since it’s not using Quicktime.
[Paul Golden] “With HEVC, it’s probably obsolete. Does anyone know if HEVC is universally readable by Windows & Mac for both desktop and web?”
Nothing is universal. Older computers may struggle with HEVC decode. Newer computers may have hardware assist or otherwise have enough processor power to handle decode. So “readable” wouldn’t be the issue so much as the ability to play at full frame rate without pauses.
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Paul Golden writes –
After Effects: is there any machine where AE doesn’t suck at realtime playback? Had a 4.6K ProRes 444 timeline and with Mercury Transmit enabled, still can’t play a RENDERED timeline at speed where it’s downscaled to 1080p for the monitor. WTF is wrong with Adobe and realtime playback? I’ve been using AE for years and they’ve been promising RT improvements the whole time and it never gets much better.It’s comments like these that make me love Creative Cow, and in my opinion, are the very reason these forums exist. It reminds you that you are not the only one that has problems (and gives you confidence to yell at the manufacturers).
Bob Zelin
Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com -
Thanks Bob… I’d be interested in Motion, but there are two dealbreakers, one big, one small:
Small one: Why does Motion not support external grading monitors? They used to. What happened? Every other program I use (except Microsoft Word) knows how to talk to an external monitor.
Big one: After Effects is way more utilized by the Animation community and if I’m handing out scenes to animators, I can’t expect them to have or use Motion. Especially the PC crowd.
AE is still a joy to use in terms of UI, animation tools and organizing tools, it’s just the playback that really stinks. I’m not sure if it’s a problem with CC2018 or something else. I’ve noticed that I can get something close to RT playback on my GUI screen, but the playout to my Flanders through the BMD MiniMonitor lags by SECONDS and then drops frames like crazy. And it doesn’t matter whether its coming off my RAID or my spanking new 1600mbs internal SSD on the iMac Pro. Either Mercury Transmit doesn’t play at all well with AMD cards or there’s some other setting that I’m missing. Maybe my complaint about Motion and external monitors is essentially the same with AE, except that the difference is that when Apple can’t do something right, they abandon it, whereas Adobe will just implement a sub-par version and let you suffer. Next stop, the AE forum!
To bring it around to this forum, I will say something in favor of FCPX now. I just had an 8 minute multi-layered animated/live art film for a ballet in 4K that I was convinced I’d have to do in AE. After a few tests and working with an impatient director over my shoulder, we quickly abandoned AE in favor of FCPX where I was able to work in RT with many multiple layers with CC, FX, blend modes etc. FCPX was the champ and saved me from a ton of excruciating render time. It took organizing the footage a little differently, but I realized that my go-to AE impulse was misguided and that there’s a lot (and more and more) you can do right within FCPX that gets the job done.
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[greg janza] “Does anyone still take the look of the box into account?”
I don’t really Greg, but what I do take into account is a breakdown like John R. had in an earlier post. I can’t say that I have seen a more detailed takedown of the pc experience. I know a lot of people have left apple for the pc but I know more people personally that tell me the kind of stories that John laid out.
It’s not about apple being all that and a bag of chips, it’s about reading stories from people fleeing from their pc experience and never looking back.
It’s working for many though, so to each their own. Stories like his give me pause.
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[greg janza] ”
Does anyone still take the look of the box into account? I don’t care what the computer case looks like since I never look at it or even notice it.”I wouldn’t care if my computer case was hot pink with purple stripes and had “My Little Pony’s First Computer Friend” scrawled across the side. I only care about the usefulness of my tools, who makes them or what they look like doesn’t matter much to me. ☺
Shawn
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