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R3D Footage in Premiere Pro CS 6
So, I’m going to shortly be editing a project that was shot on the Red Epic and Red One. All the files will be in R3D, and the DP plans to use HDR as well.
This is a student project, and I’ve editing a ton of DSLR footage, but this is my first project making the jump onto Red.
So, my question is what upgrades I might need to get so that I can edit R3D footage. Here’s my current build for my Editing system (It’s a bit outdated…):
OS: Windows 7 64 bit
Processor: Intel i7 960 QuadCore @ 3.2
MOBO: Asus P6T SE
Ram: 6 gig (I’m replacing all the ram with Duel Channel when I upgrade the video-card, but this has worked for me so far)
GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTS 250
Power Supply: 850W (I’d rather not replace it if possible, when I built my rig, I zip-tied many of the cords to the chassis to improve airflow)So, suggestions on an affordable new videocard? I’d like to stick with NVIDIA since I’ve had a good experience with them for the most part. Also, I’m a student, so I don’t have an infinite budget, but I did manage to save up a few hundred for some upgrades (around $500 total, I’d rather not spend it all if possible).
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1 Reply
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The GPU will not assist R3D processing beyond the normal GPU accelerated effects and processes available to all footage in Premiere.
Without a Red Rocket card, an expensive specialty piece of hardware that offloads the debayering/decompression of RED footage from your CPU, then you’ll be limited to 1/4 or 1/8 quality in your source and program monitor. You’ll also have a little delay in processing when you pause, as pause quality will probably be set to 1/1.
It’s certainly workable but with student films, I worry about the accuracy of focus pulls which are hard to judge at anything less than 1/2 quality.
Another concern I have is the amount of RAM, I feel like 6gb would be the minimum for a project like this but maybe someone can chime in otherwise.
There is also the concern of final render. To render at full quality, whether it’s a 4K master or a 1080p preview, is that on a quadcore system similar to yours RED footage converts at around 20:1. For every minute of RED footage it takes 20 minutes to render at full debayer quality. You’ll have to be rendering at lower qualities to get a sensible speed.
I would rather convert footage to something more manageable before editing and then use other tools available to you, like Resolve Full or Speedgrade to online the 4K master if you actually need a 4K master. You could, in Redcine-x, export to Quicktime/Prores or Quicktime/DNxHD as your intermediate at 1/2 debayer quality. You put the majority of your processing time up front and any review renders for the director, etc, should be far more manageable.
Quicktime Avid codecs available here https://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/download/Avid-QuickTime-Codecs-LE-2-3-8
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