Requirements to cut IPB Codec footage on a MacBook Pro?

[Shane Ross]

First off, I HIGHLY recommend you not only get a newer computer, but also different editing software. 4K has big demands, and a laptop that old would be hard pressed to meet the demands. And FCP 7…5 years old and 3 years end-of-life…not ideal. I recommend a new machine, and ProRes CC.

[D. Scott Dobbie] “What’s the workflow? (convert the files to ProRes?”

Yes…ProRes HQ or 4444. But this also depends on the drives you will be storing this on and how it’s connected. Firewire cannot do 4444 at 4K…might even struggle at HQ 4K files. You’ll need an eSATA drive or Thunderbolt. Your computer can’t do Thunderbolt. And a RAID drive too..meaning Raid 0 or Raid 5.

[D. Scott Dobbie] “if so, will that bloat the files, meaning more hard drives needed, etc. “

Yup…the files will get larger

[D. Scott Dobbie] “Then edit as usual?)”

Yes…but a 4 year old laptop will be hard pressed to edit 4K ProRes files smoothly.

[D. Scott Dobbie] “What, if anything, do I need to rent/obtain for him for hardware? i.e. an AJA something-or-other; 4k monitor (is that really mandatory or can you zoom in on an HD monitor?), etc.”

No current hardware for outputting a 4K signal to an external monitor will work with that computer. The only options are HD, and firewire based (AJA IoHD) or Express34 based (AJA IO Express, Matrox MXO2). Those options don’t do 4K. For 4K you need a Thunderbolt connection on an iMac, Retina MBP, or Tube MacPro… or PCIe on an older tower.

All of the newer options will take a 4K signal and convert it to fit on a 1080p monitor…and the color space is the same, so you can use it as a color critical monitor. And newer options will do regions as well, if you want 1:1 pixel. Hmmm…I think the AJA Io Express might downsample 4K to 1080…you’ll have to ask AJA to be sure.

But 4K is the new thing…recent format. For that I recommend more current software and hardware…stuff better designed to work with the format. Or, you can downconvert the 4K footage to HD via the media Manager and when you online, online with Resolve 9 that will deal with 4K. But you might need a different machine for the online in that case.

Shane
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[D. scott Dobbie]

Thank you, Shane. We may go with your final option, using media manager and then Resolve. This isn’t a huge project and will be perfect for a first stab at the 4k edit. And the editor may then be in a better place to determine what to upgrade and in what order.

-Scott