Andrew Kimery
Forum Replies Created
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[Bill Davis] “It seems to me the need to even *think* about delivery codec is rapidly diminishing. “
If all one is required to do is deliver a simple file to Frame or Vimeo or YouTube* then, yes, that’s pretty dead simple these days. If one is delivering to Hulu or Amazon or Netflix or HBO or Vudu or NBC or Discovery or Snapchat or a DCP, etc., then just using any old file won’t suffice because these companies handle and deliver their own content internally (or via their own sub-contractors). One delivers a master file(s) to their specs and then they do all the transcodes to make all the different versions they need.
*If you deliver to YouTube’s paid streaming service then you have to adhere to their delivery specs same as you would for delivering to other streaming services like Amazon or Netflix.
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I think back in the day deliverables for video were pretty straight forward. NTSC or PAL? Beta, 3/4″ or VHS? Once a few basic questions were answered there was no room for confusion. Now codec, wrapper, frame size (including square), frame orientation (portrait is a thing if you are doing social), frame rate, bit rate, etc, are all up for grabs. What’s the line, the great thing about standards is that there are so many of them? 😉
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[Bill Davis] “I understand that others work in environments where people are SUPER skittish about the new disruptive digital distribution platforms.”
Aside from already established media distribution companies (like cable companies) who’s super skittish about digital distribution platforms these days? Certainly not people that work in content creation because these new platforms need content and that’s generally good for people that work at creating content.
Almost 10 years ago exactly I was sitting in a hotel room in Vegas editing post-event packages for a UFC fight and the Video Game Awards show that took place that weekend. I went to town w/a FW800 hard drive, an HDV deck and a MBP. Edited videos were uploaded to the company’s FTP where Episode made all the versions and then they were automatically published to our website. Aside from swapping the deck for a card reader the workflow hasn’t changed much (though the upload speeds are thankfully way faster these days). Oh, and this was for a website owned by Viacom (old dog, new trick).
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[Jeremy Garchow] “How will your peripherals work on an old Mac? Your new Hackintosh will supposedly have everything inside of it.
You can tell me that internal peripherals are better, and I will tell you not necessarily. “
Thanks for the more detailed explanation, though I don’t think anyone was saying that internal peripherals are better in 100% of the situations (at least I certainly wasn’t).
With regards to how my peripherals would work, same way they do now, with adaptors. For example, I/O on my 2009 cMP tops out with USB 3.0, but my 2011 MBP doesn’t have USB 3.0. It does have ThB1 though so I use a USB to ThB adapter when I need to connect my RAID to my 2011 MBP. If I end up with a new Mac (or a new RAID) that only has ThB3 ports then I’ll have to invest in more adaptors.
The appeal of a Hack to me is customization, upgradeability, and price. The only reason my 2009 cMP is still viable today is because of its upgradability, and being able to upgrade the internal drive and RAM on my 2011 MBP certainly extended its useable lifespan as well (though it sees less uses these days since I have a 2015 MBP).
[Jeremy Garchow] ” Right now with our Macs I can swap the machine, and setup to all the same peripherals (including fiber storage) no matter if it’s a cylinder, laptop, iMac, the only thing that changes is performance.”
You can do that with a Hack too since Hacks can have all the same ports that Macs can.
I agree though that for large scale, multi-user environments Hacks will, generally speaking, have more IT overhead than going with off-the-shelf PCs or Macs.
[Michael Hadley] “I’ll be interested to see what the specs are with the next version of FCPX does once they come out with the new iMac Pro, which will support eGPU on the AMD Vega cards (once High Sierra is updated) and if it makes sense at that point to get an eGPU with the new AMD Vega card and try to prolong the lifespan of my 2013 Mac Pro.”
2013 MP only has ThB 2 so an eGPU is going to be constrained compared to ThB 3 or installing it internally.
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Joke Productions in LA has a podcast and blog where they talk about their experience with unscripted production (growing from just the two of them pitching ideas to becoming a full fledged production company).
https://www.jokeandbiagio.com/podcast
If you just want to learn some lingo and get a basic lay of the land type info why not grab a few books off Amazon? I searched for “producing a TV show” and got a ton of results.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “For the same reason that you are using a PC w/macOS in the first place.”
I don’t follow. If I own a Hack and another Mac (iMac, cMP, MBP, etc.,) and the Hack needs a repair I can continue working with one of the other Macs w/o missing a beat. FCP X, PPro, Avid, etc., running on a Hack are exactly the same as FCP X, PPro, Avid, etc., running on a Mac. Their’s no change to any of the software other than a minor tweak to MacOS to allow it to run on a variety of Intel hardware as opposed to just Apple approved Intel hardware.
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[Tom Sefton] “But my point is that you are in a minority of editors and creatives that have the knowledge and expertise to build a machine that is reliable enough to earn a living from.”
Which basically brings us back to the conundrum that started the thread; should one buy an expensive, brand new Mac model with no track record now or wait 12-18 months and maybe buy a different, expensive brand new Mac model with no track record then? And since Apple hasn’t regularly updated its high end desktops since 2009/2010 the ‘Maybe I’ll wait until Rev 2 next year to see how it shakes out’ is no longer available.
Speaking of update cycles, will the iMac Pro get a more regular update cycle like the iMacs do, or a once every few years update like the Mac Pros do? When updates were on a regular, annual cycle it was much easier to gauge ROI and manage risk but now, IMO, you feel more pressure to jump on a new machine as soon as it’s released. I think the continued (and more frequent) talk of Hackintoshes, going to Windows and/or updating cMPs is illustrative of the frustration part of the user base is feeling. 10 years ago widespread conversations like this didn’t exist.
I’ve been looking to retire my 2009 cMP since about 2012/2013, but I just keep upgrading it because nothing from Apple has been appealing enough to buy. I’ve thought about the Hack route (switching to Windows just isn’t viable in my work demo in LA), but to be honest I’m probably going to just be lazy and buy from Apple even though they don’t offer a product I want at a price that I think is reasonable.
Depending on how much longer I can afford to hold out I’ll either end up with a iMac Pro or a yet-to-be-revealed Mac Pro.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “It is very easy to switch to a less powerful or other Mac if the main machine goes down.
So, you’d have to factor in a switch to another Hackintosh, and keep the drivers and such maintained on that machine too.”
Why would you have to switch to another Hackintosh? It’s just MacOS running on non-Apple branded hardware so bouncing between it and, say, a MBP shouldn’t be any different than bouncing between an iMac and a MBP.
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[Oliver Peters] “If you freelance and get a fairly standard rate for your time (not counting gear), you’ve just added $1K to the cost. Maybe more. Then when the next update of something comes along and you spend another day dealing with that. On and on and on…”
If we are going to micromanage billable hours then you have to consider the amount of time it takes to install software, plugins, transfer/remake user settings, etc., which can easily take the better part of a day so add that additional cost to the iMac too. Not to mention the cost of down time if the iMac has to go into the shop for a repair that takes a week, but the DIY person can get replacement parts and do the fix themselves in just a day or two. ????
The sweat equity of building & maintaining a Hackintosh certainly should be factored in, but I also think trying to estimate the cost of an off-the-shelf unit vs a custom build down to the billable hour can become superfluous.
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Thanks for the link, Ronny. I only watched the 10min video, but I think it’s one of the best and most concise examples of how and why X can work that I’ve ever seen. I’ll have to check out the other videos when I get more time.