Brian Deviteri
Forum Replies Created
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For the type of work you’re looking to do, and high performance expectations, I would recommend a CalDigit HDPro2. As David pointed out, there is an ExpressCard “adapter” that lets you use these products on a MacBook Pro like yours.
That being said, getting “real-time” performance in After Effects is going to be near impossible with 1920×1080 footage. AE just doesn’t work that way. You’ll be able to cache a good deal and work in 1/4 resolution, but for multi-layer compositing or any intensive graphics work, you’re going to have to render.
However, these RAIDs are quite an investment and aren’t exactly “portable”. If that’s not a concern, and the budget for one of those is not out of the realm of possibilities, I’d say you may be better off working on an actual desktop workstation with a more powerful processor and much more RAM…
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What are the specs for the MacBook Pro?
What type of files are you editing – ProRes, XDCam, DVCPRO-HD, Uncompressed?
Do you want the RAID for speed, protection, both?While using a RAID will generally yield faster processing results, it really comes down to the fact that your data can (sometimes) be accessed faster.
With a laptop configuration, you’re fastest wired connection is probably going to be eSATA or USB 3.0, both would require an ExpressCard – which not all MacBook Pro’s have. After that you’re looking at Firewire 800.
In terms of speed, a lot depends on the RAID configuration itself – RAID 0, 1, 5, JBOD, etc. – they all play a huge role.
Some drive products to take a look at for RAID 0, 1, and JBOD:
https://www.caldigit.com/avdrive/
https://www.caldigit.com/VR/
https://www.caldigit.com/VR_mini/If you’re looking for RAID 5 (or others) over Firewire or eSATA check this out:
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/RAID/Desktop/ -
– Have you installed Perian?
– Have you tried VLC?
– What’s the origin of the MP4? Client compressions, DSLR footage, or something else?
– Can you export just the video in one pass and then just the audio in a separate pass?
– Is the file corrupted at all?
– Are you able to try on a Windows machine to convert to anything?Few options…
Try opening with a program like Adobe After Effects and render into a new file format/codec. This may or may not work, depending on the file and the nature of the issue.If the file PLAYS fine in QT and other programs, last resort would be to do a live streaming capture of your computer screen of the file playing and then trying to work with that capture (such as iShowU).
Does MediaInfo show any additional information about the file? (https://mediainfo.massanti.com/)
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Actually XENA isn’t made anymore, it has been re-branded on both Mac & PC as part of the KONA line now…
In terms of setup for editing 5D Mark II footage, what’s your budget? People edit on less than iMovie machines all the way up to full-featured systems with input/output cards, massive TB’s of RAID’ed storage, sometimes on multiple workstations… it all depends on the budget, the project, and what makes sense to your workflow.
Do you need a KONA card? No, but it does help as you can see your timeline real-time previewed on a broadcast monitor WHILE editing.
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I’d second the ProRes 4444 or Cineform codec choice for film out. Yes, the native original files do not really benefit from the extra bandwidth, but your color grading, effects, etc will all benefit from the greater flexibility.
As a side note, you may want to check out some of the RED 4k workflows to compare and learn a bit from their workflows.
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Have you tried using the MEDIA MANAGER to conform all of your source media to the same settings? I’ve done this when working with several different sources and it’s worked really nice for my workflow.
Assuming you’re taking the XH-A1s footage in over Firewire from the camera, and not through HD-SDI and a deck, correct? If you take it in over HD-SDI you’ll have a LOT more options when it comes to codec to digitize in.
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download the latest EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro Ver1.1 (ce1110x.dmg) 12/01/2010, 7.01MB
Available here, select Mac OS from dropdown:
https://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/slr_cameras/eos_7d#DriversAndSoftwareI believe you will still need to modify the E1 plugin settings to play nice with the T2i.
Go to:
Library/Application Support/ProApps/MIO/RAD/Plugins/CanonE1.RADPLug/Contents/Resources/Open up the file in text edit:
cameras.plistDUPLICATE THIS FILE BEFORE MODIFYING!
You’ll need to add entries for the T2i/550D. Here’s what mine currently looks like (the code pasted into this message was completely messed up).
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I’d recommend you do a test of a short sequence ahead of time to avoid any huge headaches and to test your workflow. Better to know now if there’s an issue than have a surprise with a headache that may be more of a problem than you expect.
FYI, EDL export/import into FCP is terrible with audio keyframes/mixing, so I’d highly recommend against doing any kind of audio work until you online your project. XML is better, but XML may give you issues with your multiple subclips – never had to deal with them on an XML personally…
Generally speaking, in the past when I have made multiple MASTER CLIPS it has been off of digitally acquired footage (such as RED) where the DP accidentally left the camera rolling, or there were several different shots within the media clip. Getting true “subclips” into After Effects with matching TC and positional placement is a major headache 90% of the time, so I try to avoid them since the majority of my work sees at least something go into AE.
Doing multiple master clips (using the “make new master clip” from the right-click menu) has never been a problem for my workflow/edits in the past. As long as you don’t mind the possibility of having to capture the entire original referenced media clip (the whole 10 minute segment), you will most likely avoid any potential problems.
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Thomas – I’d recommend the same for the best performance and less of a headache later on, especially if any of the source media will also be used by another application (like After Effects) down the road.
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I believe the warning is that you “MAY” wind up with HUGE trim handles on some clips.
Example:
subclip #1 – 00:01:00:00 – 00:02:30:00
subclip #2 – 00:08:15:00 – 00:09:30:00both referencing a clip that is 00:00:00:00 – 00:10:00:00
When you go to ONLINE capture this media managed version of your timeline, FCP “MAY” prompt to capture one clip from 00:01:00:00-00:09:30:00 instead of your two clips.
If this does happen, there are workarounds.
Several years ago I was in a rush job (using FCP 5?) and ended up with a similar situation and the solution was dumping out an EDL, importing the EDL into a brand new project with no trim handles, then I captured all the media with 1 second trim handles. Worked “flawlessly” that way, except for a few random clips that I ended up relogging/capturing and replacing on the timeline.