[Brian Tario]

I have a similar problem. I’m running a very new Mac Pro (8 x 2.66 GHz cores; 16 GB RAM) with CS4 Production Premium, FCS2 and a few other apps installed. I just did a completely clean install of this system last week – current OS, QT, all apps updated, etc. I have some plug-ins installed too (BCC6, most Trapcode, few Red Giant, Zax Invig Pro, etc.). This also has a AJA Kona LHe inside.

I’m getting horrible RAM previews of less than 10fps, fluctuating wildly. Could it be the AJA plug-ins for CS4? AE9 settings? This is awful – the opposite of what I expected from my new system.

Video preview with the Kona is turned off. Previews are set to Adaptive Res/OpenGL off. Multi proc is on with 2 GB RAM and 2 CPUs left for other processes. RAM preview is set to skip 1 frame. Trying to preview a 1080p, 29.97 fps comp of low complexity at quarter res. I’m getting about 8 fps!! This just doesn’t make any sense to me. I’ve never had any problems with RAM previews in 9 years of AE use. Please help, thanks, Brian

[Brian Tario]

Hi Wil, I’ve received a number of responses in this and other forums about the Sony and Panny cameras I’m looking at. Basically I think the bottom line is they’re all great cameras. The differences seem minor in the big scheme of things. I think it really depends on individual preferences/needs.

I’m going to rent each camera (EX1 and either the HVX200A or HPX170), “play” with them for an hour, shoot some footage and then run that footage through my workflow (FCP to AE to FCP). And with the economy in the toilet and the nature of technology in general, I’m certainly not going to buy any camera until a decent size job will help subsidize it. My PD170 works fine and the rental house is 5 minutes from here…

Good luck and please post your thoughts on whatever camera you go with, I’d love to hear how you like it.

[Brian Tario]

I’m considering purchasing either a Panasonic DVCPRO HD-based camera or a Sony XDCAM EX-based camera. This monumental thread has scared me about DVCPRO HD to say the least. I’m leaning toward the Sony EX1 for this and other reasons, but the long GOP codec apparently has its own problems too.

Any workflow-related comments regarding XDCAM EX footage in AE would be great. I use FCP to edit, but AE is my main app overall. I won’t even consider a format that doesn’t work well in AE.

Any rumors the new CS4 AE will resolve the problems described above? I certainly hope so. Thanks a lot, Brian

[Brian Tario]

Thanks for your insight Jeff, I appreciate it. Can you tell me why you prefer the DVCPRO HD codec to the XDCAM EX? Is it simply easier to work with? Less steps to get into FCP? Or is it strictly the sampling and compression schemes? I’m used to working with analog (Beta SP mainly), HD SDI from HDCAM and DV/DVCAM so a lot of the workflow for these formats is only conceptual to me. I’m not used to having to transcode my media from its native format into an editable format for example. That’s one of the big reasons I’m so concerned about workflow. I don’t want to lose a lot of the time I gain by going tapeless to multiple new steps before I can begin editing.

I guess I should mention my edit bay is a Mac Pro with a Kona LHe connected via fibre to an XRaid. My field system is a MacBook Pro with a RAID0 FW800 drive (only used for DV). Thanks again, Brian

[Brian Tario]

Please help, time crunch! I’m in a similar situation as the original poster. Footage was shot 1080p/29.97. Trying to capture from a rented Sony J-H3 HDCAM deck. Unlike the original poster I keep getting an error in FCP within a minute of starting to capture a clip. It’s in reference to “tape trouble” and kills my capture. The deck keeps rolling however. Is this a problem with the way I have FCP setup or is it a deck setup issue? Desperate…thanks!!

I’m running FCS2 on 10.4.1, QT v7.2 (haven’t updated in a few months). I’m using a Kona LHe. Easy setup using: AJA KONA LH – 1080i 29.97 10 bit Uncompressed. Plenty of room on my RAID. HELP!!

[Brian Tario]

Thank you all for your input. I’ve decided to go with:
The Tipping Point
Droidmaker
Those should be plenty for one week. Thanks again, Brian

[Brian Tario]

Hi, I’m running Mac OS 10.4.10 on a Dual 3 GHz Dual-core Mac Pro with 7 GB of RAM. I’m on AE CS3 (8.02.27, just updated yesterday). I currently have Multiprocessing off. I use the Gridiron Nucleo Pro plugin (v2.0.1.168, also just updated yesterday).

Will turning on the multiprocessing help my performance? Or will this conflict with Nucleo and cause problems? Thanks for your help!!

[Brian Tario]

Thanks for the info! Last night, after multiple reboots and apparently nothing on my end, it seemed to be working fine. But I just started it up today and it didn’t mount. I checked Disk Utility and it wasn

[Brian Tario]

Thanks, I’ll give it a try!

[Brian Tario]

Thanks Martin, that seems like a great option. Can you confirm you’ve tried this workflow and it doesn’t affect system performance? It sounds like a steal for $32 and it seems like it would allow me to use the Roger Nichols Inspector plugin (if still needed). I really appreciate your help!! Thanks, Brian