[Craig Seeman]

Would USB-C to MiniDisplay do the trick?

This maybe DVI to USB-C

Macworld mentions the above for Monitor to TB3 compatibility but it’s actually USB-C

To clarify USB-C is not USB3. USB-C is the same form as Thunderbolt 3 (may work in TB3 ports which act as USB-C ports). I’m sure you know this. The adaptors I’m pointing to are either USB-C or TB3. Unfortunately many product descriptions use unclear language to differentiate.

USB-C devices can work in TB3 ports but only as USB protocol. If one needs TB3 the cable/adaptor must be TB3 (which is a management chip built in).

[Craig Seeman]

That’s so Apple circa 2001.
Hey they could go there again only cooler this time.

[Craig Seeman]

To add to the interest I’ll toss in Barefeats tests as well. He’s testing more systems including the Late 2013 Mac Pro and a 2010 old Mac Pro.

IMacPro Running Pro Apps

Low End iMacPro vs MacPros and iMac

Extrapolating iMacPro Vega64 GPU Performance

[Craig Seeman]

[Paul Golden] “I’ve been using the X264 encoder for some time now. It’s another component that you can install in the components folder in QuickTime in Library. “

That would be a problem Quicktime is deprecated and all such components will probably break and otherwise aren’t optimized to current operating systems.

HandBrake’s X264 would be a different story since it’s not using Quicktime.

[Paul Golden] “With HEVC, it’s probably obsolete. Does anyone know if HEVC is universally readable by Windows & Mac for both desktop and web?”

Nothing is universal. Older computers may struggle with HEVC decode. Newer computers may have hardware assist or otherwise have enough processor power to handle decode. So “readable” wouldn’t be the issue so much as the ability to play at full frame rate without pauses.

[Craig Seeman]

[Paul Golden] “When I mean it fails, I created a Compressor setting with X264 and in both FCPX and Compressor, the programs errored saying unable to complete compression. It’s odd because I was running the same High Sierra version on my nMP and iMac Pro, but the iMac Pro balked.”

If the x264 is looking to take advantage of hardware acceleration that might be part of the issue. In the Mac Pro that would be a negative. In the iMac Pro it might be implemented differently than in the i7 series so it might see “something” but not something it can work with. Just speculating but that would be a hardware difference between the Mac Pro and iMacPro.

Apple’s own H.264 codec is now very close in quality (as of previous versions of Compressor 4.x).
Also if it’s an x264 Quicktime component its deprecated and its also possible that High Sierra on the iMacPro might be just enough different than the MacPro to reject it. I certainly wouldn’t depend on it as all Quicktime components are going to be dead soon enough.

Handbrake is using it’s own built in encoder so its x264 is not dependent on Quicktime Frameworks.

Given some of the previous conversations it would be interested to compare Handbrake to Apple’s H.264 on the iMacPro. It’s not the easiest comparison since some of the settings don’t have exact equivalents given x264’s “tune-ability” compared to Apple’s simplicity.

[Craig Seeman]

[Paul Golden] “FCPX: very smooth. Tried an HEVC export and worked really well. Will probably replace X264 for client WIPS (X264 fails on this machine)”

This caught my attention. Please expand on x264 fails.
Apple doesn’t use x264 so perhaps you’re using something else.
Both Apple’s H.264 and H.265 (HEVC) are their own AFAIK (I know H.264 is their own).

[Craig Seeman]

I think I understand it.
Dropped clip in Project
Used Open Clip so it opens in its own Project and you made audio and color changes
Back in the original Project there’s no video.

I’ll note than in FCPX 10.4 double clicking on the clip doesn’t Open Clip in its own Project. I have to use the menu Clip>Open Clip (or assign a keyboard shortcut) to do that.

Questions:
Are you in FCPX 10.4 or an earlier version?
When you say “no video” do you mean you don’t see the color changes or do you see no video at all?
How did you make the color changes, plugin like Color Finale or Chromatics or built in FCPX Color Board or new Color Wheels?

I think generally you’d want to use Open Clip in the Event Browser and make changes there. Then you can add to main Project and every instance will carry those changes.

If you use Open Clip for a clip already in the main Project you should still be able to affect the clip though so it seems there’s an issue.

[Craig Seeman]

If you believe the issue is with Compressor then the first step would be to upgrade to Compressor 4.4 and see if Apple improved it.

If you know how to match settings you can also compare to Handbrake and compare.

[Craig Seeman]

I just have to ask that, given PPro, Resolve, Avid, all cross platform, all supposedly work better on PC where you can buy the systems exactly as you need from the many commercial computer retailers big and small, why do any such editors use Macs at all? If Macs are such a disadvantage to them, the choice is obvious. Why debate at all?

I prefer FCPX so my option is… Mac. End of story.

Apparently Adobe, Blackmagic, Avid have chose, at the moment, to date, to develop for the Mac so some viable subset of their customers are choosing to run on Macs.

[Craig Seeman]

Users can also apply custom lookup tables (LUTs) from popular color grading apps like DaVinci Resolve and websites including PremiumBeat, Color Grading Central and more.

Other third parties mentioned:

Final Cut Pro lets professional editors create VR content with the ability to import, edit and deliver 360-degree video and view the project in real time through a connected HTC VIVE headset with SteamVR.

Editors can output video to HDR monitors using I/O devices from AJA and Blackmagic with brightness levels up to 10,000 nits.

BTW “official” number of seats although it’s I number I believe quoted previously.

Today, with more than 2 million seats, Final Cut Pro X is the most popular version of the software ever and is used by professional video editors to create incredible works of art, from award-winning Hollywood feature films and commercials, to international broadcasts and the world’s most popular YouTube videos.