David Mcclave
Forum Replies Created
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Chi-Ho Lee –
According to Activity Monitor, the CPU dedicated to the RAID is negligible.
Most of the time, my sequence bar is Orange – playback is choppy… This is OK. I was just hoping beyond hope that a simple piece of hardware could get me beyond this.
So, no one is aware of any hardware acceleration for the Pro that’s under $1500? It just strikes me that the technology should be so far beyond this by now – given that the old 9600 + Avid was so advanced 15 years ago, eh?
Dave McClave – CASE42 Creative Media
https://www.case42.com
“Waaaayyy Outside The Box!”
Wait… there’s a box??!? -
Allright you guys… I suppose you’re right… It served me well for years, I’ll relegate it to my audio studio, where it still has plenty of power.
Oddly, while I’m running the latest pre-Intel version of FCP, I AM using ProRes 422 on it, and it seems to do pretty well. I’ve had my greenest studio editor using this machine to learn on, and he’ll at least learn patience. The G5 was a monster in it’s day, no? If you know no different, it’s still pretty darned cool.
Guess I’m in the market for an Octo-Pro to go along side my Quad 2.8….’
Anyone?
-Dave
Dave McClave – CASE42 Creative Media
https://www.case42.com
“Waaaayyy Outside The Box!”
Wait… there’s a box??!? -
Jeremy –
Thanks…. that’s poopy. No hardware can be added to make it RT? REALLY? A MacPro with unimaginable processing power by 1997 standards can’t be even modified to do it? Hmmmmm… I’m despondent.Dave McClave – CASE42 Creative Media
https://www.case42.com
“Waaaayyy Outside The Box!”
Wait… there’s a box??!? -
Alan -> Thanks.
I use Unlimited RT and variable quality/rate, but have a hard time with the choppy rate – can’t see what the transitions really look like.
The strange thing is that I cut my NLE teeth on an Avid Express Elite back in the ’90s that was running on a Mac 9600. I UNDERSTAND that there was hardware that allowed it to process the footage, which was SD, of course, in real time. I think we also had a Green Ice card. We NEVER had to render anything on this. Surely there’s some hardware I could add to the MacPro, with something like 10 -20 times the processing power of that old 9600 with Avid hardware, that would make it have as good? No? Am I just out of luck? Should I go back and try to find an old 9600 and Avid system, and just produce SD again?
How can it possibly be that the newer technology seems slower?
Dave McClave – CASE42 Creative Media
https://www.case42.com
“Waaaayyy Outside The Box!”
Wait… there’s a box??!? -
Again, OUTSTANDING information. I’m going to read until my eyes melt, then decide. I’m going to check out prices on the ATTO first, and start collecting drives.
Funny about those 10GB SCSI drives… They’re from about ’98. But I remember when I got the first 1GB drive in SPOKANE, with my FrankenMac IIci… I thought “no one will ever catch up to me on this!” I spent about $6K on that 35MHz machine plus all its memory and storage! I was proud and showed it off to everyone. I was mastering CDs and doing 3D graphics with POV Ray in the studio, and my clients thought I had the state-of-the-art system… until my competitor bought the latest machine available… Always keeping up, aren’t we!
Thanks again for the VERY helpful info!
-Dave
Dave McClave – CASE42 Creative Media
https://www.case42.com
“Waaaayyy Outside The Box!”
Wait… there’s a box??!?(1) 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Xeon Mac Pro
with (NOW) 8GB RAM
Final Cut Studio PLUS all the extras…
After Effects CS3
(1) 2 GHz Dual-Processor Mac G5 (PCI-X)
Final Cut Pro 6
Adobe PS & AI CS3
Emagic Logic Platinum
JVC GY-HD110U, Sony A1U, Canon XL1 -
OooooooohKay!
Walter and Wayne hit the nail on the head with this one. Of all the answers submitted, these guys actually offered real solutions instead of criticism…. and what d’ya know? REAL SOLUTIONS! The memory thing REALLY surprised me. I just did it… rendered a trouble spot for me, and it was twice as fast! WOW!!!
I will start collecting identical drives for a fast external SATA array, unless someone knows of a better solution I can swallow for less than $250 per chunk.
Is an external enclosure that supports 4+ bays and uses the eSATA connection better, or a RAID card that connects with a multi-channel cable?
I’ve built plenty of SCSI arrays, and even have a few laying around, (they’re all 10GB drives, though), so I’m familiar with the concept and THAT old technology… I’ve been reading up on SAS, and from what I read, the Mac Pro card is SAS AND SATA? True?
Thankls to Walter and Wayne for the straight forward answers!
-Dave
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Now, I’m looking for a solution, as well. I cut my editing teeth using big 1-inch decks with analog synchronizers, and REAL A-B rolls with a mixer, using long editing lists with hand-written instructions. No automated system existed yet for what I wanted to do! Talk about planning! It gave me an appreciation for what I have, but I STILL want more speed. My first non-linear editing was with the Avid Xpress Elite – it cost $80,000, but I had real-time output all the time.
What we’re looking for here is faster rendering on what we have NOW, and possibly NOT having to render with only 4 layered video tracks, eh?
I’m what you’d call a “power user,” and I research things to death… that’s part of what I’m doing now, so I don’t want to hear any responses like “wow, you’re sure stupid for not doing your research before asking for help!”
I’m doing my research. Apple seems not to be a lot of help, the manual doesn’t offer ANY suggestions, and I’m not prepared to spend ANOTHER $2K for yet another RAID card in this new Mac Pro. I’m using a 2.8GHz quad-core Xeon MacPro with 10GB of RAM, an external 1.4TB RAID 0, and another 1 TB of internal drive storeage. I’m waiting for my 2 new fast internal 1 TB drives that I’ll format as a software RAID.
The faster video card I just bought seems to have little effect… so… Anyone know more than me about this issue? WILL the Mac Pro RAID Card make a BIG difference? If the CPU is the issue, getting a Quad Pro should seem significantly faster than my dual G5, no? It doesn’t. What gives?