[Erik Lindahl]

There’s a lot to like.

There sadly is a lot to dislike as well.

[Erik Lindahl]

I saw H.265 demos at IBC this year but they where somewhat hard to grasp.

1. they where running 1080 HD at low bitrates (1-3 Mbps)
2. they where running 4K at low / moderate bitrates (3-7 Mbps)

However, both felt like H.264 at around 1/4 of the bit rate I’d expect the footage but there was clear compression artifacts. But full HD at 1.5 Mbps is impressive.

Still, H.265 is a DELIVERY codec as far as I know, not production or aquiring format. It will probably replace H.264 in things like DSLRS at some point opting for higher resolution at similar bitrate we use today. Ironic how DV-footage takes more space than HD-footage of a 5D Mk II… I guess the 5D Mk IV will do the same for 4K material? 😉

If H.265 supports 10-bit 4:4:4:4 formats and is efficient at it I can’t say. That would be a boost for it as both a capture and delivery format. But the industry seems keen on high resolution vs high bit depth / color resolution. Native 1080p 4:4:4:4 10-bit I’d prefer a lot of times over some 4:2:0 8-bit 4K format.

[Erik Lindahl]

This is true, now, but I would presume AVF has support for third party codecs or Apple really has to go back to the drawing board. I understand the old QuickTime API is being fazed out, that’s fine, but we then need a solid foundation to move forward with. For one I think more codec support is high on the list.

– DNxHD
– PhotoJPEG
– JPEG2000
– RAW RGB (None or Animation)

Above are a few examples of codecs a lot of professionals require. It’s to a degree fine Apple doesn’t support the above out the box, but there has to be a third party solution for it or we’re heading into quite a dark future in some areas. Seing FCPX adds support for codecs like Uncompressed, MPEG2, AVC-Intra, AVC-X (or what ever the 4K standard is called) it seems the hooks are there for third party codecs.

It’s also interesting to know what the grander plan is for QuickTime as a whole. The QuickTime .mov format is still the preferred container according to Apple. However, what’s the future for cross plattform media production? Delivery isn’t really a problem but for produktion it’s vital to have a unified format to go to.

[Erik Lindahl]

A painless process prehaps but a process never the less.

A QuickTime “None” and “Animation” codec (basically uncompressed or lossless compressed RGB) is really good to have in the system.

We shall see where this ends… ProRes support is good on OSX, poor in Windows and doesn’t even exist on Linux-systems I don’t think.

[Erik Lindahl]

https://www.barefeats.com/rmbpc1.html

The main boost you get from a late 2013 vs early 2013 machine is far better i/o performance, thunderbolt 2, faster WiFi and longer battery life. The GPU and CPU see maybe a 10-15% boost, where the SSD is 2X faster.

So, it really depends on what you do. Fast i/o is important for editing and AE-work.

[Erik Lindahl]

In 10.9 Apple has introduced AV Kit which asensially does the same thing but against AV Foundation.

[Erik Lindahl]

For a small “cluster” of machines this could be a very potent solution – if it deems to be stable.

One “Main” MacPro could probably dedicate 1 TB controller for i/o and storage, 1 TB controller for monitors and 1 TB controller for two “render slaves”. The “slaves” would share 20 Gbit but still that should be close to them having direct access to a TB1 RAID.

Not for everyone but surely interesting for some! If it actually works in the long run… 🙂

[Erik Lindahl]

I’d love go hear peoples experinces here as well. Bit the bullet and upgraded my home system to 10.9 but I don’t have FCP7 there.

[Erik Lindahl]

Nice. Should IMO be built in.

[Erik Lindahl]

I think this primarily is a FCPX issue. I’ve got a AJA Kona 3 in the main suite (MacPro) and I’ve experimented with a Blackmagic Ultra Studio Monitor (2011 MBP, 2012 iMac) and experience similar issues with A/V lag out to the reference monitor. Some people claim “the new iMac make wonders in FCPX!” but they don’t fix this issue from my experience.

I also talked about this issue with AJA at IBC last year and a few weeks back and both times the answer has been “yes, we’re aware of the issue and we’re talking to Apple about it”. A pretty crappy for a so called “pro” solution if you’re in need of reference monitor monitoring.