[Erik Lindahl]

Also, what about color management in Premier Pro CS7?

[Erik Lindahl]

Actually – what about proper scopes for ALL apps? Premier, After Effects and Photoshop?

[Erik Lindahl]

Nice. What about scopes for Premier Pro CS7? Anything new happening with AME, for example support for intro / outro clips, defined clip interprating settings and so forth?

[Erik Lindahl]

With a/v output on there is a constant play / pause lag on my two systems. This is a maxed out 2008 MacPro and 2012 iMac. There is something very wrong when this happens.

This is just a thing that shouldn’t be happening without the systems being taxes with FX.

The second “lag” issue is what you mention when moving editing blocks around. In general on the iMac things are smooth here but there is still this “rubber band” feel that’s not so good.

On the flip side, editing with some fx (3 CC’s + transformation and a few blur filters) works impressively on the iMac. It’s a bit silly the playback setting can’t be changed on the fly while editing as “High quality” stutters here but the “High performance” is a great boost and as you say – using that and skipping a/v output the tool almost becomes transparent. Even with 4-9 multicam clips it just keeps on running.

Still a few big issues to nail down. The GUI can become really sluggish as well which isn’t OK and the simple playback to ref-monitor is subpar.

[Erik Lindahl]

Sad new hardware is affected as well, where others have proven it doesn’t have to be that way. And some of the lag-issues seems similar on 2008 and 2012 machines which makes me think “design flaw” at the core.

That said, some things with X is nice but the engine really feels like a work in progress.

[Erik Lindahl]

Q: Are there responsiveness issues in FCPX?
A: In short – yes.

A longer answer is more complex but simple playback is lacking in FCPX from my experience especially when working out over a video card. This is my experience on minimal projects with a 2008 MacPro and a Kona 3 as well as a 2012 iMac 27″ pretty much maxed out and a BM TB interface. This is excluding the so called “lag build-up” with larger events and projects.

[Erik Lindahl]

I do find all the news coming to FCPX nice touches. However the app still has MASSIVE underlaying issues that Apple has to address.

1. Slow / lagging / sluggish playback on even the lastest systems.
2. Odd workflow workarounds for how to overcome the above or how the app handles media and files.
3. General buggy ness.

Fixing audio or collaborative solutions would be nice. In my book getting the app fast and responsive would be 10-times more worth.

I’d like to see 10.1 be fast, fluid and bug-free. Then they can add extras. I guess I was hoping for to much but even on a decked out iMac 27″ the app is still laggy. That’s NOT acceptable IMO. And it’s far from acceptable that an editor should require this kind of machine and still be relatively unresponsive. Yes, again, there are certain workaround. Dissabling a/v output for starters removes a huge amount. Still I find it shocking that they didn’t have this in mind when designing the app or patching it up the past 2 years.

[Erik Lindahl]

Yeah, 10.8.3 did some things to graphics drivers so maybe they fixed other underpinnings. Also it did take Adobe three releases to get decent video output (at least on the Mac). CS5 and 5.5 where shockingly poor via a video card. People tried to motivate why and such still not good enough IMO for a professional editor.

FCPX in it’s current state is far better but still not great when using the video output. Skipping that makes it really responsive on the 2012 iMac. Might be better with an AJA IoXT – could try at some point.

Starting a new project, was going to use FCPX but now I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll give PrPro another shot.

[Erik Lindahl]

I can add that I noticed the exact same issue with video out at the AJA booth during IBC last fall. They noted “you’re not the first to comment that”. I guess they where using 10.0.6 back then.

[Erik Lindahl]

Regarding Log to Rec correction – good.

The video out problems I see now that have seen in every version of FCPX are:

1. Lag on play / pause.
I hit play and there is a delay of about 1 second before the clip actually plays back. This isn’t an issue as long as I disable A/V output. This is both on a 2008 MacPro with a Kona 3 and SAS RAID-5 as well as a 2012 iMac 27″ “maxed out” with a BM Ultra Studio.

2. Frame jumps.
When I hit pause with video A/V enabled there more or less always is a “frame jump”. I.e. I pause on frame 10 where after maybe 0.5 seconds it jumps back to frame 9. I can verify if this issue is still on the MacPro / Kona system but it is on the iMac / BM.

Using PremierPro CS6 on the iMac I get zero delay and zero frame-jumping on the iMac. With or without hardware mercury playback enabled and with one three-way CC on the same media as used in FCPX. Hence technically it’s fully possible.

I guess we’ll have to wait for FCPX 10.1 or similar for a “new” A/V output engine or something.