Jeff Meyer
Forum Replies Created
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If you’re uisng a long GOP codec (any member of the mpeg4 family – H.264 included – or any member of the mpeg 2 family) try using an all I frame codec – DV, ProRes, or Animation.
Run updates on the PC. Look for updates to Quicktime, the video board, and the audio board.
If it’s a slower computer try to stick to viewing it at 100%. Any other size involves scaling.
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I think one thing you need to do is decide on an single editing suite. You’ve got FCX (you’re in the FCP forum btw), and Adobe CS in there. Apple products play well with ATI video cards, and Adobe products like high end NVIDIA cards – namely the Quadro 4000 on the Apple side, and about 15 boards on the Windows side. You can build a fast box for either system, but no matter what you spec you’re selecting performance for one platform or the other. I would suggest committing to one platform and designing a system towards that end.
If FCX is where you want to go, an iMac (with all the high-performance options) and a Lightpeak/Thunderbolt storage solution should keep things moving along at a good clip. Don’t forget an I/O box, like AJA’s T-TAP for accuracte colour correction. Here’s some benchmarks on last generation’s 6 core MP against a loaded iMac. Couldn’t find anything about a 12 core. Just remember, with an iMac you’re stuck to what’s there. You’re stuck at 16GB of RAM, and you’re stuck with one (two?) Thunderbolt lifeline(s) to add a 2nd display, storage, I/O, etc. Invest the money you save by going iMac into something that will offer a return on investment (Apple stock?) as you’ll be replacing it sooner than you’ll be replacing a tower.
https://www.barefeats.com/fcpx01.html
https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/ (updates are likely to come soon)If you want to go Adobe your solution is a lot more scalable, and you can add hardware to improve performance a year or two down the road. Start with a 12 core MacPro, 16GB of RAM then as your budget allows add these items:
Up to 48GB of RAM (when speccing it initially opt for fewer, larger RAM sticks – it 16GB is best for upgradings as 2 8GB sticks, better as 4 4GB sticks, and less optimal as 8 2GB sticks)
A Quadro 4000 video board (take note of the not-mini-DisplayPort and DVI connections when considering displays)
Black Magic Intensity or other I/O card
A RAID array (G-Tech is a Creative Cow sponsor, they make the G-Speed)The RAID and I/O cards are pretty mandatory, but the others will simply boost performance as your budget allows. When it’s time for a new system you can – assumably – move your cards over. Apple is said to be giving its pro solution a major facelift next year, and I’d be willing to bet they’re going to try to push Thunderbolt over PCI-X.
Of course you can go MacPro for FCX, but the benefits aren’t as pronounced as they are from the Adobe side.
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Give AFP file sharing a try. Should take care of your needs. Here’s how to set up the host:
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1549?viewlocale=en_USSelect Get Info for a volume on your desktop to share that entire volume.
On the other computer open Finder and pick Go -> Connect to Server
Type in afp://IP address of host computer
Log in, and pick which shares to mount. -
Here’s a thread with someone wanting the same thing – Stephen Fuchs reply seems useful:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4137559?start=0&tstart=0Personally, I would haul it to an Apple store and tell them you want Lion as you were expecting. They’ll probably tell you they can’t roll it back. Insist you need them to so you can install a $1,000 software package you purchased from them once upon a time. If they physically can’t roll it back a Macbook Pro 15″ might be the answer. Or a FCS3 upgrade – if you call Apple sales you should be able to get that. Or Adobe CS6. Or Avid. I’m guessing the SSD being soldered onto the logic board gives them more options for locking you out of things. Like an upgrade to Lion or Snow Leopard.
Do consider making disk images of the installers on a portable hard drive or bringing in your SuperDrive to simplify the process. I stil can’t believe Apple called BluRay a bag of hurt – a 15″ laptop without an optical drive is a bag of hurt. I even consider being stuck with DVD to this day a bag of hurt.
I’ll get off of my soap box now. -
I would suggest nesting your sequences. Have camera 1 and its background on a Cam1 sequence and camera 2 with its background on a Cam2 sequence. The transition between the sequences should be clean.
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Bars are still absolutely essential in digital. More so I would think. With analogue the need to calibrate was assumed. With digital the assumption is that things are always correct. At my last job we placed a few ads in programming. I caught gamma shifts on a couple of digitally delivered ads. I only found them because there were bars and I was checking them against scopes. This is the exact reason I’m concerned – with the previous job I was there QCing everything, and my delivery specs ensured I was able to properly QC them, and conform them if possible when someone missed the specs.
My concern with the delivery sheet isn’t as much the lack of detail as it is the implications. I can make some good guesses, and as suggested, frame rate can easily be figured out by simply tuning in or visiting a wiki about the network.
My concern is if they’re requesting no bars/tone seems to imply no QC. I guess at the end of the day if the client wants to pay to be on their network they play by the network’s rules. The advice to reach out to the network and see what exactly they want is certainly something I’ll follow through with. I guess I was interested in seeing how others are working inside the tapeless world.
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That’s correct. Nikon’s D800 and D4 can output a clean HDMI signal. Just remember HDMI is a consumer connector. Shy of a gaff tape job, there’s no way to secure it to the camera or the recorder.
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It really depends on what kind of HD footage you’re editing. With ProRes422 and XDCAM 50 and DVCPRO HD I happily edit 720p and 1080i/p off of a G-RAID or a G-Drive Mini and Firewire 800 without any trouble. Sometimes two streams of 1080 can give me troubles, but transitions and normal editing go without a hitch.
If you’re going to higher end workflows and looking to use ProRes HQ, ProRes444, Uncompressed, and/or anything with alpha, and you want to keep real time you’ll want to move up to Thunderbolt, and consider retiring FCP7.
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The FCS2 installer isn’t an Intel binary, and the Lion OS doesn’t support PPC applications. There’s a workaround here:
I can’t confirm that it will or will not work, but you will need to follow these steps if it will work.
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It’s incredibly difficult to drive a nail in with some linemen’s pliers, but with a hammer it’s much easier. Cinema Tools is what you need for this job. In Cinema Tools it’s a very fast process that doesn’t impact the image quality in any way. Every other option (Final Cut speed, Motion retiming, Compressor frame controls) will all add render time and result in a quality hit.
Just put your discs in, and at the appropriate screen check what you need. It’s in the Installation Type area. You’d be hard pressed to miss it. Cinema Tools is about 50mb.
If you don’t have space on your system drive it would probably be a good endeavor to free up some space. Macs like at least 10% of their boot drive free, less than this results in frequent beachballs.