[Levi Davis]

I too had the EXACT SAME issue. I was so confident that Apple doesn’t know what they are doing that I bought the latest 2014 Macbook Pro with a discreet graphic card just to prove to them that they don’t know what they are doing. Then, I went and bought a Dell XPS 8947 with the exact same graphic cards as the Macbook Pro Retina to solve the problem. In fact, every single issue you are dealing with on the Mac will automatically be accounted for on Windows. For example, “Do you want to use Cuda?” Of course you do! What is the default for editing in Premiere Pro with Windows? Of course it’s Cuda. Want to render using Cuda? Cuda is the default render setting.

Guess what new computer didn’t come out with the latest version of Macbooks? The 15″ Macbook Pro with discreet graphic cards. What does it mean? We are all becoming aware that Mac and Cuda does not add up to a professional user experience.

To continue with the original discussion, Apple replaced my Early 2013 2.7 I7 motherboard in late December 2014. When I got the computer back, the problem was significantly worse. In my near 20 Apple store visits, the best help I had was to go into the statup Daemons and delete anything that wasn’t up to date (Old Blackmagic Design configurations, Old Snow Leopard daemons…). That seemed to help significantly with random PR crashes! However, when editing with Cuda, a near 15% increase in performance, I always lost my Project Monitor and would get a black screen. Is it really a Pro? No. It’s a Macbook. Did you pay for the Pro? WE ALL DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made the switch to Windows. Windows is not great for video editors. You’re stuck in 32 bit world for viewing ProRes. There’s no option to export ProRes. My new ProRes is CineForm, if you’re interested. What do you do as an Apple owner? I’ve looked into buying the non-discreet Macbook Pro 15″ and buying into Thunderbolt expansion and running a GTX970 or something along those lines… But, I still think there are issues with shader values and Cuda in general because of APPLE. As a windows user, coming from an Apple background, I’m thinking I need to start using Adobe an App that can show you video files in an explorer/finder type environment without having to open QT 7 or Windows Media Player? Believe it or not, I have serious issues playing video in real time on Windows, but can render it faster than on a Mac. That being said, the Apple OS is far superior.

I spent over a 100 hours talking to Apple to resolve the problem. In the end, they offered me a discount on a new computer. Two weeks of waiting around for Apple’s consumer affairs department to find out what the discount was, I went to the Apple store and learned that it was the same discount as the educational discount, which I already qualified for. Consumer Affairs told me the best solution was to sell the Macbook Pro used and buy a new computer. Unfortunately, they don’t make a better computer and they don’t know it. Consumer Affairs responded to 2 emails over a total of 10 attempts to reach them. I can’t say enough that when your computer doesn’t work you need to find a solution. Apple took 2 months of my time trying to find a solution. They failed.

My suggestion for Apple is to stop supporting NVIDIA because they clearly have no understanding of how to implement it. That being said, perhaps their Coffee Can Pro, iMac Retina, and Macbook Pro Retina without discreet graphics (I don’t think they should be called Pro) is the best machine to use in combination with a Thunderbolt expansion graphic card chassis. Then again, it’s ridiculous to invest that kind of money when Windows is rendering videos far, far faster. I’ve gotten exact same results from a late 2013 Dell XPS 9530 2.2 i7 as I have with the late 2014 Apple 2.5 i7. They both have the NVIDIA GT 750M cards.

Anyway, this is a seriously frustrating conversation because we’ve probably all put a ton of time into working with Apple’s OS and have a ton more time into formatting external in a Journaled, not EXFAT, format. Where are we? Where is the consumer? We’re into May and we’ve probably all had this issue ever since we first had our computers. We’re talking years on end here.

[Levi Davis]

It’s odd to think about the prosumer market in terms of “choosing your Raw camera for video production.” I’ve got my hands on a pre-order for a BMD Production Camera, as of today.

So how about a comparison? I’d say the hardware of the BMD Production Camera is nearly flawless. However, it’s the software of the Canon 5D III with ML that is nearly flawless.

The Canon appears to be about 70 – 80 percent of the BMD Production Camera for video production. However, the Canon 5D III will be about 300 percent more interesting to shoot with.

If the Magic Lantern firmware becomes available, would you consider purchasing the 5D III over a BMD Production Camera? Then again, are FPS limitations too limiting to consider either?

[Levi Davis]

It appears that converting the files from DNxHD.mov to ProRes utilizing the application called MPEG Streamclip is an easy answer. Test out the formula by referencing the simultaneous recording from the AVC HD format.

Just followed one of the user’s pattern for workflow inside of Premiere Pro CS 5.5… Rendered the entire work area and than exported to ProRes 422. The black levels appear to be just slightly higher than MPEG Streamclip’s levels by about 2 – 5 percent. Both appear to be viable solutions.

05-19-2012