Mitch Ives
Forum Replies Created
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[Elijah Lynn] “I now realize that even though my system had tons of Ram left Final Cut can only use 2560 MB (2.5 GB) of it!!! When Snow Leopard comes out and the new final cut on top of it I will be able to have my 20 sequences open no problem and probably raise it another 20 too!”
According to Apple, FCP can use 4Gb of ram, but no more. Motion can use 8Gb of ram, and I’m not sure what Color can use… Walter probably knows…
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com -
[walter biscardi] “Your FW drives are the weak link. They are pretty slow for extensive pro res editing. Especially the GRAID 2 units which I had a lot of issues with them being particularly slow. I sent them back. My original GRAID’s are much faster than the 2’s were.
If you can step up to eSATA or SAS/SATA you’ll get much better performance. “
Walter’s right. In addition, I would go with a minimum of four drives, and if you’re serious, make it eight. I see this all the time… people buy the Ferrari, and then they try to use 12″ tires. There is no point in buying the big dog machine if you aren’t going to match it to a big dog array.
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com -
[walter biscardi] “We’re running 10GB on our OctoCore since last year with no issues.”
I’ve always been amazed that you got that to work, as we never could on our early 2008 Octo. I’m not sure what ram modules you have, but we tried every conceivable combination using theoriginal two 1GB modules with the two 4GB modules and never got it to work. Had issues in FCP, as well as general issues with machine speed. Had to pull the two 1GB modules out, and all has been well since.
In speaking to Apple and reading both the FCP tech note and the general tech note for ram in an Octo (specifically early 2008), something even more interesting materialized. Apple claims that not only must you use matched pairs on each riser, but one of these two tech notes referred to not mixing sizes of modules as well. That was an eye opener, as we now know that we need to stay with all 4GB modules from now on. Kind of a drag, but after watching our Octo run like a “one lung tractor”, I’m not deviating from the Apple mandate…
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com -
I think you should try it. In a word, it doesn’t work, unless you have tons of available (free) hard drive space. The installer is not smart enough to realize that you are only installing Motion, which it clearly points out, only requires only 8.1GB of space, and instead refuses to install anything unless you have the entire 42GB of space available that the entire FC Studio 2 would require, if you were installing everything. The sadistic part is that the rest of the suite’s apps are grayed out, but has check marks on all of it. Because it’s grayed out, you cannot uncheck all the other apps (which are grayed out because it won’t install them unless you remove them first). Presumably, if you could uncheck them then the installer would suddenly be able to realize that all you are installing is 8.1GB of software, and let you past the gatekeeper.
In short, the installer is defective and needs to be re-designed.
While this may not be a problem on our Towers (with tons of available space), on a MBP with Parallels, windows, the Adobe software and the Apple software, it is very common to have less than 42GB available on the hard drive… so you’re only choice is to remove FCP, and then let it install the entire 42GB of stuff…
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com -
Thanks for the link. I tried removing the playlist files, but that didn’t solve the problem.
Next I tried removing the Motion app, and discovered that there were no packages to remove. Then the big surprise. The installer for FCS 2 is dumb as a post. It is not designed to allow you to install a single app. Even though all that is selected is Motion, which requires only 8.1 GB, the installer thinks it needs 42GB, which I don’t have left on this laptop… since the rest of FCS 2 is still on there. All of the other apps in the list are checked, but they are “grayed out” so you can’t uncheck them.
This is the kind of “bush league” mistake that keeps Apple open to criticism. I can see the “Bob and Tom software company” making a mistake like this, but Apple? Now I have to go through the several hour process of trying to uninstall everything and then reinstall everything, just to fix a simple Motion problem. Not real professional, Apple…
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com -
[Shane Ross] “Dunno what to say…I haven’t gotten PREPARING VIDEO FOR DISPLAY for a while. “
I get it too… and like him, I’m also on an 8-core with plenty of ram and a screaming disk array.
I agree with the comments that FCP is long in the tooth. Opening Encore CS4 and watching how responsive it is and the long list of professional templates makes one realize how behind DVDSP is. You know things are really bad when the new iMovie has a bunch of things you wished were in FCP…
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com -
[Shane Ross] “CS4 as native support for codecs…OK….fine. Great. But, how does it handle long form editing? How are the controls? How does it stack up against Avid and FCP when you need to cut a feature length film or broadcast TV show?
Scott Simmons answered my questions…
https://www.scottsimmons.tv/blog/2008/12/04/shanes-adobe-premiere-pro-questi… “
Two thoughts:
1) I think this constitutes “whistling past the graveyard”. It seems to me that everyone is trying to convince themselves that Premiere isn’t a threat. Not too long ago they weren’t even in the rear view mirror… now they’re all over the back bumper… and it happened pretty quickly. Given Adobe’s lightspeed pace versus Apple’s glacial pace, what do you think next year will look like? The only thing that will stop Adobe is Adobe… if they do another “Encore has no problems” tour.
2) We must be reading different articles at your link. I see that article as supporting my point, not yours. I see nothing in there that doesn’t say it’s very similar to FCP in all regards. After explaining some Premiere difficulties it points out that it would be the same or worse in FCP? That article seems to point out the superiority of Avid, not the inferiority of Premiere.
My point is pretty straightforward. Apple needs a complete re-write, not another slip-shod addition to an already confusing house. Jobs claims they are putting a lot of money into the pro-apps. Like Walter, I have difficulty believing that, given the way too small development team and the damn near invisible beta team…
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com -
[walter biscardi] “Adobe has really put together a beautiful suite of products now much better integrated than the Apple suite. They don’t have anything like Color which is now a must in our workflow. But they have set a very nice bar in terms of integration. Will be interesting to see if Apple has any answer for the overall integration of the Adobe suites and any significant updates to the Studio suite.
Of course, with a miniscule beta team, whatever Apple introduces, it will most likely not work properly on 95% of the computers out there when they release it. “
My thoughts exactly. Not only is it integrated, but there is native Red and AVCHD support. It also seems to need less rendering. Now that Premiere can read FCP projects, a number of people are considering it. IMO, FCP is getting real long in the tooth. If they don’t bring out a MAJOR update (as opposed to these incremental changes) then I think they will have a real challenge going forward. There are a number of people moving from FCP to Premiere for the precise reason that you list… that and the recent Kona support. Let’s hope there is a completely re-written FCP coming to go with snow leopard…
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com -
Well, that could be good news. Let’s hope others can confirm the same…
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com -
Can you tell us what versions you’re using of everything… i.e. OS, FCP, etc.?
Can you describe what is not working when you import the LT files into FCP?
What preset in FCP are you using and what settings in LT? Do they match… i.e. 720p in FCP and same size in LT?
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com