[Rob Davis]

I too have been having this issue with my late 2014 Macbook Pro and posted it here: https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/3/964588

I’m under the impression this is an issue with the CUDA drivers. Can’t decide whether to uninstall and run off the CPU or just live with it for now. It’s even worse when using an external thunderbolt display. Why has this not been fixed?!

[Rob Davis]

Thanks for the clarification! That’s exactly what I wanted to confirm.

So, loudness radar is a tool for evaluating loudness but peaks should be measured with the VU meters. I was hoping there was a way to use the loudness radar to verify that there wasn’t a lone spike over -20db that would cause me to fail QC but I’m sure there is another tool for that……

[Rob Davis]

[Paul Neumann] “How complicated is the mix? “

Not very. Its a fishing show. 6 Channels of audio on the timeline, VO, host dialogue, music, and two channels of nat sound.

If I trust the loudness meter and my ears/monitors to do the mix, my peaks will exceed -20 on the VU meters. Isn’t that a problem?

[Rob Davis]

So, loudness radar is measuring perceived loudness, which is differnt than normal peaks? I’d like to use it to ensure my music, dialogue, sfx, etc. are in good proportion and everything is in the correct range.

[Rob Davis]

The newest release is more stable but far from stable. I get occasional scrambled graphics and less often, a full on kernel panic restart (probably happened twice since my last post).

I meant to go talk to the CUDA folks at NAB but didn’t get a chance. Really wish they would work with Adobe to clear this up. I’m surprised there aren’t more folks reporting these issues and have to imagine there is a large group of people having these issues.

If you make any headway, please share with us, here.

[Rob Davis]

Just wondering if anyone knows of any updates regarding using external GPUs with a Macbook Retina via Thunderbolt now that we’re running Thunderbolt 2 and Yosemite. Are there any cards available that will work with Premiere over Thunderbolt and improve performance?

I’ve had a hard enough time getting Yosemite to play nice with the high-performance CUDA drivers for my internal GPU (https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/3/964588#964633), so I’m not hugely optimistic but figure there have to be some options coming to market, at least intended for the Mac Pro, if not iMac/Macbook.

[Rob Davis]

Update: After switching over to a project containing mainly h.264 native footage (instead of Prores) I began to notice the performance drop-off from not having Mercury Playback Engine enabled and decided to try the new drivers that were released April 2nd.

After about a day or so with the new drivers installed, I have noticed the occasional graphics hiccup and once had to restart Premiere because of a garbled image but overall, its much more stable than the previous CUDA driver.

[Rob Davis]

Thanks for confirming our suspicions, Kevin. Hopefully, the new update will work so we can take full advantage of our existing system resources.

On that note, can you recommend any resources for improving performance of Premiere and AE on a new Macbook Retina?

Upon purchasing the Macbook for a new show where I need to stay mobile, I tested a 4-disk Raid0 configuration and though it sped up transfers over a single USB 3.0-connected drive, there weren’t huge performance gains in Premiere or After Effects in multiple tests I conducted, including grading, effects and multi-cam.

I want to upgrade my system with a thunderbolt raid or additional GPU(s) in an expansion chassis but am pretty much clueless as to what combination of upgrades will have the most impact on performance or if its even worth it without a faster processor in a Mac Pro or PC. I would also like to add one or more external displays and/or a sdi conversion box with a grading monitor but I’m not sure if this will drain my graphics resources to a point where the expense isn’t justified.

I’m sure others would appreciate any advice you could offer, as well.

[Rob Davis]

Thanks for your reply, Sam! After removing the CUDA drivers and restarting, I am not seeing the issue upon initial testing. However, I now get the warning that the Mercury Playback Engine is disabled (see photo). Will the lack of NVIDIA drivers restrict performance?

I had updated via these instructions from Adobe: https://blogs.adobe.com/kevinmonahan/2013/09/13/enabling-cuda-for-the-mercury-playback-engine-in-the-macbook-pro-retina/

[Rob Davis]

Just for the record, aperture control on my original 16-35 L does not work on my BMCC 2.5k EF. Would love to find some sore of adapter to get it working.

I guess I am forced to replace it with a differn’t one or a mkII.