Tom Laughlin
Forum Replies Created
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Sorry about that, I meant to post this link:
https://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=34593129&cat=&lpid=&search=&ad_cid=1
He has other stuff for sale, and is constantly starting new Mac builds, and selling builds, so that previous link was a listing for another mac he had, sorry, this was the link I was referring to:
https://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=34593129&cat=&lpid=&search=&ad_cid=1
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com -
Talked to a nice IT consultant, Calvin, who has had MANY years building Macs “custom-made” for media professionals, post houses, and studios across the country. So last night, I had a great conversation with Calvin about this very topic: buying older Macs vs Newer ones.
STATUS of CURRENT MAC-PROS: He said that with the new Mac Pros, Apple soon will not going to be building and releasing them anymore, they may release one or two more newer versions, but Apple is soon going to “stop” making MacPros tailored for “media professionals”, BECAUSE, since 2013, they have not BIG sellers, and quite frankly, are impractically over-priced. Plus, if something breaks on your new MacPro, you are at the mercy of Apple Care, which is often expensive and unreliable at times. It cannot hold other graphics cards, and who cares about Thunderbolt, if you don’t need it, why so much more for it.
BREAK IT, THEN WHAT: Another point he brought up, if you break it, you cannot buy parts for them, and easily repair them! For the older 2010 – 2013 towers, there are hundreds or resources (like OWC) for updates, upgrades, and support sites to buy used or new parts, ongoing.
SAME MACHINES!: Another interesting thing he mentioned: “The MacPro 5,1 is the same exactly built machine that they released from 2010 to 2013, and the only difference from the last tower, was a software update, but the Macs built from 2010 to 2013 are the same exact built machines”. This changes the way one thinks about buying one, date is somewhat irrelevant. Its the processors, cores, storage (irrelevant cause you can always add more cheaper RAM and storage), and the graphics card.
12-CORES: The other interesting thing was, he said that the price for what you get for a Mac Pro 12-core, 3.94Ghz, is blazing faster than even the newest Mac Pros, and at 1/2 or even 1/3 the cost! There are several machines on ebay that are the Mac Pro 12-core, 2.66Ghz, and he advised me to go with the Mac Pro 12-core, w/ 3.94Ghz processor. Ebay has these kinds of macs listed anywhere from $1800-$3500, some are more, due to the amount of storage, as well as graphics cards.
GRAPHICS CARDS: He also talked to me about the graphics card situation, and has bench-tested card after card, OS vs OS, and so many combinations of OS, cards, and Premiere Pro versions, that he knows it down to a science, and has used and tested the “ATI 4870” against the ATI 5870, ATI 5770, Nvidia 8800GT and an Nvidia GTX285. The ATI 4870 has outperformed all of these other video cards in benchmark testing in a Mac Pro. Out of all the Higher End Video Cards he has used in a Mac Pro over the years the ATI 4870 seems to be optimized better and the performance he has seen shows it.
SAMPLE: Here is a sample of one of his builds and prices:
https://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=34593129&cat=&lpid=&search=&ad_cid=1CONCLUSIONS: I’m really excited about this finding, and info, knowing that for around $2K, I can have a MacPro that will be fast (for a while) and continue to support the needs I have, and possibly help others, in figuring out what to do next, what to look for, and how not to blow money out the door, when the older 2010-2013 Macs still have their place.
Any other thoughts?
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com -
So, before I get too caught up in any on-line shopping or purchasing, what I’m hearing is, at this point, it is better to get a MacPro 2012 and update and max it out as far as one can, and this set-up would be much more cost-effective, sufficient, and more friendly working with Premiere, than purchasing a brand new Mac Pro (black)? And, that iMacs with 5K monitors, offer a great screen and fast machine, is another good option, any other ideas or suggestions?
What are some good graphics card options? I do not do a ton of VFX, so it’s not like I need a Ferrari graphics card, however, I understand Premiere Pro “likes” a good graphic card or two installed.
Has anyone used OWC for some or most of their upgrade needs, or are there other cheaper resources out there for getting 2012 Macs beefed up?
A good source for cheap RAM, storage, etc?
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com -
Terry,
In order to run the larger cards, your EX-1 may not have the latest firmware. I sent my into SonyPro in LA, and had Sony technicians install it. Too many horror stories of people jimmy-rigging on their own. If your camera also wants to use larger cards, like any 64GB or 128GB SxS cards, or shoot using the “SDHC adaptors”, your camera’s firmware needs to be updated. If it is way old on the firmware, past a certain point, it is better to send it on, rather. If it’s a one or two versions old on the firmware, might work, but again, I’d send it in, let them do the firmware, to the latest, then your’e set and I’ve had ZERO problems, SxS or SDHC, any sizes, since I’ve done that.
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com -
Any other thoughts? Anyone?
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com -
Michael,
I was looking at these products (camera bling) for future shoots, with my EX-1.
Rigs:
https://www.proaimshop.com/pas/FILMCITY-DSLR-Shoulder-Mount-Kit-FC-109.html
https://www.proaimshop.com/pas/PROAIM-DSLR-Kit-3.html
https://www.proaimshop.com/pas/PROAIM-DSLR-KIT-9.htmlMatteBox:
https://www.proaimshop.com/pas/PROAIM-MB-600-Camera-Sunshade-Matte-Box.htmlAny thoughts?
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com -
I would use the Sony SxS transfer plugin, inside of FCP7, to import and transcode the media to QT. Once imported and done editing, export the media as a QT Pro Res file 25p. You can also try exporting “Same as Source” however, sometimes, the QT Pro Res looks better. If you have access to YouTube, and have the time, I’d upload the QT Pro Res file directly to Youtube. Adobe Media Encoder has a setting for YouTube as well as Compressor. If the footage looks grainy or bad, you may want to try more color correction, crush the blacks, or check out some DVD tutorials by Doug Jensen, on best shooting practices with this camera. Hope this helps!
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com -
Went from Premiere Pro CC to CC2014, version 8.2, and got crash after crash. A couple things I was told, Premiere Pro CC 2014 is not made for 2006-2011 Mac towers”, ok, so I’m supposed to buy a new Mac? I was also told that Premiere CC 2014, is not meant to be run on any OS older than Yosemite, ok… So, in order for me to continue editing, I need to purchase Yosemite and update my OS, mid-way through several editing projects, risking media or project or computer corruption? Sure, let’s do it!
I’m now back in Premiere CC 7.2.2, a solid build, very solid. I’ve been paying for Cloud and have CC 2014, but hadn’t had the opportunity to finally use it, till 6 months into my work, I tried it, now, I don’t want to use it. And, worse, I’ve been paying for it for a few months now.
Yea, I’m still on OS 10.7.5, and on a 2007 Mac Tower, but what happened ADOBE?!
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com -
Jeff,
One last question – for those of us out there who are still editing in the more new and native environment.
With your reference to the QuickTime environment that FCP7 had been settled somewhat around, now into Premiere we go, does it EVEN matter now, to do the same before editing? In other words, is it BETTER to transcode your EX footage to PRO-RES ‘before’ editing, thus editing in a Pro-Res time-line, with a ProRes export? Are there any advantages to this, and are editors doing this? (If you have the time to transcode, that is, is it even beneficial, other than eating up MUCH more hard-drive space?)
In the past, yes, I’ve done transcoding from BPAV to .mov for FCP7 in the past, as you couldn’t edit raw .mp4 in the BPAV, so I’d normally use EXCAM Transfer or Clip Browser, from what I understand, all it did was ‘re-wrap’ the file in an “.mov wrapper” for editing in FCP7, so.
But I don’t recall ever “having to” transcode media via source footage from an EX3 or EX1 to Pro Res before an edit, not sure why…
That being said, yes, I ‘have’ worked with many many many shooters – who did shot on DSLRs (like the Canon 5D Mark II), who routinely would take their source media, and transcode it to “Pro Res 422” or “HQ” (using MPEG StreamClip to transcode RAW cards). So in that DSLR workflow, with the Canon 5D Mark II, editing in FCP7, this “Pro Res transcode before editing” workflow, to me, was more common, BUT not with source media from EX3 or EX1’s… Sorry for the long sentences.
So, it is better to transcode EX3 footage to Pro Res before edit, or not? I don’t see any advantages, with Premiere editing native, why would you want to transcode still?
Above is my last question, promise!!
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com -
Jeff,
This is probably the BEST explanation I’ve seen or read on this topic and question for a few years now. I’ve always exported out in a “Same as Source” mentality, I think we adopted from FCP7 in the past, and though there may have been some better or more poor exporting going on in and out of FCP7, the mind-set that I had when I switched to Premiere, was that under the hood, Premiere, I assumed did the same, so, but that’s a different topic related, but what I’m saying is, the quality shift prevention measures, were somewhat handled that way in FCP7, so that’s what I’m saying, we export and match settings, in an effort to maintain quality, but in order to maintain quality, one NLE does this differently than another, which I fear, may have been contributing to poorer exports in the past, but not to drastic, but for some of those who are more anal about maintaining a more accurate and master quality, and from what you just explained, this ProRes as a safety and assurance, MAKES me FEEL so much more SURE of HOW to export and why, so thank you for that response and for everyone’s contributing input as well. I will now make the shift to ProRes masters for future project exports.
Thanks everyone!
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com