2009 upgrade

[VideoWizard]

I’d like to improve the speed that I edit multicam in FCPX from original h264 camera files. With 1080p it works fine but as soon as I add a 4k camera even if it’s only a two camera it slows to a crawl and drops frames.

I’ve tried:

1. Switching to performance instead of quality preview with little effect

2. Creating a proxy helps but its time consuming to transcode and I don’t like 1080p when it’s proxied

3. Transcoding to ProRes is the best but once again takes a long time to transcode and the file sizes get crazy. I work off 1tb SSD but 3hr video in 4k in prores fills up most of the drive. If for any reason you need to switch to another project I’m left with an unenviable task of moving off those huge files to a spinner drive then moving them back or to delete the transcode and then re encode. Both can be overnight tasks.

My current Mac Pro I’ve upgraded the cpu to fastest offered and I upgraded to the Radeon 5870 which was a huge improvement.

I’d like to upgrade the video card to 7950/7970 or the 280x or 580x pulse. It’s not a matter of money but whether it will speed up playback that I can edit properly.

I’ve seen Apple has added support for 580x but if that support is contingent on High Sierra that’s a problem because DVDSP is no longer supported along with issues with Adobe CS5. So that then leads me back to 7950/7970 and whether it’s fast enough to handle 4k.

I could buy a new imac or build a Hackintosh but I’d have the same issue being able to author dvds. I also don’t want to maintain two os and switch between them.

I apologize if I’m re asking a previously answered question. I have read threads on similar 4k issues with macpro towers.

 

[kohlson]

I think you've asked several questions here. Let me try and address some of them. First, FCPX does background rendering by default, which dramatically increases the size of the Library. You can either 1) select Library then File-Delete Generated Library Files (same with Project and Event Files) as needed. However, the background rendering starts anew. 2) Turn off Background rendering in Preferences.

You're obviously not running the latest version of FCPX, which requires 10.13 (and also updates the Libraries, preventing them from being used on earlier versions).

If you want faster GPU performance, consider the RX580 Sapphire Pulse. It's supported by Apple. But research first whether you have an OS-roadblock on the down-rev versions of CS and DVD authoring. I believe the RX560 is not the GPU you're looking for.

Or, consider running an nVidia card, and using web drivers from them.

 

[VideoWizard]

I think you've asked several ...

Thanks for the reply.

I understand how transcoding works. With my current setup its the only option to edit 4k but with transcode time and space issues I mentioned. I was hoping a faster video card would allievate the need to transcode.

I forgot that rendering the timeline is another method of transcoding but it also carries the same space and time issues. In addition fcpx will often forget these renders and any changes will force you to re render.

I meant to say 580x it’s hard to keep track of all the video card iterations.

Due to FCPX I need to stay with ATI because its optimized for Open CL.

 

[pixelatedscraps]

Maaan, my assistant edits 4K on our 12-core 3.33Ghx cMP 5,1 in my sig and it’s painfully slow work. If as you mention, money is no object, there is a limited pathway in the cMPs for 4K video editing either in FCXP or Premiere and your best bet is a high end iMac 5k or iMac Pro. I realise it’s a solution that involves throwing money into a new rig but if you want a significantly better / the best 4K video Mac editing platform, this is really your only route.

 

[VideoWizard]

Maaan, my assistant edits 4K on our 12-core 3.33Ghx cMP 5,1 in my sig and it’s painfully slow work. If as you mention, money is no object, there is a limited pathway in the cMPs for 4K video editing either in FCXP or Premiere and your best bet is a high end iMac 5k or iMac Pro. I realise it’s a solution that involves throwing money into a new rig but if you want a significantly better / the best 4K video Mac editing platform, this is really your only route.

The problem with the latest iMac is the software I use to author DVDs won't run on High Sierra.

 

[mattspace]

The problem with the latest iMac is the software I use to author DVDs won't run on High Sierra.

can you keep a virtualised install of an older macOS in Parallels or VMWare etc, and just use it for DVDSP?

 

[pixelatedscraps]

The problem with the latest iMac is the software I use to author DVDs won't run on High Sierra.

What software is that?

Ed: Author DVDs? Didn’t know that still happened in 2018!

 

[krakman]

My suggestion:

why don't you use a spare hard drive and install High Sierra and the latests FCPX and see if this speed up your editing...?

if so then...

upgrade your system drive to high Sierra but keep a clone of Sierra so you can boot up and use DVDSP

Buy a power collar Red Devil rx Vega 56 -it obeys system fans control and can take power from the 2x mini 6 pin pcie power sockets- NOTE: need to check if this card works OK in Sierra??? if not stick with your current GPU

get a 2TB Samsung 970 NVME SSD and pcie adaptor card and use this as your data drive. - this will work in High Sierra but you will need to copy your finished exported video to another drive when you boot back into Sierra.

Authoring a DVD can be done on a laptop so maybe dedicate the Mac Pro to editing and use a cheap iMac or Laptop to author the DVD. Many years ago I messed around with DVDSP on an old Powerbook G4 so a modern intel based computer should work fine.