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Rr697

macrumors member
Original poster
May 11, 2019
56
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Alright guys I need some help here. I’m a pro video editor working on FCP (proxy-less workflow) and I have an employee that edits next to me and I’m upgrading their machine from a iMac 27” to either my newish Mac Studio Ultra or my 7.1 Mac Pro. Although to be honest I need some help deciding which machine to use OR possibly upgrade my 7.1. I’ve run a lot of real life editing tests which I mention below. Keep in mind I own both and I’d like to keep them separate rather than use my employees machine for points where my 7.1 is lacking.

Machines

XDR Display
Mac Pro 7.1 Purchased 12/2019
-16 Core
-96GB Ram
-4TB HD
-Radeon Pro Vega II Duo MPX Module 28 -Teraflops w/64GB memory

Mac Studio Ultra Purchased at launch (maxed out)
-Apple M1 Ultra with 20-core CPU, 64-core GPU, 32-core Neural Engine
-128GB Memory
-8TB HD

Goal: Ultimate goal would be make my 7.1 out perform the Mac Studio Ultra and use the Studio for my employee. (However I’m prepared If I have to edit R3D on my machine and Canon footage or ProRes on the studio with a monitor switch or something than I’ll do that.)

Background: My 7.1 Mac Pro is 5-10% faster than the Ultra while editing in FCP with 8k R3D footage. 5-10% is based on rendering and export times. Noise reduction is the same on both. Naturally the Ultra blows away my 7.1 on ProRes performance by 4-8x but up to this point I have not used ProRes much…..I don’t have an afterburner card in my 7.1 and the apple silicon obviously is optimized for ProRes but I mostly work with R3D.

Also the 7.1 Mac Pro can’t play 8K on QuickTime while the Studio can play it no problem. No problems with Playback on R3D or ProRes on either machine.

Now comes my newest point of consideration. Editing on my 7.1 Mac Pro the Canon Raw and Canon 10 bit footage play back terrible with lots of stuttering and really uneditable on FCP even on “better performance” without proxies. I have a proxy-less workflow that I’d prefer to keep. Note: Canon footage works flawlessly on my Mac Studio even on “Better quality” so that brings me to these 3 questions.

1. ProRes: If I buy an afterburner card will that make the 7.1 edit ProRes in FCP as fast as my Mac Studio? Found one for $900

2. QuickTime: 7.1 can’t play 8K vids on QuickTime and my Mac Studio plays them fine, why is this? Can I upgrade my 16 core cpu or upgrade my graphics card to fix this?

3. Canon raw + Canon 10 bit: If I upgrade the 7.1 graphics card will it then play 10 bit footage and Canon Raw without stuttering? Or is this a CPU issue? What should I do based on my machine specs? I see these as my options however maybe none of them will help my issue?
A. Add a second Radeon Vega Pro Duo II Found one for $1,800
B. Sell my Radeon card and buy the Radeon Pro W6800X Duo or get 2? (I feel like the performance gain vs money would be better to just get a second Vega Pro Duo II vs 2 w6800x duo option) $5,000 Each (can sell my Radeon for around $1,800)
C. Get the Single Radeon Pro W6900X I know I could fit 2 but that’s almost $12,000 so I feel like I don’t want to sink that much into it. $6,000 each


Let me know what you guys think! All in all I love the 7.1 but it is a work tool and I need to be using the latest and greatest to work efficiently as possible. The Mac Studio as noted above is 5-10% slower for my workflow in most areas than my $16,000 7.1 Mac Pro, pretty impressive work on apples part considering if you maxed out the Studio and got 1TB internal and used an external drive you can get the whole 8K video editing machine for $5,800. Totally different machines but I’m impressed.
 
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AFAIK

1) No, the M1 Ultra's build in ProRes hardware decoder / encoder still quite a bit faster than Afterburner

2) The Radeon Pro Vega II Duo's hardware decoder should be limited to 4K only. That's why you can't play 8K video smoothly. Even the 6800 should has 8K video decoder, but no idea if the software (mainly macOS driver and API) allow it to do so. If not, upgrade the GPU won't help.

Upgrade the CPU can help software decoding performance, but I don't know if the 28 cores Xeon can play that particular smoothly.

Even if Apple hasn't enable 8K hardware decoding for the 7,1. But if you buy the W6800X Duo. As a user, you should report to Apple that the 8K hardware decoding doesn't work. And let them it fix in future macOS release.

3) Only if the GPU has the media engine can hardware decode that particular codec. Add more Radeon Vega Pro Duo II sure won't help. Media engine isn't work that way, no matter how many media engine you have, only one can do the job. They can't work in parallel to improve performance (for decoding a single video).

I don't know if the Radeon Pro W6800X has the required media engine, if yes, then it should performance more or less the same as the Radeon Pro W6900X media engine. For video decoding, it's not the GPU to do the job, but just the associated media engine. The raw power of the GPU won't make any difference. Even you have to most powerful GPU on the world, but if the GPU has no media engine, of the media cannot handle that codec, then the GPU won't help anything, but can just let the CPU to software decode that video.

---------------

It seems all your problems are related to the media engine only. And there is nothing on the 7,1 can beat the M1 Ultra's media engine. Even it's possible to upgrade the media engine on the 7,1 by installing a newer graphic card to closer the gap, but I doubt if Apple has proper software support for that at this moment. In fact, Apple particularly make's the M1 series has a very powerful media engine, that's why it can smoke everything on most media related test / benchmark. The M1 Ultra has quite good raw power, however, all these have nothing to do with that video processing performance, but just because it has a highly customized and optimized media engine.
 
Now comes my newest point of consideration. Editing on my 7.1 Mac Pro the Canon Raw and Canon 10 bit footage play back terrible with lots of stuttering and really uneditable on FCP even on “better performance” without proxies. I
You can't play 10 bit 4:2:2 sampling on the Mac Pro. There is no AMD or NVIDIA card that can decode that properly.
Intel quick sync (11th and 12th generations) and Apple silicon are the only choices:
 
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Probably sort of an odd suggestion, but rather than sinking any more money into the Mac Pro, perhaps keep that as it is and use it for the aspects of work where it’s faster, and get another Mac Studio and use that where it’d perform better.
It just doesn’t seem to be a good use of money to spend it on an increasingly outdated platform.
 
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I have a regular sonnet 6900xt and playing 8k video is super liquid smooth. Also, I’ve actually attached an 8k screen, so when I play 8k, I actually SEE full 8k (which is impossible on the Mac studio):

 
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1. ProRes: If I buy an afterburner card will that make the 7.1 edit ProRes in FCP as fast as my Mac Studio? Found one for $900
I doubt it.
Cannon 10 bit 4:2:2 footage cannot be played on the MP7,1 directly without conversion anyway.
 
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I have a regular sonnet 6900xt and playing 8k video is super liquid smooth. Also, I’ve actually attached an 8k screen, so when I play 8k, I actually SEE full 8k (which is impossible on the Mac studio):

We are discussing if PCIe 2.0 x16 is enough for 8K HEVC videos.

But lack of PCIe 3.0 x16 option on the 5,1 make us can't draw any conclusion.

Since you can put the 6900XT into the 7,1's slot 2 (PCIe 3.0 x8) to simulate PCIe 2.0 x16 bandwidth. If possible, can you help us to do this test?

Just put the card in slot 2, make sure it is populate at PCIe 3.0 x8 without other restriction. Then try to play that same 8K video and see if that can be played smoothly.

Of course, ideally, that should be a 8K HEVC video. But it's good to know if other codec has this limitation anyway.

And million thanks in advance no matter can you perform this test or not. (E.g. that's a company 7,1, you should not touch inside. Or that's a working machine, and no time to do this test now. Or simply you don't want to perform this test)
 
We are discussing if PCIe 2.0 x16 is enough for 8K HEVC videos.

But lack of PCIe 3.0 x16 option on the 5,1 make us can't draw any conclusion.

Since you can put the 6900XT into the 7,1's slot 2 (PCIe 3.0 x8) to simulate PCIe 2.0 x16 bandwidth. If possible, can you help us to do this test?

Just put the card in slot 2, make sure it is populate at PCIe 3.0 x8 without other restriction. Then try to play that same 8K video and see if that can be played smoothly.

Of course, ideally, that should be a 8K HEVC video. But it's good to know if other codec has this limitation anyway.

And million thanks in advance no matter can you perform this test or not. (E.g. that's a company 7,1, you should not touch inside. Or that's a working machine, and no time to do this test now. Or simply you don't want to perform this test)

sorry Im missing something. The thread is about the 7,1?
 
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AFAIK

1) No, the M1 Ultra's build in ProRes hardware decoder / encoder still quite a bit faster than Afterburner

2) The Radeon Pro Vega II Duo's hardware decoder should be limited to 4K only. That's why you can't play 8K video smoothly. Even the 6800 should has 8K video decoder, but no idea if the software (mainly macOS driver and API) allow it to do so. If not, upgrade the GPU won't help.

Upgrade the CPU can help software decoding performance, but I don't know if the 28 cores Xeon can play that particular smoothly.

Even if Apple hasn't enable 8K hardware decoding for the 7,1. But if you buy the W6800X Duo. As a user, you should report to Apple that the 8K hardware decoding doesn't work. And let them it fix in future macOS release.

3) Only if the GPU has the media engine can hardware decode that particular codec. Add more Radeon Vega Pro Duo II sure won't help. Media engine isn't work that way, no matter how many media engine you have, only one can do the job. They can't work in parallel to improve performance (for decoding a single video).

I don't know if the Radeon Pro W6800X has the required media engine, if yes, then it should performance more or less the same as the Radeon Pro W6900X media engine. For video decoding, it's not the GPU to do the job, but just the associated media engine. The raw power of the GPU won't make any difference. Even you have to most powerful GPU on the world, but if the GPU has no media engine, of the media cannot handle that codec, then the GPU won't help anything, but can just let the CPU to software decode that video.

---------------

It seems all your problems are related to the media engine only. And there is nothing on the 7,1 can beat the M1 Ultra's media engine. Even it's possible to upgrade the media engine on the 7,1 by installing a newer graphic card to closer the gap, but I doubt if Apple has proper software support for that at this moment. In fact, Apple particularly make's the M1 series has a very powerful media engine, that's why it can smoke everything on most media related test / benchmark. The M1 Ultra has quite good raw power, however, all these have nothing to do with that video processing performance, but just because it has a highly customized and optimized media engine.

To clarify further. My monitor is a 6k XDR display . My RED R3D 8K footage plays back fine in FCP on my 7.1 while the Canon Raw and Canon 10 bit 4:2:2 footage does not playback smooth in FCP on the 7.1. However both play back great in FCP on the Studio.

As for watching 8K video on QuickTime as a .mov the 7.1 can’t play it back smoothly which I think is lame. The Studio however can play it back no problem.

As for my questions to you specifically. It seems your answer is I need to find out if the 6800x Duo or the 6900X can playback 8k footage. That would be great for playing back QuickTime movies but would that help with the 10 bit and raw Canon footage in FCP?

As for the ProRes it seems your answer is that the afterburner would be slower at ProRes than the Mac Studio.

Let me know if I can provide anything else and thanks a lot for the help!!
You can't play 10 bit 4:2:2 sampling on the Mac Pro. There is no AMD or NVIDIA card that can decode that properly.
Intel quick sync (11th and 12th generations) and Apple silicon are the only choices:
So you are saying the 7.1 Mac Pro cpu can’t play back 10 bit 4:2:2 footage in final cut without transcoding? So if that’s the case a GPU upgrade would not help.
Probably sort of an odd suggestion, but rather than sinking any more money into the Mac Pro, perhaps keep that as it is and use it for the aspects of work where it’s faster, and get another Mac Studio and use that where it’d perform better.
It just doesn’t seem to be a good use of money to spend it on an increasingly outdated platform.
Yea I may just use the Studio and fill the 7.1 with drives and have a thunderbolt connectionn between the two and edit on the studio and have that as my editing machine and my employee can edit with the 7.1 and I can have deep storage on there. You can fit a lot of storage in the 7.1
I have a regular sonnet 6900xt and playing 8k video is super liquid smooth. Also, I’ve actually attached an 8k screen, so when I play 8k, I actually SEE full 8k (which is impossible on the Mac studio):

Is that with a 7.1? So you can watch 8K .Mov on QuickTime with the 6900xt on your 7.1? I have the 6K XDR display and it won’t even play it on QuickTime after I export as even .mov
 
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I have a W6800X MPX Module (but not Duo sadly - I'm too poor) in the slot above which is probably same slot for the OP. I'm happy to test whatever is needed if it is any use. I suspect my W6800X will be slower than the OPs card, though it is a newer generation.
 
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To clarify further. My monitor is a 6k XDR display . My RED R3D 8K footage plays back fine in FCP on my 7.1 while the Canon Raw and Canon 10 bit 4:2:2 footage does not playback smooth in FCP on the 7.1. However both play back great in FCP on the Studio.

As for watching 8K video on QuickTime as a .mov the 7.1 can’t play it back smoothly which I think is lame. The Studio however can play it back no problem.

As for my questions to you specifically. It seems your answer is I need to find out if the 6800x Duo or the 6900X can playback 8k footage. That would be great for playing back QuickTime movies but would that help with the 10 bit and raw Canon footage in FCP?

As for the ProRes it seems your answer is that the afterburner would be slower at ProRes than the Mac Studio.

Let me know if I can provide anything else and thanks a lot for the help!!

So you are saying the 7.1 Mac Pro cpu can’t play back 10 bit 4:2:2 footage in final cut without transcoding? So if that’s the case a GPU upgrade would not help.

Yea I may just use the Studio and fill the 7.1 with drives and have a thunderbolt connectionn between the two and edit on the studio and have that as my editing machine and my employee can edit with the 7.1 and I can have deep storage on there. You can fit a lot of storage in the 7.1

Is that with a 7.1? So you can watch 8K .Mov on QuickTime with the 6900xt on your 7.1? I have the 6K XDR display and it won’t even play it on QuickTime after I export as even .mov
mov is the container, not the codec. You better check the video info and see if that's H264 / HEVC / AV1 / VP9.... or whatever the codec actually is.

The GPU media engine can only decode certain codec, container is irrelevant.

If the GPU media engine cannot do the job by using the hardware decoder. Then this job will be handled by the CPU, which can decode anything with proper software decoder, however, no guarantee on performance.

So, if your existing GPU media engine cannot do the job now. And the CPU is not powerful enough to decode the same video by using software method. Upgrade the GPU may actually help (if macOS allow you to use that new GPU media engine in that situation).
 
So you are saying the 7.1 Mac Pro cpu can’t play back 10 bit 4:2:2 footage in final cut without transcoding? So if that’s the case a GPU upgrade would not
That is correct. You can't play Cannon 422 10 bit on the 7.1 directly.
 
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Is that with a 7.1? So you can watch 8K .Mov on QuickTime with the 6900xt on your 7.1? I have the 6K XDR display and it won’t even play it on QuickTime after I export as even .mov

yes. I even watch 8k YouTube videos. Some are 8k VR. It’s glorious.
 
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View attachment 2034274

I have a W6800X MPX Module (but not Duo sadly - I'm too poor) in the slot above which is probably same slot for the OP. I'm happy to test whatever is needed if it is any use. I suspect my W6800X will be slower than the OPs card, though it is a newer generation.
Ok awesome thanks for lending a hand! I’m not sure what the best way to send a test clip would be but I could make a 1 minute 8K test vid to see how your QuickTime playback is? Are you a FCP editor or just lending a helping hand?
mov is the container, not the codec. You better check the video info and see if that's H264 / HEVC / AV1 / VP9.... or whatever the codec actually is.

The GPU media engine can only decode certain codec, container is irrelevant.

If the GPU media engine cannot do the job by using the hardware decoder. Then this job will be handled by the CPU, which can decode anything with proper software decoder, however, no guarantee on performance.

So, if your existing GPU media engine cannot do the job now. And the CPU is not powerful enough to decode the same video by using software method. Upgrade the GPU may actually help (if macOS allow you to use that new GPU media engine in that situation).
Sorry I should have clarified my 7.1 can’t play 8K H264 .mov files in QuickTime. So would replacing my Radeon Vega Pro Duo II with the newer 68xx or 69xx help this? It seems the gentleman below says the problem is the CPU can decode the 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 from Canon.
That is correct. You can't play Cannon 422 10 bit on the 7.1 directly.
Ok can the 7.1 Intel 16C cpu play Canon Raw 12 bit standard or LT 4:4:4? Or same issue ?
yes. I even watch 8k YouTube videos. Some are 8k VR. It’s glorious.
I can play 8K YouTube videos on my XDR display with my 7.1. Obviously it will only be 6K since the XDR display is not 8K but they play fine in 8K on my machine as YouTube compresses the hell out of videos. What my computer can’t play is an 8K h264 .mov exported file smoothly.
 
Ok awesome thanks for lending a hand! I’m not sure what the best way to send a test clip would be but I could make a 1 minute 8K test vid to see how your QuickTime playback is? Are you a FCP editor or just lending a helping hand?

Sorry I should have clarified my 7.1 can’t play 8K H264 .mov files in QuickTime. So would replacing my Radeon Vega Pro Duo II with the newer 68xx or 69xx help this? It seems the gentleman below says the problem is the CPU can decode the 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 from Canon.

Ok can the 7.1 Intel 16C cpu play Canon Raw 12 bit standard or LT 4:4:4? Or same issue ?

I can play 8K YouTube videos on my XDR display with my 7.1. Obviously it will only be 6K since the XDR display is not 8K but they play fine in 8K on my machine as YouTube compresses the hell out of videos. What my computer can’t play is an 8K h264 .mov exported file smoothly.
If you have a sample file you want me to try, happy to try it for you. Maybe you’re using some weird encoder/output form that chokes the machine?
 
Ok can the 7.1 Intel 16C cpu play Canon Raw 12 bit standard or LT 4:4:4? Or same issue
In my first post I quoted some tables. Look at the tables for AMD card and see what footage they can play. Unfortunately Canom' s raw image is not one of them. You can only play it on a silicon Mac from the Mac machines.
 
As for the ProRes it seems your answer is that the afterburner would be slower at ProRes than the Mac Studio.
The media engine in the new M1 Ultra is really good and better, but the Afterburner is no slouch either. It all comes down to whether you think you'll stress the card enough to where you have to use CPU resources in addition to.

Apple rates it for up to 6 streams of 8K ProRes RAW or 16 streams of 4K ProRes 422.

I have one and find it quite useful (for use in Premiere Pro). I'd imagine this would be worthwhile for you if you are willing to do a more ProRes-based workflow. For native Red footage, you'd want more brute GPU power.
 
I playback and edit Canon 10-bit 422 footage all the time on my 7,1 with no issues and have perfectly fine playback with no dropped frames. This is both in Quicktime and in Premiere Pro.
Interesting. What is your CPU? And how much is the CPU usage during playback? I know there was another guy who could not play canon 10 bit 422 on his 7.1 without stuttering and dropped frames.
Can you play this in Final Cut Pro?:
 
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Ok awesome thanks for lending a hand! I’m not sure what the best way to send a test clip would be but I could make a 1 minute 8K test vid to see how your QuickTime playback is? Are you a FCP editor or just lending a helping hand?

If you have Google Drive you can share it with no permissions and I can try it on Quicktime.

I'm firmly in the Adobe camp, so no FCP here (Premiere and After Effects).
 
It played fine in Quicktime Player. But what downloaded shows as 3840x2160 HEVC so no problems, my machine didn't make a fuss about it. 3.2ghz W3245 and W6800X 32GB.
I can't play this with 10920x processor and 6900xt (the video card is not accelerating this sample anyway) in Monterey. Not without stuttering and lost frames.
Here is the guy who sent this footage and said it was unplayable on his MP7,1 and when I tested similar configuration I can confirm it is unplayable on mine too.
 
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