MC5 with RED ROCKET

[Kaku Ito]

I tried the MC5 and RED ROCKET combination but so far, I haven't been able take advantage of the RR performance.

The RR is working using the REDCINE-X no problem, playing back in full debayer and rendering 2 minute footage in less than 3 minute (to ProRes422 HQ).

Then I take the same clip and place it on MC5 and rendering out is taking 13 minutes. I accidentally opened REDCINE-X while I have the MC5 opened, the alert does say I have another application using the RED ROCKET so, MC5 must be recognizing the RED ROCKET.

I looked through the update document but could not find any specific instruction to set to use RED ROCKET, but I did find a note that explained one of the questions I was looking for.

It did say "Avid supports the use of the REDRocket Accelerator card for transcoding, rendering and mixdown at half or full debayer settings. Playback is not supported. We do not use the video output connections on the card. The card is not supported on 32-bit Windows operating systems."

So, okay, it's too much to Ask Avid to support the realtime playback, so that is fine, but how can I make the RR work for the rendering?

[Job ter Burg]

Hi,

I just did some tests, and posted about them on the Avid Forums:

http://community.avid.com/forums/t/85371.aspx

It's imperative that you stick to the supported driver/firmware versions (which can be found on RedUser, not on Red.com/support).

Also note that in MC, the Media Creation tool holds an R3D Debayer setting. In order for the Rocket to kick in, you need to set it to Full Debayer.

[Kaku Ito]

Originally Posted by Job ter Burg

Also note that in MC, the Media Creation tool holds an R3D Debayer setting. In order for the Rocket to kick in, you need to set it to Full Debayer.

I think that's it. I couldn't find any of that note in the update note. Thanks.

[Mark L. Pederson]

Originally Posted by Job ter Burg

It's imperative that you stick to the supported driver/firmware versions (which can be found on RedUser, not on Red.com/support).

Also note that in MC, the Media Creation tool holds an R3D Debayer setting. In order for the Rocket to kick in, you need to set it to Full Debayer.

I think this post just saved lots of folks some time.

[Kaku Ito]

I think so, too, Mark.

We should check in to other forums, sometimes :).

[Kaku Ito]

Unfortunately, it didn't work for me.
The media tool setting seems to be full debayer as default and I'm using the 1.3.2 driver/firmware, too.

[Job ter Burg]

Originally Posted by Kaku Ito

Unfortunately, it didn't work for me

Can you describe your system configuration?

As I wrote on the Avid Community Forums, I got pretty decent results with MC5 and Full Premium Debayer.

[Kaku Ito]

My system is:

Mac Pro 4,1 10.6.4 6GB
ATTO R380 with 8 drives configured at RAID5
Media Composer 5
RED ROCKET 1.3.2 with matching firmware

RED ROCKET is working fine with REDCINE-X.

[Job ter Burg]

Few things:

Originally Posted by Kaku Ito

Mac Pro 4,1

Not familiar with the "4,1" way of describing the machine type. Is this an early 2009 model? 4-core or 2x4-core?

The Rocket needs an x8 electrical PCI slot to work at full capacity. Is it in an x4 or an x16 slot?

10.6.4

Avid strongly advises to stay 10.6.3 at the moment.
I'm not saying that has anything to do with it, but still.


What transcode times do you get if you choose Half Good Debayer? That will not use Rocket, but I'm curious as to what transcode times you would see without it.

FWIW: I don't think Avid completely supports the Rocket card yet, as the configuration descriptions are vague. A lot of this seems to be under construction.

[Kaku Ito]

Mac Pro 4,1 is the latest generation. It's an 8 core machine.

RED ROCKET is properly working as in REDCINE-X, doing everything it supposed to. I'm the first generation adopter of RED ROCKET, pretty much wired with properly setting up the system.

But, I'm a long time FCP user and very new with MC, so there might be many things that I haven't properly set up for MC.

Currently 2 minute footage in RCX is rendering less than 3 minute.
MC5 is doing about 14 minutes for the full debayer.
But when I boot RCX while I have MC5 going, then I get the alert saying RR is already used by the another application, so I'm guessing MC5 is seeing the RED ROCKET.