How To Get Ready For Dragon Post Workflow

[Manfred Lopez]

We just got our Epic MX and ready to upgrade it to Dragon. So while we haven't yet purchased the post side of things, we figured we should make it as dragon-friendly as possible. Our plan is to basically wait for the new Mac Pro and use it with the Rocket-x. My question is, what else should we consider for dragon that's different than for MX? Or is all the same since there are no 5k viewing options?

 

[M Most]

We just got our Epic MX and ready to upgrade it to Dragon. So while we haven't yet purchased the post side of things, we figured we should make it as dragon-friendly as possible. Our plan is to basically wait for the new Mac Pro and use it with the Rocket-x. My question is, what else should we consider for dragon that's different than for MX? Or is all the same since there are no 5k viewing options?

A lot more storage. And a few hopes that the new Rocket will work in a Thunderbolt expansion chassis.

 

[jake blackstone]

Or is all the same since there are no 5k viewing options?

Are there plans now in the works for the 5K displays?

 

[Peter Majtan]

And a few hopes that the new Rocket will work in a Thunderbolt expansion chassis.

Yes, it will work. Working on such a product as we speak - and I am sure we are not alone...

Are there plans now in the works for the 5K displays?

Apple new line of Cinema Displays to be released alongside the new Mac Pro will have resolution 5K or greater.
Having said that - you only need to preview your images at the delivery size - which for the foreseeable future is either 4K or UHD (I hate how even giants like SONY get these two mixed up - advertising 3840x2160 products as 4K instead of UHD)...

Definitely agree on adding more high-performance/capacity storage. Fortunately the manufacturers are starting to deliver larger RAID enclosure based around TB interface (like MAXX DIGITAL for example).
This should only get better once the new Mac Pro actually ships. I know of several major TB products planed to be launched in sync with the Mac Pro...

:sifone: Peter

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

Advance planning is commendable but wait as long as you can to purchase hardware - it gets better and cheaper every month.

For larger multi-user post environments I suggest you hire out the system config and installation.

For a smaller Mac based shop I highly recommend Thunderbolt everything. There are hubs out there to interface with eSATA/USB3/FW800/etc when needed. Depending on when the new MacPro ships there might be a decent assortment of TB2 compliant peripherals available. TB1 is pretty fast, but for expansion PCIe bus hosting and storage I/O, TB2 is worth waiting for. It's just really sad that Falcon Ridge isn't PCIe3.0 savvy.

Just my 2 bytes.

Cheers - #19

 

[Brian Smith]

Apple new line of Cinema Displays to be released alongside the new Mac Pro will have resolution 5K or greater.

Where are you getting this information? There hasn't been a single public announcement or leak to my knowledge. I'd love to know if this is true...

 

[Manfred Lopez]

Thanks for all the replies.

Apple new line of Cinema Displays to be released alongside the new Mac Pro will have resolution 5K or greater.

Really?!? Wow. i didn't know that. We will definitely wait until september/october to see how all this plays out.

Advance planning is commendable but wait as long as you can to purchase hardware...

For a smaller Mac based shop I highly recommend Thunderbolt everything.

I think your advise is very good to wait until TB2. We have a feature film coming up. But I think we will wing it with just a 27" iMac with g-techs until then.

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

Its all rumor based on the pixel dimensions of Maverick's wallpaper.

As long as its at least UHD 3840 x 2160 I'll be happy

Cheers - #19

 

[Robert L. Mickles]

You gotta figure if a Retina Display is about 300ppi (or dpi however you wanna look at it), then it would have to be at least 4K, likely over for a 30" Apple display.

 

[Eryc Tramonn]

For larger multi-user post environments I suggest you hire out the system config and installation.

Hey Blair, do you have any recommendations? I may be in need of a referral for an off/online office build soon (LA area) -- lot of material originating on EPIC, but also a litany of other sources, for a broadcast deliverable. Thanks in advance.

Eryc

 

[Andrew Gentle]

You know what I'm hoping for? Adobe CS6 compatibility. If they only bring it to Premiere Creative Cloud then I'll be disappointed, I'm not a fan of the new pricing model. Before I got my Scarlet I made sure I had CS5 because it had RED compatibility. Unfortunately it only supported RED One and 5.5 was the earliest which would work with the DSMC line...

 

[Robert Ruffo New]

We just got our Epic MX and ready to upgrade it to Dragon. So while we haven't yet purchased the post side of things, we figured we should make it as dragon-friendly as possible. Our plan is to basically wait for the new Mac Pro and use it with the Rocket-x. My question is, what else should we consider for dragon that's different than for MX? Or is all the same since there are no 5k viewing options?

A rocket non-x I think is maxed out by Thunderbolt 2. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. Doing some math 6K ail playback fine in 1/4 on our current 12 core Macs if we stick to PPro and Davinci as main software.

 

[Robert Ruffo New]

Its all rumor based on the pixel dimensions of Maverick's wallpaper.

As long as its at least UHD 3840 x 2160 I'll be happy

Cheers - #19

Accurate color is actually way more relevant. You really, really don't need to see every pixel to grade and edit and most of the deliverables of just about anything will still be 2K/1080p for a while.

 

[Mike Nagel]

Accurate color is actually way more relevant. You really, really don't need to see every pixel to grade and edit and most of the deliverables of just about anything will still be 2K/1080p for a while.

+1

hopefully with the transition to 4k / UHD, more and more 4K LUT boxes will arrive soon... much preferred as an application independent display calibration...

 

[Mark van Coller]

What kind of compatibility problems should we expect from third party software like DaVinci, FinalCut-X and PremierPro when trying to work with the native Dragon files. Will all of these need an update to play with THE MIGHTY DRAGON!!!!!

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

Hey Blair, do you have any recommendations? I may be in need of a referral for an off/online office build soon (LA area) -- lot of material originating on EPIC, but also a litany of other sources, for a broadcast deliverable. Thanks in advance.
Eryc

Strongly recommend LumaForge.

Full disclosure - I do some work with them.

Cheers - #19

 

[Shiblon Wixom]

The current rocket is Gen1 PCIe x8, same as Gen2 PCIe x4, or Gen3 PCIe x2. The rocket-x will work over TB2, but probably at half speed.

 

[Eryc Tramonn]

Strongly recommend LumaForge.

Full disclosure - I do some work with them.

Cheers - #19

Thank you, sir, appreciate the source. I'll check them out.

Best,

E

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

TB2 x4 and Bob's your Uncle ;-)

TB2 x4 and Bob's your Uncle ;-)

The current rocket is Gen1 PCIe x8, same as Gen2 PCIe x4, or Gen3 PCIe x2. The rocket-x will work over TB2, but probably at half speed.

That's a reasonable guess. I'm still hoping for multiplexing capability with TB2 on the new MacPros which might get us closer to full speed on the Rocket-X. FWIW I recently read an article about Thunderbolt (LightPeak if you prefer) that noted TB2 (aka FalconRidge) is also a PCIe2 x4 implementation, not PCIe3, with the big advantage being channel aggregation 10gb/s x2 = 20gb/s (minus overhead of course).

Other than waiting for the next iteration of Thunderbolt, PCIe3 x16 lanes please, the short term answer for higher throughput would seem to be multiplexing. IF, in fact, each one of the TB2 ports on the new MacPros is backed with it's own PCIe2 x4 connection, vs sharing it among all 6 physical ports, then multiplexing or aggregation could theoretically offer more than enough throughput for the RedRocket-X to run at full speed. How hard that would be to achieve in the real world I can't say, not to mention whether or not there is enough demand to justify the NRE costs.

Cheers - #19

 

[Will Keir]

Here's how you get ready.

1) Sell all your old or current digital camera's.

2) Get all your 35mm film together, get all your 65mm film together.

3) Burn it!