2k redcode raw on macbook pro?

[Caleb Heymann]

Does anyone have a sense of how well a macbook pro (2.0 gHz processor, 2 gigs of ram) would handle 2k redcode raw footage? I'm thinking that it will be fine since the data rate I believe is only about 50 mbps, as long as the 10:1 compression isn't too much for the processor. I'm not an editor, but it would be really cool to be able to edit on my laptop for small projects.

 

[Rob Lohman]

Depends on how you define "well"....

I haven't seen a laptop yet that sustains the datarate on the internal drive... so you should really go with an external drive, probably in a RAID setup. I know 30 mb/s isn't that much, but you just want to have the guarantee that it can keep up, not having it "on the edge".

A macbook pro can't decompress 2K at the highest quality in real-time. It can do lower quality or lower resolutions.

We are just starting on the optimizing curve and we're working hard on getting the performance up.

I'm assuming you don't have a 30" screen attached (to actually see 2K), so I would edit in 1K or lower (depending on how big the preview is). Then swap out to a higher resolution when rendering.

A future version of Final Cut Pro will have better support for REDCODE to some funky stuff.

 

[Simon Blackledge]

oh funky!

 

[Caleb Heymann]

great, thanks for the reply rob. i've got an hd external display. but it sounds like the issue is, as long as you're editing from 1k proxies, there's no advantage in 2k windowed over 4k in terms of workflow with the exception of a more timely conform and way more storage space.

i also wonder about the option of shooting 4k redcode raw and then converting to prores 422 for a macbook pro edit to HD deliverable. anyone have a sense of how real time performance on a macbook pro would compare using 1k proxies of 4k redcode raw versus high quality prores 422?