4k editing with Macbook Pro??

[greg huglin]

I need some advice! I shoot with epic Epic (5k max) and then downconvert my shots in REDCineX to ProRes4444 but my Macbook Pro 13” won’t play the ProRes without stuttering and/or freezing up.
My Mac has a 2.9Ghz processor, 16gb of memory and a 1tb harddrive.
I make sure that less than 50% of the memory is used up.
I have Premiere CS5 and also FCP-X installed.
I haven’t downloaded any software from RED other than the Epic updates.
I need to deliver an edited piece in 4k resolution which combines my Epic footage along with GoPro 4k footage.
My editing is simple, just fade ins and outs and dissolves, nothing fancy.
Can anyone give me some advice as to how I can use my Macbook 13” to do this without spending a fortune buying more stuff?
I’m living in a rural area in Australia and no one I know here has a RED or knows how to edit in 4k… help!
Thanks
Greg Huglin

 

[Shiblon Wixom]

CS5 is full of bugs and was never finished, it doesn't work well with R3D or ProRes4444 files. I would suggest using Adobe CC 2014 and make sure you're editing drive is USB3 or TB and exceeds 150 MB/s. Also check to see if your 13" is quad core or duel core.

 

[greg huglin]

Shiblon,
Thanks for the advice I really appreciate it but I have no idea how to check for USB3 or TB or quad core or dual core. I'm not a computer geek, just a shooter who wants to easily edit my work, is there a simple solution for me?

 

[Mike P.]

Hey Greg, not sure of the specs of your 13", but depending on the playback settings, it shouldn't have too much trouble (assuming it's at least a dual core proc and your storage is fast enough). USB2 would struggle to keep up with the data rate of 4k prores, so again depending on how old the MBP13" is, that could be the problem.

If it has a decent processor and you're using USB3/thunderbolt drives, make sure your playback settings are set to "Performance" in FCPX or down to 1/4 or 1/8th resolution in Premiere CS5.

EDIT: Just noticed that Shiblon mentioned the specs thing... The other alternative is to use FCPX's built-in "proxies"... It's essentially a set-it-and-forget-it process, but you need to let the computer sit and make the proxies... Then when you want to render out to 4k, just set it back to "Original Media" and it'll use the 4k Prores4444s to make it.

 

[Shiblon Wixom]

In your Macbook Pro settings, "about this mac" and then "more info" and "system report", what does it say?

I'm currently on a Mac Pro build, 4.1 GHz Intel i7 (quad-core), 16 GB RAM, Nvidia GTX 770 2GB RAM, i have x4 USB3 Hubs with 8 ports, x2 USB2 Hubs with 4 ports, x2 Thunderbolt ports, x4 eSATA ports, and a FireWire Hub with 3 ports. I can work with 4k HD ProRes 4444 material in Adobe CC close to real time, 20-23 fps but not quite true real-time.

I recently setup a friends brand new Macbook Pro 13", 3.3 GHz i7, 16 GB Ram, intel 6100 GPU, 2 Thunderbolt ports, and 2 USB3 ports. His system works with Prores 1080p 4444 material near real-time without any problems (23-24 fps), with a G-Tech USB3 drive (avg data rates are 50-60 MB/s for 1 stream of video).

If you're Macbook Pro is having problems,
1. make sure it has USB3 instead of USB2
2. make sure it has at least a 5000 series integrated intel GPU, anything less will not perform well
3. make sure all the battery/energy settings are turned off, so the system drive isn't constantly going into sleep mode.
4. use the "activity monitor" in your "utilities" to see if the system CPU or RAM is your bottleneck

 

[Brian Merlen]

i don't believe apple has ever made a quad core 13 inch laptop, so i can tell you right now he is using a dual core machine. cs5 does not work with r3d raw files from Epic, which is why he has to convert it to make it work...

correct me if I'm wrong but is the go pro shooting AVCHD? do you convert that as well? that stuff bogs down machines too... it very well might actually be the cause of your problems. i would consider ditching cs5 for CC, using resolve Lite to edit for free, or using fcpx.

resolve lite can do a pretty easy offline online workflow by just changing sequence settings... whatever you use you should use reduced playback settings to help...also i'd consider getting fast storage. drives that have a single drive in them are slow, i hope for your sake your mac has USB3 and that the drive is USB3...if its USB2 on either end it will be super slow. if you click the apple in the left top corner of your screen and go to about this mac you can tell us what version it is...like 4.1 or whatever it is, the year it came out/version number and then we can easily find the specs ourselves online to verify if your machine has USB2 or 3. its also buried deeper in the about my mac menu if you want to look in there yourself under USB?

the main thing is in order to edit 4k you want fast storage, fast like a thunder bay raid 5 from macsales. a nice 4 drive bay is fast, safe, and can encode/playback insanely good. that drive unit will last you quite some time too, easily to your next machine. so id consider any of the above, resolve lite is free, and i can advise you what to do when you get us more info of the mac... i been fixing up a lot of DPs systems, and editing bays a lot lately in addition to my usual on set stuff and post...so i can tinker with the best of them, depending on the model you might be able to help it along too..like if its super old and has an optical drive or something? please give us more info and we will try to help more

 

[Shiblon Wixom]

i don't believe apple has ever made a quad core 13 inch laptop, so i can tell you right now he is using a dual core machine. cs5 does not work with r3d raw files from Epic, which is why he has to convert it to make it work...

correct me if I'm wrong but is the go pro shooting AVCHD? do you convert that as well? that stuff bogs down machines too... it very well might actually be the cause of your problems. i would consider ditching cs5 for CC, using resolve Lite to edit for free, or using fcpx.

resolve lite can do a pretty easy offline online workflow by just changing sequence settings... whatever you use you should use reduced playback settings to help...also i'd consider getting fast storage. drives that have a single drive in them are slow, i hope for your sake your mac has USB3 and that the drive is USB3...if its USB2 on either end it will be super slow. if you click the apple in the left top corner of your screen and go to about this mac you can tell us what version it is...like 4.1 or whatever it is, the year it came out/version number and then we can easily find the specs ourselves online to verify if your machine has USB2 or 3. its also buried deeper in the about my mac menu if you want to look in there yourself under USB?

the main thing is in order to edit 4k you want fast storage, fast like a thunder bay raid 5 from macsales. a nice 4 drive bay is fast, safe, and can encode/playback insanely good. that drive unit will last you quite some time too, easily to your next machine. so id consider any of the above, resolve lite is free, and i can advise you what to do when you get us more info of the mac... i been fixing up a lot of DPs systems, and editing bays a lot lately in addition to my usual on set stuff and post...so i can tinker with the best of them, depending on the model you might be able to help it along too..like if its super old and has an optical drive or something? please give us more info and we will try to help more

You're right, I just looked, and the macbook air and macbook pro 13" are all duel core systems. Probably why they barely handle 1080p material.

Resolve Lite works okay on the new Macbook Pro 13", but not very well, and often doesn't even launch on older Macbook Pro 13" or Macbook Air systems.

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

If your MBP is more than a couple years old you should strongly consider using lower resolution proxies for creative editorial. Nothing performs as well on Macs as FCP-X, so if you're determined to edit on a laptop I suggest you embrace it. Agree that a RAID or SSD storage solution for your media files, connected via TB2 or a second generation USB3 (SS) connection is highly recommended.

Cheers - #19

 

[greg huglin]

Thanks for all the advice! Fired up the 13" Macbook Pro this morning and used FPC-X, clicked 'proxy' and it worked.
Uploaded all my ProRes4444 and GoPro 4k footage and they play just fine, no stuttering.
Thank you, thank you.