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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Cutting footage with MacBook Pro 2.6 Ghz

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RMTOP

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This is my first attempt to use RED footage with Final Cut Pro ver. 6.0.1. I have a MacBook Pro 2.6 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 Gb of memory, 200 Gig internal drive 7200 rpm and a LeCie 1 TB external drive connected via firewire 800. I’ve loaded into the LaCie the R3D file along with the QuickTime files. I’ve pulled the QuickTime proxy file into FCP and placed it on time line using Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) 1280 x 720 24p 48kHz Sequence Preset. Footage was shot without sound. So I’ve got video only. I can play the clip on the timeline and make straight cuts, but if I attempt to do any sort of effect over a cut (fade out/fade in, ripple, etc.) I get a red render bar. When I attempt to render I get a flag that states:” Codec not found. You may be using a compression type without the corresponding hardware card”. Does this mean I can only create cuts with the proxy footage?
 
Is there anyway I can edit RED footage with effects, titles, etc, using my Laptop or does this require a desktop Mac? At this point I would just like to issue out a "virtual" film as a quicktime movie.
 
You do not need a desktop Mac to edit footage shot on the RED One. Why is your sequence set to the ProRes codec? Did you convert the proxy? By default, the proxies use the REDCODE codec.
 
Proxies somehow is problematic in lots of situation. When you do straight cuts, it's fine. But when you started put effects, speed ramp or anything that cause u need to render, redcode timeline setting wont be an ideal choice because you cannot render with redcode timeline. Prores is your friend.
 
Let me back up a step

Let me back up a step

Firstly, I appreciate all your input. So let me back up. Regardless of what quicktime file created along with the R3D file by the RED camera I import into Final Cut, (F, H, M or P) I can view them all in the FCP viewer window. When I try to insert those files into the canvas window I get a flag that reads: “Attention – This clip does not match the sequence setting or any of your sequence set-ups. For best performance your sequence and external video should be set to the format of the clips you are editing. Change sequence settings to match the clips settings. Click Yes or No. If I click “Yes” FCP automatically selects Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) 1280 x 720 24p 48kHz and places the clip on the timeline. It can be played and straight cut but I can’t place any effects, titles etc over picture. When I do, the red bar appears but I get a flag that rendering is not possible. If I click “No” it places the clip on the timeline with a red render bar and must be rendered before it can be viewed. These rendered files can be cut; titles and effect can be used but there’s quite a bit of rendering time required using the laptop. So, I guess I have to live with very long rendering times at this point. Would one of those uber desktop macs render faster than the laptop? As far as Redcode goes am I supposed to see it in the list of sequence presets because I don’t. I’ve tried to distill this information from the 39 pages of posts in the “Apple Workflow” section but distilling the information has proved to be an enormous task. Sorry if I seem to be way in back of you guys but I’m just starting out editing with RED material and the ways to go about it are daunting. Again, thanks for any help.
 
If you hit "Yes", your sequence should not change to ProRes....that's your first problem. Make sure you have the correct REDCODE codec installed....I don't think 6.0.1 is supported anyways....update FCP and report back.
 
better you create offline prores422 codex QuickTime movies if you want to do full edit with effects and filters. Not advisable to edit with proxy.
 
Running 6.0.4. FCP and using ProRes 422 files.

Running 6.0.4. FCP and using ProRes 422 files.

Ok. Did upgrade to FCP 6.0.4. and downloaded the RED codec. Still no Redcode listing in the Sequence Presets. Is it supposed to be listed there as an option? Took the suggestion to create ProRes 422 files and did conversion in Red Alert. Conversions worked very well in FCP. Only problem is you need loads of time to do the conversion. Like the old film days when you had to wait a day for dailies back from the lab. What I find disappointing is that I remember some of the early conferences when it was stated that you could just pull the quicktime files created in the camera directly into FCP. No one said you wouldn't be able to do complete edits with these files. Any chance that someday the camera will create stand-alone qt files directly from camera or is there a high speed stand alone box that exists dedicated to the conversion process? Would one of the high-powered 8 core Mac desktops create ProRes 422 files using Red Alert any faster than the laptop? Just tryring to get my editing equipment sorted out so I have some kind of reasonable time in the workflow process. Again, all your inputs have been extremely helpful.
 
First off,

a laptop has a FSB speed of either 667mhz or 800mhz... yours is likely to have 800mhz. Still 800mhz is pretty slow... Mac Pros have FSB of 1600mhz... Double the speed of a Laptop. But due to 8 Cores it is 8 times faster. The ghz really doesn't make a difference, I can do as much as you can with my 2.1ghz... nothing. The difference between 3.2ghz and 2.8 is very minimal,

With a laptop Expect long conversion times, Heat, and frustration. Unless you have loads of time to transcode footage forget about it. Use a Desktop that will get you to about 3-6 Frames per second (encoding time, not playback).

Although With a Laptop, set your Seq to Pro res and select YES when you drop a proxy into the timeline. YOU DO NOT WANT TO WORK WITH REDCODE. You can't do anything, set it to Pro res and turn your RT to Unlimited and set Quality to Medium.
 
Also, your FW800 drives suck... Forget them thats the MAIN reason you can't play footage back and transcodes are slower than slow.

You MUST use e-sata, FW800 is no longer Cool.. Sorry. E-sata is 3000 mbit/s. FW800 is 800 mbit/s. you do the Math. The proxies take every bit of CPU to playback, if you bottleneck them with FW800 you won't get anywhere.

There is an e-sata card for MAcbook Pro, I rely on it religiously. Rosewill makes one and so does Sonnet, as well as many others.
 
I have a question on this, as I'm in the same situation- MacBook 2.6 4GB, etc: Is there a way I can Qmaster the MacBook to my Quad G5 for some faster work on RedCine?
 
No Not really, You'll waste a lot of time realizing the Macbook can't help much.
 
Well, the MacBook can see the footage, but the quad core can't- it's not intel, but if it had the 'book guiding it's hand, could it use its cores to do the grunt work?
 
ProRes 422 or 422 (HQ)

ProRes 422 or 422 (HQ)

Thanks everyone for turning on a light at the end of the tunnel. ProRes seems to be the way to go and I guess there’s a large desktop in my future. In Sequence Presets there are two types of ProRes, 422 and 422 (HQ). Both types have the same pixel count and frame rate. I don’t know what's the difference and is there a preference of one over the other? All information appreciated.
 
ProRes HQ is nearly twice the data rate – so it's less compression. I you are onlining, I'd go for HQ, since you are cascading compressions when using footage from the Red One. I'd try to avoid any further degradation, if possible, and storage is cheap these days.
 
RMTOP - I don't think in your situation you'll need HQ. Try the standard setting and your FW800 drives should do just fine. ProRes is amazing, and as long as your system is setup correctly, you should be able to cut it w/o any problems. Try using the "log and transfer" function in FCP to convert to ProRes. It might be a little easier for you to work with. Give it a shot and let us know if you need anything further!
 
Piraeus said:
Well, the MacBook can see the footage, but the quad core can't- it's not intel, but if it had the 'book guiding it's hand, could it use its cores to do the grunt work?
Click to expand...

Not likely -- the G5's still can't run the Intel-compiled code that RED puts out.
 
Thanks for the e-sata tip.

Thanks for the e-sata tip.

x86box said:
Also, your FW800 drives suck... You MUST use e-sata, FW800 is no longer Cool.. Sorry. E-sata is 3000 mbit/s. FW800 is 800 mbit/s. you do the Math. .
Click to expand...

Thanks. Using a Glyph drive with e-sata card now . Runs about four time faster than 800.
 
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