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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 :)

DaVinci Resolve 7 for Mac now shipping

Can anyone comment on this...I heard from a source I trust that 10.6.4 screws up Cuda acceleration basically crippling any apps that utilize Cuda such as Adobe products and or Resolve for example. Anyone having this issue? I don't usually spread rumors that are unconfirmed but just wondering if anyone has run into this as a potential road block?
 
They just had a cuda update the other day. All of our Cuda stuff including Resolve screams on our set up.
 
jonnycom said:
Evin, You will still need the GT120 in slot 3.

We are running a new 12 core with
GTX285 in 1
Rocket in 2
GT120 in 3
Decklink 3d in 4

Getting ready to put in some SSD's
Also waiting for 4000 in about a week I'm told
The GTX285's for Mac are sold out.
Click to expand...

John is this top to bottom or bottom to top?
 
mikeburton said:
Can anyone comment on this...I heard from a source I trust that 10.6.4 screws up Cuda acceleration basically crippling any apps that utilize Cuda such as Adobe products and or Resolve for example. Anyone having this issue? I don't usually spread rumors that are unconfirmed but just wondering if anyone has run into this as a potential road block?
Click to expand...

That was 10.6.3 ;)

10.6.4 with the latest CUDA drivers seems to work very well. However, I don't have Resolve at the moment, but it seems that everyone is running 10.6.4 with it and that is what's being recommended.

The Quadro 4000 should be a nice upgrade over the GTX285. However, if we see Mac versions of the nVidia 460, 480 or 490, then I don't think there would be a real incentive to buy the Quadro for Resolve or other CUDA apps. The 480 is slightly faster in many benchmarks and the 490 smokes it. Personally, if I were going to spend Quadro money, I would prefer they made the 5000 available for the Mac.

Tim Whitcomb said:
John is this top to bottom or bottom to top?
Click to expand...

That's a bottom to top list -- Slot 4 is on the top in a Mac Pro.
 
Thats top to bottom in the new 12 cores and they are labeled that way. Only slots 1 and 2 are 16 lane and the Rocket and main Cuda card need to be in them. It' strange that you don't even plug anything into the main graphics card.

EDIT you may be right Jeff I might have been looking at it upside down but regardless they are labeled 1,2,3, and 4
 
Evin Grant said:
Gotcha, so here's the configuration I'm thinking about...

Macpro 2008 3.0 Ghz 8 core 12G ram
8TB Internal raid 5
Red Rocket
ESATA card
Quadro FX 4000

Has anyone thought about a USB option for the GUI monitor? That would free up the entire GPU for nodes, wouldn't it? Here's one I found from Kensington...
http://www.macmall.com/p/Kensington-Adapters-and-Gender-Changers/product~dpno~7927475~pdp.fhhagie
Click to expand...

You need to drive the display with GT 120. If you try to drive the display with USB, which I don't necessarily believe will even work, you'll impact the performance of both real time playback and the colorist display. I believe, neither one will be real time. Also, I think you may have a problem with 2008 model. Resolve will run, but not necessarily in real time. Initially I had the same computer, but I was unable to play faster than 17 FPS at HD resolution, even with DPX, which makes me to believe, that you may will have the same problem even with RRocket installed. It's kind of shame to install Resolve and not be able to use it as a real time device...
Regardless, at this time Mac version doesn't allow to use more than one GPU for real time rendering. So, installing the second FX4000 or GTX 285 will not do you any good. GT 120 is used strictly for colorist display.
 
Here's what we ended up doing to get the Red Rocket SDI's and the Black Magic HDMI's out.
 

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jonnycom said:
Here's what we ended up doing to get the Red Rocket SDI's and the Black Magic HDMI's out.
Click to expand...

LOL. Oh, man... Um, there is a better way for the Rocket SDI, actually a couple. As for the BlackMagic HDMI ports, there really isn't -- gotta run them out either through an optical bay slot or modify a side panel. If you have more than one Mac pro of the same vintage, spare a side panel. That way if you need to take the system in for service, you can at least bring it with a clean side panel and not void your AppleCare.

For the Rocket, the easiest way is to just nip off the large BNC ends of the included cables and run them out through any of the tiny holes on the rear of the case and then re-crimp on new BNC ends made for 23AWG mini-COAX. I've done that on a couple systems for people. On my primary Mac Pro, I just ran the BNC ends out through the slot cover on my ATTO SAS card. It has a small round hole in it for some reason and big enough I can pass the mini-BINC connectors through one at a time.

Do you have any grounding /short issues on those HDMI plugs? It seems like you might the way they're mounted in that side panel...
 
WOW Apple really needs to release a six slot tower, like yesterday!

So you can't use the Nvidia to drive the GUI monitor at all right? But you can use the Red Rocket to view out the grading image over SDI provided you're working exclusively with R3Ds correct?
 
Yep. Resolve only uses the Rocket for debayer operations. Which does speed everything up a lot. But the only applications using SDI out from the Rocket right now are Redcine-X, Scratch and Storm (if you're lucky enough to have an alpha release). I believe Storm is the only one that is actually showing effects beyond standard LUTs/looks via the Rocket monitor output.

It seems a PCIe expander is in order to really get the most out of Resolve. I'm undecided on the Expander, I think I'm going to get Resolve up and running on an '09 Mac Pro for now using a GTX285, GT120, software RAID-0, Rocket card and a BMD Extreme 3D card. At this point, to spend a whole lot more on the Expander and other hardware may just be too much for me with Epic and SSD modules and other things I need to purchase.

Intel has pushed Sandy Bridge to an OEM release of March, or so it seems, that means first systems on the market toward the end of April 2011. If Apple lags, I think we can expect a new Mac Pro by the end of June, but possibly in April or May. The new platform will support more PCIe lanes, so hopefully that will translate into more slots and a new case design. But if Apple screws us, then I may just buy the expander and flesh out the '09 Mac Pro and probably pick up a 2011 Mac Pro for my new general workstation. I don't know though...

After my two Epics are here and working, and budget permitting, I'm going to build a screening / coloring room with projector. I may just bite the bullet and go for the Linux flavor of Resolve if I can include it within my budget for the new room. A lot depends on what I do for a projector. So far, my projector budget is hovering around $30K, but I'd like to cut that in half and still have a top of the line 2K like the Barco. Don't know if that's possible. The ProjectionDesign units look nice, but I don't know anyone using them that can really comment on them. They sure looked awesome at NAB though and the pricing isn't too bad.

...I think expecting a color-accurate quad-HD or 4K projector, that is also affordable, isn't realistic for another year or three.
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
Yep. Resolve only uses the Rocket for debayer operations. Which does speed everything up a lot. But the only applications using SDI out from the Rocket right now are Redcine-X, Scratch and Storm (if you're lucky enough to have an alpha release).
Click to expand...

Hey Jeff,

Scratch uses Rocket for debayer but outputs signal through the Quadro SDI board.. which is good because otherwise you'd have separate outputs for mixed media projects..
Cheers,
Seth
 
SDI out of the Rocket has been on the public development table, but isn't yet available. and there's no timetable as to when it will be released.
 
This is really close but it's just not quite there yet. I'll probably wait till Resolve can run with one GPU card and use the Rocket for output, either that or a bigger Mac Pro chassi. Everything else is hammering a square peg in a round hole for me, after all I really don't make any money in DI I just really like to have it for my personal projects.
 
Evin Grant said:
This is really close but it's just not quite there yet. I'll probably wait till Resolve can run with one GPU card and use the Rocket for output, either that or a bigger Mac Pro chassi. Everything else is hammering a square peg in a round hole for me, after all I really don't make any money in DI I just really like to have it for my personal projects.
Click to expand...


Go MacBook Pro.
 
Seth Larney said:
Hey Jeff,

Scratch uses Rocket for debayer but outputs signal through the Quadro SDI board.. which is good because otherwise you'd have separate outputs for mixed media projects..
Cheers,
Seth
Click to expand...

Yep, I knew that about the Quadro SDI board. For some reason, I thought it also used the Rocket SDI if you were exclusively using RED media? Oh well, guess not. :)

Anyone running Resolve on a Macbook Pro? I know it works on the MBP models that have the dual nVidia GPUs, but I was wondering if anyone could comment on performance. Just wondering if it could be useable with a small eSATA RAID and a good monitor via DisplayPort / HDMI.

I don't see this being a very usable solution for any real project (I doubt I would have the patience to work on that set-up if under a deadline). But it may be a workable solution to get the software up and running and play with it while I wait for other hardware offerings to materialize. I don't anticipate actually needing Resolve for a paid project until early next year, after I get my Epic cameras... And even then, I have a couple of internal / personal projects to produce first...

Sanjin? You just mentioned using Macbook Pro... Will you be doing this?
 
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