FCP System Requirements for Optimal Performance

[John Coffman]

I was curious what everyone's thoughts are on RED's system requirements.

I've downloaded the whitepaper on the workflow for RED in FCP and it lists the minimum system requirements. It states you need:

• Dual 2.0 GHz or faster Intel Core Duo/Intel Xeon processor
• 2 GB of RAM
• Mac OSX 10.4.11 or OSK 10.5.5
• QuickTime 7.5.5
• FCP 6.0.5, Color 1.0.3, Compressor 3.0.5
• the RED FCP installer

That's just to get going. My question is: what BEYOND this do you recommend for reasonable performance? I am going to be working with RED soon at a studio that is very well equipped to handle it, but I would like to upgrade my home setup to handle RED as well eventually. What should I be looking at?

EDIT: I will post my system specs when I can look them up at home so you know what base I'm building from. Keep in mind 1) this is an ongoing, long term goal of mine and not something that needs doing immediately and 2) I'm already planning on getting a better graphics card and A LOT more RAM.

 

[Craig Parkes]

Honestly it really depends on what your deliverable requirements are.

I mean, you could probably do a fine job editing straight off the proxies and rendering out to pro-res on an iMac or Macbook Pro if you are delivering web videos or SD DVD and don't need aggressive colour correction or capabilities.

If you are going to be processing your footage to Prores then a standard Macpro setup will do, plus you'll probably need a Blackmagic/Aja card for monitoring, and appropriate drive space.

If you are looking to edit and grade your footage straight from the .r3d files (wrapped as quicktimes in FCP/Colour or in some third party solution) then you are going to want as much CPU as you can possibly get, a Very nice graphics card, a fast Raid setup, and a Red Rocket card when they are released.

 

[John Coffman]

Thanks Craig. It looks like your answer also took care of a follow-up question I was asking myself:

"Can I afford red?"

My personal answer is: not yet, but it's something to work towards.

 

[Craig Parkes]

John, if you can't afford an iMac then you REALLY can't afford RED.

My point being not that RED is expensive in post, it CAN be done quite cost effectively, IF you are not looking to get everything out of the camera that it can offer.

Frankly I never understand people who factor in both the cost of camera gear and post processing gear on their own dime as to whether someone can 'afford' something. Isn't that what either a rental place or a post place is for, depending if you are a post guy or a shooter.

Even if you are an all rounder, affording the gear to own is a ridiculous investment compared to affording rental/begging/borrowing the gear for an individual project.

 

[John Coffman]

What I meant by "I can't afford RED" is not that I can't afford to get everything myself. I mean I don't have the capability of editing RED footage on my home system yet.

I wouldn't dream of buying a camera, lenses, filters, monitor, tripod, dolly, etc. ad nauseum myself. I think that's the definition of "ridiculous overkill." I was just curious what you thought a reasonable post setup was.