How does one handle "Scarlet" footage?

[DSNR]

The Geek I am, I assumed it was well known that this specific chassis came with a ps. Also I did mention It was Dual Quad processors…

I graduated long time ago as well my friend, although I am still affiliated with the university while conducting research in cognitive neuroscience. The system I built is for my lab for simulation purposes only and not for editing, however, as a hobbyist in CGI and After Effects I am certain a system like that can be quite a workstation for these purposes.

I was not trying to convey a message that is supposed to tell you what you should do, or especially what you should be telling your clients. I hope I didn’t offend you, I had no intention in doing so. You clearly have more experience than I do in these matters. However I was just trying to show people here that the myth of a huge price and hardware but especially quality differences in this kind of workstation systems is utterly tenuous.

Once the Scarlet comes out I will purchase it and build at home an equivalent system and will be sure to let you know how it worked out for me. To be honest I had no idea that Final Cut studio can be so cheap and quite a complete package that’s quite the deal I must agree. However, I would still spend the extra money for adobe products. I have been for many years an advocate of their products.

 

[RicanJoe]

Well thanks to everyone who posted. I have a more clear understanding of what I should do.

 

[diskojerk]

All computers are built with the same components, no matter what brand. Red should go into that business first!

They're already in that business, it's called the "RED ONE".

 

[diskojerk]

I understand peoples preference for using the systems they are used to as well as using the software they are familiar with. It seems a bit unreasonable to me though to refuse to purchase or refuse to use the equipment that RED has designed it's work flow around. You wouldn't buy a car, then refuse to put gasoline in it, then call the car company and tell them to keep working on it because you don't like gasoline and what they really need to do is design a car that can run on gasoline, diesel, electric and hydrogen, depending on what you prefer.

 

[mattbatt]

If you insist on comparing costs…here is a pc I built for myself:
- Intel® Workstation Board S5000XVN - $500
- Dual Xeon quad core 2.66GHz CPU's - $1200
- 4GB 533MHz DDR2 ECC Fully Buffered CL4 DIMM - $222
- Intel® Server Chassis - $200
- Seagate 1TB SATA 7200 - $240
All comes to $2362

The radeon HD 2600 XT that comes standard with Mac pro's 8 core systems retails at $160
So that addition would come up to $2522 (compared to the equivalent Mac Pro $3299 8 core equivalent)

I on the other hand bought an NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 for $1500 to complete my station as I needed it....but it is not necessary to have this kind of a beast.

It also important to say that my motherboard is easily upgradable to 32GB which would cost me about $2500 whereas in Mac it would cost $8600.

I agree, it is laboring to built it by yourself but it is well worth it. If you don’t know how to build them, either learn from a friend who does…it really isn’t that hard to learn, or get it built by a local privately own computer store.
Although I’m a PC man myself I sometimes work and enjoy Mac’s at the lab in my research facility. I agree that they do have beautiful products. As it was discussed before, now days under the hood they are virtually the same products.

I am certain the RED Team will make it quite easy to work with the scarlet on a PC as well as on a Mac. After all, the PC market is huge and as a company that needs to render substantial revenue they will not overlook that.

Kind Regards

Ok, I've been reading this post. I use both mac and pc's in the professional graphic design business and am getting more and more into film, I edit with Final Cut CS2 on my dual G5 and work with HD fine.

I built my own computers in the fifth grade (I'm 25 now).

#1: Apple uses server processors from Intel with more cache and faster clock speeds. Remember this when comparing PC desktop core 2 duo's with Apple's Harpertown desktops.

Now, when you build your own PC, sure, you can find a motherboard that supports server chips. Are your processors the new Harpertown breed? I'm wondering, seeing Woodcrest came at 2.66 - 3.0 ghz while Harpertown debuted with 2.8 ghz - 3.2 ghz.

The mac you are comparing against has Harpertowns which introduces the 45nm production process (down from 65nm Woodcrest = more power efficient chips running cooler, and with more processing power), 12MB per processor of L2 cache with 6MB shared between pairs of processor cores (up from 8MB per with 4MB shared of Woodcrest).

The mac's Octo 2.8 ghz Harpertown processors vs. your 2.66 means the mac is faster with more cache per processor and and also has faster bus speeds [dual 1600 mhz buses] on their mother boards.

I don't know how you built your PC, but is it RAID ready with 4 sliding trays for Hardrives with controllers built in as well as a fast bus to support the throughput? (RAID is essential for what we're doing here and I don't have to build a clunky external box with tons of wires and adapters, find a controller card and get multiple drivers and pray that it works . . .)

The mac's RAM can be bridged to 256 bit with their dual memory controllers. Oh and you are absolutely right about the outrages Mac ram prices . . . which is why no true Apple fan will buy RAM or 3rd party products through Apple. Everyone knows this. I can buy my PC 800MHz DDR2 ECC through any vendor and match your RAM price.

Umm, well lets see: with Mac's stable unix based OS, allowing me a virus free, super creative fast workflow, free from blue-screens of death, driver issues, and clunky interfaces that sap precious system resources (Vista anyone??), I can get an Octo core machine running faster then yours with less power and RAID ability with the swish of a tray for $200 more and I didn't even have to spend my time making the thing. Oh and let's not forget Apple's powerful Pro apps with direct support of RED's interface out of the box.

It looks like a steal to me!

And for those PC buyers who don't want to build their own computer, plan on spending 2k more than a Mac for a comparable octo server based machine!

btw, I'm waiting for Mac's next upgrade: using Intel's Nehalem chips. They are getting released this year and will offer brand new architecture (you realize Intel built the Core, Core 2 Duo and Xeon's upon their P4 architecture? Well, they are changing everything so get ready.) Don't know when Mac will implement them, but they will offer 8 core per chips in their more expensive models, so maybe Apple will debut a 16 core machine. Exciting!

 

[mattbatt]

Oh wait, DSNR, you mentioned that you are affiliated with a university? Well, that makes 2 of us and Apple will give you an educational discount of at least $200. So I guess now we break even!

 

[Christoffer Glans]

with Mac's stable unix based OS, allowing me a virus free, super creative fast workflow, free from blue-screens of death, driver issues, and clunky interfaces that sap precious system resources

A well balanced and fresh Windows is just as stable. It's all about what system that is most targeted by malicious code and how the countermeasures mess with the basecode.
ALL problems I've had with my PC has been based on codes trying to erease bad codes and codes that recode other "good" codes etc.
But to say that Windows is unstable is false...

 

[gskowal]

Hi. I have a 24 inch iMac

these are the Specs

2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme
4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x2GB
500GB Serial ATA Drive
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
24-inch glossy widescreen LCD
AirPort Extreme
Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

will I be able to edit 2K footage from the Scarlet without too much hassle?

I've got the same specs and i would also like to know if i would have any trouble with 3K. Any RED1 USERS that used a mac and can tell if this machine can handle 3k with no problems?

 

[Stuart English]

Editing

Editing

Hi. I have a 24 inch iMac

will I be able to edit 2K footage from the Scarlet without too much hassle?

Lets see if we can put this thread back on the original track :red_bandana: with an part answer to the above....

A key concept is that a Wavelet compressed image (as used by RED) has several layers of resolution available for decoding.

For example I can record a 4K image. But I can then decode it at 4K, or 2K or 1K.

Each time I drop a resolution step the ability of a computer to decode and play that resolution increases. So usually, you would find an editable resolution for sure.


Lets assume that turned out to be 1K. But your project has to be finished at 2K or 4K.

Then the task would be to re-edit the information in non-real time using your edit list as the instruction set for that conform pass.