Mac Mini for dailies and post

[Sharif El Neklawy]

Hey guys,

I'm about to shoot a webseries for a sketch comedy group that independently raised money to shoot 6 episodes starting next week.

With their tight budget, they thought a mac mini would be a cost effective solution for dailies and post (meaning no Red Rocket Card). At the very least it'll be a newer system than any of the laptops we currently own.

It'd be nice to avoid transcoding for dailies. With this in mind, what can we do to get smooth playback in CS6 and Redcine-X at 1/4 debayer? Should we be maxing out on RAM? Is there maybe a graphics card that should be installed? Anything else?

I know very little about computers, especially in relation to dealing with different video files, so any and all input is much appreciated.
Here are the specs:

(we'll be using Thunderbolt capable Hard Drives only) (but no matter what, we only can move files off the Red mags with firewire 800 or eSATA)

2.3GHz Mac mini

• 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
• 4GB memory (configurable to 8GB or 16GB)
• 1TB hard drive[SUP]1[/SUP]
• Intel HD Graphics 4000
• OS X Mountain Lion

Thank You

 

[M Most]

There is no real GPU support on the current Mac Mini models. Graphics performance is its weak link. That's one primary reason why the MacBook Pro with Retina display has done well, because in addition to the Intel graphics, it also contains an Nvidia card that gives you CUDA support. That makes a rather massive difference in graphics and image processing performance, and a major differentiator between the Mini line and the laptops. The Mini makes for a great small, cheap server and/or utility computer. It does not make for a good image processor.

 

[Shiblon Wixom]

Go with the MBPR 15" and USB3 reader and TB/USB3 hard drives. You'll be happier in the long run.

 

[Julio Quintana]

I was ready to buy a Mac Mini for this same purpose last month, but when I priced it out with keyboard, mouse and maxing out CPU and RAM, it wasn't much cheaper than a comparable 21.5" iMac. I purchased the iMac instead and I'm very glad I did so now I have dual monitors and a faster computer.

 

[Brian Merlen]

I do a lot of data management/movement.. its basically how i derive a living outside of post production...is workflow/data wrangling.


at home I use a mac mini...its 3 years plus old...it does playback in 4k fine...at 1/16 quality (still looks great on both my sd monitor and my new hd monitor)...it moves data just fine...at firewire speeds.... it works...but its not ideal

for instance what matters most here is two things... with your low budget shoot


how many mags you got? (along with what size are they?

are you doing checksums?

in order to figure out if you can infinite loop you must address the above two...and third being how often are you going to roll? if your rolling all day cuz people are doing wildlife, or if you hardly roll at all...say a skateboard contest and you cut between tricks...its a whole different beast on how fast you have to cycle the mags. 1 256 mag lasted me half of go skateboarding day at 3 to 1 1ks 120fps....i still had half or more left at the end of the day.... basically at low res, even tho its high frame rate and low compression, that mag lasted longer then i could in the nyc heat...

other shoots...where you roll constantly at say 4k or 5k...you better have not only fast ports, fast raids, color grade monitor, lots of big mags....its all relative...


do like a test shoot at whatever settings your gonna be shooting on...figure it out ahead of time...

my personal belief is if you spend on fast raids/ports...you save on mags...and mags unless your renting. cost a ton to own...


i currently have 3 128mags...if i'm not doing checksums i'd be pretty confident to go shoot like this if i had someone dedicated to sitting there and offloading to say a raid 5 on set...

but if I'm pulling my own focus, cycling my own mags, and operating...and who knows what else...your screwed cuz your focus is so split it compounds the normally simple tasks. usually on stuff like this it goes a lot worse. i personally think a new mini with those specs are fine for low res playback...and certainly moving data....all machines can do that...

but if you wanna really cover yourself... go to macsales.com max out the ram at 16gb, grab an ssd for apps and OS...figure out what size you can get away with...try to get the quad core mini...refurb its like 600 bucks only, a kid can afford that...much less a shoot... and i promise that will be the best mini money can buy, and it'll get you quite close to macbook pro retina type specs...minus having a shotty gpu and no cool expensive weird sized screen...

it'll beat the 13 inch macbook pro retina...my setup proposed has double the cores...same shotty gpu, 16gb ram...it's like a mini with a death wish...its a mini going somewhere in life lol...


cuz macbook pros are pricy...i'd even suggest an air over a macbook pro right now...air got a faster ssd...worse gpu, less expandability, no cool screen, worse processor, less cores then 15inch macbook pro...it sucks...but the pci based ssd make up for some of it, along with the low cost of entry... and haswell


one of these "kick a$$" macbook pro retinas...is 15 inches...and it costs a ton like 2.5k and up (cuz u gotta up the ram, its soldered at apple prices).... either kit out a mini cheap on macsales.com or kit out a air (sadly at apple premium prices, soldered ram, and currently no third party ssd) and have the fastest ssd in the entire mac ecosystem (not sure how the old school towers do on the former sata standard vs new standard haswell airs? i'd have to wonder which would win when it came to pci real life tests)

i want an 11inch air with 256gb of pci ssd...8gb ram...and an extended warranty..its a small form factor...its fast...it can hook up to TB or USB3 storage and kick some serious speed.... and a mini is not portable is what i have found owning one...i want to be able to go wireless and run in the field...a mini or a tower or a trash can tower will never do that for me...

so from the start my needs are different then yours...but if i could a kitted up mini would be pretty ideal...but haswell plus faster ssd plus mobility is a winning combo for if i jumped in now on anything myself


as for specifically 1/4 playback in 4k/5k not sure if it can handle that without an ssd inside it, and you doing playback off a usb3.0 raid or a thunderbolt raid... your best chance at having the playback at 1/4 with no rocket and low end machine is if you kit the machine out well. even then it depend on clip length too. a 20 minute clip takes a lot more horsepower to not need to buffer in the middle then a 30 second take... i cant say conclusively if you kit out a quad core mini if it'll meet your needs...because there are wayyy too many variables. however i can say a kitted out mini quad core, with 16gb ram, ssd 6g owc, connected to say a promise raid 5 by thunderbolt and using a usb3 mag reader...is probably your best bet at having a super mini that can work well with r3ds natively....anything with better specs then this costs a lot quick...like a macbook pro retina...or a mac pro... a kitted imac, a rocket card...etc