Mac Pro Workflow / Monitoring Solutions

[Kyle Presley]

Hi,
I have been following RED since day 1, and I am saving money for an Epic-S. I am a shooter, and not expertly computer savvy. I have always edited using a Mac, started 10 years ago with iMovie (when it actually was useful) and a G3 iMac DV, and now work in Final Cut Studio 2 on a Mac Mini. My mini has always been useful for SD / HDV and P2 HD. However, to efficiently handle Epic footage, I need a Mac Pro, using the Red Rocket. I am a blue collar guy, don't make a lot of money, but I'm saving every dollar I can towards an Epic-S system and editing solution.

(NOTE: I just re-read the title of the thread. It is not about workflow, but the hardware. Sorry, I got in a hurry typing.)

So, I need some expert advice on this.

1. Since this is completely out of pocket for me, what is the minimum setup I would need in a Mac Pro tower to be both reasonably efficient (I don't need super fast turn-around) and cost effective?
1a. 4 GB RAM, 6 GB RAM, 8 GB RAM, ...16 GB RAM?
1b. Could I get by with the Quad Core 2.8 Ghz processor?
1c.Video card: ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB???

Also, storage:
Say I am shooting a 90-120 minute feature length film at a 12:1 ratio using REDcode RAW 8:1, storing it in a RAID 1 array.

2. How much storage will I need and will the 4 drive bays in the Mac Pro chassis be enough?

My greater concern is monitoring. This is where I am almost a total Noob. I understand that computers use an RGB colorspace, and HDTV's use YUV (Y'CbCr ).

3. But for 4K mastering and digital theatrical distribution, should I treat my footage by viewing in RGB or YUV?
4. To do this, where does RED Gamma and Red Color 2 come into play?
5. What about REC 709?
6. If using YUV, should I use the Matrox MXO, or is there a better/cheaper solution?
7. Is there any compatibility issue between the MXO and the RED Rocket card(ie. will it still work with the Rocket installed)?

I know also that Quicktime has gamma issues.

8. What can I do to minimize the problem and know that what I view in QT is what I will see on the projected DPX sequence?

I am strongly considering the HP ZR30W because of the incredible resolution, 30 bit color depth displaying over 1 billion colors, and it's 30" size.

9. Is this a good choice?

I know I have a lot of questions here, I am sorry. I have searched and can't really seem to put the pieces together. Thanks in advance and I hope someone can help me sort through all of this.

 

[Kyle Presley]

Any ideas?

 

[George Butterfield]

I'm wondering how useful an 27" iMac with 16MB RAM and 2TB Serial ATA Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive would be. 12:1 is a lot of coverage. I'm wondering what I would need for a 90 minute film with 5:1 coverage RED CODE 36 24fps.

 

[Charles Angus]

1. Minimum setup depends entirely on what you want to do. For offline editorial, most anything will do. For a finishing suite, you'll need a lot of horsepower (and probably won't want a Mac).

2. Re: Storage, you've almost answered your own question... 12:1 ration, so 1440 minutes of footage. You say RedCode 8:1, so I assume you're speculating about Epic. So, 5k 16:9 24fps at 8:1 would be ~200MB/s. So that would be about 17TB of storage. I would say it's safe to say this wouldn't fit in an internal RAID 1 (which could hold at most 6TB). And that's 17TB for having it once - no backups. Figure tape, or several other copies on drives for safety.

And that's just for the raw footage - no room for renders, or anything else.

3. For theatrical distribution, you should do an offline and have it coloured and conformed at a reputable post house. So you don't really need to worry about this. The cost to do it right at home will be huge compared to the cost of doing it right at a post house.
4. See 3. But in an offline workflow, you just need something that looks close to you intended look for you to edit.
5. See 3 & 4.
6. See 3 & 4. I haven't used the MXO. I wouldn't recommend the Blackmagic Intensity, though - I've used it, and it does some weird stuff. And makes FCP unstable.
7. Don't know.
8. See 3 & 4.
9. Sounds nice, but for offline it would likely be overkill.

It kind of sounds like you want to set up your own one room post house to do just one feature. That's something I would strongly recommend against. If I've misunderstood, I apologize.

 

[Kyle Presley]

thanks very much for the feedback.