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NEED ADVICE ON NEW MAC PRO PURCHASE

NOSA OBAYIUWANA

NOSA OBAYIUWANA

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Hi Everyone

Does anyone have experience editing Dragon 6K footage on the new Mac Pro? I am currently struggling with Dragon footage and can just about squeeze out enough for a 3.5GHz 6 core Mac Pro with 32GB ram and Fire-pro 700 with 6GB.

My concerns are thus

1. Will the Mac Pro with specs above edit Dragon footage with no lag?
2. How durable is the Mac Pro? I intend to use it on set. Is it durable when constantly being transported?

The above spec is what we can afford right now.... please do not suggest I buy anything else. All I am asking is whether it can handle the footage. If you have one I would deeply appreciate some comments about your experience with it. As stated I am specifically asking about the 6 Core version.

Thanks in advance for everyones help.
 
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I think people aren't commenting because it all depends on what you want to do. Long story short the minimum mac configure I'd get is 6 cores,64gig,d700 with 24Terrabyte T2 drive. FPS depends on how much compositing you do. I have a 12 core and a 8 core, sometimes the 8 core is faster, so unless you know your app will use the 12 core i'd do the 8 core max. i'm not familiar with the amd 295x of the retina.
 
Makes sense. I am veering towards the 6 core with 16GB ram and the better graphics card (I will update the ram myself). I am going to be using it on set so I need it to play in real time at full res, or half res minimum. Thanks for the reply... your advice is really helpful.

Do you know if the trash can can connect to a normal 27 inch Imac?
 
NOSA OBAYIUWANA said:
Makes sense. I am veering towards the 6 core with 16GB ram and the better graphics card (I will update the ram myself). I am going to be using it on set so I need it to play in real time at full res, or half res minimum. Thanks for the reply... your advice is really helpful.

Do you know if the trash can can connect to a normal 27 inch Imac?
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Connect to an iMac as to what? Network yes, as a external display, I dont believe you can.

What settings are you viewing at?

You need a really fast RAID or play it off the local (which I avoid due to system clutter).

If your dead set on using Dragon footage maybe spring for a ROCKET-X.
 
We've got a 6core with 32GB RAM and D700s. It won't playback Dragon footage at realtime in full debayer, even with footage stored on a 48TB Gtech Studio XL. It just about can do half resolution. Editing the r3d files can be a hassle, in Premiere you need to drop resolution to 1/4 to get snappy speeds. Long form you would be better overnighting your Dragon footage to ProRes files which will be smooth on nearly any edit suite. If you can stretch to it, get the 8 core. FWIW, there should be some sort of Mac Pro update around after June this year....
Your best spend would be an 8 core with 64GB RAM, D700s and a Rocket X. Not cheap though....
 
Hi Eric. Yes I want to use the 27 inch sometimes as a display with the Mac pro. When I'm lumping it about I intend to work off a lacie D2 Thunderbolt 2 6TB. Will this config work at full or half res smoothly.
 
Thanks Tom... you are mighty helpful. We intend to buy a few fully spec'ed ones in May but for right now I've got £4.5K in the pot and I cannot stretch past that. I can live with half res in real time... will I get that?
 
NOSA OBAYIUWANA said:
Thanks Tom... you are mighty helpful. We intend to buy a few fully spec'ed ones in May but for right now I've got £4.5K in the pot and I cannot stretch past that. I can live with half res in real time... will I get that?
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Can you explain exactly what you want out of the playback?

Do you just want to see your clips in real time?

Or do you need to create rushes on the fly?
 
Eric just need to see clips in real time. If I can get editing done on the fly that will be a real bonus but I was not expecting to achieve that.
 
If possible, bring your RRX and some Dragon footage to the London Apple Store and try the Retina iMac.

Most people believe the new garbage can Mac Pro will be released later this year....Might be worth the wait
 
The retina Imac is not portable. Also, I don't have a RRX card yet. Unfortunately need it now... can't wait for the summer update.
 
Nosa - what is your footage stored on?

From the G-tech we can get half speed debayer in RedPlayer for playback - this usually plays for around 20seconds before stuttering, but is fine for preview purposes. In RedCineX we get around 15fps encoding to 4K ProResHQ.
 
That drive won't sustain the speeds required for playback at half resolution. You would have to purchase the 1TB OS drive and transfer footage to that. The G-Techs we bought run at RAID 5 and manage just under 1000MB/S read and write - that is what you need to aim at for playback at half res with 6K.
 
Thanks Tom. Will I be making a faulty assumption to say I will definitely need raided drives
 
Not at all - look at the Pegasus RAIDs for lower price but smaller storage, GTech Studio XL for larger sized storage. The 2 Studio XL's we have purchased have been fantastic. Very fast and can be used plug and play across all our Macs that have thunderbolt ports - they did cost more than the Mac Pro we bought though, so you might expect good performance!

The only other thing you could look at that would save some cash would be one of the GTech dual bay, hot swappable raids that can take SSD's. You might only get 1 or 2TB of storage space but that would be ok if you work on shorter projects that can be archived more frequently.
 
Tom Sefton said:
Not at all - look at the Pegasus RAIDs for lower price but smaller storage, GTech Studio XL for larger sized storage. The 2 Studio XL's we have purchased have been fantastic. Very fast and can be used plug and play across all our Macs that have thunderbolt ports - they did cost more than the Mac Pro we bought though, so you might expect good performance!

The only other thing you could look at that would save some cash would be one of the GTech dual bay, hot swappable raids that can take SSD's. You might only get 1 or 2TB of storage space but that would be ok if you work on shorter projects that can be archived more frequently.
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Tom what RAID option do you use?
 
Also Lacie claim that with the addition of the Lacie d2 SSD upgrade I can reach speeds of 1150mbs on my existing drives... ever heard of this solution?
 
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