R3D performance in FCPX noticeably worse than Premiere Pro CS6

[Mike Halper]

I have a 15" Retina MBP, 2.7GHz, 16GB RAM, and have a Rocket connected via a Sonnet Thunderbolt enclosure. I get noticeably better performance in Premiere Pro CS6 than FCPX, even when selecting the better performance option in FCPX. Actually, I don't notice a difference in quality between the High Quality and Better Performance options, though the Better Performance option does perform a little better. I get smooth playback for a few seconds and then everything becomes choppy. Is there any way to get more playback quality options? It seems as though High Quality is Full Debayer and Better Performance is 1/2 Debayer, but it would be nice to force to 1/2 or even 1/8 like you can in PP CS6.

 

[Matthew B]

Hi Mike - Just wanted to check and make sure your FCP X is configured to use the rocket - (I think this is in system prefs) - I haven't used FCP X with a rocket yet, but get great performance at 1/4 debayer with just CPU decompression.

I do believe that with a rocket it is full debayer at "high quality" and 1/2 at "better performance" and without a rocket it is 1/2 debayer at "high" and 1/4 at "better performance".

 

[Mike Halper]

Hmmm... that must be it. Was not aware of the new Preferences options. I'll got try it again right now. Thanks!

 

[Matthew B]

Yes, it is a little hidden there under the global system preferences under "REDcode" - Makes sense though for it to be here instead of in FCP X.

 

[Mike Halper]

So I turned the Rocket on in FCPX. Playback from the event viewer is smooth, however playback from the timeline is the same as before, starts smooth for a few seconds then starts stuttering and dropping frames. Does it with 4K in a 4K sequence and 5K in a 5K sequence.

 

[Terry VerHaar]

Could this thread apply to you?

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?89991-New-Rocket-driver-1-4-32-0-amp-firmware-1-1-6-11

 

[Mike Halper]

No. I already have that installed, which is what is allowing me to even run this. Actually, I've posted in that thread too.

 

[Mark Toia]

So I turned the Rocket on in FCPX. Playback from the event viewer is smooth, however playback from the timeline is the same as before, starts smooth for a few seconds then starts stuttering and dropping frames. Does it with 4K in a 4K sequence and 5K in a 5K sequence.

I have the same issue.
Premier is much smoother. And a smooth time line slider wins me every time. Jerky time lines sucks

 

[Mike Halper]

It's not just skimming. It's actual playback too. I guess Premiere Pro CS6 may end up being the editing platform after all. I actually almost thought it was going to be FCPX, but I guess not.

 

[Kalechi Noel]

Use proxy media option whennimlortinf your footage. It renders in background effortlessly and is smooth as butter.

 

[Johnny Friday]

Since this thread is getting cold......I believe i found my ISSUES.....APPLE & FCPX does not support MANY graphics cards...so those of us optimized for Premier with say a NVIDIA 4000 card are piss out of luck....FCPX supports OpenCL

....This explains very poor performance using FCPX.....best to go back to your original Radeon Graphics card for far better performance.

 

[Rob Anderson]

Thought I'd let you guys know, I've been running a Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition in two of the 2012 Mac Pro towers for many weeks now. Lots of rendering and time in FCPX and these work beautifully. No external PSU required. Running the OS X 10.8.3 beta.