RedRocket X and new MacPro

[Antonio Forjaz]

Hi all,

Hope I can get some advice.

So I just got my email saying that the RedRocket X I had ordered with my Dragon is ready to ship.

The thing is, when I did that order I still had the old MacPro, now I have the new MacPro, and I have no idea how I will connect the RedRocket to the Mac Pro.

The other question is, the new MacPro is fast, and it seems to go through the Dragon footage at a fast rate.

So I am not really sure if I do get the redRocket X.

Any advice? Any one in the same situation? What was your solution? Does it make a BIG diference?

Thanks in advance for any tips

Antonio

 

[Antonio Forjaz]

Bump...no one has an opinion on this?

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

As you likely know, to use the RR-X with a NeoMP you will need an expansion chassis like a Magma to host it. Even with TB2 I/O the RR-X in an external box will not be able to fully flex its power, and, last I checked, TB drivers for RR-X were not fully sorted. By the time you buy the RR-X, the Magma (or similar), some TB cables and put it all together you'll be out $8-10K - and still not get full performance from the RR-X. FWIW I do expect the driver issues to be resolved and once the video outs are live on the RR-X then the bus I/O limits may be less of a concern - but that's purely speculative.

There are a lot of people jonesin' for RR-X cards, so if you pass, others can get theirs sooner. A newer PC with PCIe3 is probably the best RR-X host at the moment, I've been using my 2009 MacPro with good results - though I have no proper comparator to know what it might do with a different host.

IAC, I am 90% RED gigs and often doing time critical on/near set grading/dailies work so an RR-X is crucial for me.

I suppose a variation on the old adage is: if you're not sure you need it, then you probably don't. To me its all about volume and turnaround times. How many TBs of R3Ds do you handle per week on average? How many of your key clients demand dailies within an hour of wrap vs the next morning? As you note, the NeoMP (especially with the D700s) handles Dragon footy quite nicely and adding an expansion chassis just for that seems like a reach. If you need an external TB2 box anyway (for RAID card, more GPUs, etc) then its less of a burden.

BTW, once the RR-X is more fully enabled and the TB2 ecosystem better sorted the equation might tip. Moreover, I think there is a strong case to be made for renting the RR-X in a TB2 chassis for heavy shows and "getting by" with just the NeoMP the rest of the time (unless of course you're handling TBs of R3Ds day in and day out).

Cheers - #19

 

[Antonio Forjaz]

Thanks Blair,

I really apperciate the time you took to help me make up my mind.
I think it will be best for me not to get the RedRocketX for now.
The MacPro seems to really handle the amount of R3D's I am throwing at it.
When you say "I suppose a variation on the old adage is: if you're not sure you need it, then you probably don't" I think this is my case.

Thanks again for helping me make a decision.

Best

Antonio Forjaz

As you likely know, to use the RR-X with a NeoMP you will need an expansion chassis like a Magma to host it. Even with TB2 I/O the RR-X in an external box will not be able to fully flex its power, and, last I checked, TB drivers for RR-X were not fully sorted. By the time you buy the RR-X, the Magma (or similar), some TB cables and put it all together you'll be out $8-10K - and still not get full performance from the RR-X. FWIW I do expect the driver issues to be resolved and once the video outs are live on the RR-X then the bus I/O limits may be less of a concern - but that's purely speculative.

There are a lot of people jonesin' for RR-X cards, so if you pass, others can get theirs sooner. A newer PC with PCIe3 is probably the best RR-X host at the moment, I've been using my 2009 MacPro with good results - though I have no proper comparator to know what it might do with a different host.

IAC, I am 90% RED gigs and often doing time critical on/near set grading/dailies work so an RR-X is crucial for me.

I suppose a variation on the old adage is: if you're not sure you need it, then you probably don't. To me its all about volume and turnaround times. How many TBs of R3Ds do you handle per week on average? How many of your key clients demand dailies within an hour of wrap vs the next morning? As you note, the NeoMP (especially with the D700s) handles Dragon footy quite nicely and adding an expansion chassis just for that seems like a reach. If you need an external TB2 box anyway (for RAID card, more GPUs, etc) then its less of a burden.

BTW, once the RR-X is more fully enabled and the TB2 ecosystem better sorted the equation might tip. Moreover, I think there is a strong case to be made for renting the RR-X in a TB2 chassis for heavy shows and "getting by" with just the NeoMP the rest of the time (unless of course you're handling TBs of R3Ds day in and day out).

Cheers - #19

 

[Kemalettin Sert]

RRX transcodes Epic-X files? ( Non Dragon)

 

[Brian Merlen]

Yes it does... I think it hinges on if you guys do full debayers or not.. Full debayers and fast turn arounds nothing beats it. Plus when its done being optimized it will surely beat the nMP even more so then currently... I got one in and am very happy with its performance (hooked to a dated Mac Air even for my initial test). A 6k clip said 2-3 hours without rocket, I enabled it and the clip was done 45 seconds later. Yes its that insane... a nMP obviously has some more power tho then an Air but do some full debayer encodes and judge for yourself is my advice

 

[Zeb B]

I got the call that my RRX was ready to ship as well. Debating the purchase since it all hinges on enclosures and things out of RED's or my control and technology doesn't go up in price over time.

Has anyone done testing with this?
http://www.magma.com/catalog/thunderbolt-2-expansion

Says they are shipping in June so maybe there is a beta test on the interwebs somewhere?

 

[Meryem Ersoz]

I'm going to post the results of a bit of testing that I've been doing, which will give some speed comparisons. Soon. Today or tomorrow.

But I think it comes down to this -

if you are transcoding your own footage for your own projects, you can get by without the Rocket.

if you are a DIT or otherwise responsible for a lot of transcoding, you will definitely need the RR-X and will benefit from the extra speed of the RR-X.

My 8-core fully loaded MacPro will not play back a 5-minute 6K 2:1 clip without hiccuping - although it made it about halfway through before the cursor caught up. I think this is adequate for personal use. But if I'm working someone else's job and they are shooting 6K, clean playback is a must.

For resolutions below 6K, the trashcan does very well on both playback and transcoding.

This is the very boiled down version, but I hope it gives a reasonable guideline.


On the upside, I'm pretty sure that for 4K files, my trashcan is actually a tad faster than my old mac tower with Rocket. The new trashcans are up to the task for most of the tasks you did with your old Rocket-enabled tower as far as data wrangling (I haven't worked with Premiere and a trashcan but would be very interested in other peoples' results on that one), but start choking on the 6K files. All of my testing was done using Redcine-X v. 30.