Rockett Speed

[Dustin Cross]

1st Gen quad 2.0Ghz mac Pro with 8GB ram, ATI 3870 (x8), Rocket (x8), Decklink HD (x4), Rocketraid (x4).

Rocketcine 1.9x realtime
Redcine X 3.2x realtime

Rocketcine to Quicktime Prores is almost twice as fast as RedcineX on the same system to the same Quicktime Prores.

It is an older slower system, so I don't expect to get realtime, but I would like to get the same I was getting with Rocketcine.


Dusty

 

[Andrew T Foster]

Hello,

I received my Red Rocket card today (woo hoo!) and it RAWKS! They should have called it the "RAWK'ED Card!" .. etc..

My initial transcode was for a 57 minute clip shot at 4k, 23.976, RED Code 36, 16:9.

I started the transcode at 5:02 p.m. and it was finished by 6:41 p.m.

The clip originated on my 8 terrabyte CalDigit HDOne (RAID 6) and exported to an internal Seagate ST3570640AS 750 GB, 7200 rpm, 32mb Cache HD.

Ohhh that is so nice coming from single thread RedCine-X.

Transcode Settings:

Quicktime ProRES 4444
1920x1080 resolution
Full Debayer
Audio All Channels
No Denoise
No Sharpening
Curve modifications

Hardware Setup

Mac Pro 3,1 (early 2008) - Octo (Two Quad-Core 2.8GHz processors)
16 GB of DDR2- FB-DIMM/800 MHz Memory from OWComputing (www.owcomputing.com)

Slot 1 @ 16x - ATI 3870 - 512mb - (Retail Edition)
Slot 2 @ 8x - Red Rocket
Slot 3 @ 4x - CalDigit HDOne PCIe bridge card to 8 TB array/ RAID 6 (www.caldigit.com)
Slot 4 @ 4x - LSI SAS3442E - SAS card for Quantum LTO-4 tape backup

Software

Snow Leopard - 10.6.4
RedCine-X - 2.58
Red Rocket Driver - 1.3.2.2
Red Rocket Firmware - 1.1.8.6


Hope this helps in diagnostics!

ATF

 

[Tony Lorentzen]

I just converted a 5 minute 4K clip into 1080p ProResHQ in 6 minutes.

 

[CJ Roy]

Tony-

That's great, what's your system specs? That's the closest to realtime I've heard of yet.

Thanks.

 

[Lonny Danler]

Is there a direct way to easily see the transcode speed?

I found that if you go to user>Library>Application Support>Red>RedcineX>Logs and open one of the logs it will give you a frame total and an "total elapsed export time" It's simple division from there (fps).

That seems to be the most accurate way to me. I've also stop-watched it.

EX--
A002_C011_0708NL : 1249
redexport: frame: 1249
redexport: stop msg received.
[22:34:50:361] Avid Exporter::exportAudio - Samples Read: 2500498 Samples Written: 2500498 /NumAudioChan = 625124 Expected Samples: 2500498
redexport: total elapsed export time: 00:02:00.305
redexport: maximum frame processing time: 1354 ms
redexport: minimum frame processing time: 71 ms

 

[Lonny Danler]

Still getting 6-12 frames similar to CJ on my machine for most prores and dnxhd exports. I sent redcinex@red my system profiler and some logs to check to see where the problem might be.

 

[Tony Lorentzen]

Tony- That's great, what's your system specs? That's the closest to realtime I've heard of yet.

Early 2009 Mac Pro w/ 2 x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (Nehalem) and 16 Gb RAM. Source material was on a Caldigit VR (running at around 200 MB/sec) to an internal 7200 SATA disk. This was Redcine-X Build 258.

 

[CK Olsen]

Any chance RED could assemble a ROCKET "performance test" package?

Any chance RED could assemble a ROCKET "performance test" package?

It appears that many users are experiencing highly individualized results based off of their various specific project needs... and there is not always one easy way to meaningfully compare test specs.

Having one uniform "system test" (with very specific testing instructions) could assist users in benchmarking their individual setup, enable them to tweak things out for better performance, and give you something much easier to troubleshoot if the tests do not provide optimal results.

My thoughts are for RED to provide a standardized 30-60 second 4K 2:1 R3D Clip, as well as step by step RCX settings instructions for output to TIFF, DPX, or whatever, perhaps at 2-3 common output resolutions. Including your internal baseline Mac and PC system specs and their results for the various tests would give eveyone a great reference point as well...

Anyhoo, just a thought...
-CK

 

[Jody Neckles]

My thoughts are for RED to provide a standardized 30-60 second 4K 2:1 R3D Clip, as well as step by step RCX settings instructions for output to TIFF, DPX, or whatever, perhaps at 2-3 common output resolutions. Including your internal baseline Mac and PC system specs and their results for the various tests would give eveyone a great reference point as well...

Anyhoo, just a thought...
-CK

I totally agree with this comment. Would be great to have a standard test or at least published benchmarks from RED based on a recommended configuration.....

 

[chris layhe]

RED Rocket Test Software

RED Rocket Test Software

A "true" test sequence like this really would be an amazing thing to have - I still find the aja speed test software one of the most useful check tools available for our hard drive arrays, but we really have nothing to see if the Rocket system is performing correctly and allow targeted system tweaking... what about it guys, do you have anything that you use internally which we could be let in on?

Chris

It appears that many users are experiencing highly individualized results based off of their various specific project needs... and there is not always one easy way to meaningfully compare test specs.

Having one uniform "system test" (with very specific testing instructions) could assist users in benchmarking their individual setup, enable them to tweak things out for better performance, and give you something much easier to troubleshoot if the tests do not provide optimal results.

My thoughts are for RED to provide a standardized 30-60 second 4K 2:1 R3D Clip, as well as step by step RCX settings instructions for output to TIFF, DPX, or whatever, perhaps at 2-3 common output resolutions. Including your internal baseline Mac and PC system specs and their results for the various tests would give eveyone a great reference point as well...

Anyhoo, just a thought...
-CK

 

[C.H.Haskell]

Sorry for the random question but does the RED ROCKET have an HD-SDI output solution without having to buy a 1200 dollar breakout unit? Very little information about what I can do with the card alone. I notice the store says

"Plays full quality 2K/1080P scaled from 4K footage out the Dual Link HD-SDI from RED Rocket card" So there are cables included for this? I am basically trying to connect to a panasonic HD monitor via SDI.

Thanks for the info in advance.

 

[Dustin Cross]

Yes, there is HD-SDI out of the Rocket without breakout box. Two small little cables provide this from teh card.


Dusty

 

[C.H.Haskell]

Great! I can come out the back of my MacPro with those?

 

[Dustin Cross]

Yes. It takes an extra slot or you can drill two small holes to mount the BNC adapters like some of us have done.

There are pics here somewhere.


Dusty

 

[C.H.Haskell]

Thanks for the info Dustin!

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

The issue for a lot of people has been the lack of open slots on their towers. Since the Breakout Box connects directly to the Rocket then the only slot you burn is the Rocket slot. Some people have actually drilled holes on their towers to feed out the little cables to the bracket with the SDI spigots rather than install the bracket in a precious PCI slot, of course that likely voids the warranty on the tower :scared:.

$1,200 to save a slot/warranty. Hard to swallow, but not RED's fault.

I got the BOB to do 4K playback over 8 lanes of SDI, but not too many people are doing that AFAIK.

Another option is to get an expansion chassis so the slot count is no longer a problem. JMR makes a terrific one with 16 drive bays but that may or may not fit your cart or budget. (Disclosure: I do some work with JMR). There is also the Magma, etc - Dusty posted about the options on another thread, can't remember which one.

Cheers - #19

 

[Dustin Cross]

Here are the threads Blair is talking about:

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=48127

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?p=605296#post605296

 

[Frank Cueto]

The issue for a lot of people has been the lack of open slots on their towers. Since the Breakout Box connects directly to the Rocket then the only slot you burn is the Rocket slot. Some people have actually drilled holes on their towers to feed out the little cables to the bracket with the SDI spigots rather than install the bracket in a precious PCI slot, of course that likely voids the warranty on the tower :scared:.

$1,200 to save a slot/warranty. Hard to swallow, but not RED's fault.

I got the BOB to do 4K playback over 8 lanes of SDI, but not too many people are doing that AFAIK.

Another option is to get an expansion chassis so the slot count is no longer a problem. JMR makes a terrific one with 16 drive bays but that may or may not fit your cart or budget. (Disclosure: I do some work with JMR). There is also the Magma, etc - Dusty posted about the options on another thread, can't remember which one.

Cheers - #19

You could always drill the holes on the removable lid, and if push comes to shove, swap the lid with someone...

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

You could always drill the holes on the removable lid, and if push comes to shove, swap the lid with someone...

There's an eBay item I'd love to see. MacPro side panel undrilled - will swap for drilled panel for "X" dollars. Hilarious.

Cheers - #19

 

[C.H.Haskell]

I dont have anything else in my station other then the graphics card it comes with and I will probably stick some eSata pots in one of the slots. ANything I should know before I install the REDrocket...like some particular lane? THanks guys.