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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

workflow options for a 5 year old iMac

Simon Knight

Simon Knight

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Ok, not off to a good start with the iMac I admit, but its all I have to work with until a gig pays for the update!

So with a dual core 2.0ghz processor and 4Gb of ram whats the best(least likely to induce suicide!) way of editing? Offline to ProResHQ then reconfirm in Final Cut 7 or try and work with native files in Premier? I can link my MacBook Air (2012) to gain a couple of extra processors if that helps??

I will color grade in, well Color as Resolve wont work with my graphics card. RedCine x seemed to run fine with lower definition setup so that should be ok...

Any thoughts?

And then when I do upgrade, do I go down the tricked out 2013 iMac route or a couple of years old Mac Pro (only want to spend about £2000)...? As you can see a Red Rocket is out of the question. I am resolved to living with overnight transcodes but thats the price i'm happy to pay for having the Scarlet at present..

Thanks guys..

SK
MediaHound Films
 
Hi Simon,

Definitely doable, but good to set your expectations accordingly. I would certainly transcode for offline editing. Will take so much pressure off and make editing much much more enjoyable. Consider ProRes LT instead of HQ as it's easier to edit and you will be onlining anyway. Less disc space and less processing required.

RCX is a great way to onine. Obviously you won't have the power of Resolve but at least it runs and you can get great looks.

Yes, the transodes can be time consuming but as long as you aren't in a hurry, nights are your best friend!

I used to run 5 HOURS of R3Ds at a time through a 1st generation Mac Pro with no Rocket. Even then it was worth the cost of admission!

Now I have several Mac Pros and a RR so things are rosy, but you know what, I miss those days a bit when things were more challenging. The result was that much more satisfying!

So go for it and embrace the process!
 
If you have the time to transcode to ProRes proxies at 720p and then re-link later, that would probably offer the least amount of headache. You haven't told us what you're editing though and which camera you're shooting with. If you're shooting the RED One, I would seriously consider going native R3D inside Premiere. RED One R3D files are not as demanding as EPIC/Scarlet footage and are actually usable on these older systems! Another thing that could be slowing you down is what sort of storage you are working from. I would recommend a good external RAID-0 of two drives or more, but that's a tall order when it comes to these older iMac systems unless you've piped a SATA connection out of the system somewhere -- most popular is to remove the optical drive and attach a cable there. Otherwise, you're stuck with FW800 at best and your disks could very well be a bottleneck even over those old CPUs!

FWIW, back in the early days of Premiere CS4 with native R3D support, I was cutting projects in R3D native on a 2006 Macbook Pro 2.33GHz w/ 2GB RAM and an eSATA CalDigit VR (2 x 750GB HDD RAID-0). Worked quite well in the field, still no substitute for a Mac Pro, but very usable.

For a new system, wait and see what's available when you're ready to buy. If I had to buy today, I would be torn between the new iMac and current Mac Pro. Both have their strengths and weaknesses and it really comes down which serves what needs better. The Mac Pro has the advantage of more CPU cores and real expansion slots. The iMac has the more current CPU and memory architecture, faster memory throughput... I would take the new iMac over any Mac Pro other than the current 12-core model, unless I absolutely had to have a couple real expansion slots. But for typical R3D or video workflow, it's not needed. Or in the few situations you do need a slot, the Thunderbolt with an expansion box will suffice.
 
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Cheers for the good news guys.. Sorry yes I am going to be using a Scarlet so it looks like ProResLT then... Shame Resolve doesn't even load... Color it will have to be!

SK
 
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Another probably obvious question... Do both transcodes to ProRes and reconform take ages without RedRocket?

SK
 
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