Working with RED camera files on a Mac Studio M2 Max.

[newble]

Hi everyone,
I wanted to ask if I can smoothly edit video files from cameras like RED, specifically at resolutions of 6k or 8k RAW, on a Mac Studio M2 Max using Adobe Premiere/DaVinci Resolve?
Thanks for the responses

 

[AndreeMarkefors]

I'll answer your question partly, in a roundabout way.

I have a Mac Pro 2019 with two Pro Vega II, each with 32GB RAM and I have a MacBook Pro M3 Max (16/40). My MacBook Pro beats my Mac Pro in almost every way. The one outstanding thing, that the Mac Pro still does better by a clear margin, is Color Grading in DaVinci Resolve. Notice that I don't write 'Editing', which is the word you used.

I really like the M3 Max and the overall package is great. It even has hardware raytracing now, which puts it clearly ahead of the Mac Pro in apps like Blender, using GPU rendering—despite the Mac Pro having two decent gfx cards with lots of memory.

But some GPU-tasks, like playing back video realtime in Resolve's Color page, the Mac Pro still does better—up to 2x in some node configurations.

My first question would be: why would you want to Edit/Color your clips at 6K+? Pros have stuck to normal HD for the longest time and I guess many still do. If a bump is necessary, perhaps cap it at UHD/4K?

In the case of Resolve, it's resolution independent and all your grades and masks scale if you switch the timeline to 6K/8K for a last pixel check before exporting from native resolution anyway. Even dropping to 4K helps a lot.

For Editing, specifically, it's less of an issue. If you're talking about ingesting clips and just editing them under a LUT, that's much less of a problem. The RED .r3d is flexible too, so you can tweak the quality of the debayering as I'm sure you know.

To come full semi-circle, as it were, a Mac Studio M2 Max is not the greatest computer for Color Grading/Correction work, but it can work if you approach it sensibly (I'm sure there are other users here that can testify to that). Still, if I was building a small suite/bay, even if it was only for me, I would base it around something with a proper gfx card.

I really like Macs and macOS, and maybe you do too? There's something to be said for my 2019 Mac Pro with "unlimited" internal storage and room to grow up to at least 2x Dual W6800XTs. It IS a shame that it's dead in the water now though but maybe you can find a good deal on a used one as people are letting them go?

 

[newble]

I'll answer your question partly, in a roundabout way.

I have a Mac Pro 2019 with two Pro Vega II, each with 32GB RAM and I have a MacBook Pro M3 Max (16/40). My MacBook Pro beats my Mac Pro in almost every way. The one outstanding thing, that the Mac Pro still does better by a clear margin, is Color Grading in DaVinci Resolve. Notice that I don't write 'Editing', which is the word you used.

I really like the M3 Max and the overall package is great. It even has hardware raytracing now, which puts it clearly ahead of the Mac Pro in apps like Blender, using GPU rendering—despite the Mac Pro having two decent gfx cards with lots of memory.

But some GPU-tasks, like playing back video realtime in Resolve's Color page, the Mac Pro still does better—up to 2x in some node configurations.

My first question would be: why would you want to Edit/Color your clips at 6K+? Pros have stuck to normal HD for the longest time and I guess many still do. If a bump is necessary, perhaps cap it at UHD/4K?

In the case of Resolve, it's resolution independent and all your grades and masks scale if you switch the timeline to 6K/8K for a last pixel check before exporting from native resolution anyway. Even dropping to 4K helps a lot.

For Editing, specifically, it's less of an issue. If you're talking about ingesting clips and just editing them under a LUT, that's much less of a problem. The RED .r3d is flexible too, so you can tweak the quality of the debayering as I'm sure you know.

To come full semi-circle, as it were, a Mac Studio M2 Max is not the greatest computer for Color Grading/Correction work, but it can work if you approach it sensibly (I'm sure there are other users here that can testify to that). Still, if I was building a small suite/bay, even if it was only for me, I would base it around something with a proper gfx card.

I really like Macs and macOS, and maybe you do too? There's something to be said for my 2019 Mac Pro with "unlimited" internal storage and room to grow up to at least 2x Dual W6800XTs. It IS a shame that it's dead in the water now though but maybe you can find a good deal on a used one as people are letting them go?

Thank you for such a comprehensive response, I will definitely take that into consideration and will now look at it from a slightly different perspective. By the way, I would like to ask you about the second option, specifically building my own PC.
Please tell me, if with components such as those I will list below, are they fully acceptable for professional smooth editing and color correction with heavy and demanding files without any system problems?Thanks for your help

- Intel Core i9-14900K BOX
- Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX DDR5 LGA1700
- Kingston KC3000 4TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen4
- MSI RTX 4080 Ventus 3X E OC 16GB GDDR6X
- Glacier One 360 T30 Gen2 ARGB
- Seasonic FOCUS GX-1000 ATX 3.0 1000W
- G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5 96GB (2x48GB)

 

[Michael Lindsay]

The requirements of DSMC3 and DSMC2 are a little different... which are you wanting to handle?

I tried Mac Studio and it just didn't work like I hoped..

I have a Z8 with Dual CPU and 2 x RTX A5000 cards and even though it cost me a lot a few years back... you can buy these machines very cheap refurbed and they just work. (you may have to go consumer on the GX card)

I can process 8k Raptor footage full debayer scaled to 4k with a significant grade faster then RT... PS I wouldn't need the 2nd card but for DSMC2 8k footage..

 

[Eric Santiago]

I am still surviving with a Mac Pro D700 w64GB RAM at home.
I mostly with work with my Dragon clips but time to time I will get a Komodo/Raptor/Ranger clips to deal with.
It all depends on your workflow.
At day job I have a Mac Pro 2019 with a single Vega II.
I love using Resolve for grading on that.
One day I will need to upgrade all of it but till then, I am enjoying the new offers from Apple.
As a mobile setup, I have the older MBP M1 Pro and pretty decent for editing.