i just ordered the ram trying to keep the mac2,1 going as long as i can! now we shall see what 32GB RAM does. (maybe nothing!)

regarding the sessions

i have 2 day multi cam shoots that need to be syncd by dragging - i can break them up into 8 hour chunks and then break them up more - after I get them in sync but see no other way to "lay out" the project (no timecode was in use for sync).

for example

1-P2
2-HDV
3-HDV
4-AVCHD
5-AVCHD

That's serious product abuse!

Convert it ALL to the one codec and your life will be much simpler.
I have been down much the same path.

To split up a project just make x copies called say "Part1, Part2 etc". Delete the irrelevant bits from each one.

Bob.

I get lots of spam offerring products to enhance performance.

But, of course, I don't need them ;-)

geoff

Convert it ALL to the one codec and your life will be much simpler.
I have been down much the same path.

what codec?

To split up a project just make x copies called say "Part1, Part2 etc". Delete the irrelevant bits from each one.

i still need to sync by hand- just wish i could do it once instead of over and over in "x copies"

I see your username and want to call you Jimmy. . . (grin) showing my age ...

There is a great video that we've spoken about on another thread about multi-cam synch using both that video (if it works) and the audio (if the video isn't the better choice) ...
It might help you with synching your shots ...
For making multiple copies, can't you just use save-as and give them each a different name once you have them synched?

Let me see if I can find the video. . .



Until that time ... Earl J.

"once you have them synched"

yes that the key...keeping VV open long enough (if it will even launch) to do the sync.

in the good ol days of DV it was awesome to lay out whole project as a 'master session"
but those days are clearly over - unless some new technology comes out

I'm having a brain fart here... what is VV? (grin)

"what codec?"

Take your pick really:

1) Cineform, costs money
2) MXF 50Mbps 422, free with Vegas but just a little lossy.
3) Sony YUV, 422, 8bit. free with Vegas but does create BIG files. Hardly an issue if you're throwing money around given how cheap HDDs are today. Because this is not a long GOP codec it is very light on the CPU, even works nicely in/out of After Effects.

Bob.

thats a great tutorial, i usually do it without the multi feature but you never know...makes me wonder if VV is less taxed with the tracks are combined...prolly not..

i had to laugh though, he said you could do up to 32 tracks...

again, maybe with DV....but my issue is VV collapses [will not work at all] with 3-6 tracks if using the wrong mix of codecs (and, as discussed, length of project is another factor)

"so I could buy a super duper latest greatest 12 core 48 GB Ram box overclocked to 3.2 (about 8k)

Hate to say it, but $1238 could by an amazing amount of powerful PC that would probably run circles around your Mac, as long as you didn't get the Apple logo on it.

i just ordered the ram trying to keep the mac2,1 going as long as i can! now we shall see what 32GB RAM does. (maybe nothing!)

It seems to me you should be looking at ways to work smarter. Certainly, getting all the media into a common edit-friendly format would help tremendously. AVCHD is edit-hostile. I could see putting the money into a third party encoder to batch convert everything, or maybe into hard disk recorders. If you're shooting with 5 cameras for 8hours + you probably want everything going direct to disk.

The smartest thing might be to find some better way to set sync points during the day. If the cameras run continuously but there are breaks, could you just get someone in front of all the cameras to do head and tail slates? How much is a big clap board?

It just seems like you're going the brute force route. Eventually no amount of force will move that mountain.

Rob Mack

@Rob

this is already shot so what I have is what I have. it was done wrong but cant chage that now. I guess you are right though I will probably have to transcode some footage. what Do you think would be best format?

@ Chienworks

really? where and what

last quote I saw was:

http://i36.tinypic.com/307u4bq.jpg

To see what you can expect see the database in the first post of "Rendertest-2010" thread.
It shows that an Intel 980x does the test in about 150 seconds.

My Mac Pro 2,8 does it in 175-191 seconds (depending on Preview RAM size).
I have only 8 GB - which seems sufficient for my works (1920x1080 50i AVCHD high profile at 17 and 25 Mbps - which I even can preview at full speed).

I normally change machine when a new one is at least 50% faster than the old one - and for now that would have to be a 2 processor machine like the one you quote. And that price is too hefty :- )

I also doubt that anything at some 1.300 bucks can run any circles around a good old Mac.

$1,237.99 for 32 gb ram for my current MacPro2,1 "
_________________________________________________________________

Actually, $1200 is a bit light for a powerhouse. I just built a killer editor that plows through HD .h264 stuff with layers, CC, and track motion with no trouble. It cost around $3,000. It is 6 cores, 12 threads on a Core i7 980X running at 4.27GHz although most of the time I dial it down to 4.0GHz. It has 12Gb of RAM at 1600Mhz and SATA 3 (6gbs) drives. In the dual processor family, two Xeon hexcores at 3.0GHz on a Supermicro MB would be a workhorse, but you are talking $5,000 or so there.

KK

I would probably have recommended Sony MXF because it's compact and vegas works well with it, BUT, I'm not exactly sure that's the answer. What I think you want is a transcoder that can be pointed at one or several "Watch folders". It would automatically transcode anything you dump into the folders.

This is why I mentioned Sorenson. I'm not really sure it does this but any good third party encoder ought to support watch folders and batch jobs. What I'm less sure of is whether such an encoder would support SonyMXF. If not, Avid's DNxHD is free, cross platform, and high quality.

In any event, you might need more storage space to go down this road, and if you have to transcode hours and hours of footage from 5 cameras this process could take a while.

Yeah, I realized that it was too late for a clapper or some other method of setting sync points. Save that for the future if you have any control over this.

You've got a workstation class machine and you could poor money into RAM, and RAM is always good, but it doesn't seem like the best approach. At the very least, you end up with something that only that specific machine can handle.

Rob

so i got the 32GB ram and (in a 30 minute session anyway) it looks like i didn't even need it. oh well, now i have 32GB so I will keep a closer eye on if/when it gets used....maybe in a longer session? seems it might of offset some cpu usage but Im not sure that is related.

you can see before:

http://i35.tinypic.com/amzkoo.jpg

after:

http://i36.tinypic.com/oiuhjo.jpg
i even tossed on an insane amount of audio plugins and my usage stayed at about 5-6GB

The most mine has used is 11Gb.