Editing HD

[CJLeslie21]

After hours and days of researching I've come to the decision to purchase Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. I want to learn a professional system and feel that CS6 covers everything better than its competitors, imho. I don't need a converter for the AVCHD video if I have the Adobe Premiere CS6 editing software, correct?

Bottom line: I have a macbook and I'm looking over the tech requirements to run CS6.. For higher/quicker performance do you recommend I get an AMD and NVIDIA card for GPU acceleration? Is there anything else I should boost for the Adobe Premiere CS6 system to run smoothly as possible on my macbook?

Would love to hear answers from personal experience! or just any help will do

I greatly appreciate your help and excuse my ignorance. thanks

[poisondeathray]

Adobe uses CUDA for the Mercury Playback Engine, this means Nvidia . Performance is significantly worse on Mac OS compared to PC for whatever reason, even on similar spec hardware.

Macbooks are underpowered for any serious native editing of AVCHD (you can edit natively, but it won't feel "snappy" enough for serious projects), you'll probably want to re-encode to something usable like prores or dnxhd . A Mac Pro workstation is more ideal for editing

You need other external drives to place media, separate from OS drive

[CJLeslie21]

Poisondeathray, you've been extremely helpful thank you. Can you help an idiot out with a few more questions? lol


Say I don't have a PC and Macbook is my only option (because travel filming)--- walk me through the motions.

For AVCHD editing on a Macbook Pro I need to re-encode with dnxhd or prores and this will, in turn, speed up the process somewhat? And I need an external drive because the AVCHD will take up more room than my macbook could ever handle? correct me where I'm wrong please, thanks man

[CJLeslie21]

And also get Nvidia card..

[poisondeathray]

Don't get me wrong - if it's a recent macbook pro, you 'll be able to edit fine ... but it just won't be as smooth or as fast as a desktop solution. There are different degrees of "editing smoothness" - you'll notice a difference when you actually edit on both.

Re-encoding to an editing digital intermediate will speed up the editing process itself (scrubbing on the timeline is a lot "snappier") , but it takes extra time to re-encode (you have to batch encode the clips). You might prefer just to edit natively instead, this is user preference. Some people can't stand re-encoding , others can't stand if editing isn't "buttery smooth"

You need an external drive both for capacity and for performance . Keeping media on the OS drive will significantly reduce performance, even if it's a SSD. Ideally you have multiple drives for OS, Apps, Media, Temp data/Scratch

[budwzr]

After hours and days of researching I've come to the decision to purchase ...

That's pretty much your only option isn't it? Premiere, or a defunkt Final Cut Pro.

They do have FCPX, although you might not think it pro, it will be a lot better to run a native app. Adobe is notorious for bloated, fat, slow, lazy software.

[Cornucopia]

You are forgetting AVID MediaComposer, budwzr. It is also cross-platform. IMO, it has more real "editing" features than it's competitors, however it also requires a more hefty-powered system and doesn't integrate as well with non-pro formats.
Also, Adobe software may still be "bloated", but lately it wouldn't be what I would call slow or lazy, that has more to do with some older versions.

Scott

[budwzr]

Yes, I stand corrected.

How would you compare MediaComposer To Vegas Pro?

[JimmyS]

Adobe uses CUDA for the Mercury Playback Engine, this means Nvidia . Performance is significantly worse on Mac OS compared to PC for whatever reason, even on similar spec hardware.

If you are running Premiere CS6 on a Mac with one of the supported AMD video adapters, it will use OpenCL for GPU Processing.

http://blogs.adobe.com/premierepro/2012/05/opencl-and-premiere-pro-cs6.html


As far as FCPX is concerned, it is certainly worth a look. Apple has addressed many of the initial complaints that the pro editing crowd had when it was first released, and some of its features are now considered "best in class".

http://www.moviemaker.com/diy/we-make-movies-better-giving-fcpx-another-chance/

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/fcp_x_multicam_davis.html

And if you also have an iPad:

http://www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/news/1040-procutx-the-ipad-controller-for-final-cut-pr...os-is-released

Macbooks are underpowered for any serious native editing of AVCHD (you can edit natively, but it won't feel "snappy" enough for serious projects)

A paragraph from the moviemaker.com link above

"For less than $10,000, using FCPX, you can basically start your own post house—and that’s exactly what I did. I am currently able to edit a 4k RED feature film in FCPX using nothing more than a Retina Macbook Pro (or even a Mac Mini) and a Thunderbolt equipped G-Raid. Performance is excellent, and I get multiple streams of RED footage playing in real time. Not only that, but with a laptop and a Dreamcolor monitor, I can compete with Hollywood feature films and deliver a stunning, multiplex quality Digital Cinema Package (DCP) file from this very modest setup, using a combination of DaVinci Resolve (which is free if you’re only doing 1080p work)..."

[poisondeathray]

Adobe uses CUDA for the Mercury Playback Engine, this means Nvidia . Performance is significantly worse on Mac OS compared to PC for whatever reason, even on similar spec hardware.

If you are running Premiere CS6 on a Mac with one of the supported AMD video adapters, it will use OpenCL for GPU Processing.

http://blogs.adobe.com/premierepro/2012/05/opencl-and-premiere-pro-cs6.html

Terrible performance and crashes when using openCL . It's still not up to par, prone to crashing, poor performance. Have a look on the Adobe Forums . CUDA has been implemented for a few years, stable, and fast. openCL is newly implemented, full of headaches

As far as FCPX is concerned, it is certainly worth a look. Apple has addressed many of the initial complaints that the pro editing crowd had when it was first released, and some of its features are now considered "best in class".

Definitely better choice on a Mac IMO. This is what I recommended in his other thread . Premiere is a different ball game on a Mac, it's just not as good.

Macbooks are underpowered for any serious native editing of AVCHD (you can edit natively, but it won't feel "snappy" enough for serious projects)

A paragraph from the moviemaker.com link above

"For less than $10,000, using FCPX, you can basically start your own post house—and that’s exactly what I did. I am currently able to edit a 4k RED feature film in FCPX using nothing more than a Retina Macbook Pro (or even a Mac Mini) and a Thunderbolt equipped G-Raid. Performance is excellent, and I get multiple streams of RED footage playing in real time. Not only that, but with a laptop and a Dreamcolor monitor, I can compete with Hollywood feature films and deliver a stunning, multiplex quality Digital Cinema Package (DCP) file from this very modest setup, using a combination of DaVinci Resolve (which is free if you’re only doing 1080p work)..."

This wasn't his question, since he was set on a MacBook , but you can get better performance for substantially less with a PC based system , or even a PC notebook

Note - being able to edit, and being able to edit fast and efficiently are 2 different things

I have edited on both systems , with both FCPX / FPC7 and Premiere, both PC and MAC. You can't compare the PC based Adobe with Cuda vs. the Mac based Adobe. They are different animals

PC based Adobe vs. Mac based FCPX - both are fine, but I would choose Adobe for several reasons - tighter integration with other apps, signifcantly faster than openCL based FCPX

[Cornucopia]

Shoot, for $10k, you can probably "start your own post house" using ANY of the major NLE/DAW packages out there. AVID, Sony, Adobe, GV, Matrox as well as Apple.

I'm still not enjoying FCPX anywhere near as much as FCP7.

Scott

[poisondeathray]

I'm still not enjoying FCPX anywhere near as much as FCP7.

I agree , and you're probably used to doing things certain ways , as I am

The OP stated in another thread he is relatively new to editing, I think FCPX is easier to learn than Premiere. He probably hasn't developed certain editing habits or preferences yet

[poisondeathray]

RE: Notebooks, CS6, MBP Retina vs. PC

Here are some benchmarks (use google cache if your browser gives you a warning)
http://www.slrlounge.com/apple-vs-asus-premiere-cs6-performance-speed-test

Certainly it's not a perfect comparison for many reasons (e.g SSD RAID on the PC notebook, better GPU) . But price wise, it's not even close

Beyond the performance numbers, have a look at Adobe Premiere forums. The vast majority of problems are from Mac users. It's just doesn't work as well on a Mac

[Cornucopia]

I'm still not enjoying FCPX anywhere near as much as FCP7.

I agree , and you're probably used to doing things certain ways , as I am

The OP stated in another thread he is relatively new to editing, I think FCPX is easier to learn than Premiere. He probably hasn't developed certain editing habits or preferences yet

EXACTLY!
And IMO, the better software allows the user to work inmultiple ways, so that the quickest way for the particular user is utilized. Software that works with only 1 UI paradigm is constricting and will never "corner the market" because not everybody works that one way. Some people like A/B InPoint-OutPoint editing, some Drag-n-Drop, some Storyboarding & Trimming,...

Scott

[budwzr]

I think it's a no-brainer that having the tools represented graphically, and placed conveniently, is the key.

[JimmyS]

Shoot, for $10k, you can probably "start your own post house" using ANY of the major NLE/DAW packages out there. AVID, Sony, Adobe, GV, Matrox as well as Apple.

I'm still not enjoying FCPX anywhere near as much as FCP7.

Scott

The main reason I threw that paragraph out there was regarding how the author is finding the performance of his Mac laptop quite satisfactory even with multiple tracks of Red 4K. As far as the price of the system goes, yeah 10 grand should nicely cover pretty much any platform. 3/4's of his cost was probably eaten up by the Mac laptop, raid and monitor. But the good part is his editing software was only $300 - $400.

Most of the blogs I read regarding switching to FCP X from somthing else, expressed pretty much the same feeling as yours. The new editing paradigm that Apple has gone to was a strange beast to get their heads around. Those that stuck with it until it clicked though, all remarked that they had never been quite as productive on their old platform(s).

The most intrigueing thing for me, is the PROCUTX program that will turn an iPad into control surface for FCP X, with Siri like voice commands and multiple iPad integration coming down the road.

[budwzr]

The most intrigueing thing for me, is the PROCUTX program that will turn an iPad into control surface for FCP X, with Siri like voice commands and multiple iPad integration coming down the road.

wow!

[Cornucopia]

I'm not too worried either way. If those sorts of things are what actually do help people be more productive, you can bet clients & production folk will be asking for it from every vendor. And if the other vendors are paying attention and see FCPX taking market share away from their target demographic, they'll implement a comparable feature.

Scott