3 Replies Latest reply: Jul 3, 2014 12:30 AM by BobanskyBh RSS

    Performance Issues - Hardware Related?

    RyanShepard Community Member

      We shoot exclusively in AVCHD 1080i 60fps or 1080p 30fps using Panasonic HMC-150 cameras. We edit on 2 iMacs and a Mac Pro, all of which are old and not fairing well. They worked well with Final Cut Studio 3, but since upgrading to Creative Cloud they have been kind of terrible. These are the specs:

       

      iMac: 27 inch, Mid 2010 x2

      CPU: Intel Core i7 quad-core @ 2.93 GHz

      RAM: 8GB DDR3 1333MHz

      GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5750 1024MB VRAM

      Disk drives: Apple SSD TS256B 256GB SSD for boot and program install, 1TB WDC WD100FALS-40Y6A0 7200RPM for storage and scratch

      OSX 10.9.3

       

      Mac Pro: Early 2008

      CPU: 2x Intel Xeon quad-core @ 2.8 GHz

      RAM: 10GB DDR2 800MHz

      GPU: ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB VRAM

      Disk drives: 320GB WD 7200RPM for boot and programs, 2 750GB Hitachi HDS721075KLA360 in RAID 0 for storage and scratch

      OSX 10.9.3

       

      My major issues arise with multi-layer Pr projects where I have more than 1 track of AVCHD video. I will move the playhead to a location and press play and the playhead will jump back to the previous location; this happens about 90% of the time. If I wait about 5 second it will update correctly, but I cannot wait 5 seconds for every playhead move. Also, they will become overwhelmed by simply transitioning from 1 track to another, even if I render the transition. The Mac Pro seems to be the worst of the bunch.

      Using Activity Monitor I can clearly see the RAM being used almost to 100% and the CPU being used almost 100% as well.

      My major questions are 1) are my issues 100% hardware related or could there be something else causing the performance issues and 2) is it worth looking into upgrading these units or should they just be replaced? Is there something I can upgrade that may cost only a few hundred dollars versus whole new units for thousands of dollars?

      Technically speaking these machines meet the requirements to run Premiere Pro, and the program does run, but the experience is awful.

      Thanks for any input.

        • 1. Re: Performance Issues - Hardware Related?
          jasonvp Community Member

          RyanShepard wrote:

           

          We shoot exclusively in AVCHD 1080i 60fps or 1080p 30fps using Panasonic HMC-150 cameras.

          ...

           

          My major questions are 1) are my issues 100% hardware related or could there be something else causing the performance issues and 2) is it worth looking into upgrading these units or should they just be replaced? Is there something I can upgrade that may cost only a few hundred dollars versus whole new units for thousands of dollars?

          AVCHD can be very taxing on the CPU to play in real time at 100% resolution.  And the systems you're using aren't the hottest things available.  You're asking a 6 year old Mac Pro and a 4 year old iMac to keep up with today's software and hardware; it's not going to happen.

           

          The only real upgrade you can do for the iMac is possibly add some more memory to it.  iMacs are basically large laptops where everything's all-in-one.  They're not ideal for video editing with heavy duty footage like AVCHD.  And the Mac Pro, while upgradeable from a memory and video card perspective, is really not worth the effort.

           

          I'd turn the Mac Pro into a nice little server, sell the iMacs, and put that money into a new Mac Pro if you want to stay in the OS X environment (which I'm a huge proponent of).  Or make the inexpensive migration to PCs for your editing (bleah!)

          • 2. Re: Performance Issues - Hardware Related?
            RyanShepard Community Member

            I figured it was hardware. These Macs were bought before I began working on this company and I was shocked to see how old the Mac Pro was.

            Are there any workflows you are aware of that would take the AVCHD and transcode it to a less taxing format so we can work a little more fluidly while we purchase new equipment?

            • 3. Re: Performance Issues - Hardware Related?
              BobanskyBh Community Member

              Hi,

              first, try to convert all AVCHD footage to Prores in Adobe Media Encoder...that is the best way.

               

              It might help if your company does not want to invest into new computers, to check which new GPU works on your MACPRO, so you can possibly add some Nvidia 580/780 or some Quadro card...

               

              Also, 10 Gb Ram is not enough on 8 core machine (I was struggling on new 6coe mac pro with 16 GB!!!!) , so try upgrading the ram at least to 32 Gb.....

               

              On IMac, add more Ram, that is the only thing you can do...

               

              CHeers!