DaVinci Resolve - DNG Sequence Dailies Deliver Speed Test - Mac mini M1

 Testing Resolve 17.4.6 processing dailies of DNG sequences.

Mac mini M1 16GB with external monitoring on JVC HD 1080p SDI 8bit monitor via Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Monitor 3G.

Project Settings:

Color Science = ACEScct

No input transform

ACES output transform = Rec709

Timeline Format = Ultra HD

Video Monitoring Format = HD 1080p

SDI Single link

Data Levels = Video

Video bit depth = 8bit

In Camera Raw:

Decode Using Clip, Highlight Recovery checked.

In Primaries, Timeline Node (and Clip Node if necessary), adjusted to taste, looking at scope and making sure no clipping occurs.

Deliver Page:

"Use hardware accelerated if available" box checked.

Quality = Auto.

Resolution = Source Resolution.

HEVC is exported in 8 bit when Encoding Profile = Main (default.)

HEVC is exported in 10bit when Encoding Profile = Main10.

Single Pass Encode.

Total completion times for a 4K DNG sequence 15min in duration [130GB file size]

4K ProRes 422HQ (10bit) = 42min (2.8x real time) [73GB]

4K ProRes 422 (10bit) = 35min (2.3x real time) [50GB]

4K ProRes 422 LT (10bit) = 29min (2x real time) [29GB]

4K ProRes 422 Proxy (10bit) = 24min (1.6x real time) [9GB ]

4K HEVC (8 or 10bit, same speed) = 22min (1.5x real time) [2GB]

4K h264 single pass (8bit) = 22min (1.5x real time) [5GB]

Mini M1 doesn't even get warm to the touch, no fan noise whatsoever. When I used to do this on the Mini Intel it would get really hot and the fan would be speeding and making a lot of noise the whole time! Same deal with the cMP, only it would nicely toast the room because of the beefy ventilation, great in winter, not so in summer... Mini Intel was faster encoding h264 thanks to its dedicated chip, cMP was faster encoding ProRes with its 6 cores and the 3GB VRAM. Both were slower than the M1 overall.

I'm tempted to go with HEVC 10 bit moving forward, file size being 4x smaller than ProRes Proxy. Question is: will it be responsive enough to edit with in FCP?

Final Cut Pro 10.6.1 Proxies

 FCP has two Codec settings for proxies: ProRes Proxy and h264. Then there is a choice of various Scale and Size options, for myself I tend to use Same As Source for most projects, unless portability is a concern, or if I have to deal with a huge amount of footage.

Until recently I have been using ProRes Proxy exclusively. But now with the M1 machine, transcoding to h264 takes the same amount of time, and the Timeline is just as responsive, for a gain in size of about four times!

A h264 Proxy is actually 4 times smaller than a ProRes Proxy for the same original file. That's a huge gain of storage space. And since the time to generate the proxies is identical, I feel I now should move towards favoring h264 Proxies.

The only thing ProRes Proxy is 10bit as h264 is only 8bit, so banding...

What do you think? Leave a comment.

Apple Final Cut Pro 10.6.1, Mac Monterey 12.1, Mac mini M1 2020 - Weird S*%$ Happening - Part2

 Alright, I have a first list of FCP / Motion / Compressor bad behavior on Mac mini M1 and macOS Monterey. And in this post the list grows...

7. FCP turns R3D clips BLACK, i.e. they appear empty. No message, nothing to tell you that something is amok. Clicking on "Modify RED RAW Settings" flashes a message: "REDCODE RAW Settings cannot be applied to transcoded media." There is indeed Optimized (and Proxy) transcoded Media, it is stored externally and it plays fine in QT Player. So what is going on FCP?? That's the second item on the list that relates to external Media. FCP is loosing track of the media stored externally, that is a big problem, big problem, not good Apple! On quitting and restarting FCP, the media is back. WTF??

8. Again FCP looses FxFactory transition Plug-ins. This time 3 messages in a row, in the middle of an export (Share.)

The exported video does NOT show the dreaded missing plug-in bright red image we are used to in FCP Timeline, instead there is ... NOTHING, a straight cut, which complicates troubleshooting as I can't readily tell what's missing by looking at the video. This sucks big time. Again on quitting and restarting FCP the transitions are back. For how long?

Apple Final Cut Pro 10.6.1, Mac Monterey 12.1, Mac mini M1 2020 - Weird S*%$ Happening - Part1

 OK, so I'm now in production, live, on the Mac mini M1 (16GB) with macOS Monterey, and WEIRD SHIT IS HAPPENING! I try to keep everything up to date on this machine, except I will not update in the middle of a project, so some software might not be the very last version.

1. FCP looses the Andy's Swish Pan transition at random. It works fine, then for some reason it goes missing. I restart FCP and it's back in. I am using this transition constantly and it works fine until it goes on strike. The additional weirdness is that FCP flashes cryptic messages about FxFactory plug-ins. Wouldn't it be better if it said: The plug-in Swish Transitions is not responding? In any case Andy, FxFactory or Apple, do something please!

2. FCP (and Motion) crash more often than usual. Three times today with FCP. Yes I know, it's NOTHING! But I got used to FCP NOT CRASHING AT ALL FOR DAYS ON END. So it's annoying and a step back.I will try to keep a log of crashes, it's annoying.

FCP crashes...

And Motion crashes...

3. Motion refuses to open some files. I tried double clicking, I tried Right-click Open, no go. I log-Out and log back In, or I restart the computer and Motion is able to open the file no problem. Uh??? That's an odd one, I don't like this one, I really don't like this.

4. FCP is SLOW when it comes to switching between multiple opened Libraries. It takes a few seconds each time, no matter how big or small the Libraries are. FCP is also slow when expanding and closing Libraries. It's also slow when expanding Events. I'm on a RAID with average speed 250MB/s and SSDs with average speed 300MB/s, it shouldn't be that slow. And again the Libraries/Events are not that big.

5. When copying Clips from one Library to another, FCP sometimes looses track of the Media that becomes offline in the Timeline the clips are pasted into. Both Libraries have all Media stored externally. After pasting the clips,  FCP considers the media as stored internally - inside the FCP Library, and obviously it's not there, so it becomes offline. That's a very annoying bug as I constantly copy/paste between libraries. Now maybe FCP is confused by my naming the Folder into which the clips are stored externally "Original Media"? Really it shouldn't because the rest of the path is completely different. Apple please fix this.

The Clips are from this Library, stored externally in a folder named "Original Media".

The Clips are pasted into this second Library, FCP is looking into the FCP Library Bundle, as if the Clips where stored internally. Making them go offline. Wrong! 

6. FCP insists that some background tasks are not yet complete when I want to Share a cut. Even though as I carefully scan through the entire Timeline I see nothing wrong. The Task Manager does not indicate any ongoing task. This one is easy to circumvent, just click Continue. It unnerves me a little bit every time though, I don't like uncertainty. Apple please fix this.