macOS Monterey Is In The House, Mac mini M1 With Final Cut Pro 10.6.1 - Part1

 I started using Monterey, it's on a Mac mini M1 with 16GB RAM, 1TB internal ssd.

I have already edited real projects with FCP on it, and I'm running tests.

My current working machine is a Classic Mac Pro 5,1 with 6 x 3.46 GHz cores, 32GB RAM, Radeon 7950 3GB running Mojave 10.14.6.

I have skipped Catalina (10.15) and Big Sur (11) entirely since the cMP is not on the approved list, and I didn't want to risk using OpenCore. I also have a Intel i7 four cores Mini that I use for work, that also has Mojave installed as I didn't want to have mismatched macOSes on my work machines.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

• Boots insanely fast! Seventeen (17) seconds from pressing the power button to the log screen.
• Internal drive speed is nuts. 2800MB/s Read/Write!

• The compartmentalization of the internal drive is something to get used to. APFS introduced with High Sierra (10.13) is evolving. And starting with Catalina (10.15) the System Drive is Read Only! News to me! https://bombich.com/kb/ccc5/working-apfs-volume-groups I'm not used to not being able to create a new folder at the root of the disk.
• Monterey is less elegant than Mojave. I don't know when Apple decided to make the change, I prefer the minimalistic icons of Mojave.
• Updating old FCP libraries hasn't been straightforward, often leading to errors:

And after the failed attempt, the Library is definitely corrupted. Make sure you make duplicates before attempting. 

My workaround: Open the library without the Media drive connected (I always store Media outside the Library, on an external drive.) Everything will be offline, but the update will go through without a hiccup. Then mount the Media drive, FCP will reconnect the media by itself, or if it doesn't, Relink the files.

• FCP is super fluid. No waiting time, everything responds very quickly. I dumped my media on a Sata SSD (getting 430MB/s on average) for the small projects I'm currently working on. It's all very fast editing anything, except for non optimized 4K media, R3D specifically. Haven't tried Proxies yet.
• Export times are greatly reduced, especially h264. Exporting to ProRes feels somewhat faster, but not as big a difference. I have to do a real test comparison.
• Compressor is missing some "legacy" Codecs. They are available through Rosetta. I haven't installed that yet.

• Resolve also wants Rosetta installed... Really? Well I don't need Resolve for now, so I haven't installed it yet.

• The Mini does not support eGPU, not a big deal since GPUs have been insanely overpriced for the past 2 1/2 years or even longer. F$*& the hoarders and their stupid bitcoins. Let's see what this M1 is capable of. The old i7 Mini only has a paltry Intel 4000 1.5GB Vram GPU, this new Mini should run circles around it.
• The M1 Mini has a HDMI out for a first monitor, and I can connect my second monitor via a Thunderbolt 3 to HDMI adapter. Leaving the second Thunderbolt 3 for DAS. It's working perfectly. If you need a third monitor you're out of luck as the M1 only supports two. That's fine for me.
• It is near silent. So much so that I now find rotating HD's noise annoying!
• Exporting h264 or ProRes doesn't start the fans, the box is not even warm. Compared to the i7 Mini which starts the fans as soon as Safari is open, and becomes as loud and hot as a steel plant when encoding h264 or ProRes, it's amazing!

That's it for now, more soon!

Which is faster? Mac mini 2012 vs. classic Mac Pro 2012, Encoding HD 1080 h264 comparison

Encoding a 60min. HD ProRes422 to HD h264 (Best/MultiPass Quality) file on cMP (6 cores Xeon), and on Mac Mini (quad core i7)

1) Using Compressor:

1a) cMP = 210min. Abysmal!

VTEncoder almost never goes over 400% CPU

Using only 6 cores at 70% and 6 cores at 10%. Total never goes over 40% User CPU load.


1b) Mini = 50min. Best results!

VTEncoder barely goes over 200% CPU

Using only 4 cores at 10% and 4 cores at 5%. Total never goes over 40% User CPU load.

2) Using Adobe Media Encoder:

2a) cMP = 90min. Meh.

AMEncoder goes up 750% CPU

Using 6 cores at 80% and 6 cores at 60%. Total goes over 65% User CPU

2b) Mini = 84min. Meh.

AMEncoder goes up 600% CPU

Using 4 cores at 80% and 6 cores at 60%. Total goes over 65% User CPU

3) Machines configs:

cMP 2012 6 cores 3.46GHz, 32GB Ram, Radeon 7950 3GB.

Mini 2012 4 cores i7 2.3GHz (Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz), Intel 4000 1.5GB

Conclusion: Even though its specs are underwhelming compared to the cMP, the Mini wins with Compressor.

The cMP is really terrible! (x4 real time!!! What?) The Mini encodes the 60min. file in less than 50min. - under real time. 

On the other end with AME (which is much more power hungry) it's about the same on both machines and it takes longer than real time (x1.5 real time more or less.)

The Mini sports a dedicated h264 encode/decode chip, makes sense that the performance is better, it seems though only Compressor is accessing this added power. Adobe? What the heck??

Have a good day!

Software Frame Rate Conversion 23.976 to 25

There is a variety of ways to achieve frame rate conversion.  Using Hardware boxes like Terranex, Alchemist PhC, or... Software that's available to you.

And there are two ways to tackle it, you can either:

1) maintain the duration (= modify the number of frames) which has the effect that the footage will play at the same speed in the new 25 fps frame rate. This process is slower, takes more processing time,

or

2) reduce the duration (= maintain the same number of frames) which has the effect of speeding-up the footage in the new 25fps frame rate. This process is faster since no new frames are created.


Below are a few examples using different Software.  As a general rule, use the best settings possible and the best codec/export settings, knowing that highest quality equals longer render times. Run tests.


1) Maintain duration (plays at same speed) 

Compressor:
Use Apple Settings QT ProRes with pass through audio as a starting point.
Go to Inspector, Encoder, Video Format Select Frame Rate 25, make sure AR is correct. Verify your media source, check your Geometry tab, set Frame Size 1920x1080 and Pixel Aspect Square if necessary (Open Preview Window and look at the results)  Something is set wrong in the AR or Geometry if you are getting a squeezed or stretched image.
Go to Frame Control. turn Controls ON, select Rate Conversion: Best (You might see ghosting with the other settings, test on a short clip.)

After Effects:
import your footage, right-click / New comp from selection.
Go to: Composition / Settings, change Frame Rate to 25. Click OK.
In the Composition window, enable Frame Blending, set Layer / Frame Blending to Pixel Motion.
Optional: add Force Motion Blur to taste.

FCPX:
Import your footage.
File / New Project, set Frame Rate at 25
Drag your footage into the Project Timeline
Select the clip, Go to the Inspector /Video /Rate Conform, Select Frame Sampling = Optical Flow (best.)



2) Reduce duration (plays faster)

Cinema Tools
This one is probably the easiest of the bunch, but USE THIS ON A DUPLICATE FILE as it will modify the QT and not create a new one -- no rendering needed.  Open Clip, click Conform, Select Conform to 25, Click Conform. 

Compressor: 
Use Apple Settings QT ProRes with pass through audio as a starting point.
Go to Inspector, Encoder, Video Format Select Frame Rate 25, make sure AR is correct. Verify your media source, check you Geometry tab, set Frame Size 1920x1080 and Pixel Aspect Square if necessary (Open Preview Window and look at the results)  Something is set wrong in the AR or Geometry if you are getting a squeezed or stretched image.
Go to Frame Control. Click so Source Frames play at... Select 23.976 @ 25.

After Effects:
import your footage, right-click / interpret footage / Main
conform frame rate to 25, click OK, Export.

FCPX:
Import your footage.
File / New Project, set Frame Rate at 25
Drag your footage into the Project Timeline
Select the clip, Go to the Speed button, select Automatic Speed.

Mac Mini WiFi slows down with USB 3.0 HDs in close proximity (was: with too many USB attached)

--- Update 2/28/15:

The problem seems to be radio interference that USB 3.0 hard drives emit.
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/usb-3.0-hard-drives-can-cause-wi-fi-interference

Indeed, I had my HDs real close, sometimes on top of the Mini.  Got myself a USB hub and put some space between HDs and the Mini, and the WIFI seems much more responsive now.


--- Old Post:
The Mac Mini's (2012) WiFi slows down considerably when too many USB peripherals are attached.

I had all 4 USB connectors populated when I started noticing real sluggishness.

Typically with Safari pages start to load, but get stuck in the middle and nothing happens. Progress is halted, pages stay blank.

I removed 2 out of 4 USB peripherals, and bam! All peppy was the Mini again.

Is too much USB power draw affecting WiFI?

NLEs Timetable

Just for fun...


1989 Avid

1990 Lightworks

1991 Premiere 

1993 Media 100

1995 Casablanca (Macrosystem)

1999 Final Cut Pro

2000 Vegas (Sony 2000-2004?)

2003 Edius (Canopus)

2007 SpeedEdit (Newtek)

2011 FCPX



R.I.P.

1971 CMX 600
1984 EditDroid (Lucasfilm)
1995 DraCo
Renomee Plus (Macrosystems)
Pinnacle Studio
Ulead Video Studio (Corel)
Fina Cut Express
Avid Free DV
DPS Perception RT
Velocity HD


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_editing_software