Tuesday, January 10, 2017

macOs Sierra 10.12.3 does not recognize some USB devices

I have a problem with a USB audio interface not being recognized under Sierra 10.12.2, and I'm not the only one having this kind of problem:

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-10-12-sierra-post-bugs-and-fixes-here.1991731/page-16#post-24143277

https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/65232

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/usb-audio-interface-not-recognized-sierra.1982544/#post-23129064

I confirm that the same USB box is properly recognized under Yosemite and El Capitan (no driver necessary), so it is definitely a Sierra bug.

10.12.3 beta is out, I hope it's being fixed and we'll soon have a public update that solves this issue.

--- Updated to Sierra 10.12.3 and the problem still exists... Please Apple fix this!

Monday, January 9, 2017

Premiere Pro playback on macOs Sierra with 1GB VRam is terrible! LOL!

In my main editing station I have a 3GB VRam Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 7950, which works OK with FCPX. It's barely adequate with Premiere though, meaning I can playback almost in real time, almost all the time, in HD at 1/2 resolution (no rendering.)

I tried to playback my current Premiere project with the stock 1GB Radeon card... LOL, it's a disaster! Nothing plays!  Playback is terrible no matter what I do, 1/4 resolution, everything tuned off, no go! The screen doesn't even update when I park the cursor further down the timeline. Terrible!

Boy, the Sapphire is an expensive card, and I only have one of them... What if it craps out? And really I would need an even better card to playback at full res in PP. But what's out there?

According to MacVidCards
Nvidia GTX 780 6GB ($525) or Nvidia GTX 980 Ti 6 GB ($660)
or Nvidia GTX Titan X 12 GB Maxwell (for a cool $1099.) 
Pretty limited choice.

Some vendors have flashed cards on eBay. Some 3GB and 4GB cards for a decent price - Like this macvmotive or this lonestarmacpro. Are these cards any good? Do they work fine with editing apps? I need to do some research. I'm not very found of eBay though.

In addition... Nvidia or Radeon?

USB audio interface Aimpro21 HD USB audio (Model AS372N) on macOs Sierra limited to 48K 16bit (even though it's 192K 24bit capable)

The 5.1 / 7.1 usb audio interface Aimpro21 HD USB audio Model AS372N, (sold under the name: Sewell SoundBox Pro on Amazon), needs to be set on "U1" in order to be recognized by macOS Sierra. If set on "U2" it does not work at all. (NOTE that it does not need a driver, so it's not a driver issue.)


With Sierra, "U1" mode - Limited to 48K 16bit...

With Sierra, "U2" mode - NOTHING THERE!? The device is not recognized!

The thing is "U1" limits the device to 48K 16bit audio, the superior "U2" mode goes all the way up to 192K 24bit.


With Yosemite and El Capitan, "U2" mode - Superior 192K 24bit available! Yes!

Why is the best mode not recognize under macOS Sierra? It is available and working great under Yosemite and El Capitan. Again, it does not need a driver: as soon as it is plugged to the computer running 10.10 or 10.11, the device shows instantly in the Audio MIDI Setup and Sound Preferences. Not so with 10.12...

Please Apple, fix this asap! A large number of sound pros rely on usb interfaces, we need the best sample and bit rate available. Sierra has been out for a while already v. 10.12.2.


Let me know if you experiencing a problem with your audio interface under Sierra, USB or other protocols (Thunderbolt, Firewire), and please send feedback to Apple: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html



UPDATE:
It now works with High Sierra! As noted previously by Fabien in the comments, works with 10.13.2 for him. I'm on 10.13.4, still working. Good news.

Saturday, January 7, 2017

Where are my contacts stored? MacOs Sierra

I find that there is some conflicting information online about the storage location of contacts in macOs Sierra.

The local contacts in Sierra are into the same location than before under Yosemite (and I assume El Cap as well): MacHD/Users/*you*/Library/Application Support/AddressBook

If you have installed a fresh macOs Sierra (as I always do) as opposed to migrating the system form a previous version, your Contact app is now empty.

Simply copy and paste the AddressBook folder from the previous Os - you still have the old system disk available right? And copy it to the new Sierra location.

Done, all you contacts are now showing inside the Contacts app under Sierra.

People get confused with iCloud storage and servers and what not. If you use the Cloud, that's another story, but for LOCAL contacts it's the same old.

Friday, January 6, 2017

Some digging into FCPX 10.3 - Import

For starters, importing all kind of footage from my sample footage folder:
- Atomos Ninja Flame
- Canon C300, 5DMKIII
- Panasonic GH4
- Sony A7S, A7RII, F5, FS5, FS7
- DV, DVCPro, DVCAM, HDV
All these guys check, looking good, with proper Timecode, yeah! I notice that the Log setting is available for ALL, even footage that's not Log originated. Interesting.

- Red R3D, nope!
Ah! Need to install RED APPLE WORKFLOW INSTALLER from Red website.
OK, done, and check, all good.

Here is the list of formats officially supported:

Supported media formats

You can import and work with the following video, audio, and still-image formats in Final Cut Pro:

Video formats

  • Apple Animation codec
  • Apple Intermediate codec
  • AVC-ULTRA (including AVC-LongG, AVC-Intra Class 50/100/200/4:4:4, and AVC-Intra LT)
  • DV (including DVCAM, DVCPRO, and DVCPRO50)
  • DVCPRO HD
  • iFrame
  • Motion JPEG (OpenDML only)
  • MPEG IMX (D-10)
  • QuickTime formats
  • REDCODE RAW (R3D)
  • Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2
  • Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2
  • XAVC (including XAVC-S)
  • XDCAM HD/EX/HD422
  • XF-AVC

Audio formats

Still-image formats

  • BMP
  • GIF
  • JPEG
  • PNG
  • PSD (static and layered)
  • RAW
  • TGA
  • TIFF

Container formats

  • 3GP
  • AVI
  • MOV (QuickTime)
  • MP4
  • MTS/M2TS

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Avid Media Composer 8.6.4 needs an updated R3D Plug-in

Looks like I need to update my current R3D Plug-in for MC - R3DSK v4.6, also known as Avid Media Access (AMA) RED R3D Plug-in 1.11.0

- Where to find the old one:
/Library/Application Support/Avid/AVX2_Plug-ins/AMA

It shows as: "MVP_MSP_REDR3D.avx", move it away (I keep my old AMA Plug-ins in an OBSOLETE AMA folder.)


- Where to download the new one from Avid: Red Ama Plug-in

The new one is: v6.2.2, also known as Avid Media Access (AMA) RED MVP & MSP plug-in 1.19.0.10000


Do We Need A Dedicated SSD Device For NLEs Caches? YES! Definitely For Large Projects (Features.)

Are we at a point where we now need a dedicated -fast- device exclusively reserved for Caching?  Will that decrease response time and thus will make our apps more responsive?

-- Bruce Johnson from Provideocoalition says YES! In the case of PCs and Adobe Premiere.

-- Definitely a boost for FCPX as well

-- How about Resolve?

The location of Cache can be set in FCPX in the Library Properties/Storage Location/Modify Settings:


in Premiere under Project Settings:
 AND under Preferences/Media (Previews):


in After Effects under Preferences/Media and Disk Caches:


in Avid MC under Settings/Media Cache:


in Resolve under Project Settings/General Options:


Now, you will notice that these Apps cache different things... Also Caches can grow really big in the case of AE, quickly eating hundred of GB out of your disk.

Adobe explicitly explains in AE that it is best to use a SSD separate from your footage:

So, for the sake of experiment, I will be adding a SSD to my main Mac soon, and I will set the Caches to this dedicated SSD, see if I get improved performances on these apps.

Let me know what kind of results you get with your own experimentation!