Newbie question on best set up for using Studio 2

Hi,
I've got a Mac Pro, OS X 10.5.2 2x2.8 Ghz Quad Core Intel, 8GB 800 MHz F8-DIMM machine.

And I'm just starting out using Final Cut Pro.

I've managed to crash and freeze up the machine as I'm testing out the various Soundtrack Pro and Motion features. I wasn't doing any particularly extravagant. I was merely going through the filters on Soundtrack. And I merely tried to do a bit of picture in picture stuff.

Which makes me wonder whether I need to have any extra hardware in there to make it cope with the software.

I didn't think I needed a capture card as my camera is a tapeless machine. But I'm wondering if that's the case.

What do people recommend?

No your Mac is fine...


What version of Final Cut Studio - Each version FCP, DVDSP, STP?

What version of Quicktime?

Have you run the software update to get all the latest versions?

When you have installed all the updates or new software run Disk Utility and Repair Disk Permissions on the Mac HDD.

Some filters on Soundtrack might not work well together - VST plugins especially older ones might not work well with others - try a bounce down first then apply a second or third one.


Another thing...

What are you using to capture your media to? If you are using the System HDD - DON'T

At the very least go get yourself a (large as you can afford) SATA II HDD like the Hitachi Deskstar, Western Digital or Seagate (not Maxtor) and install it in one of your spare internal HDD bays in the Mac - very easy to do and does not void your warranty.

How to here: [manuals.info.apple.com]

or buy and external FireWire 800 RAID HDD



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

So, MacPro 2.8 Ghz running 10.5.2 with latest version of Quicktime. Your header says Final Cut Studio 2. Is that all correct?

Do you have another disk in your mac except the boot disk? You need an additional disk to use for Log and Capture.

How much RAM memory does your system have? There are some problems that can cause system crashes when installing RAM cards in the MacPro.


PS - save youself from future problems and don't get a Firewire drive because it's easier.

What everyone said.

Look up issues with FCP's Log and Transfer, since you're coming in Tapeless, as you indicate. What kind of Tapeless? Sony EX or Panasonic P2?

[I've got a Mac Pro, OS X 10.5.2 2x2.8 Ghz Quad Core Intel, 8GB 800 MHz F8-DIMM machine.

And I'm just starting out using Final Cut Pro. ]

Not bad at all. This is like a student pilot asked to fly a Boeing Dreamliner.
You'll have fun. Stick around here and you'll land safely!

- Loren
Today's FCP keytip:

Toggle your Timeline Filters bar with Option T !

Final Cut Studio 2 KeyGuide? Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

I think I've got all the latest versions... FCP 6.0.3 DVDSpro 4.2.1 STP 2.0.2
Quicktime 7.4.5

And Hitachi HDD - 4 terrabytes is single Raid 1 volume

I've got a Sony XDcam Ex 1 - brilliant camera apart from being impossible to actually hold for any length of time! I must attach a shoulder brace!

I'm doing a course on Final Cut as it's very different to the Edius set up I had for my SD cameras... rock solid, real time, and very forgiving of my messy trial and error style editing. But doesn't do the XDCam and I figure I've got to get a professional work flow going now as I've naive ambitions to shoot features.

Anyway, I ran the repair disk permissions and it picked up the library/startupitems and library/caches I had to delete in Safe Mode to get my system functioning after the last crash.

I have a Bella keyboard with Jog/Shuttle on it - I figured that I'm going to have to avoid using the mouse as it's a killer on the wrist - but I wonder if the keyboard was the main culprit in causing the crash. The Jog/Shuttle is disabled now. The rest of the keys seem to be functioning as they should.

But I still feel the Mac is sluggish. When opening files it takes a while to populate the menu and seems to take forever to let me change the file names on a single click. Changing the keyboard doesn't speed this up but I think the Bella was the cause of the freeze up. The jog/shuttle behaved erratically when it was working.

I reckon there's something wrong with the system. That rig should almost work faster than you. None of my machines have the kind of lag you describe, and I can't remember the last crash or freeze - except firefox of late.

Have you run disk warrior and/or tech tool?

Ah, just ran Tech Tools and it failed the Volume Structure. I'm downloading the Deluxe version that I understand will fix it!

Hopefully that will do the trick.

Just been talking to the Apple Support guys and they tell me that since I've got my machine in a Raid formation that Tech Tools and Disk Warrior won't support it and will give me false error messages on the Volume and Format.

Only Disk Utility will work and that tells me that the disk in working perfectly well.

It was suggested that my Raid formation might not be ideal and that I should have separated out the Boot Disk. Of course the Raid Utility merely gave a simple option of maximum security or maximum performance and, being ignorant, I thought I'd better take Max performance and use an external disk for my back up. Didn't notice that I could separate the boot disk from the rest of the set up. It certainly didn't give me an easy option or mention it in the instructions.

Whether it's the RAID configuration that affects performance I don't know and they couldn't tell whether it would or not. I timed file openings for them (5-7 seconds) and said I thought them slow compared to my iMac, where it's instantaneous, and they said it's a matter of perception and they couldn't do much.

Also, apparently crashes happen in Final Cut depending on what I'm doing. And that seems to be the way it is.

So... not sure what to do about all that. Don't want to re-install everything as that means two days of having the machine reinstall and hunt down all the upgrades necessary to allow it to work.

I've gone from blaming the keyboard to blaming the RAID configuration now but I'm reluctant to do anything with it, just in case it makes no difference.

Anyone with opinions on that?

>>they said it's a matter of perception and they couldn't do much. <<

It's not a matter of perception. It should be almost instant, as it is on almost all systems I work on.

>>Also, apparently crashes happen in Final Cut depending on what I'm doing. And that seems to be the way it is. <<

That's absolute crap.

I think you need to find a real support team/guy/gal and get it sorted out. It could be just a dud install. It doesn't take two days to start from scratch, and I agree it is annoying, but if it makes this all go away, is it worth it?

It's hard for us to say from here what the problem is though - lots of variables - it might even be something that we would spot in a moment, but you don't realise is important yet.

Actually, I wonder if pulling some RAM would help..

Pulling some RAM? What do you mean? Removing it?

Any idea whether the RAID configuration could be slowing things down? Four disks getting up to speed might be a problem. No separate boot disk... would that cause a problem? Nobody at APple seemed to know.

Quote

4 terrabytes is single Raid 1 volume

Do you also have the System on this? RAID 1 is a mirrored set and is no faster than a single drive in fact might be slightly slower if run on a single Bus.

You need a Separate HDD or RAID for media and RAID 1 is only going to give you a backup of the HDD on another drive.



As far as XDCAM EX1 you also need to get the Final Cut Pro/XDCAM Transfer v2.1 Update...

[www.sony.co.uk]

Another cool app from SONY is the viewer XDCAM EX Clip Browsing Software V1.1

[www.sony.co.uk]



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

Yes I have the system on the Raid 1.
THe instructions with the machine implied that I would improve performance by setting up my disks in a Raid configuration and RAID utility simply gave me two options - max safety or max performance. I took it at its word.

Essentially you think this is the problem... Anyone else give a definitive yes on this? Like I said I Apple's Support guys didn't know one way or another and didn't seem to think the performance was outside the normal range. Despite my timing the action for them on the phone.

Yes because you are using what is the System HDD which is not something I think anyone here would recommend at all...

However I would honestly start over

Format 1 Drive as the System HDD and install all your Apps onto it and the others drive as the media/storage drive(s).

But break it down exactly - do you have 4 x 1TB Hitachi HDDs in the Mac?

If so RAID 3 together as a RAID 0 (aka Striped Raid - fastest performance) and 1 System HDD

or 1 System HDD, 2 as RAID 0 and 1 as a Backup HDD



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

Yes, I've got the 4x1 TB Hitachi set up.

Oh well, there goes my weekend!

I'll give that a try.

Thanks.

I just cut a Music video using 1920x1080p25 VBR 35Mpbs XDCAM EX1 footage on a MacBookPro with 1 external FW800 HDD mastering to ProRes HQ in 1920x1080 with no issues so yours really should fly...

Let us know how you get on.



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

Well, finally I'm getting round to doing it. Using Motion etc. was impossible on the machine. Everything just crashed. So I'm finally biting the bullet and reformatting everything... I've maxed out all my extra storage disks and decided I can lose some stuff.

So here goes...

Well... re-formatted the disks as you said... now installing the OS and updating it...

Finally reinstalled everything. ANd yes, it is all a lot faster. The menus get populated in a more acceptable time.

It still aint as fast as the old iMacs used in the class I'm going to for editing. Despite all the RT Unlimited and Dynamic settings, it needs to render motion files before it can play them. And is sometimes reluctant to offer me tool variants when clicking on the various icons for roll over etc.

It also freezes up on Motion. So... still feels like there is something wrong.