Improving FCP Speed

I'd like to know if adding RAM to my Mac Pro will greatly improve render and compression speed?
SD works fine. HD seems to sputter during playback in the timeline and takes forever to compress.
For example, a one minute video with minimal effects (just dissolves and fades) takes about 10 minutes to compress using Export to Quicktime (Medium quality).

I currently have a
Mac Pro Dual 2.66 mhz
7gb of 667mhz DDR2 FB-Dimm RAM
NVidea GeForce 7300 GT graphics card

I'm thinking of purchasing 2 4GB RAM sticks, which will bring the machine to 14gb.
Will that make much of an improvement?

Nope, adding RAM won't help. You'll need a faster Mac.

Playback could be improved with a faster GPU and faster media drives.

Can I ask what sequence settings and source footage you are using?

I suspect you are using MPEG based HD material if 1 minute takes 10 to export!

Use ProRes 422 not XDCAM (all flavours) if you want to speed up your workflow especially on older slower Macs.

Also don't use Export to Quicktime - export a self contained Quicktime Movie using Export Movie and then convert that using compressor or other app like Adobe Media Encoder 5.5+.



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

Ben,

Thanks for the info. I kinda figured a faster processor was the answer.

I've been importing footage shot on a Canon T2 using
Apple proRes 422 HQ 1920x1080 (30p, 48KHz)

I'll try the self contained QT movie and convert with Compressor.
I'm using FCP 7.0.3
Hopefully, that will work!

Certainly you'll get a better export time from FCP going to a SCQM (Self-Contained Quicktime Movie) using Export Movie.

Also rendering before you export will cut export time - if things are not rendered it will render as you export increasing export time.

This includes the Olive Green and Green realtime indicated clips - check the render all menu has everything ticked and then render. Everything should be blue or clear above the timeline.

Another thing that helps export time is going from one HDD to another. So source footage on one disk gets written to a separate disk.

If you read/write to the same media drive you can lose about 20% speed depending on the disk array and connection you have.

I like to use 2 fast RAID setups and export from the main RAID to the second RAID. at c. 800MBps it can export a 2 hour 1080 HD feature in ProRes 422 HQ with a file size of ~ 125GB in a few minutes!



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