A question for 7D/Macbook owners

cjwolff

cjwolff

Well-known member
I've had it trying to edit the native footage in Premiere, exporting proxies and other tomfoolery to get a final product. I've wasted the last 24 hours trying to develop a repeatable workflow to capitalize on the tin cans and string hardware I have around here. This method isn't creating paying customers.

My question is whether the top-o'-da-line 2.8ghz macbook pro $2499 can edit the native 7D footage in FCP without the hassles.

I figured someone around here has one and can shed some light on the issue. I understand that Elgato turbo 264 makes this a possibility.

Thanks!
 
The MBP "can" edit the native 7D footage. But the moment you attempt any kind of color-correction or layer any filters on it, you'll have to render, and that will make you want to open a vein. Renders take forever.

And AFAIK, you don't need the ElGato to do this.

The h.264 codec was just not meant to be run through FCP. It's best to transcode first, if you're using FCP.
 
stephenmick said:
The MBP "can" edit the native 7D footage. But the moment you attempt any kind of color-correction or layer any filters on it, you'll have to render, and that will make you want to open a vein. Renders take forever.

And AFAIK, you don't need the ElGato to do this.

The h.264 codec was just not meant to be run through FCP. It's best to transcode first, if you're using FCP.
Click to expand...

My understanding of the footage is that it needs to be decompressed, and not really a matter of computer power. But think about how much faster a computer like that would transcode. My old macbook can transcode 1080 pretty quickly. Just use FCP's log and transfer, super easy.
 
Hi cjwolff,

H264 is a long gop (group of pictures) codec which is a really bad codec to edit with because compression happens between the frames. First you have an i-frame which is a real frame of pixels and subsequent frames (know as B and P frames) are text based data that records changes to the initial frame. As you can see this becomes a nightmare when it comes to editing.

On a mac you should transcode to prores or any i-frame codec where every frame is a real frame. If you use premiere not FCP download prores codecs for quicktime and use mpeg streamclip (freeware) to transcode. Transcoding to prores HQ will not gain you anything over the regular prores because h264 capture is 8bit.

Some may argue that you just need a processor that is fast enough - NOT TRUE. Any transition edits that you do involving time like cross fades will start to show artifacts. These errors may not manifest themselves initially but may show up at a later date when the file is transcoded again. A perfect example of this is youtube and vimeo. Try doing a crossfade on a timeline where h264 is your editing codec then upload your export to the web. Youtube and vimeo transcode again and you might see big nasty green macro blocs appear or worse.

I have written about this before and others have shouted me down about calling B and P frames 'text data'. My source for using this phrase is estemed guru Larry Jordan (link).
 
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Hey Jdavis,

Thanks for the thoughtful post. I've been tinkering with logarith codec, not knowing I could download prores on a PC. I understand what you are saying about text frames since I think B frames can contain motion instructions and other 'data'
 
cjwolff said:
Hey Jdavis,

Thanks for the thoughtful post. I've been tinkering with logarith codec, not knowing I could download prores on a PC. I understand what you are saying about text frames since I think B frames can contain motion instructions and other 'data'
Click to expand...


I thought you're only able to decode ProRes on a PC, but you can't encode/transocde it...

Neo Scene works great btw.
 
cjwolff said:
Hey Jdavis,

Thanks for the thoughtful post. I've been tinkering with logarith codec, not knowing I could download prores on a PC. I understand what you are saying about text frames since I think B frames can contain motion instructions and other 'data'
Click to expand...

Prores is a codec created by apple. BTW the macbook specs you quoted in post 1 should be no problems. I edit 1080p24 on a macbook that is 2.1 Ghz Intel Core 2 duo without a hitch provided I transcode to prores first. As I recall I bought my macbook refurbished for about $900 a year or so ago.
 
J,

Thanks for the input. I was going to wait for an i7 macbook however there's a $200 off deal on the 2.8ghz unit now. Although I must say that new imac 27" looks nice!
 
people I have mpeg stream clip, but where do i get the pro res codecs from? And how does mpeg Stream Clip detect that i have it?
 
How strong of a macbook pro do you need to edit 7d footage (once its been converted to prores?)

Can a couple years old one do it? Im considering buying a used macbook pro, a 15 or 17".

Say one with the 2.2 or 2.4 ghz core 2 duo, 4gb ram, and say the 256 or 512 mb graphics card, would that work?

I think my budget is somewhere around $1,000
 
I have a 2008 white macbook, with only 1gb of RAM. If you convert your footage to prores before editing, there are NO issues at all, and that's working from an external usb drive! If you setup a proper work flow, fcp is lightning quick and never crashes.

If you're trying to edit straight from the files that come off the camera you'll be waiting hours and hours..... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
 
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