New Mac Mini Screams with FCP X!!

T

thabo

Well-known member
Just wanted to write a few lines praising the new 2011 Mac Mini and FCP X. I was using an early 2008 Core two Duo with a 2.6 (BTO) processor , 6 gigs of ram and an 9600Gt graphics card and boy this little mac mini eats my old lappy for breakfast, I am surprised that it's so much faster than this machine. Sure thee 2008 laptop is not an ideal solution but it worked just fine with FCP X and my secret is to use the prores proxy setting for all my editing. Using the laptop, rendering was pretty slow, when it was counting rendering time it was more like a realtime clock with each percentage point taking a second or so, now the bloody thing is on fire and I'm sure it's at least 5 to 10x quicker (ok not scientific but this thing eats video) I can also scrub through the video at one hell of a rate. (I also tested FCP X on a 2009 MBP with a super fast i7 processor and a 330m Gt card and I swear the mac mini also blow this high end laptop away too)

I didn't get the i5 version but opted for the i7 (non server so just dual core) BUT I got the fancy graphics card AMD Radeon HD 6630M graphics processor with 256Mb of ram. The kool think is that is can take two monitors out the box, one on the HDMI and one on the thunderbolt connector (connect mini display port to DVI adaptor to thunderbolt and you're golden)

Ok, this is video editing on a budget AND I am still using proxy for my projects but this thing is so quick, throw in any color correction to a 5 second clip and bam, rendered in 10 seconds or less. Just wanted to let folks know that this $980 odd lunchbox is a great HD editing solution for those on a budget and FCP X is fantastic for my needs and yes I can throw up the viewer on a separate monitor for playback. (still got to test out Premiere Pro 5.5 and see how she does but I've never found a decent editing codec for it as my mac mini is not gonna do the mercury engine thing given it's current card)
 
On a Mac Mini, iMac, or MacBook Pro, the mercury engine in PPro is dead, and it will handle H.264 footage worse than FCP X, and the same as FCP 7. Glad you're enjoying FCP X. Look for the Apple Pro Training Series book on it to be released end of Sept, as it's got some workflow and editing tricks no one is catching on to yet, that will make FCP X even more enjoyable. More RAM the better!
 
Id be interested in knowing how a base i5 with increased ram handles it. Also how is the proxy workflow, does it go back to the original footage for final render/output.
 
[h=3]1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 with 3MB shared L3 cache[/h]4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 onboard memory
Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor with 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
 
Rendering ....

Yes, yes yes. This is the beauty of FCP X. But you gotta know the magic settings but I edit everything in proxy and then at the end it automagically renders it back in ProRes422 std (you can HQ too if you captured it in that format) Very slick workflow for me. i5 is cheap and I wonder how the lower end graphic card working in FCP X. My machine was about $980 out the door, not too bad and you could argue that you could of gotten a iMac for a few hundred more but I didn't want to spend a few hundred more.
 
Proxy is there specifically for editing with lower powered hardware. And if you're doing "serious" HD, an Air or Mini will bog down really quickly due to lack of GPU and RAM. But for smaller productions, like TV spots, they'll hold up over time. Just don't try to do an hour and a half documentary on one.

When you import, check off to create Proxy footage.
You can check off Optimize if you want or not. I'd do it due to the faster transcoding when you export stuff, and sustained quality with effects and such.

In Preferences, set to playback with Proxy, then you're editing Proxy.
When done, uncheck to playback with Proxy in Preferences, then export, and it reads from the original (or Optimize if you did that).

Warning! If you do NOT make Proxies on Import, and you check off Proxy for playback in Preferences, it'll show your footage as offline, as it's now looking for Proxies. Just set back to NOT playback Proxies, and you'll be fine.

It's that simple. Nothing magical about it. It's all in the user manual. I recommend highly the very affordable Ripple Training FCP X video course. It's official Apple Pro Video Training, and the best on the market at this time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top