Advice on NLE for Nanoflash/XDR Work Flow

[Lance Librandi]

Hello,
I am in process of evaluating which NLE system to use that offers fastest renders and maintains compatibility with NanoFlash/XDR files. I have been using Final Cut Pro in the past which on Snow Leopard 10.6 has caused me considerable problems and it’s now time to give Apple the flick. I would really appreciate any suggestions from Nanoflash/XDR users as the Nanoflash is my primary acquisition source and I want to keep my quality through the editing process.

Mark thanks for that info on AMC can you tell me how many layers can you stack on the time-line on top of each other and still maintain real time play back.
ie.
Take a 100 Mbps QT XDR file and keep copying and stacking it on the time line to see how many layers AMC can play through before dropping frames and require rendering. Now that I am involved in live productions I need to be able to process layered video on the time-line very quickly.
Many Thanks

[David Cherniack]

FWIW I ran a test with Premiere Pro CS5 and CD files - the picture is fine even tho the sound won't be fixed until an update.

So on my i7-720 Win7 64 notebook with 1.6 ghz cpu, with a NVidia 360M gpu (CUDA enabled but not supported), I was able to play back 3 layers of 1080/23.98p 100MHz long GOP at 50% opacity with RGB curves and a 10% Gaussian blur (CUDA effects) applied to each clip. Playback at full resolution.

Not bad.

Next up

[Mark Job]

Originally Posted by Lance Librandi

Hello,

Mark thanks for that info on AMC can you tell me how many layers can you stack on the time-line on top of each other and still maintain real time play back.
ie.
Take a 100 Mbps QT XDR file and keep copying and stacking it on the time line to see how many layers AMC can play through before dropping frames and require rendering. Now that I am involved in live productions I need to be able to process layered video on the time-line very quickly.
Many Thanks

....Hey Lance: It all depends on the power of your system. Now, you have an 8 core system I do believe you wrote about in the other thread, so I would think you could probably do close to 8 layers, maybe more ! How much RAM do you have and what is your data bus speed for your CPU and RAM ? You will need to have a specific nVidia Quaddro series GPU with at least 512 Megs of on board GDDR 3 Memory RAM.

[Lance Librandi]

Thanks David & Mark,
The system will be Mac Pro 8 core, 8 Gb ram and 2 TB system drive with bootcamp running Mac OS 10.6 & Windows 7.
Over the next week I will be looking at :-
Avid Media Composer
Edius
Speed Edit and
CS5
I really need to maintain compatibility with NanoFlash QT or MXF and Tricaster MPEG files, more importantly the editing software has to be bomb proof. I am absolutely sick & tired of the Beach Ball of death on the Mac with 10.6 OS along with Apple's inability to fix the system. Fancy locking users out and not allowing you to revert back to 10.5 which was a stable OS.

[David Cherniack]

You're welcome, Lance.

On your system in CS5 you should be able to do 10-20 layers of CD clips (with multiple real time effects providing you have the right nVidia card). Of course it's dependent on an update from Adobe that fixes the broken import of CD files.

CS5 is the first real stable release of Premiere Pro but 8GB of ram is pretty well the minimum for snappy performance and may be too little if you intend much dynamic linking with After Effects.

You should also be aware that the Adobe trial locks out mpeg2 files like CD's, & Sony's EX. Licensing costs etc.

[Mark Job]

Originally Posted by Lance Librandi

Thanks David & Mark,
The system will be Mac Pro 8 core, 8 Gb ram and 2 TB system drive with bootcamp running Mac OS 10.6 & Windows 7.
Over the next week I will be looking at :-
Avid Media Composer
Edius
Speed Edit and
CS5
I really need to maintain compatibility with NanoFlash QT or MXF and Tricaster MPEG files, more importantly the editing software has to be bomb proof. I am absolutely sick & tired of the Beach Ball of death on the Mac with 10.6 OS along with Apple's inability to fix the system. Fancy locking users out and not allowing you to revert back to 10.5 which was a stable OS.

....Hi Lance: If mission critical work is what you're doing and absolute bullet proof stand and deliver is what you require, then AMC wins this battle hands down. More media is directly assembled in Avid Media Composer by more TV Networks, independent producers, and Hollywood feature film makers than all of the other NLE solutions put together ! There's a reason why they all choose Avid Media Composer. This fact is *only true for this tool as a cutting application, but not as a finishing application. For intensive graphics and effects then Adobe After Effects is used in combination with Media Composer. For web authoring Sorensen Squeeze wins that battle. For DVD authoring it's still Sonic Scenarist and the slightly cheaper one who's name I can't remember at the moment.

The CTV National Canadian TV Network also use the hardware accelerated Altitude HD board set along with Velocity editing software, but Harris just EOL's that system last year (Unfortunately ! - It's an amazingly fast system all HD-SDI in/out with HDV firewire). This stuff used to be called by another company name called DPS. The incredible thing about this NLE is that *Everything is **Realtime ! ***No rendering ! Titles, transitions, edits, color correction, DVE - all there instantly !