*Help please* Buying a new iMac to edit P4P 4k 60fps

[Dza]

Hi everyone! Happy New Year!

I need some help please.

My old iMac (2010) model is really struggling to edit 4k video in FCPX and won't even run Davinci Resolve or Colour Finale.

So... I've decided to bite the bullet and get a new one. I've done a fair bit of research but I want some of your opinions as to what you think of my potential next setup and if it will be good enough?

In particular, do you think the fusion drives will be ok or would I be better to look at flash drives? I know the fusion drives have a 128gb flash built in.

Please have a look at the below photo and your feedback would be greatly appreciated, especially if I have gone overboard and could save a few bucks. [emoji6]

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[JustinJ]

It's what you need to do the task well (you don't need all 32 gb, 16gb is good starting point, but get crucial memory to expand yourself)

i7 processor needed, 3tb needed for 4K footage, Spec'd the same myself.. for the same reason


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[lalvar40]

I have the same configuration, and use FCPX. I suggest you ask for more SSD disk. I store my projects once done in an external cheap drive ( 2TB is around $100). But, when editing, I have full performance with i7, graph card, and SSD. Fusion only has 125GB of SSD.

 

[F3honda4me]

Be aware mac doesn't support h265 natively so you'll have to transcode any h265 files before you can view them.

 

[Dza]

I have the same configuration, and use FCPX. I suggest you ask for more SSD disk. I store my projects once done in an external cheap drive ( 2TB is around $100). But, when editing, I have full performance with i7, graph card, and SSD. Fusion only has 125GB of SSD.

Thanks for your advice. So you honestly don't think 128gb of flash is enough?


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[Dza]

It's what you need to do the task well (you don't need all 32 gb, 16gb is good starting point, but get crucial memory to expand yourself)

i7 processor needed, 3tb needed for 4K footage, Spec'd the same myself.. for the same reason


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Thanks for your help, have you had any issues with the fusion drives only having 128gb of flash?


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[Dronefriend]

Wait for the Kaby Lake iMacs with built in h265 hardware acceleration.

 

[lalvar40]

So you honestly don't think 128gb of flash is enough?

well...it seems it is not enough...but I don't have any facts. There are some performance graphs that indicate that the best performance is with SSD. I could afford only 512 GB of SSD. If you have the budget , go with 1GB SSD and external disk for the rest.

 

[Dza]

Wait for the Kaby Lake iMacs with built in h265 hardware acceleration.

Thanks for pointing this out. The Kaby Lake cpu is very tempting to wait for but I've been reading that may be sometime in 2018? Not sure I can wait that long


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[Dza]

well...it seems it is not enough...but I don't have any facts. There are some performance graphs that indicate that the best performance is with SSD. I could afford only 512 GB of SSD. If you have the budget , go with 1GB SSD and external disk for the rest.

Of course the best performance is with SSD [emoji6][emoji4] When you say, it seems it is not enough. Can you please elaborate as to what it is not enough for. Thanks [emoji41]


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[Dronefriend]

Thanks for pointing this out. The Kaby Lake cpu is very tempting to wait for but I've been reading that may be sometime in 2018? Not sure I can wait that long


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It was announced today. New iMacs may be around the corner

 

[lalvar40]

Can you please elaborate as to what it is not enough for. Thanks

I meant: the video editing requires all resources available in your computer. RAM is fast, i7 is fast, Graph card will help, however, non-ssd disk is very slow...that will define the final speed...if you use SSD you are not adding any bottle neck to your performance. In my experience, I have noticed FCP consumes a lot of disk space, just unbelievable...I need to keep deleting unused files and move completed projects to external disks in my 512G disk in order not to consume all my MAC disk.

 

[Dronefriend]

Look bro. The 6700K CPU is fine, though the Kaby Lake 7700K will handle h265 MUCH better. I know, I run a 6700K atm.

It is fine to run video off a HDD. But, you should definitely have enough space on an SSD to run all OS and apps on. Might be you have some space left. Then you can put your proxy files / project video files on the SSD and final renders on HDD. And benefit from SSD with your current video files as well. 256 GB should be enough.

RAM 16 GB minimum, but will do if you want to save $. 8 GB out of the question.

Graphics should be as good as possible for the $ you can spend.

If you are tech savvy you can build a PC yourself and install macOS on it. If that suits you. I have ^^

 

[Indio]

if you want to edit your footage there is not a good idea do this
with any compressed distribution only codec (H264 or H265)
transcoding to prores is your friend

you can to with DJIs trancoding tool:
https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/inspire_1/DJI_Transcoding_Tool_v0.9.2.dmg

or spend 50 bucks for a really good software:
EditReady : Transcode Any Camera Source Without The Hassle

 

[Tom K]

Indio is correct. h.264/5 is NOT an editing codec. I trans-code all my DJI footage to pro res with adobe media encoder. Trying to edit 4k in h.264 is not advisable.

 

[F3honda4me]

Indio is correct. h.264/5 is NOT an editing codec. I trans-code all my DJI footage to pro res with adobe media encoder. Trying to edit 4k in h.264 is not advisable.

Why? Since you aren't actually editing the proxy files, you're just using them to see in your editing software, what is the advantage of using prores proxy vs an h264 proxy?

 

[Dza]

if you want to edit your footage there is not a good idea do this
with any compressed distribution only codec (H264 or H265)
transcoding to prores is your friend

you can to with DJIs trancoding tool:
https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/inspire_1/DJI_Transcoding_Tool_v0.9.2.dmg

or spend 50 bucks for a really good software:
EditReady : Transcode Any Camera Source Without The Hassle

I've started to make proxies in FCPX which transcodes to prores. This enables me to edit reasonably smoothly on my old mac.

Is there any advantage to using DJI transcoding tool rather than let FCPX handle it?




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[Indio]

first - fcpx can't import H265 now
second - the price of 1MB is today very cheap

so, when you trancode your file, don't use proxies (and prores proxy)
the quality of your files are simelar to prores LT and if you want
color grading then use prores422 or proresHQ with delicate material.

understand videocodecs and the workflow !!

only on the fast found: Intra-frame vs Inter-frame Compression | Wolfcrow

and yes, i'm new to fly but 35 years making film +g*

 

[F3honda4me]

first - fcpx can't import H265 now
second - the price of 1MB is today very cheap

so, when you trancode your file, don't use proxies (and prores proxy)
the quality of your files are simelar to prores LT and if you want
color grading then use prores422 or proresHQ with delicate material.

understand videocodecs and the workflow !!

only on the fast found: Intra-frame vs Inter-frame Compression | Wolfcrow

and yes, i'm new to fly but 35 years making film +g*

Right but if I'm using proxys why does it matter? I'm well aware that if you are going to actually edit the transcoded files, prores is ideal. But your statement made it sound like you should never transcode to h264 regardless. I was just wanting to make sure there wasn't something I was missing. So we are both correct then, yes? If using proxys, h264 is fine.

 

[Indio]

is you record in H265 (a interframe aka GOP codec) and transcode to another GOP based codec
you will lose more information as you like.

i use H264 for sending in email or only to keep the filesize small to the view

upload to youtube, vimeo, facebook, etc is better in prores - there will be a recompressing every time

proxies are maximum compressed and you lose also details and have more artifacts as you want
so when you finish your edit you must replace the proxies with the originalfiles for best result

if you record in H264, then in fcpx you can set to optimize media (will automatic create prores422 files)
and this will be fine for all your workflow (YT, FB or DVD, bluray or whar ever)
if you want H264 as your finished work, export the prores edit and use compressor for the H264
and keep allways a good master in prores

myself i didn't use fcpx
use FCP7, avidMC and BMD resolve