PT 2019x & Video Consensus

[Ginger]

Upgrading my whole system and wondering what people are doing for video.

I'll be setting up a 2018 Mac Mini i7. Wondering if an eGPU will actually do anything for me in terms of conserving internal TB3 bandwidth?
Need to run 3 monitors. 4k not needed. The third will only be on for clients, not for me so off most of the time. I'm editing, not mixing so it really is only for presentations.

If I do use an eGPU, what are the latency issues? Still need video sync offset?

Also considering video slave since I will have an extra computer around but I'd really like to avoid that if possible. Trying to pare down my physical system.

Thoughts? Codecs? Is now the time to go mxf? Will stick to Mojave until all the Catalina kinks get worked out.

TIA

Config - 2018 Mac Mini 6 core i7, 32gb ram, 1TB SSD, PT Ultimate with HD Native card in a chassis, OS Mojave

[LDS]

An eGPU really runs just the same as any internal graphics output in the Mac mini. I don't have a Mac mini, but I do have a 2018 MacBook Pro. Both have two thunderbolt 3 busses. I run HDX1 and an AJA IO video box off one bus, and an RX580 eGPU off the other which is powering two monitors. Works great. Just divide and conquer across the two thunderbolt busses. A 2.5K resolution monitor only consumes about 8gbps of the 40gbps bandwidth available. Standard 1920x1400(? or whatever it is) is even less. I've been converting everything to MXF since the release of 2019.12

[Frank Kruse]

Originally Posted by Ginger

Thoughts? Codecs? Is now the time to go mxf? Will stick to Mojave until all the Catalina kinks get worked out.

TIA

There's no need to convert anything to MXF unless you're on Catalina. That said, MXF has been supported for years by PT and works just like QT. Also AVID MC in the current version doesn't support direkt export to QT anymore so on our current project we've been receiving MXF picture (DNxHD36) all the way. But I've found no difference in performance.
The only downside to keep in mind is that MXF doesn't carry an audio guide so when you send picture to ADR studios you have to send WAV guides as well. But since we've been doing that anyway there's really no change in workflow unless you have to integrate with people in ancient PT versions (PT10 and older)

F.

[Ginger]

Originally Posted by LDS

An eGPU really runs just the same as any internal graphics output in the Mac mini. I don't have a Mac mini, but I do have a 2018 MacBook Pro. Both have two thunderbolt 3 busses. I run HDX1 and an AJA IO video box off one bus, and an RX580 eGPU off the other which is powering two monitors. Works great. Just divide and conquer across the two thunderbolt busses. A 2.5K resolution monitor only consumes about 8gbps of the 40gbps bandwidth available. Standard 1920x1400(? or whatever it is) is even less. I've been converting everything to MXF since the release of 2019.12

Thanks for the info.

I was definitely going to divide & conquer w/r/t the TB3 buses. If an eGPU isn't really doing anything for me in terms of saving bandwidth or processor power, I'm not sure why I'd get one. That's what I'm trying to suss out. I'm not doing any 4k video at this point. 1080p is usually the max file resolution I get. I would hang one regular 1920x1400 monitor off the HDMI, another off TB3 & the 43" Samsung Q60r off the same TB3 bus. The idea being that the Samsung will mostly be off and not consuming bandwidth most of the time.
Then Avid/Sonnet chassis & drives &/or dock off the second TB3 bus.

Sound reasonable?

Since you are using an eGPU - what's the latency situation? Is it the same as if monitors were directly connected to the cpu? No adjustment for 2x 24" monitors, 12 quarter frames for the 43". Sync is critical for me so if I were to get an eGPU I would want to know exactly what I'm dealing with. I realize it depends on what screen(s) you connect to it, but in general are there any further caveats than usual? As far as the RX580, does the eGPU box take care of the issues that used to exist with putting these into a Mac? In other words, does it need to be flashed to get the Apple startup screen or does the eGPU take care of all that nonsense? Have you run your setup without the eGPU and were there any video playback issues? I can easily do my setup and see what happens and always grab an eGPU if things aren't running smoothly. Just wondering what others have experienced. I would think with the 6core i7 and an ssd I should have no issue with h264 files. I know it's not recommended but from a practical side of moving materials around, it's still preferable in most of my workflow situations. I've gone DNXHD before and actually had more problems than with h264.

[rmccam]

Someone will know the details of this better than me but I think the performance of H.264 depends on how much it’s been compressed. That’s what I’ve noticed, anyway.

Personally, I’ve always found DNX works much better but I do a lot of commercial work, so for <30 sec, I usually can’t be bothered to transcode. But if I’m doing a film, even a short, I find I get way better performance from DNX. That said, if I do have a DNX video in my session, I also have an H.264 as well, just to bounce out refs. It’s much quicker than having PT do the conversion.

I used to use Media Encoder for my transcodes but Shutter Encoder is much simpler, seems to work well, encodes fast and it’s free (with a recommended donation). Depending on how much back and forth you do with editorial or sending refs, it might be worth the transcode.

Ryan



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[smurfyou]

I can't tell if you're driving your computer displays or video monitor. If it's for video then I would skip the EGPU and get an Aja T-Tap. Gives you a true video output and handles all formats. The eGPU helps with screen redraw and GUI performance. Which PT does seem to need help with. But I would try without it first especially if you're not mixing intensive projects.

I've used nothing but DNxHD MXF files for the last 6 years or so. By far the most reliable format with PT. Not DNxHD in a QuickTime MOV wrapper but MXF. For some asinine reason PT will not import the audio as Frank states. But you can import it from your H264 or make a WAV. Actually I believe it can import audio from an OP-Atom MXF but Adobe Media Encoder will only do OP-1a.

[Ginger]

Originally Posted by smurfyou

I can't tell if you're driving your computer displays or video monitor. If it's for video then I would skip the EGPU and get an Aja T-Tap. Gives you a true video output and handles all formats. The eGPU helps with screen redraw and GUI performance. Which PT does seem to need help with. But I would try without it first especially if you're not mixing intensive projects.

I've used nothing but DNxHD MXF files for the last 6 years or so. By far the most reliable format with PT. Not DNxHD in a QuickTime MOV wrapper but MXF. For some asinine reason PT will not import the audio as Frank states. But you can import it from your H264 or make a WAV. Actually I believe it can import audio from an OP-Atom MXF but Adobe Media Encoder will only do OP-1a.

Don't need audio because I always get separate guide tracks.

I'm driving 2x24" computer monitors & a 43" video monitor. I'm going to skip the eGPU and see how it goes. I work in features and for whatever reason, I got worse performance from DNxHD QT. h264 has actually been better but I think that actually might be a USB3 bus bandwidth issue since the DNx files are so big even though I know h264 are more processor intensive. I think since I'll be running Mojave I'll be able to keep the same workflow I've been using for ages (at least for now) so we'll see what happens. Just got the cpu today. Will take a while before everything is built & I can switch to this new system but I'll report back.

[LDS]

Originally Posted by Ginger

Don't need audio because I always get separate guide tracks.

I'm driving 2x24" computer monitors & a 43" video monitor. I'm going to skip the eGPU and see how it goes. I work in features and for whatever reason, I got worse performance from DNxHD QT. h264 has actually been better but I think that actually might be a USB3 bus bandwidth issue since the DNx files are so big even though I know h264 are more processor intensive. I think since I'll be running Mojave I'll be able to keep the same workflow I've been using for ages (at least for now) so we'll see what happens. Just got the cpu today. Will take a while before everything is built & I can switch to this new system but I'll report back.

DNxHD QT performance is probably more related to its dependancy on legacy codecs. Give DNxHD MXF a spin. It avoids the old quicktime elements in Pro Tools. It works much, much better here.

The only reason I use an eGPU is for convenience. It makes it a two TB cable process to plug and unplug my MacBook Pro from my setup. The eGPU enclosure even charges the MacBook Pro via TB. There is no discernible latency related with eGPUs. It would defeat the purpose if there was, as it would make even using the computer mouse a lot harder. Personally, I would echo the sentiments about a dedicated video output like the T-Tap.

[smurfyou]

Originally Posted by Ginger

Don't need audio because I always get separate guide tracks.

I'm driving 2x24" computer monitors & a 43" video monitor. I'm going to skip the eGPU and see how it goes. I work in features and for whatever reason, I got worse performance from DNxHD QT. h264 has actually been better but I think that actually might be a USB3 bus bandwidth issue since the DNx files are so big even though I know h264 are more processor intensive. I think since I'll be running Mojave I'll be able to keep the same workflow I've been using for ages (at least for now) so we'll see what happens. Just got the cpu today. Will take a while before everything is built & I can switch to this new system but I'll report back.

That's what I mean about specifying a DNXHD MXF rather than QT. It does make a difference with PT's performance even though it's only a container. Also I keep video on an internal SSD. PT video engine likes low latency disks. External USB drives can be iffy especially if they go to sleep (despite system prefs telling it not to).

Incidentally I'm also setting up a 2018 Mac Mini i7. I have a GPU for my old 5.1 Mac Pro and it did make a big difference. I'm going to put the Mini through it's paces without an eGPU but I'll hang on to that card just in case.

[Ginger]

Originally Posted by smurfyou

That's what I mean about specifying a DNXHD MXF rather than QT. It does make a difference with PT's performance even though it's only a container. Also I keep video on an internal SSD. PT video engine likes low latency disks. External USB drives can be iffy especially if they go to sleep (despite system prefs telling it not to).

Incidentally I'm also setting up a 2018 Mac Mini i7. I have a GPU for my old 5.1 Mac Pro and it did make a big difference. I'm going to put the Mini through it's paces without an eGPU but I'll hang on to that card just in case.

I'm coming from a cheese grater & usually don't keep picture on an external but ran out of room on a project where I had no time to change things up. Ended up carrying the DNxHD files on an external SSD and performance was iffy through a Sonnet USB3 card but fine when directly connected to my laptop. That's another reason I want to try to stay h264 for now or maybe Pro res. DNx are just too large for the length of time I stay on a project and how many reels & versions I need to keep around at any given time. I'll try different setups and see what works best for me. Mostly, I'm looking forward to a more bug-free version of PT, if that's even remotely possible. Really tired of outputs that won't switch and auxes that just stop sending for no particular reason.