VEGAS 11 With R3D performance settings

[Joe Ferralli]

Just wondering what I can do to increase the performance of Vegas 11 64bit specifically for R3d files. We're running HP z800's 8 core Xeon 2.57 GHZ processors. Just purchased the Quadro 4000 cards and each machine has 12GB of ram. Each also has a Dulce raid system that are getting 800mb/sec. We're also running AJA Kona LHI cards for preview. Will more ram help in Vegas? Also, will the Red Rocket help with playback through Vegas? If so, can the Rocket coexist with the AJA card? Playback of 5k R3D files is really chunky and I can only get realtime in draft mode. If we can get this running a bit faster, it would be a dream. We we're on FCP and after seeing the control in Vegas, we were sold. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Joe

[albert rudnicki]

Being on PC (windows?), I would change quadro 4000 to any 5 or 4 series GTX, in a heart beat.
Edit: slightly off-topic, sorry

[Joe Ferralli]

Thanks Albert, but why? The Quadro 4000 is a 2GB CUDA enabled GPU. It works with the GPU acceleration inside Vegas. Isn't the GTX card for gaming? And yes, on Windows 7. Thanks again for your input.
Joe

[Mark Holmes]

I would love to hear any input on this. I'm running a Mac Pro with Premiere Pro on the OSX side and Vegas 11 on the Bootcamp Windows 7 side - but still have the GT120 original video card and want to update to a card that will speed up both Vegas 11 and Premiere. IS the Quadro 4000 the best/only option?

[Subhadip Sen]

I would love to hear any input on this. I'm running a Mac Pro with Premiere Pro on the OSX side and Vegas 11 on the Bootcamp Windows 7 side - but still have the GT120 original video card and want to update to a card that will speed up both Vegas 11 and Premiere. IS the Quadro 4000 the best/only option?

As per internal benchmarks (http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/...puacceleration), the $170 AMD Radeon HD 6870 offers 50% higher framerates for playback than the $1700 Quadro 5000. For Vegas Pro, AMD is clearly the best option. The only are where NVIDIA does well is AVC renders because is CUDA accelerated. I suspect Radeon HD 6970 or FirePro V9800 are the best GPUs for Vegas Pro. Since you are using a Mac Pro, I suppose Quadro 4000 is the only option? A shame because it is a rather weak GPU. A GT 120 is more of a liability - you will probably get better performance with GPU acceleration turned off. That's what I have noticed with Vegas Pro - if you have a weak GPU you are better off using the CPU only. High-end GPUs, however, do drastically accelerate certain situations. R3D playback unfortunately is not one of those situations.

To the OP - something is definitely not right. Get in touch with Sony Creative support. I don't know what it is - could be something like a slight incompatibility issue? And no, as far as I know, Vegas Pro does not support Rocket. Neither does it need it - modern CPUs for the same price as Rocket will get you better performance and do a whole lot more than R3D debayering.

[Joe Ferralli]

To the OP - something is definitely not right. Get in touch with Sony Creative support. I don't know what it is - could be something like a slight incompatibility issue? And no, as far as I know, Vegas Pro does not support Rocket. Neither does it need it - modern CPUs for the same price as Rocket will get you better performance and do a whole lot more than R3D debayering.

I thought as much. I talked to Sony Creative support and they didn't seem to know what's up. I would think this machine would run a lot faster with the R3d files. I'm thinking that it might be something with the AJA card. They also verified that the Red Rocket won't help with this. We also have PP CS5 and the clips are a bit chunky too. Frustrating.
Joe

[Joe Ferralli]

OK. I figured out some things. On 4k footage, I can get reatime playback at Best-half resolution (pretty amazing I think). I used the Mercedes Red MX sample footage from the Red reel. On the other hand, I downloaded some 5k Epic footage and that's where it gets really chunky. The best I can do is Draft half. That footage is 5120x2560 at 29.976. Strange that it would slow down that much. I guess we'll only be shooting in 4K on the Epic...(only 4K....never thought I'd say that).

[William Kee]

I think that different compression ratios on the Epic produce different playback FPS. So, if you were to shoot 5K footage at a compression ratio of 3:1, playback in Vegas would be way more choppy than if you had shot at 15:1 compression ratio.