Tons of problems with new Macbook Pro

[jonpais]

38 minutes ago, Cinegain said:

You can probably do something with Rakuten/Amazon.jp or Tmall/Taobao and an agent (e.g.+a.e.g.).

Wouldn't be opposed to third party solutions of reputable brands either, like Xiaomi: https://world.tmall.com/item/539426234542.htm / https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-Xiaomi-Mi-Notebook-Air-USB-C-to-HDMI-4k-USB-3-0-Multifunction-Adapter-USB/32776108843.html or Orico: https://oricocompany.aliexpress.com .

Thanks, i'll check it out.

[Cinegain]

50 minutes ago, jonpais said:

Thanks, i'll check it out.

I'm familiar with MINIX, used several Android TV boxes over the years. Good schtuff. Seems they have a good all-in solution as well: http://minix.com.hk/en/products/neo-c-usb-c-multiport-adapter / http://www.geekbuying.com/search?keyword=minix+usb-c . Guess the Hyperdrive hub is pretty dope too: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hypershop/hyperdrivetm-compact-thunderbolt-3-usb-c-hub-for-m . Seems like a bunch of options are out there.

 

[jonpais]

17 hours ago, Cinegain said:

I'm familiar with MINIX, used several Android TV boxes over the years. Good schtuff. Seems they have a good all-in solution as well: http://minix.com.hk/en/products/neo-c-usb-c-multiport-adapter / http://www.geekbuying.com/search?keyword=minix+usb-c . Guess the Hyperdrive hub is pretty dope too: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hypershop/hyperdrivetm-compact-thunderbolt-3-usb-c-hub-for-m . Seems like a bunch of options are out there.

 

I'll have a look-see this evening.

A touch off-topic, but... The other night, I was showing my G85 field test video to a buddy on his Galaxy, and it looked like I'd shot everything in vivid. I wasn't at all surprised, since I already knew the default setting on Samsung phones makes everything look radioactive. Then, this afternoon, I watched the same video again on one of the new touch bar MacBook Pros, and it was even worse - the footage looked like an XT2 on steroids. Where faces that were slightly orange in the clip on my 2013 MBPr 15" and 27" iMac, the people looked like their skin was on fire, bright pomegranate. And the contrast - I almost always shoot in the shade, with contrast turned way down, but the same video was snappy as hell in the showroom. I was going to test out my Voigtlander with the G85 this afternoon, but I felt so sick after seeing those nauseating colors, I just went home. Do my clips look like vomit on your monitors, too?

[Davey]

20 minutes ago, jonpais said:

I'll have a look-see this evening.

A touch off-topic, but... The other night, I was showing my G85 field test video to a buddy on his Galaxy, and it looked like I'd shot everything in vivid. I wasn't at all surprised, since I already knew the default setting on Samsung phones makes everything look radioactive. Then, this afternoon, I watched the same video again on one of the new touch bar MacBook Pros, and it was even worse - the footage looked like an XT2 on steroids. Where faces that were slightly orange in the clip on my 2013 MBPr 15" and 27" iMac, the people looked like their skin was on fire, bright pomegranate. And the contrast - I almost always shoot in the shade, with contrast turned way down, but the same video was snappy as hell in the showroom. I was going to test out my Voigtlander with the G85 this afternoon, but I felt so sick after seeing those nauseating colors, I just went home. Do my clips look like vomit on your monitors, too?

I watched your video on my Note 4 which has a respectable (for a phone) representation of saturation and it looked good to my eyes. If I had watched it on my wife's Sony Xperia it would have been way over saturated. I have yet to have a chance to watch it on both my iMacs but will not judge any video or photo on the basis of what my mid 2011 version throws up. My 2015 5k iMac gets closest to a true representation (though I know that they can't hold a torch to a professionally calibrated monitor) regarding videos and photos I have shot myself.

I'll report back when the other half has dragged herself out of my office (bedroom) but I know what you mean about some smartphones inducing nausea. When I put stuff up on Facebook I implore people to not view it on their mobiles. However, the masses are now used to grossly oversaturated images and probably think that real life (that they see through their eyes in their everyday world) is a washed out heap of boredom.

When Instagram first showed its face, all was sepia with half of everybody's photos online lost to vignetting.

[dantheman]

1 hour ago, jonpais said:

the footage looked like an XT2 on steroids.

On my windows phone it looks exactly the same as on my pc screen (viewed on windows 10), colors looked normal to me.

[jonpais]

8 minutes ago, dantheman said:

On my windows phone it looks exactly the same as on my pc screen (viewed on windows 10), colors looked normal to me.

Cool. Maybe someone had messed with the calibration on the floor model of the MBPr I was using. I think I'd go psychotic if all my videos look like that when I get my new Mac in a few weeks. Apparently, nobody in Vietnam uses peripherals with their Macs. I visited two authorized resellers this afternoon, and hardly any dongles at all, except for chargers and hundreds upon hundreds of USB-C to USB cables, in a myriad of colors. And one tiny dock called Le Touch with two USB ports, a USB-C port and a card reader for around $40, but it looks like something you'd find in a dollar store back home, so I didn't pick it up. Crazy town!

[kaylee]

3 hours ago, jonpais said:

Do my clips look like vomit on your monitors, too?

the color of your g85 field test looks great on my plasma  

the only nice thing i have to say about the new mbps is that the screens are WAY better - better color, contrast, and the consistency at different viewing angles is dramatically different (it used to be terrible). havent noticed anything bizarre about the color – which i certainly would have if it was horrid – but ill give it another look with a critical eye sometime soon

[Ed_David]

Thinking of hackintoshing the Dell XPS 15 - sounds good in theory - but researching well the wifi card stops working - and I don't think Resolve will utilize the nvidia card in it.

Which brings me back to it all - how important is pro res?  How many people use FCP X or request it?  What is the reason to stay mac?

I just don't know anymore.

It's time for people to start migrating.  I just wish there was some way Blackmagic could license pro res and put it into windows.

6 hours ago, jonpais said:

Cool. Maybe someone had messed with the calibration on the floor model of the MBPr I was using. I think I'd go psychotic if all my videos look like that when I get my new Mac in a few weeks. Apparently, nobody in Vietnam uses peripherals with their Macs. I visited two authorized resellers this afternoon, and hardly any dongles at all, except for chargers and hundreds upon hundreds of USB-C to USB cables, in a myriad of colors. And one tiny dock called Le Touch with two USB ports, a USB-C port and a card reader for around $40, but it looks like something you'd find in a dollar store back home, so I didn't pick it up. Crazy town!

Hi Jon - I think it looked really nice - your lumix test video.  Don't see anything out of the ordinary on my macbook air.

[Dustin]

3 hours ago, Ed_David said:

 What is the reason to stay mac?

I just don't know anymore.

It's time for people to start migrating.  I just wish there was some way Blackmagic could license pro res and put it into windows.

I'm questioning this as well! I've always tried to use the right tool for the job. Prior to getting this 2012 MBPR I had windows laptops that I hated for years. But it seems the playing field has been leveled out and for my needs and wants at least, seems like at this point in time a custom build/hackintosh/windows laptop have a lot to offer for the buck!

On 1/1/2017 at 4:45 AM, Gabe Strong said:

Well, I just got a older rMBP (2013).  It had retina screen, 16 gigs of ram, 512gig SSD drive, i7 quad core 2.8ghz CPU, integrated and discrete GPU (750 2gb).  It was a refurb and I bought it for $800.  I understand you are talking about having the newest CPU and GPU on the market so maybe not an option.  But I needed something for mobile editing (I've got a desktop).  I use FCP X and Motion and I can literally do everything I could do with Premiere Pro and After Effects (I wasn't very good with expressions so maybe that is why) only much faster.  It's faster on my desktop as I have a 980Ti (6GB) GPU in it, but the 2013 rMBP is pretty fast itself.

Thats great but at this point in time I don't wanna use FCPX when I like Premiere just fine for my uses. (After Effects too). I have used FCP but honestly it hasn't been since version 7 and I really cut my teeth on premiere so I favor it. That said if the day comes when I need to jump to FCPX or Resolve, I don't care as long as I get the job done.

[cantsin]

Made the switch from a Mac Pro to a $2000 custom-built i7/GTX-980 PC with Windows 8.1 (now 10) two years ago because I just needed a system for Resolve and Premiere for editing Blackmagic Raw footage. There was no sense in paying twice as much just for the sake of Mac OS. Resolve and Premiere run as stable and with identical interfaces and functionality under Windows. When you spend 90% of your time or more in the applications, the operating system doesn't matter that much. (And while the Windows desktop interface is uglier, clunkier and messier in its multi-layer complexity, it also provides excellent customization and keyboard shortcut operation, with the one or the other real-life productivity advantage.)

We're objectively past the times where FCP7 was a de-facto industry standard and where Mac hardware and software was years ahead of anything else . Platform choice therefore is no longer "natural".

Pragmatically, one should first determine the software with which one wants/needs to work and then the OS. If one needs FCPX or, say, Edius, then the software will naturally dictate the OS. For cross-platform software (especially in demanding scenarios such as native 4K editing and/or use of Resolve), and unless there are major productivity obstacles, it's become mostly a matter of bang-for-the-buck. 

[Jonesy Jones]

IMHO, the value of FCPX is in speed, and nothing else. And not just rendering speed either, which it does very well. What Apple has always been good at is doing things with less clicks. Something as simple as lowering the volume of one phrase or word in dialogue is sooo easy in FCPX. Whereas the process is so painful in Premiere that I avoid it at all costs or I migrate the audio to Audition. That is time consuming too. 

I must admit that I'm currently not a FCPX user, but am planning to begin using soon. From the videos I've seen, the many little time saving things are very valuable in many projects. I won't be able to get rid of Adobe though, I use After Effects a ton, so I'll need both systems. 

[jonpais]

Have no fear - I'm sure Tim Cook feels we should be able to edit on iMovie??. I just found this over at MacRumors. At first, I thought it was some sort of sick joke... Apparently, OWC will be offering an attachment that fits onto the bottom of your svelte 2016 MBPr that adds both 4TB of storage and the holes we so desperately need. And get this: when attached, your laptop will be no thicker than the 2012 MBPr. These are great times for solutions to problems that should never have existed. Read the article here.

[fuzzynormal]

8 hours ago, Jonesy Jones said:

IMHO, the value of FCPX is in speed, and nothing else. And not just rendering speed either, which it does very well. What Apple has always been good at is doing things with less clicks. Something as simple as lowering the volume of one phrase or word in dialogue is sooo easy in FCPX. Whereas the process is so painful in Premiere that I avoid it at all costs or I migrate the audio to Audition. That is time consuming too. 

I must admit that I'm currently not a FCPX user, but am planning to begin using soon. From the videos I've seen, the many little time saving things are very valuable in many projects. I won't be able to get rid of Adobe though, I use After Effects a ton, so I'll need both systems. 

I've been using Premiere (again after a stretch away from it) for half a year now non-stop.  This time on the PC and as well as on a Mac.  When I edit with premiere on my 8 year old Mac, the premiere GUI works better than it does on Windows.

Now, when you're cutting footage more than 40 hours a week, having a GUI that's refined is necessary.

Using Windows just feels "shabby."  Sometimes I click something and it doesn't work, other times it does.  I try to move things with the mouse and it goes all "scribbly."

Annoying stuff.

Rendering is great on the PC though!

Ultimately, I think I might just make a Hackintosh using the same hardware/chips found in the Macs.  Might be a happy medium.

[Gabe Strong]

On 1/2/2017 at 10:49 AM, Dustin said:

Thats great but at this point in time I don't wanna use FCPX when I like Premiere just fine for my uses. (After Effects too). I have used FCP but honestly it hasn't been since version 7 and I really cut my teeth on premiere so I favor it. That said if the day comes when I need to jump to FCPX or Resolve, I don't care as long as I get the job done.

Yeah, I get that.  If you are a Premiere user, I think the idea of switching to Windows may be something a lot of people look into.  I personally refuse to support the subscription payment model, so don't use any Adobe products other than my old CS6 stuff.  But if you are an Adobe person, I can see the reasons that people may be looking to switch.  I was just commenting that the 'benchmarks' that were being quoted as something a person would want (quad core i7 processor, 512GB SSD, 16GB Ram, and so on) can also be bought on the Apple platform fairly cheaply.  It seems that there has been a little bit of 'slowing down' in the computer arms race recently. Insofar as many newer updated computers on both the Apple and Windows side are not as big a step forward over the older ones, as they used to be.  Improvements are still coming, just slower than they used to come.

[Ed_David]

I wish someone would make a resolve/film editor guide to hackintosh that's super super simple to follow and tell you exactly the parts you need.  Tonymac is too complicated for me!

[Dustin]

10 hours ago, Gabe Strong said:

Yeah, I get that.  If you are a Premiere user, I think the idea of switching to Windows may be something a lot of people look into.  I personally refuse to support the subscription payment model, so don't use any Adobe products other than my old CS6 stuff.  But if you are an Adobe person, I can see the reasons that people may be looking to switch.  I was just commenting that the 'benchmarks' that were being quoted as something a person would want (quad core i7 processor, 512GB SSD, 16GB Ram, and so on) can also be bought on the Apple platform fairly cheaply.  It seems that there has been a little bit of 'slowing down' in the computer arms race recently. Insofar as many newer updated computers on both the Apple and Windows side are not as big a step forward over the older ones, as they used to be.  Improvements are still coming, just slower than they used to come.

What I think I'm gonna do when the funds/time comes is build just a killer editor pc. I've specd out a few builds and for my needs/wants, it seems you can build a pretty good desktop for around 1200-1400 or even less. Will think about a hackintosh or keep the option open for it to be but I'm worried that could just unnecessarily complicate things. I'm pretty comfortable with computers and although I've never built my own, I've taken them apart and upgraded computers I've had. Yes the hackintosh sounds awesome but scary so I'll probably wait on that.

 But as long as my MacBook Pro keeps on trucking I'll probably always keep it. I've realized as nice as having a laptop is, I usually just edit at home. 

But it who knows given the changing state of computers I might change my mind tomorrow 

[fuzzynormal]

On 1/2/2017 at 7:56 AM, Ed_David said:

...how important is pro res?  How many people use FCP X or request it?  What is the reason to stay mac?

I just don't know anymore.

It's time for people to start migrating.  I just wish there was some way Blackmagic could license pro res and put it into windows.

Agreed.  My next build will be a Hackintosh PC with all the same guts as a MacPro, just 2/3rds cheaper.  Not the highest end for performance, but will allow me easy back and forth between Windows and OSX.  And, yeah, my wife is interested in FCPX, so we'll give that a shot.

As for ProRes, there's a pro option for spitting out ProRes from one's NLE, but it's expensive.  As an alternative, I've been able to use Footage Studio for one of my clients that wants ProRes. Otherwise, it's well encoded h.264 for most delivery on the jobs I do.

1 hour ago, Dustin said:

You can build a pretty good desktop for around 1200-1400 or even less.

Indeed.  I have.  Love the speed, don't like Premiere on WIndows too much, but it's not a deal breaker.

[Andrew Reid]

Bit of a warning from James Miller:

"The MacBook Pro touch bar has to be the worst Apple product I have ever purchased. £3,329.00 for endless crashes using Adobe CC products, renders that crash the graphics card resulting in green screen, lockups. The touch bar and the actual keys I really don't seem to be feeling the love for. 

Everything sounds angry whilst typing with these noisy keys. Fed up with pressing multiple times on the touchbar to adjust screen brightness and volume. Default layouts are rubbish on the touch bar and even when configured don't really do anything useful. Been an Apple user for ever but thats the last Mac I'm going to buy unless they produce something that actually works. 2.5hrs to render a 3 min red film on old MacBook Pro (2 years old) it takes just a few minutes."

Sounds like between Adobe and Apple they have managed to truly embarrass themselves.

[Ed_David]

46 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

Bit of a warning from James Miller:

"The MacBook Pro touch bar has to be the worst Apple product I have ever purchased. £3,329.00 for endless crashes using Adobe CC products, renders that crash the graphics card resulting in green screen, lockups. The touch bar and the actual keys I really don't seem to be feeling the love for. 

Everything sounds angry whilst typing with these noisy keys. Fed up with pressing multiple times on the touchbar to adjust screen brightness and volume. Default layouts are rubbish on the touch bar and even when configured don't really do anything useful. Been an Apple user for ever but thats the last Mac I'm going to buy unless they produce something that actually works. 2.5hrs to render a 3 min red film on old MacBook Pro (2 years old) it takes just a few minutes."

Sounds like between Adobe and Apple they have managed to truly embarrass themselves.

Yea, that pretty much puts the nail in the coffin.

Now I wonder - is this the beginning of the end for Apple making computers for professionals?

Are they now a watch and tablet company?

[Andrew Reid]

I am more disappointed with Intel and Adobe.

Intel for not giving us any meaningful CPU performance increases for 5 years.

Adobe for not testing their software on the new Macbook to ensure compatibility.

Apple are just 'meh'... neither bad nor good at the moment... certainly uninspired after Steve Jobs left us.