Worth upgrading to Snow Leopard for FC? at DVinfo.net

Greg Quinn · August 21st, 2009, 09:38 AM

The latest Mac rumors point to Snow leopard being released as early as next week. Anyone have any idea whether FCS3 will likely perform better running on top of Snow Leopard?

Robert Lane · August 21st, 2009, 12:37 PM

Based on ADC whitepapers no application will run *faster* as it were, however certain things will work more efficiently in FCP such as renders and filters because openCL will leverage more GPU power to process these tasks.

FCS won't be any better per-se, but should become more robust and stable. There will be other not-so-obvious benefits also such as better color management.

Greg Quinn · August 21st, 2009, 12:51 PM

Thanks Robert; those improvements alone in rendering and stability would be worth the trouble in upgrading both my drive space and OS.

My guess is that this will reach stores late September/ October at the earliest, but sounds like it could be worth the wait.

Robert Lane · August 21st, 2009, 01:26 PM

As a $30 upgrade, you bet.

Gabe Strong · August 21st, 2009, 04:31 PM

Also, for anyone that has bought a Mac after June 8, you can get Snow Leopard free, just
pay shipping and handling ($9.95).....I know about this, because I am one of the people
who qualify for this program.

Apple - Mac OS X - Update your new Mac with Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Greg Quinn · August 21st, 2009, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Lane

... certain things will work more efficiently in FCP such as renders and filters because openCL will leverage more GPU power to process these tasks

Unfortunately, looks like the GPU acceleration will only work with specific (mostly non-ATI) graphics cards running on second gen Mac Pro's. It's not even clear that I will be able to upgrade my ATI x1900xt card for this, since my Mac Pro was purchased in Jan 07.
:(

http://www.maclife.com/article/news/...graphics_cards

Nevin Styre · August 21st, 2009, 07:19 PM

Are there any benefits with the new quicktime in snow leopard?
Any performance increases with encoding any codecs?

Robert Lane · August 21st, 2009, 07:39 PM

There's no definitive data that suggests there will be any performance (speed) increases at all with Snow Leopard.

This revised OS is mainly a tweaking of core technologies for handling A/V and color codecs, memory and CPU management and directory handling. It is *not* a complete re-write of the base code such as occurred when things shifted from OS 9 to OS X.

As an analogy: Final Cut Studio "3" is not a complete revamp of the application suite but mostly a feature tweak and modest refinement. Snow Leopard is the same treatment on the OS, that's all.

Core applications such as Safari, Finder, Address Book etc will see major improvements but the effect on Pro Apps such as FCS or Logic will be minimal and in many cases not even noticeable.

Andy Mees · August 22nd, 2009, 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nevin Styre

Are there any benefits with the new quicktime in snow leopard?

One of the much awaited benefits of QTX is the revised Gamma handling which should see the back of the many Gamma shift issues that folks are facing at present.
Apple - Mac OS X Snow Leopard - Enhancements and Refinements (see Gamma 2.2)

As for what to expect performance wise, I wouldn't expect anything too dramatic ...
Here are a couple of nice overviews:
The present and future of post production business and technology What about Final Cut Studio and Snow Leopard?
What's '64-bit' on Snow Leopard? - Business Center - PC World

Hope it helps
Andy

Noah Kadner · August 22nd, 2009, 01:28 AM

Moving forward- all future apps will of course be developed for whatever is the current version of Apple's OS. So in the short run- will you see massive workflow improvements in FCP using OS 10.6 vs. 10.5, probably not. But long term, for the stability of your system and future potential enhancements and for $30, yes it's a no-brainer. Upgrade.

Noah

Peter Dunphy · August 24th, 2009, 08:38 AM

Snow Leopard available for pre-order. Just ordered mine.

Dreaming of it making Media Manager in FCP far more reliable than it's been for me in recent times, but more likely that would be something a Final Cut future update would need to fix.

Floris van Eck · August 27th, 2009, 09:12 AM

I really don't think it is smart to update to Snow Leopard at this moment.

1. There are still bugs in the program
2. Reviews report that it is slower than Leopard in many occasions
3. Final Cut Studio, Adobe CS4 and other programs aren't optimized at all for Snow Leopard so the raw power of Snow Leopard is not unleashed at all.
4. A 64-bit finder, addressbook, mail or iCal... who cares? Final Cut Studio, Adobe CS4, iTunes (resource eater) are all 32-bit and have not been written in cocoa. All the stuff on Apple's site is good marketing but those Apple applications work fine in 32-bit under Leopard and you really won't notice a big difference in 64-bit. The applications that desperately need 64-bit need to be rewritten and that is going to take a while.

I really applaud Apple for going 64-bit bit at this moment. But it will be 2010, maybe even 2011, before we are really able to take advantage of that. I decided to wait until either an upgrade or update of Final Cut Studio and Adobe Creative Suite 5. When I am lucky, Snow Leopard will be at 10.5.1 or 10.5.2 at that time and most bugs have been killed.

But I am looking forward to the findings of the adventurous types on these forums.

Gabe Strong · August 27th, 2009, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floris van Eck

I really don't think it is smart to update to Snow Leopard at this moment.

1. There are still bugs in the program
2. Reviews report that it is slower than Leopard in many occasions
3. Final Cut Studio, Adobe CS4 and other programs aren't optimized at all for Snow Leopard so the raw power of Snow Leopard is not unleashed at all.
4. A 64-bit finder, addressbook, mail or iCal... who cares? Final Cut Studio, Adobe CS4, iTunes (resource eater) are all 32-bit and have not been written in cocoa. All the stuff on Apple's site is good marketing but those Apple applications work fine in 32-bit under Leopard and you really won't notice a big difference in 64-bit. The applications that desperately need 64-bit need to be rewritten and that is going to take a while.

I really applaud Apple for going 64-bit bit at this moment. But it will be 2010, maybe even 2011, before we are really able to take advantage of that. I decided to wait until either an upgrade or update of Final Cut Studio and Adobe Creative Suite 5. When I am lucky, Snow Leopard will be at 10.5.1 or 10.5.2 at that time and most bugs have been killed.

But I am looking forward to the findings of the adventurous types on these forums.

That makes sense...in a way. I am not really planning on INSTALLING Snow Leopard right
away, but I am BUYING it. The Apple up to date program gives you 90 days from the
time you buy your computer to buy Snow Leopard. So if I can get it now for
$9.95, I am definitely going to do it. When will I actually install it? Who knows.

Matt Davis · August 28th, 2009, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floris van Eck

I am looking forward to the findings of the adventurous types on these forums.

Well, with a little free time, a spare Mac, an up-to-date Time Machine and a fresh copy of Snow Leopard from the shop this morning, how could I not?

Right now at time of typing so to speak, I've hit an impressive brick wall regarding SxS cards used in my Sony PMW-EX1 camera. They cause a Kernel Panic in SL. Just working through the options (when spouse gives me time off for good behaviour), MxR works where SxS emphatically does NOT.

So that's enough for me to restore from Time Machine and pack away that little install DVD for a while.

But my inner geek wants to twiddle and tweak and try and find out what's up, so we'll see what I can do over the weekend.

Chris Leffler · August 28th, 2009, 10:46 AM

I just got SL today. I am backing up my machine now and will install SL later tonight. I hope with no problems. Does anyone think I will have any trouble with FCS2 after I upgrade?

August 21st, 2009, 09:38 AM	#1
Greg Quinn Major Player Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 505	Worth upgrading to Snow Leopard for FC? The latest Mac rumors point to Snow leopard being released as early as next week. Anyone have any idea whether FCS3 will likely perform better running on top of Snow Leopard?

August 28th, 2009, 10:46 AM	#15
Chris Leffler Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Wescosville, PA Posts: 90	I just got SL today. I am backing up my machine now and will install SL later tonight. I hope with no problems. Does anyone think I will have any trouble with FCS2 after I upgrade? Last edited by Chris Leffler; August 28th, 2009 at 12:13 PM.

August 21st, 2009, 12:37 PM	#2
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ USA Posts: 2,823 Images: 15	Based on ADC whitepapers no application will run faster as it were, however certain things will work more efficiently in FCP such as renders and filters because openCL will leverage more GPU power to process these tasks. FCS won't be any better per-se, but should become more robust and stable. There will be other not-so-obvious benefits also such as better color management.

August 21st, 2009, 12:51 PM	#3
Greg Quinn Major Player Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 505	Thanks Robert; those improvements alone in rendering and stability would be worth the trouble in upgrading both my drive space and OS. My guess is that this will reach stores late September/ October at the earliest, but sounds like it could be worth the wait.

August 21st, 2009, 01:26 PM	#4
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ USA Posts: 2,823 Images: 15	As a $30 upgrade, you bet.

August 21st, 2009, 04:31 PM	#5
Gabe Strong Major Player Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Juneau, AK Posts: 814	Also, for anyone that has bought a Mac after June 8, you can get Snow Leopard free, just pay shipping and handling ($9.95).....I know about this, because I am one of the people who qualify for this program. Apple - Mac OS X - Update your new Mac with Mac OS X Snow Leopard

August 21st, 2009, 07:19 PM	#7
Nevin Styre Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Kelowna Canada Posts: 34	Are there any benefits with the new quicktime in snow leopard? Any performance increases with encoding any codecs?

August 21st, 2009, 07:39 PM	#8
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ USA Posts: 2,823 Images: 15	There's no definitive data that suggests there will be any performance (speed) increases at all with Snow Leopard. This revised OS is mainly a tweaking of core technologies for handling A/V and color codecs, memory and CPU management and directory handling. It is not a complete re-write of the base code such as occurred when things shifted from OS 9 to OS X. As an analogy: Final Cut Studio "3" is not a complete revamp of the application suite but mostly a feature tweak and modest refinement. Snow Leopard is the same treatment on the OS, that's all. Core applications such as Safari, Finder, Address Book etc will see major improvements but the effect on Pro Apps such as FCS or Logic will be minimal and in many cases not even noticeable.

August 22nd, 2009, 01:28 AM	#10
Noah Kadner Better than Halle Berry Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 435	Moving forward- all future apps will of course be developed for whatever is the current version of Apple's OS. So in the short run- will you see massive workflow improvements in FCP using OS 10.6 vs. 10.5, probably not. But long term, for the stability of your system and future potential enhancements and for $30, yes it's a no-brainer. Upgrade. Noah

August 24th, 2009, 08:38 AM	#11
Peter Dunphy Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Belfast Northern Ireland Posts: 261	Snow Leopard available for pre-order. Just ordered mine. Dreaming of it making Media Manager in FCP far more reliable than it's been for me in recent times, but more likely that would be something a Final Cut future update would need to fix.

August 27th, 2009, 09:12 AM	#12
Floris van Eck Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 993	I really don't think it is smart to update to Snow Leopard at this moment. 1. There are still bugs in the program 2. Reviews report that it is slower than Leopard in many occasions 3. Final Cut Studio, Adobe CS4 and other programs aren't optimized at all for Snow Leopard so the raw power of Snow Leopard is not unleashed at all. 4. A 64-bit finder, addressbook, mail or iCal... who cares? Final Cut Studio, Adobe CS4, iTunes (resource eater) are all 32-bit and have not been written in cocoa. All the stuff on Apple's site is good marketing but those Apple applications work fine in 32-bit under Leopard and you really won't notice a big difference in 64-bit. The applications that desperately need 64-bit need to be rewritten and that is going to take a while. I really applaud Apple for going 64-bit bit at this moment. But it will be 2010, maybe even 2011, before we are really able to take advantage of that. I decided to wait until either an upgrade or update of Final Cut Studio and Adobe Creative Suite 5. When I am lucky, Snow Leopard will be at 10.5.1 or 10.5.2 at that time and most bugs have been killed. But I am looking forward to the findings of the adventurous types on these forums.