SGI: Video

Hi All!

I'm getting my Octanes up and running and wanted to get the current take on the best software for video editing for IRIX currently around. Looking through the forums there is some information, but things change quickly and wanted to know the current sitch.

I haven't had the great fortune of getting a new Octane or Onyx2 with such software already installed, so what's available? I notice in the galleries that some members have such machines with Jaleo or similar installed... did you buy a copy or you bought a machine with it installed? Are there dists floating around now that some of this software is discontinued?

I don't have the funds for a discreet setup, so what's my next second best? Hardware accelerated would be nice, in order to take advantage of all this graphics hardware.

Thanks for your insight!

-Jesse-

All really depends on what you are trying to do, formats, etc...

Premiere 4.2 which can be found on eBay from time to time does a decent job when stable, from there the prices go up dramatically. You can always try Jahshaka which is free....

Which video capture option do you have installed in your Octane <or are you planning to do software only editing>?

A few high-end octane2's with DM2/VBOB and licensed software are sometimes showing on eBay, or it would cost more to max out a cheaper one to the same specs. Anyway, are dual CPU or V12 required for HD video editing (no effects) ?

As the DM/VBOB costs cannot be avoided, maybe a Fuel or gfx-hacked O350 could provide cheaper fast storage. On which system is money best spent ?

Not *strictly* true - Flame will run fine without one. Then you just need a different capture/acquisition solution (I go 720p off my cheap camera kit to TIFF sequences, which is ghetto but works fine), which if you're using non-SDI kit you would need anyway.

The thing is finding a licensed system without one, if you want to stay on the licensing straight-and-narrow.

Note that compared to loading Targas, Flame runs massively faster loading RGBs instead (6X quicker). Not sure
about TIFFs, but very likely loading RGBs is still faster (ie. avoid any heavy conversion path). And watchout for
doing a soft import by mistake! (bad idea)

Also, dual-600 is essential in an Octane2 for doing serious HD work. Playback, etc. will work ok, but start doing
anything remotely interesting (Sparks, etc.) and a dual-400 will crawl. Tezro is better for this (or Onyx350, etc.)

Disk I/O is not the issue (Octane can do 300MB/sec no problem), it's CPU power that matters.

Also, watchout for RAM usage. Working with Flame/HD can gobble up 4GB pretty quickly. 6GB is wise, 8GB best.

Ian.

you can lower that but using a 32bit ffi

Yes. I am surprised at how fast Piranha runs.

piranha is fast and the shake gui sucks
there're some tweaks for the shake gui to gain quite some speed. has been posted here some time ago i think ...

Piranha is fast you say?
What version, machine and setup are you using?

And could you please post the link to the shake 'speed ticket' ?

Thanks in advance

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9880&

it's been a while but i used several versions (all 3.x) on an octane mxe, octane2 v6 and ir2e onyx2. all with dual r12k or higher.

Thanks for the Shake hints and the additional Piranha info.

I still have some questions left:
Perhaps the dual CPU is the missing link for me.
And I assume you use it for SD footage only, not HD?
And uncompressed images or also MPEG video?

Best regards,

Does anyone have experience, running Piraña on a Fuel/Octane for 720P or even 1080P?

Please let me know more details about disk array, cpu speed, memory, picture format (RGB, TIFF...), etcetera.

Thanks in advance,

well, the picture format should be something uncompressed of course and the disk array should be able to deliver ~180mb/s for hd use

Hi Foetz,

Thanks for the update. very usefull to know that also Pirana needs uncompressed pictures instead of direct mpeg/jpeg stuff.

And that can be on either a Fuel or an Octane2, right?
Do you or anyone has experience running Pirana on a Fuel?

Reason is that I need to choose between a 'Fuel@600Mhz with V10 and 4GB' or an 'Octane2@400Mhz with V6 and 2GB'
Drive array will be 1Gbit Fibrechannel type.

I know an Octane can be upgraded to a dual 600 but that is too expensive (even dual 400) and I think there will be also little chance to upgrade the Fuel's CPU too.

Thanks in advance,

Get the Fuel. The bottleneck will often be the gfx. Also, you should get V12 if you want to work with HD. See:

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/perfcomp_DISC ... Tests.html

Different app, but the same issues apply.

1Gbit FC is not enough for HD. You should be using at least 2Gbit, though I get better I/O results with SCSI
(nobody's beaten my results yet AFAIK, eg. 511MB/sec with Octane).

Ian.

PS. I've been told an earlier version of Pirahna on Indigo2 with 6.2 can utilise CosmoCompress, but haven't
tested this yet.

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the advise, this is very usefull indeed.
What surprises me is that you mention a Fuel being able to run Flame.
I never knew Fuels are capable of running discreet software at all.
Are you sure about this?

Or does anyone have experiense with Fuel and Flame or discreet?

Thanks in advance,

If they weren't capable of running it, I wouldn't have been able to do the tests. All I did was move a Tezro
disk into a Fuel, with the /etc/ioconfig.conf file removed prior to the switch. The Spark test didn't work
though, probably because of how it's installed. A native install would likely fix that. No surprise here IMO,
both systems are the same arch, which is why a Fuel disk can boot a Tezro and vice-versa.

Whether or not it was a supported configuration is a different issue. What my tests show though is that,
overall, a Fuel 600/V12 is a better system for Flame than an Octane dual-600 V10. Why anyone was
using V10 systems is beyond me (really bad idea). Likewise, V12 for Tezro should have had 512MB RAM.

SD results coming later, and both SD/HD tests for Inferno, etc.

Ian.

you're welcome!
anyhow i did not say it MUST be uncompressed. i just never used anything else
and yes, octane2 is fine. onyx as well ...