Video Satellite LE on MAC G4

soundboy · 3rd April 2010

No luck on the DUC yet so I thought I'd try here too.
I recently got Video Satellite LE 8.0.1, an MBox micro2 with PT LE 8.0.1cs1, and I'm trying to run it on a Mac G4. First I tried it on a dual 1 gig silver G4, and now I'm trying it on a mirror faced single processor 1.25 Gig G4. Both running 10.5.5. I'm using an Avid Mojo (the 1st version). The QTs I have tried are DVCPro with the Avid codec, and plain DVCPro. The problems I'm running into are; playback stopping with a CPU over run error(I'm running it at 85%, thats as high as it goes), and then when it does play, the pic is jerky, and it continues running for 3 secs after I hit stop. I know some people are running it successfully on their old G4s. How are you doing it? No other devices on the fire wire port, running video only on that system, no audio tracks or plugs. I currently have it networked with my main HD system, so I can use screen share and operate it from my main desktop with out a KVM switch.

**Geert van den Berg** · 3rd April 2010

Is this SD DVCpro or HD material? For HD I think those G4's are underpowered for that task, if it's SD, it's odd that it doesn't work. Even when not using any plugins, it probably takes too much computer resources for the sync to maintain good playback. Have you monitored the computer using the 'activity monitor' to spot which process causes the system overload?

soundboy · 3rd April 2010

It's SD material, the mojo wont play HD. I'll try the CPU usage monitor. Thanks.

gsilbers · 3rd April 2010

what are the specs for the g4. that 1 gig qsilver seems to be very low to handle it.

soundboy · 3rd April 2010

I'm trying the "mirror face" G4 now. Same problem. It's a single processor 1.25 gig cpu with 1 gig of ram.

Brent_in_Sydney · 3rd April 2010

Hi Charles,
min spec for any PT system with a mojo attached has always been 2Gbs+ of RAM. Im not saying its the solution, QT and PT havent been playing nice lately and throw a mojo into the mix and there are several variables.

Have you tried playback without the mojo, just picture on screen, to see if its smoother?
Also, does the video playback fine in QT player? If you jump around the timeline in the QT player is it responsive?
Lastly, have you checked the video in QT to see its bandwidth ie 50mbs or something and checked that against the burst speed of your hard drives?

Decklink have a nifty utility to check your drive speeds and that uncovered a problem for me recently in troubleshooting vid sat stuff. Not sure if you have one around your facility or a workmate who can drop you the utility.

Lastly, what are your playback engine settings? If you crank up your CPU usage to 99% you're actually depriving the OS of resources to do the QT transcode out the mojo. Make sure thats set less than 80%, find the balance between LE and QT in the background.

Hope that helps.

soundboy · 6th April 2010

If I run the video in just QT, it runs perfectly. If I open it in PT LE and unplug the mojo, and just run in the video window, the video is jerky and does not stop immediately. I guess PT is hogging a lot of the CPU power. I'm thinking of getting a used G5 to run this, but I don't know if anything less than an Intel machine will do.

3rd April 2010	#1
soundboy Lives for gear Joined: Jan 2007 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 655 Thread Starter	Video Satellite LE on MAC G4 No luck on the DUC yet so I thought I'd try here too. I recently got Video Satellite LE 8.0.1, an MBox micro2 with PT LE 8.0.1cs1, and I'm trying to run it on a Mac G4. First I tried it on a dual 1 gig silver G4, and now I'm trying it on a mirror faced single processor 1.25 Gig G4. Both running 10.5.5. I'm using an Avid Mojo (the 1st version). The QTs I have tried are DVCPro with the Avid codec, and plain DVCPro. The problems I'm running into are; playback stopping with a CPU over run error(I'm running it at 85%, thats as high as it goes), and then when it does play, the pic is jerky, and it continues running for 3 secs after I hit stop. I know some people are running it successfully on their old G4s. How are you doing it? No other devices on the fire wire port, running video only on that system, no audio tracks or plugs. I currently have it networked with my main HD system, so I can use screen share and operate it from my main desktop with out a KVM switch. __________________ Charles Dayton, CAS Twisted Avocado Post Audio Partial credits: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0206743/

3rd April 2010	#6
Brent_in_Sydney Gear nut Joined: Dec 2008 Location: Sydney Posts: 125	Hi Charles, min spec for any PT system with a mojo attached has always been 2Gbs+ of RAM. Im not saying its the solution, QT and PT havent been playing nice lately and throw a mojo into the mix and there are several variables. Have you tried playback without the mojo, just picture on screen, to see if its smoother? Also, does the video playback fine in QT player? If you jump around the timeline in the QT player is it responsive? Lastly, have you checked the video in QT to see its bandwidth ie 50mbs or something and checked that against the burst speed of your hard drives? Decklink have a nifty utility to check your drive speeds and that uncovered a problem for me recently in troubleshooting vid sat stuff. Not sure if you have one around your facility or a workmate who can drop you the utility. Lastly, what are your playback engine settings? If you crank up your CPU usage to 99% you're actually depriving the OS of resources to do the QT transcode out the mojo. Make sure thats set less than 80%, find the balance between LE and QT in the background. Hope that helps. __________________ Kind Regards, Brent Heber Mixer, Sumsound VIDEO BLOG:www.protoolsprofessional.com (PT\|HD, ICON & Post tips and tricks)

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3rd April 2010	#2
Geert van den Berg Mac Moderator Joined: May 2003 Location: Amsterdam Posts: 3,454	Is this SD DVCpro or HD material? For HD I think those G4's are underpowered for that task, if it's SD, it's odd that it doesn't work. Even when not using any plugins, it probably takes too much computer resources for the sync to maintain good playback. Have you monitored the computer using the 'activity monitor' to spot which process causes the system overload?

3rd April 2010	#4
gsilbers Lives for gear Joined: Jan 2006 Location: El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula Posts: 3,622	what are the specs for the g4. that 1 gig qsilver seems to be very low to handle it.

6th April 2010	#7
soundboy Lives for gear Joined: Jan 2007 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 655 Thread Starter	If I run the video in just QT, it runs perfectly. If I open it in PT LE and unplug the mojo, and just run in the video window, the video is jerky and does not stop immediately. I guess PT is hogging a lot of the CPU power. I'm thinking of getting a used G5 to run this, but I don't know if anything less than an Intel machine will do.