A few months has passed since part one of the review of the QNAP TVS-682T. So after further tinkering and testing, how did it perform and will I be buying one?
The last few World Wide Developers Conferences have been a bit 'meh'. Not so for today's 2017 conference from San Jose. A new macOS, Kaby Lake updates to the MacBook lineup, talk of an FCPX update and of course the announcement of the awesome new iMac Pro.
In the first of our publications of the video presentations from the LumaForge Faster Together Stage, Michael Cioni talks about his and our relationships with Apple's products. A great 40 minutes of truth and observations. Grab a coffee, this is well worth watching and will get a lot of views.
It is over 1200 days since Apple launched the 'Can't innovate anymore my ass' Mac Pro. Over the last 24 hours, there has been widespread reporting of Apple's decision to end the life of the cylinder and reinvent the Mac Pro. The bad news is the new model won't be available this year.
One of the most competitive areas in the storage market at the moment is the desktop NAS. We test out a double Thunderbolt 2 equipped high performance QNAP TVS-682T - desktop shared storage at Thunderbolt speeds.
The recent update to the Duet iOS app gave it Touch Bar functions like the new MacBook Pro. We asked Chris Roberts to see how it worked with FCPX.
We know that Final Cut Pro X can have issues with NFS storage. Felipe Baez details how to optimise a Synology RAID especially for shared FCPX editing.
If you were disappointed like us that old non-Thunderbolt Apple Cinema Displays didn't work, we might just have a solution. A simple cable swap around and our old 30" lit straight up from a new 15' MBP.
We have had a week to put the new MacBook Pros through their paces. What better task than to send the 13” and 15” inch to work straight out of the box on a real broadcast editing job. Were they fast? What about connectivity? How is the Touch bar in actual use? How will the integrated GPU on the 13 inch compare to a discreet GPU on the 15? Let’s find out.
Editors Keys very kindly lent the site a backlit illuminated FCPX keyboard to try out. So why not take it out on a real job and use it under pressure? What was the verdict?
Everybody knows the next release of the the Mac operating system will be called El Capitan. But how many people have heard of the DLC that comes with it? What is it, what does it do and how will it affect editors?
We are back from NAB2015 with a disk full of interesting storage and expansion products. From the thin flash drives right up to the old Mac Pro sized new Mac Pro enclosure, there was a lot to see.
What happens when you cross a Mac Pro with a RAID and a breakout box? The answer? The new Lightning Quad Tower from JMR
We are pretty excited about this one. After a few years of wishing this product existed, Accusys will be demonstrating the first shared RAID storage unit using Thunderbolt at NAB. This is the most interesting piece of hardware news this year!
On the eve of the BVE in London, G-Technology has announced it will be showing their new range of rugged drives and a welcome Thunderbolt 2 update to the popular G-RAID.
We were not really interested in the new iPad Air or paying with a thumbprint, but Apple's presentation brought a stunning new 5K screened iMac, an updated Mac mini and the release of the new OS Yosemite.
We first saw the mTape LTO box from mLogic demonstrated at IBC 2013. The unit is now shipping, offering fast, reliable backups of data using Thunderbolt.
We got excited when the Apple Store went down, no not an FCPX update, but a new Mac. Apple has released a new entry level iMac.
UPDATED
Filip Vandoorne has put together a very detailed guide on how to use libraries on an NFS filesystem. Could this be a much cheaper option to Xsan? Is desktop shared storage here?
JMR is a company that we haven't really heard of before, they are normally associated with a wide range of high capacity storage products. What got our attention at NAB 2014 was their new Mac Pro mounting brackets. Apologies for the spelling too.
Want to secure your precious Mac Pro into a rack? Then this is one way to do it with the new Sonnet xMac Pro Server. Want to expand with PCIe cards too? No problem. Want two Mac Pros in the same rack...
The news from the AJA Press Breakfast was centred around the new CION 4K camera. Priced at under $9,000 it records in many flavours of ProRes up to UHD and 4K.
The new products are starting to come thick and fast. Just announced is the new CalDigit T4 Thunderbolt RAID. They are targeting professionals who want to edit with 4k material. A special price offer on the T3 for NAB too.
Featuring Thunderbolt 2, LaCie have published a sneak peek at their new products for NAB. Just check out that AJA speed test for 3,000 MB/s read and 2,750 write for three new 8big Racks into a new Mac Pro.
Earlier in the week we had FCP guru Larry Jordan's take on what he expects to see at NAB next week. This time it's workflow guru Sam Mestman's turn to look into the crystal ball...
Do you think that the Mac Pro's case is a bit dull? These new wrap-around stickers based on famous painters will brighten up any edit suite or desk.
The brief was simple, push the new Mac Pro and FCPX to the limit. Never mind 4k or 8K, we went large on everything until things broke. Alex Gollner and Peter Wiggins perform the ultimate stress test.
It's been unboxed, boxed up, driven down motorways, plugged into Xsans, ISIS and numerous Thunderbolt drives. We have spent a lot of time with the new Mac Pro running FCP 10.1, so what are our long term findings?
We continue with the series on the new Mac Pro. Episode three and the boys are testing out the FCPX performance on the shiny new Mac Pro.
At the recent Los Angeles Creative Pro User Group, Neil Smith from LumaForge explored the new Mac Pro's speed and its storage options. He also demos the new networking option in town, one that we are getting very excited about.!
Tuesday afternoon means one thing, a brand new episode of MacBreak Studio! We pick it up where we left off with the boys exploring their ultimate Final Cut Pro X system in more detail. We also publish their FCPX (10.1) presentation from the recent LACPUG meeting. Grab a coffee!
Slightly later in the week than normal and the victim of a false start (which has been fixed!) Steve and Mark set out to build their ultimate Final Cut Pro X system based on the new Mac Pro.
Keep that metal tube on your desktop with this rather ingenious clamp and cable from Maclocks. The New Mac Pro Lock solves that security slot problem.
Larry Jordan held an event on the 14th of January entitled '4K and Final Cut Pro X' We have posted all the videos Larry has published so far, one is not to be missed!
Probably the first of many, Opro Station is a stylish cage designed to protect your Mac Pro and more importantly stop somebody from making off with it!
We have been lucky to get our hands on a new Mac Pro here in the FCP.co, so we thought we would share the unboxing with you before we get down to testing it out!
So when you purchase your new Mac Pro and install Final Cut Pro X 10.1, you are going to want some fast Thunderbolt 2 storage to go with it. The new Promise Pegasus 2 RAIDS are available now. A diskless model and the answer to who bought the RED Mac Pro too.
Slightly usurping AJA, Blackmagic Design has announced a new UltraStudio 4K. Priced at $995, it's the first video device I/O with Thunderbolt 2 technology, offering 20 Gb/s capture and playback of SD, HD, Ultra HD and DCI 4K.
We knew that the new Mac Pro would generate a lot of news, but a $40,000 Red Mac Pro? It's true, we publish the link to the auction and catch up with all the other Apple, Mavericks and compatibility news.
16 angles of 4K playing back in a Final Cut Pro X multicam edit. How did the Press miss that one? We feature the videos from Apple's Special Event and a quick glimpse of that amazing multicam feat from the demos afterwards.
The big Final Cut Pro X news from Apple's Special Event was that there's no update. No update until December that is when the new Mac Pro gets released. Read on for one of the most impressive video editing benchmarks yet...
BRU Producer's Edition version 3.1 from the Tolis Group now supports backup to LTO of FCPX projects and drag and drop backup of media from FCPXML files.
There are many products out there that claim to help you edit faster. For us, nothing helps more than a dedicated keyboard. We have had an Editors Keys FCPX keyboard on review for the last three months.
With all the talk about the new Mac Pro and FCPX 10.1, we have taken our eyes of the iMac. Apple have just announced an update to the iMac range.
Singe user external high speed RAID drives are pretty common. But what about if you need to share media across multiple users? EditShare displayed a new budget shared storage solution at IBC 2013.
So what was the big news about storage at IBC 2013? Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2. We did the tour of the storage and peripheral booths on the basis that most of us won't be buying a Petabyte SAN!
Initially we were not impressed by the new range of solid state and spinning platter hard disks from Sony. Once we got to talking to the Sony demo guy at IBC, we found out one great feature about these new disks.
Mike Fernandes and his team from NBC are no strangers when it comes to post production with FCPX. It was used on their Emmy winning show George to the Rescue. He's now looking forward by upgrading the company's hardware to allow for a 4K workflow.
As a follow up to our rather controversial article on FCPX on a MacBook Air, we thought we would do a roundup of FCP.co readers' real life editing experiences on the combination.
So you are editing on an ageing Mac Pro and you want to speed up your Final Cut Pro X & Motion renders. That's exactly what FCP.co reader Andrew Smith did by installing a new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680.
We have been eagerly awaiting the day when we saw the first person controlling FCPX with hand gestures using Leap Motion. Well that day has arrived, standby for FCPX Minority Report style!
We love Promise Pegasus R6 RAIDS. Lots of capacity, a fast Thunderbolt connection and they are (pretty) reliable. Spinning disks do go wrong, so what happens if your R6 has a hard drive failure?
We had the opportunity to test out a top of the range MacBook Air and naturally we thought it would be a good idea to see how it performed with Final Cut Pro X. We reveal some very dramatic performance figures.
A nice surprise for us yesterday when we managed to get our hands on a brand new MacBook Air. Only announced at the World Wide Developers Conference 4 days ago, it's still in the wrapper!
Phil Schiller summed it up quite nicely, 'can't innovate anymore, my ass.' For the first time since Steve Jobs, we got the full wow factor when details about the new Mac Pro were announced.
A part two to our article on Apple's new 27" iMac that was very kindly loaned to us. We sum up our thoughts on the machine and come to the conclusion that there is one big problem with the iMac.
In the last of our videos recorded at NAB 2013, we take a look at the Monarch HD video streaming and recording unit from Matrox. It won a lot of awards at the show, so what is it all about?
Blackmagic Design were filming on two cinema cameras at the Press Conference on the Monday of NAB 2013. They have just sent us the official video of the event. Grant Petty explains Ultra HD, 6G SDI and of course he takes us through the new products and product updates. A good 24 minute watch with a lot of good background info.
We reported on AJA's new products earlier from the Press Breakfast. We caught up with Bryce Button for a one on one demo of what's new.
Yes were are a site about Final Cut Pro, but we have been following the story of Lightworks since it was acquired by EditShare. They promised support for OSX back at IBC 2012 and that's exactly what they've are showing.
After a request on Twitter for budget shared storage and a lot of good words from Walter Biscardi, we went to check out Small Tree Communications. Steve Modica took us on a tour of their models.
More new drives and more flexibility at NAB 2013. CalDigit announce their new SSD/HDD mix and match 3 bay T3 drive and a new Thunderbolt expansion station.
We are big fans of G-Technology storage and use their products on a day to day basis, in fact we are using a Thunderbolt drive of theirs right here at NAB. They had two new products on the stand so we thought we would take a look as one has some special ingredients.
AJA video systems are celebrating their 20th appearance at NAB. We attended their press breakfast before the show started to see what new products they were announcing.
When Apple offered us the opportunity to borrow a fully specced out iMac to test, how could we refuse? We begin with a quick look at the machine, specifications, design and first observations.
In the FCP.co office we were looking at storage options as our new Macs all have Thunderbolt ports. When we found out there was over 30% off the G-Technology G-Raid 8 Terabyte Thunderbolt Drive, the credit card didn't stay in the wallet for long!
A busy week for news but maybe it will be remembered more by what products ended their life. We take a look at new software products and the end for some old hardware friends.
There has been a lot of debate on our Forum about the best RAIDs, configuration, speed, brands and so on. So it was very positive when we came across this excellent concise user review of the Promise Pegasus R4.
When we posted Peter Zigich's first design thoughts on a new MacPro last year, we didn't realise how popular the article would be. He's back with round two of possible design thoughts and this time there is something new at the core.
We sat down to watch the Apple presentation from San Jose today in glorious HD on our Apple TV. Mac Mini and iPad Mini were no big deal for us, we were completely sold on the new iMac. From December this could be the fastest Final Cut Pro X machine you can buy.
Want more horsepower for your Mac Pro to run Final Cut Pro X and other GPU heavy applications faster? This tutorial shows you how to install a beefy PC GeForce GTX570 HD 2560MB graphics card into your Mac. Adobe fans take note, the CUDA drivers will help speed up Premiere and After Effects.
3D designer Peter Zigich has been using Apple workstations for over 20 years. He like many others has been frustrated by the lack of a MacPro update. So why not let the imagination run and design your own? Well that's exactly what he did!
We have tried quite a few asset management systems here at FCP.co and they all have one thing in common, they are complicated. Axle Video may have the answer to individuals and companies who want a simple way to share assets.
Everybody loves Drobo, but they've been a bit quiet with new products recently and have been overtaken by other storage manufacturers. Things might change, they've just announced two new products, the 5D and the Mini.
If like us you didn't make WWC this year, you can watch the whole of the keynote presentation from Moscone West last Monday morning right here. You still won't see any new MacPros though!
We're not really the site for rumours, but we can't not mention that this Monday at the World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco everybody is expecting new hardware. And yes that means new Mac Pros. (Hopefully!)
Another great product that uses Thunderbolt technology. This $249 docking station from Matrox will allow you to connect your display & peripherals to any Mac with a Thunderbolt connector. MacBook Air edit kit on the road anybody?
What did Shane's NAB video from yesterday start? After two conversations in the office and 3 emails, we thought we would go looking for the infamous 'Kiki Wipe.' We found the wipes and probably the best ever demo video (erhem) you'll see for a computer that handles video. Yes it's Friday.
There is no doubt that Thunderbolt is changing our industry, but up until now long cable runs were impossible. Now you'll be able to have your Thunderbolt devices more than 3 metres apart thanks to Sumitomo.
Another Thunderbolt product shipping and a brand new Thunderbolt product announced at the show for G-Technology. Seems Thunderbolt is becoming the only way to connect to local storage.
Straight on our Christmas wish list this year (After the Blackmagic Cinema Camera) are these two portable Thunderbolt drives from Promise, the J4 and the J2.
MOTO Inc is a relative stranger to the capture and playback market for video, so we thought we'd take a look at the new Thunderbolt equipped HDX-SDI.
***Update - New version now allows second display out from FCPX***
When the preview of Mountain Lion was announced, everybody thought how cool it would be in the future to mirror your FCPX desktop to an AppleTV. You don't have to wait until after the summer or later for the new cat, we show you how to do it now.
It's not Minority Report, but it is a step closer. Jason Rose is editing with FCPX on a large touchscreen. Cool? Fast? Slow? We will let you decide.
What a day yesterday was, the 10.0.3 update for Final Cut Pro X set the Internet alight. We thought we would take a look at the third party announcements that might have been overshadowed by the news from Cupertino. News from AJA, Blackmagic Design, Intelligent Assistance, Marquis, GenArts, Red Giant and more.
Nick Militello, one of our readers emailed us to say he was having problems with Thunderbolt speeds when using an extra monitor in the chain. We investigate.
Today Blackmagic Design announced they have purchased Teranex Systems Inc, a company that specialises in hardware frame rate conversion, noise reduction, film restoration and compression.
Quite a refreshing break from the chat about which NLE talks to which NLE. Steenbeck proclaim they're alive and kicking so Rick Young caught up with them at IBC.
Philip Johnston presents part two of his review of IBC 2011. What was his highlight of the show, the JVC 4K camera or the 8K Super High Vision demo?
With Apple announcing support for shared storage this week for FCPX, ProMAX have timed this free webinar rather well.
CalDigit have announced their ThunderExpress PCIe adaptor, their first Thunderbolt product. This unit allows you to connect one of their three PCIe RAIDs to any Mac, Windows or Linux machine that has a Thunderbolt port.
We can't believe we read a tweet this morning saying that there weren't any new Thunderbolt products on display at IBC. Maybe they didn't go past the G-Technology stand and catch sight of this 8TB monster prototype.
AJA Video have been in the Mac video card business for over 10 years, no doubt you have either owned one or edited on a system using one. Here Jon from AJA runs through the products and looks to the future.
