Resolved Is FCPX not that well optimized for M1 Max?

[iamMacPerson]

I just picked up my new MacBook Pro last night (M1 Max, 32 core GPU, 32GB of RAM) and I have been pitting it against my old Intel machine (2018 15", 2.6 6-core i7, 16GB of RAM, 560x GPU) and I have been doing render and export tests using Final Cut and Compressor with some very lack luster results. In fact, the Intel machine has been beating my M1 Max in every test. Rendering a 6 minute 1080p, stabilized and sped up multi-layer timeline took 2 min, 40 sec on Intel and 3 min 20 sec on M1 Max. Exporting that same clip using the same Compressor settings resulted in the Intel machine winning at exactly 4 minutes and the M1 Max falling behind by 24 seconds. I have noticed that FCPX and Compressor are using significantly more CPU and GPU resources on the Intel machine, whereas it looks to only be using 1 core on the M1 Max and barely touching the GPU. What's up with that?

Both machines are running macOS 12.0.1 and Final Cut 10.6.1.

 

[fa8362]

Operator error? I'm guessing you're the only one with results like that.

 

[lightfire]

I just picked up my new MacBook Pro last night (M1 Max, 32 core GPU, 32GB of RAM) and I have been pitting it against my old Intel machine (2018 15", 2.6 6-core i7, 16GB of RAM, 560x GPU) and I have been doing render and export tests using Final Cut and Compressor with some very lack luster results. In fact, the Intel machine has been beating my M1 Max in every test. Rendering a 6 minute 1080p, stabilized and sped up multi-layer timeline took 2 min, 40 sec on Intel and 3 min 20 sec on M1 Max. Exporting that same clip using the same Compressor settings resulted in the Intel machine winning at exactly 4 minutes and the M1 Max falling behind by 24 seconds. I have noticed that FCPX and Compressor are using significantly more CPU and GPU resources on the Intel machine, whereas it looks to only be using 1 core on the M1 Max and barely touching the GPU. What's up with that?

Both machines are running macOS 12.0.1 and Final Cut 10.6.1.

Try running without plug-ins and see what happens then. Could be a plug-in problem. Just guessing.

 

[iamMacPerson]

Try running without plug-ins and see what happens then. Could be a plug-in problem. Just guessing.

I'm gonna try reinstalling macOS as a whole and downloading a fresh copy of the software. When I export to ProRes the performance is insane, which is great for my more professional edits but YouTube only calls for H264 uploads and that's where it sorta chugs.

 

[lightfire]

I'm gonna try reinstalling macOS as a whole and downloading a fresh copy of the software. When I export to ProRes the performance is insane, which is great for my more professional edits but YouTube only calls for H264 uploads and that's where it sorta chugs.

I would be interested in knowing what happens. I have a Max incoming and audio and video work is mostly what I will be doing with it.

 

[iamMacPerson]

So I tried installing a fresh copy of both macOS and Final Cut and it has not fixed it. In fact the performance of the time line with my footage is about on-par with my M1 Mac mini. This is... disappointing. I deal with GoPro footage being sped up and the performance on my 2018 unit is far better. I'm getting smooth playback and it is exporting faster. What I have noticed is while playing back, rendering and exporting, the M1 Max only appears to be using the equivalent of 1 core as shown by iStat and Activity Monitor agrees with it. Why is it not using more of the CPU and GPU?

 

[arche3]

The m1 machines probably do not have the decoders and encoders for the gopro footage.

I have a i9, 16. 64g ram. 5600m. 4tb.
And just received a 16 max. 64g ram. 32gpu. 4tb.

The m1max runs circles around the i9. I'm dealing with various r3d, ariraw, and prores footage. 5k to 8k footage. I'm in premiere pro though. On final cut it would be even faster.

 

[iamMacPerson]

The m1 machines probably do not have the decoders and encoders for the gopro footage.

I have a i9, 16. 64g ram. 5600m. 4tb.
And just received a 16 max. 64g ram. 32gpu. 4tb.

The m1max runs circles around the i9. I'm dealing with various r3d, ariraw, and prores footage. 5k to 8k footage. I'm in premiere pro though. On final cut it would be even faster.

That would be a strange omission, GoPro outputs H264 AVC. Also if it didn’t have the decoders wouldn’t it slam the CPU and GPU trying to render? Neither is happening. Both are sitting almost idle. At one point mds was using more CPU power than FCPX when rendering.

 

[arche3]

That would be a strange omission, GoPro outputs H264 AVC. Also if it didn’t have the decoders wouldn’t it slam the CPU and GPU trying to render? Neither is happening. Both are sitting almost idle. At one point mds was using more CPU power than FCPX when rendering.

There are various flavors of gopro footage. The m1 is probably missing the decoders for it. Also h264 is a heavily compressed codec. So potentially 2 issues.

 

[iamMacPerson]

There are various flavors of gopro footage. The m1 is probably missing the decoders for it. Also h264 is a heavily compressed codec. So potentially 2 issues.

Well this is an older GoPro as the newer models I have tried all have issues with overheating. I think what is really bothersome is there is a ton of horsepower in this machine that it is just not using. Not it's not like it is giving the same performance as my old machine using less power. Even that I would be fine with. But it's not giving me the same level of performance even when just playing back the timeline. The performance it is giving is equivalent to the non-Pro, non-Max, barebones M1.

 

[arche3]

Well this is an older GoPro as the newer models I have tried all have issues with overheating. I think what is really bothersome is there is a ton of horsepower in this machine that it is just not using. Not it's not like it is giving the same performance as my old machine using less power. Even that I would be fine with. But it's not giving me the same level of performance even when just playing back the timeline. The performance it is giving is equivalent to the non-Pro, non-Max, barebones M1.

Maybe try trancoding the footage into prores 422 first. And then do your edits. It will take time to do the transcode but it will make the editing easier. Use the full power of the new machine. Set it to transcode and then come back after it's done.

 

[DoorsFreak87]

The m1 machines probably do not have the decoders and encoders for the gopro footage.

I have a i9, 16. 64g ram. 5600m. 4tb.
And just received a 16 max. 64g ram. 32gpu. 4tb.

The m1max runs circles around the i9. I'm dealing with various r3d, ariraw, and prores footage. 5k to 8k footage. I'm in premiere pro though. On final cut it would be even faster.

I also use premiere and I’m coming from the 5600m 64gb. I have the 16 max base model now. However, when I tested with 8k r3d files, I was only able to get smooth timeline playback with half res. Did you get something similar?

 

[iamMacPerson]

Maybe try trancoding the footage into prores 422 first. And then do your edits. It will take time to do the transcode but it will make the editing easier. Use the full power of the new machine. Set it to transcode and then come back after it's done.

This would be fine but in order to use ProRes for this timeline it ate up half my SSD for a 6 min timeline because I retime/speed up. Then there is the issue of compressing 422 back to H264 for upload which will probably take just as long as H264 -> H264.

What is still perplexing to me is that macOS or Final Cut is letting all of these cores in both the GPU and CPU sit idle doing nothing which is reflected in iStat Menus. I’m hoping it’s just a bug that can be fixed but judging by the fact that the M1 is a year old and appears to have the same bug I’m not hopeful.

 

[arche3]

I also use premiere and I’m coming from the 5600m 64gb. I have the 16 max base model now. However, when I tested with 8k r3d files, I was only able to get smooth timeline playback with half res. Did you get something similar?

Oh yeah. 8k is definitely not doing full. I will probably still use proxies in the new 16. I'm doing 1/4 for red and that seems fine.

 

[arche3]

This would be fine but in order to use ProRes for this timeline it ate up half my SSD for a 6 min timeline because I retime/speed up. Then there is the issue of compressing 422 back to H264 for upload which will probably take just as long as H264 -> H264.

What is still perplexing to me is that macOS or Final Cut is letting all of these cores in both the GPU and CPU sit idle doing nothing which is reflected in iStat Menus. I’m hoping it’s just a bug that can be fixed but judging by the fact that the M1 is a year old and appears to have the same bug I’m not hopeful.

I'm not sure if it's something software or hardware related in regards to the video codecs. So it might not be fixed. My Mac Pro 7.1 with 2x gpu still doesn't play nice with certain codecs.

 

[DoorsFreak87]

Oh yeah. 8k is definitely not doing full. I will probably still use proxies in the new 16. I'm doing 1/4 for red and that seems fine.

Strange. I heard the editing performance is as a good as the Mac Pro. Must be premiere. Needs more optimization.

 

[iamMacPerson]

Figured out a work around! Rewrapping the footage into an MOV was all it took to fix it. The machine is *flying* through footage now. Woohoo!

 

[Fomalhaut]

Figured out a work around! Rewrapping the footage into an MOV was all it took to fix it. The machine is *flying* through footage now. Woohoo!

Good to know - thanks!

 

[lasyos]

Figured out a work around! Rewrapping the footage into an MOV was all it took to fix it. The machine is *flying* through footage now. Woohoo!

Hi iamMacPerson, months later I having almost the same problem. In fact my source vids are from Zoom and My M1 Air is doing the job in almost half the time compared to MBP M1Max 32core!

Can you elaborate on how you did the .MOV rewrapping?

Cheers