Hi,

As you may know I've had many problems with my Dell Precision 670, if you don't - well I have been having many problems ! ;)

So buying a Mac Pro tonight, looking at getting a Mac Pro 8-Core 3.2GHz Intel Xeon with 2Gig Memory and a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512M, which is the fastest CPU that Apple offer.

Questions are will my UL4D SCSI card and my Pyro Card be ok in the mac as they are currently used in the Dell?

Also would my Quardro FX3450 accepting being flashed to use in a mac or is the GeForce just as good ? - can it be soft unlocked to Quadro standards if needed - is it needed ? I notice that the GeForce is the card of the choice anyway!

Is there anything I should know about setting Avid to run on the Mac Pro any tips or trick? anything to improve performace, etc... ? anything to watch out for ?

How is the Avid soft MC soft running on the Mac these days - pretty stable ?

 

Quite excited about gettting the Mac Pro as it means I can also use FCP in a professional environment with my Blackmagic card and perhaps may even transfer over as getting pretty bored with workarounds and hoops i have to jump in the finishing and effects side of MC.

 

 

glasgoweditor:

will my UL4D SCSI card and my Pyro Card be ok in the mac

 

They need to be PCI-e cards...Are they?

glasgoweditor:

Also would my Quardro FX3450 accepting being flashed to use in a mac or is the GeForce just as good ?

Again, they need to be PCI-E cards but the one that comes with the Mac is perfectly fine for Avid work. In my opinion, there is no need to look further.

pci-e is needed for your UL card and your 4D is pci/pci-x... so a UL5D will be needed.

Is there anything I should know about setting Avid to run on the Mac Pro any tips or trick? anything to improve performace, etc... ? anything to watch out for ?

.- You can't use any DNA hardware if you use Leopard. Since you are buying a new Macpro, you will be using leopard.

I have now a brand new Macpro-Leopard at work and probably is just me, but I'm having a lot of lock ups and freezes.

For example, the only way I can close Avid is using "force quit".

It quits unexpectly like five times a day (without saving)

I have a new Macpro with 6 GB Ram, Nvidia 8800GT, fresh Leopard install and MC 3.0.

 

Thanks to BLKDOG & TODD looks like I'm gonna be paying more money out to replace the cards... "You can't use any DNA hardware if you use Leopard. Since you are buying a new Macpro, you will be using leopard." This is new to me I had never heard about this, reading through other posts, I see your right!

Again this is ridiculous ! Avid I really am ready to give up on you. I see from one of BLKDOG's post that he mentions this was known from the beta program, this comment was posted in June !!! So basically are we looking to pay for an upgrade to fix this problem, once Avid finally sort it or will it ever be sorted ?

The DX platform could be taken forward and DNA dropped without any fix abadoning DNA hardware on tiger. It seems from reading old posts that its some sort of problem with Apple Firewire drivers and they (Apple) aren't being forthcoming with the information however it really doesn't matter by now it should be fixed.

Time and time again I'm let down by this company ! I'll allow the party faithfull to respond below...

glasgoweditor:

Time and time again I'm let down by this company

In this case you are only let down if you stupidly buy a MacPro with Leopard knowing it does not work with your FW DNA hardware.  The combo works great with no harware or with the new DX hardware.

It can hardly be called Avids fault if 4 years into OSX Mac, in their 35th (or more) major version update to the OS, breaks a 10 year old firewire standard at OS level.  IMO even less Avids fault when Mac are reluctant, slow or refuse to fix what they broke KNOWING that nobody else can.

How much of Avids R&D money do you think it takes to constantly keep their product line compatible with an OS that changes core functionality every couple of months?  How long has Leopard been out? On the Apple site the other day and I noticed that Snow Leopard is already been talked up.

Andrew's right. And it's been pretty well hashed out in this forum already -- the firewire bug affecting DNA devices is Apple's fault, not Avid's. Word on the street is Aja has been complaining as well to no avail.

 

As said let the party faithfull respond and as usual they keep crawling out the woodwork. As said say something against this company not doing their job and what their paid for and like sheep people stick up for them...

Yes it is Avids fault, I expect a large company like Avid to keep their product current with the fastest & latest hardware. As for stupidly buying a MacPro ? So you want Apple not to ship with the latest software with their hardware or for users like me to buy an old or install an older OS as Avid can't get off their *** to fix things.

AndrewAction:

How much of Avids R&D money do you think it takes to constantly keep their product line compatible with an OS that changes core functionality every couple of months? 

Does it matter ? We pay them a support fee and the cost of the software - Yes they should be fixing these problems, much like many problems, Avids problems become user problems...

AndrewAction:

It can hardly be called Avids fault if 4 years into OSX Mac, in their 35th (or more) major version update to the OS, breaks a 10 year old firewire standard at OS level.

Since OS X came out, Leopard, is the 5th revision. Feel so smart to make up a number from the air ? Why be upset that a company keeps successfully revising their software ? Is it because your not used to have this with Avid ?

Why would I be supportive of a company who takes your money and then lets you down?

You're not listening.  It's not Avid's bug... it's Apple's.  Given that 'FACT'... what do you propose Avid does about it?  Also... refrain from name calling, however minor... it's not the point of this forum.

glasgoweditor:

Since OS X came out, Leopard, is the 5th revision.

And each of those 5 have had a minimum of 6 point revisions. Most of those point revisions have changed some core functionality often breaking as much as they fix. Bifocals are better than a monocle for balanced vision.

glasgoweditor:

Why be upset that a company keeps successfully revising their software ?

Do they? Or do they just convince some that they do. As one of your politicians said You can fool some of the people all of the time. All of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

Consider that almost every year a car company comes out with the new models. They are marketed as the best thing since sliced bread. Looking at the history of those models clearly shows some years models were innovative and some years models were dogs.

glasgoweditor:

Why would I be supportive of a company who takes your money and then lets you down?

Do they let you down? Or does your lack of quality reasearch before parting with your cash let you down. 

glasgoweditor:

I expect a large company like Avid to keep their product current with the fastest & latest hardware

And I expect Avid to keep me supplied with a product that performs every day to earn my, and my employees, daily bread. To provide a network of information allowing me to buy and install the best hardware and software versions to facilitate that reliability.  For me Avid, and latterly with these forums, has done this for more than a decade. The same can not be said for Microsoft or Mac.

Actually... there is a way to downgrade the new Macs from 10.5/Leopard to 10.4/Tiger.  It's a fairly easy mod to the Apple 10.4 install disk.  All you need is a text editor and the ability to burn to a 8.5GB dual-layer dvd.  I'm currently posting this message from a 8-core 3 Ghz Mac Pro running OS 10.4 Tiger.  Apple and everyone else will tell you it's impossible, but I've been operating with 10.4 flawlessly since I bought the machine last spring.  It took me many, many hours of research and a lot of trial and error to get the modifications correct, but it works perfectly.

I know this won't solve your SCSI card issue, and I'm not sure if it will work with the DNA box either, but if anyone's interested, I'll send you the procedure.

 

Also, this is not my first post.  For some reason I can no longer log into the forum under my previous profile (MVP)

Editmvp:

. . . . . . . . if anyone's interested, I'll send you the procedure. . . . . . . . . 

I'm about to buy a new MacPro and run it with Tiger.

I would love to know how this can be done.

Maybe it's a good idea to open a new thread. I suppose that a lot of people will have to do it sooner or later.

Thank you in advance.

 

 

Todd Sanderson:

You're not listening.  It's not Avid's bug... it's Apple's.  Given that 'FACT'... what do you propose Avid does about it? 

So the mojo is not compatiable with the new revision of the software ? The Mojo is made by Avid, Avid should find a workaround... I'm not listening - you haven't explained the problem apart from saying its at Apples door ? What exactly is the problem then ? Many, Many, Many companies re-write and issue patches when Microsoft re-write XP, Avid included ! How many times were we told what securtiy patches to use and not use.

Todd Sanderson:

Also... refrain from name calling, however minor... it's not the point of this forum.

Huh? Explain?

 

AndrewAction:

i

Andrew, As we say in Glasgow your talking baws! I can't even be bothered to reply...

 

Editmvp:

Actually... there is a way to downgrade the new Macs from 10.5/Leopard to 10.4/Tiger.  It's a fairly easy mod to the Apple 10.4 install disk.  All you need is a text editor and the ability to burn to a 8.5GB dual-layer dvd.  I'm currently posting this message from a 8-core 3 Ghz Mac Pro running OS 10.4 Tiger.  Apple and everyone else will tell you it's impossible, but I've been operating with 10.4 flawlessly since I bought the machine last spring.  It took me many, many hours of research and a lot of trial and error to get the modifications correct, but it works perfectly.

I know this won't solve your SCSI card issue, and I'm not sure if it will work with the DNA box either, but if anyone's interested, I'll send you the procedure.

 

Also, this is not my first post.  For some reason I can no longer log into the forum under my previous profile (MVP)

Thanks MVP for actually being helpfull and offering suggestions... In fact there is a slightly easier way to install (if you have two macs available!) without having to burn discs, etc... If you set your mac pro to target mode (hold down T on start-up). Then connect your other mac via firewire, this will allow you to run the install on the other mac and select the internal hard drive of the Mac Pro as a destination to install to.