Larry Jordan's Newsletter

May 16, 2022

It's been an interesting week. Adobe released new versions of its media software - which I'll cover in just a minute.

But, first, last week I published a comparison of how many CPU cores Final Cut, Premiere and Resolve use for exporting. That generated a LOT of views and lots of comments. So, this week, I went deeper. My lead story compares export speeds, file sizes and GPU use for Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. I found the results surprising! Why? Because none of them maxed out my M1 MacBook Pro.

Link: Compare Export Speeds and GPU Use for Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve on an M1 MacBook Pro

Adobe released new versions of its media software. It isn't a big update, frankly, but it does provide faster exports of HEVC media. Here's the full list.

Link: New Features in Adobe Media Software (May, 2022)

There seems to be a bug in the Frame.io panel in Premiere Pro. It has trouble creating new Frame.io projects. The workaround is to create a new Frame.io project using a web browser, then link to them in Premiere. Adobe is aware of the problem. I'll let you know if I learn anything more about this.

In the news:

Western Digital announced a variety of new storage products at the "What's Next Digital" event. The big announcement, for media creators, is the SanDisk Professional PRO-BLADE Modular SSD Ecosystem. Designed to meet the need for multiple, super-fast portable storage devices to quickly ingest, edit, and copy large volumes of high-resolution content.

Link: New Western Digital Storage Gear

Telestream announced Wirecast Gear 3. This hardware/software combo supports up to 4K60 streaming workflows. It is designed for video streaming specialists who want a pre-configured turnkey solution for producing and streaming live video content, without compromise, in a single package.

Link: https://www.telestream.net/wirecastgear/

Shutterstock acquired Pond5 last week. This creates an even larger stock media company for media creators.

Link: https://blog.pond5.com/27889-pond5-joins-shutterstock/

LiveU acquired EasyLive.io. This provides remote and collaborative tools for cloud-based and hybrid productions, enabling customers to operate and scale up, while still lowering budgets, including video switching, audio mixing, adding graphics, localizing content and bringing on guests.

Link: LiveU Acquires EasyLive.io

Neumann announced the NDH 30 open back headphone. This is a reference-class studio headphone for the most demanding mixing and mastering applications in both stereo and immersive formats. The NDH 30 reproduces the linear sound image of a Neumann loudspeaker setup, perfectly calibrated via MA 1 Automatic Monitor Alignment, in a portable format.

Link: https://en-de.neumann.com/ndh-30

It isn't really "news," but AppleInsider has an excellent article on the differences between USB and Thunderbolt, without getting too lost in the weeds. I enjoyed reading this.

Link: Everything You Need to Know about USB & ThunderBolt

My free webinar this week presents everything you need to know for multicam editing in Apple Final Cut Pro - from import to export. It's been several years since I covered this. Time to get us all up-to-date.

Link: Webinar - Multicam Editing in Final Cut Pro

Then, next week, I present multicam editing in Adobe Premiere Pro. Everything you need to know from import to export. The links are toward the bottom of the registration page.

Link: Webinar - Multicam Editing in Premiere Pro - near the bottom of the page.

Recently, Alex commented on the value of my recommending single vs. multi-pass compression in Apple Compressor. He was concerned about speed, quality and file size. This was an interesting question. So, I got out my stopwatch and magnifying glass and started testing. The results varied by codec in ways that I never expected. I learned a lot from this test.

Link: Compare Speed and Quality Using Apple Compressor Single vs. Multi-pass

Two new features in Adobe Premiere Pro speed exports: Smart Render and the Export Presets Manager. This tutorial explains what these are and how you can use them to export your projects faster. This is important because one of these is turned off by default.

Link: Faster Ways to Export from Adobe Premiere Pro

One of the things I've learned from my recent speed tests of Final Cut, Premier and Resolve is that none of them fully max out current computer systems. That doesn't mean more power or performance isn't good - but it does mean that it may not be necessary- software still has a ways to go to fully maximize the performance of Apple silicon chips. As you are looking to buy new gear, you don't need to get "the best." That may be overkill. Instead, look for the gear that gets the job done within the budget you can afford.

Stay healthy, stay hopeful and, until next Monday, edit well.