Apple Gives Moutain Lion Sneak Peak

Yep, on Apple's actual site. I sure hope "Save As" comes back. If I had a penny for every time I lost work because "Duplicate and Save" messed me up, I could buy me a new Mac.

www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-lion/

So iMovie with "ML" will stream videos directly via AirPlay to an Apple TV. And AirPlay now streams from your Mac to an Apple TV unit. So if I want a really big monitor while editing or working in Motion on my MBP, I just stream it to my Apple TV and presto, big ass monitor! Wonder if they'll put that full screen streaming movie thingy into FCP X? That's be cool. Wireless preview monitor.

Save As will never come back... dream on. Versioning will spread to every app that doesn't currently support it in the next OS X release. This new way of working is much better overall for everyone. You know how many of my students lost their homework or a project they worked on because they forgot to save? Versions makes learning apps way easier b/c you don't have to worry about saving.

VNC is never as fast as a direct line connection. I doubt Air Play will be fast enough for FCPX or Motion on most wifi networks. It's too much to ask from most G/N wireless networks, especially with multiple devices on the network. Have you tried Screen Sharing over wifi? It's too slow for editing. A preview window may be possible, but you will probably not be able to preview broadcast safe footage over the connection. Maybe there are some improvements in OS X that will fix this but I doubt it, since the connection will only be as good as the network it is on.

I love Versioning, but there's no reason to not have a fast "Save As" function.

I have used AirPlay to mirror my iPad's screen while using iMovie, to my Apple TV to fool around with, and the response is super smooth and seamless.

Yeah but isn't Airplay limited to 720p resolution? Besides, iPad is delivering content on a 1024x768 screen. This requires less bandwidth over wifi than 1920x1080 video, which the AppleTV can't even accept yet because Airplay is 720p. If Apple optimizes the connection on the Mac AppleTV will require an update as well to support full 1080p Airplay. The video on Apples website shows the Airplay working under a 1600x1000 resolution from a Macbook Air, so here's to hoping it will handle 1080p.

Airplay doesn't compress anything as far as I'm aware, the iPad just delivers a 1024x768 screen that is scaled on the AppleTV. Sure, you can get a very clean 720p image out of the connection, but all of that content is optimized for the network and devices it is displayed on. Assuming it works the same way on a Mac, the computer will be the device responsible for sharing an optimized signal, meaning processes will be running that do this. Pro Res is a different animal entirely to run alongside Airplay on a Mac via a wifi network that is unreliable due to interference.

Give me a thunderbolt connection any day over Airplay and put it on the back of the new TV Apple is developing, that's what I'll be using at the end of my device chain.

And with that comes the beginning of the end!

It was good 28 years and we crazy ones need to move on...

Besides of that has anybody noticed that Apple main site is only sporting the iPhone where it used show the latest news, software or hardware product.

iPad and AirPlay can do 1080, it's the Apple TV that only does 720. Yes T'bolt or Mini-port or any hardwire connection is more powerful than any wireless, but it's nice to have anyway. I use it all the time. Airplay is Apple hardware only (Apple TV).

iMacs and Mac laptops are selling like hotcakes, and their sales increase all the time. Towers from all manufactures are experiencing a lull in sales. The days of the Tower are limited, like it or not.

Funny how legacy FCP's claim to fame was that it ran on a laptop when no other NLE did, and everyone wanted to buy (and still does) a laptop to edit on. Now that the towers may be going away, everyone is crying about it. How the worm turns.

Again if there was a new Tower it will sale.

I agree BenB, the tower is dead. I would be surprised if Apple made another Mac Pro, although its a shame because the design is amazing. The industry has shifted and video professionals will have to adapt to the shift.

You are incorrect about Airplay and 1080p:

iPad can playback 1080p clip. But the iPad and AppleTV cannot handle video at 1080p over Airplay. If Apple updates the AppleTV so it can, thats another story. But most wifi networks cannot handle the throughput. Anyone who has used VNC over wifi and on 10/100 Ethernet will acknowledge the vast difference in responsiveness between the two. VNC over wifi is almost unusable at times with large screen sizes. If you watch the Mountain Lion preview video you will see they are viewing a small res screen from a Macbook Air over Airplay on a TV and if you go frame by frame you will see that it has a lag even at this small res.

From the AppleTV Specs:

H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats


From the iPad2 Specs:

AirPlay Mirroring to Apple TV support at 720p
Video mirroring and video out support: Up to 1080p with Apple Digital AV Adapter or Apple VGA Adapter (adapters sold separately)
Video out support at 576p and 480p with Apple Component AV Cable; 576i and 480i with Apple Composite AV Cable (cables sold separately)
Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

I, for one, would be depressed to see a new Mac Pro 16 core or 32 core come out any time soon since I just bought the 12 core 3 months ago.

But that aside, maybe the iPad 3, which is supposed to have a much higher resolution display will come close to handling the 1920 x 1080 content

I don't understand why everybody is saying the Tower is dead, cause Apple says so?
Not sure what you guys are working on but no way a iMac or a Macbook (pro) can hang with the heavy Rendering that goes through our shop from CInema 4D to Maya....
Not with them cheap cards. Do you guys also believe now the SMS and Email is dead cause of the iMessage? :sick:

It's the reality of economics. Maya and Cin4D are a small niche market, they're not as numerous as those editing video simply. Are there enough Maya users to make it financially economical for Apple to sell enough towers to make sense?

And yes, SMS will not be around forever.

So that is the answer if Apple does not support a product or market it is a niche? :woohoo:
I totally disagree with that alone for the fact that the 3D and 2D graphics & co. are part of the "numerous" editing video market.
Also don't just put Maya in the frontline there is pact of 3D & 2D Application comparing lesser video editing applications.
If the 'Mac" iMac Macbook Pro or mini can't handle simple 3D or high res 2D images like in Photoshop in example then how you think it is going handle 1k to 4k footage? Lets not get in the compositing lane.
Besides this niche market is pretty d8mn big I mean look how many game developers and sciences and government employees are out there that are using this tools daily? Yeah not buying.

What market is Apple targeting the consumer market as in soccer mom and high school kid or the professional market that needs all these assets to finish the product?

We just had nice affaire with Apple that I don't mind sharing but you may not like the answer who they are targeting cause you and me are not in there scope.

Don't mis-quote me. High end 3D modeling and compositing is a specialty, it's a niche in that not everyone does it, only a select few. Just stating the economics of the IT industry, which I've been employed in for two decades. Economics. iMac and laptop sales have been skyrocketing. Tower sales have been falling fast. If Apple doesn't think they can sell enough to justify the cost, it dies.

I, personally, am in the scope of Apple's product line, and I am very much a professional.

So what would be the replacement hardware for robust editing?
What I mean is this: Apple is one company that creates interdependent software and hardware. What will run the heavy FCPX that is sprouting so thick? If Apple is furthering FCPX then I assume there will be something that can support it. It doesn't matter what shape or form it is in, as long as it can run it.

I'd say that Apple's answer to the pros with .3 indicates that they want to stay in the game, so far. It was a pretty obvious answer with the addition of all those pro-specific features. How could they create software that obviously needs the power of a Pro (ie. multi cam editing - there is another thread on this site where all these "pros recommend pros"), without supporting it on the other end completely.

So, weather they discontinue the Pro or not, there will always be something that can run it. Unless Apple wants Dell to make their "Desktops"? :silly:

I spent two weeks editing on a brand new max'ed out 17" MBP with a LaCie 2TB T'bolt drive. It outperformed any Mac Pro I've ever worked on.

I agree with you Ben. My new iMac beats the pants off the 8 core Mac pro at work that cost 3 times as much. I think a lot of it is the SSD though.

But I think apple has a pro machine in the wings. Rumors of them abandoning the pro market are greatly exaggerated and the result of hype instead of reality. Just because Apple sees the world a little differently doesn't mean they abandon pro users. Instead I'd argue that they try to simplify the technology in order to let the artist create without having to figure out how to be their own IT department.

Anyway, I just don't see apple abandoning the tower. Maybe they are just taking the time to come out with something that's a level above the iMac.

They are waiting for Intel to get the chips out. AFAIK, Boxx and HP have the same issue for their workstations.

It is amazing how quickly computing power has evolved. When you think that a cellphone has more horse powers than a[n office] desktop just ten years ago...

It would be interesting to do some benchmarking on some clip renders. I find it hard to believe any I5 or I7 would come close to keeping up with my 12 core mac pro, which I have fitted with (2) SSD's and 48GB ram. Most of my renders happen unbelievably fast. And, aside from some fcpx quirks which we all know about, I am usually setting for High Quality playback, all audio reference waveforms, original or optomized media and not using proxy media, and full 1080 footage. Under certain circumstances I will change those settings, but for the most part the 12 core seems to perform like lightning to me.

That certainly is a beast of a system that would rock the socks off my iMac... but at what cost? Also would be curious to know what graphics card you have in there, as I have found that to be a huge bottleneck in terms of performance with my Mac Pros.