16 inch MBP slower at video encoding than 2015 MBP!?!

[Paul Anderegg]

Just received my brand new 16 inch i7 base 2019 Macbook Pro. I bought this to encode 10 bit HEVC files from FCPX, since my old 2015 Macbook Pro was unable to handle them in a reasonable amount of time...5 hours to encode 3 minutes of video is not reasonable.

So, I installed FCPX and Compressor, moved my old libraries over, set all the preferences as I have them on my old Mac, then went about trying to start spitting out HEVC files, the purpose for this Mac. Well, Compressor is taking 1 minute per second to transcode to HEVC. My 2015 Macbook Pro takes 1:20 per second to transcode to HEVC. I tried a normal 720p60 h264 10 minute clip from FCPX to Compressor, took 10:45 for the 16 inch, and took 8:32 for the 2015 Macbook Pro. Normal h264 right out of FCPX default is 5 minutes for the 16 inch, and 4 minutes for the 2015.

All my settings are identical, and the 2015 is doing this all right under 100c, while the 2016 does what it does at around 70c. So I have no idea what to do now, as I just spend a few thousand dollars to actually get slower performance for h264, which I use for work. What can I try to do to fix this before sending it back as a lemon?

Paul

 

[robvas]

Do you have the newest version of final cut?

 

[Paul Anderegg]

I have 10.4.8, I am assuming that is the current version...the computer was fresh out of the box a few hours ago and all apps were downloaded from the app store and all the system updates that it will say are available are installed. Geekbench shows scores that match other 16" i7's. Geekbench Metal score was right up there as well. Bruce X completed in :23 seconds vs :57 for the old 2015, but that is mainly a GPU test. The much slower h264 (Quicksync and Compressor) times are really killing me. I am litterally getting stress migrane right now...I've reinstalled MacOS on my old Macbook several times, so I am used to quickly checking off all the settings to bring them into line, but I am not sure there is some hidden function in the new Macbook that is evading me. If I have to, I will walk into an Apple store with both macs and export side by side and demand they "give me satisfaction".

Maybe my T2 chip is not processing...that is a thing right?

Paul

 

[Camarillo Brillo]

Maybe give it a little time to do the spotlight indexing thing?

did you do a fresh os install or did you use a time machine backup or something?

 

[jerryk]

What does activity monitor show for CPU usage. As a Camillo say could be indexing which can run for hours. And restarts if you reload the OS.

 

[XNorth]

FCPX does not have full acceleration for 10 bit H.265 encoding yet. The word is the next version of FCPX coming out soon will have full support for hardware acceleration. But even for now, the 2019 16" should be faster than the 2015, so something is off with your system.

 

[Paul Anderegg]

OK, I left the Mac alone and turned on for several hours, and repeated my tests. Same slower h264 export times out of FCPX, and send to Compressor h264 is also still slower than the 2015. I am not familiar with Applecare, becayse I have never been stupid enough to buy a new Apple device, but do they do phone support?

Paul

 

[thekev]

OK, I left the Mac alone and turned on for several hours, and repeated my tests. Same slower h264 export times out of FCPX, and send to Compressor h264 is also still slower than the 2015. I am not familiar with Applecare, becayse I have never been stupid enough to buy a new Apple device, but do they do phone support?

Paul

Yes. Adding a link. They have 90 days of phone support without purchase of Applecare.

Apple Complimentary Support - Official Apple Support

Apple Complimentary Support

support.apple.com

 

[Paul Anderegg]

Just called, they are useless...I will have to walk into an Apple store with both laptops, demostrate the export speed difference side by side, and demand blood...since B&H doesn't accept returns on computers, I will be motivatd to be extra mean and may even yell a little. This is the first NEW Apple product I have ever purchased...always have bought used in the past.

Paul

 

[Paul Anderegg]

I just performed a bunch of different handbrake encodes in h264 and h265, fresh identical handbrake nightly versions and settings. The 16 inch kills the 2015 in Handbrake, more so in CPU than in Videotoolbox (Quicksync). In placebo h264 CPU, I get avg 10fps on the 2016, but only 5fps on the 2015. In h265 10 bit CPU, the 16 incher was around 53fps, the 2015 45fps. So, the only problems with specs or performance are in both of my Apple apps, FCPX and Compressor, which both use weird voodoo Metal and T2 for the job, so it's got to be a problem with that junk right?

So this Apple works amazing for everything except paid Apple software. :-|

Paul

 

[am2am]

What's your compressor settings? Do you use additional compressor instances? Disable it - HEVC won't benefit from it and you may get slower results.
Did you enable GPU acceleration - For HEVC 8-bit or h264 it's making big difference (no GPU for HEVC 10-bit)

Try export HEVC 10-bit directly from FCP. I was surprised recently having faster encoding directly from FCP ..

 

[XNorth]

it shouldn’t make any difference, but also try disabling automatic graphics switching.

I wouldn’t go to Apple store unless it’s a hardware issue. Apple geniuses are not known for their FCPX/video related savviness. You will get better answers posting in the Apple FCPX and Macrumors digital video forums.

Here’s a comparison between the MBP 16” and the 2015 MPB:

 

[Paul Anderegg]

An and all h264 presets or customized behave the same...the 2015 is always faster. I've tried every combination of Compressor preferences, GPU on and off, 1 or 2 extra Compressor nstances, the results are always identical with 1-3 seconds differnce, margin of error. I use h264 for work and 10 bit HEVC for personal, as I shoot HDR. 8 bit HEVC has no purpose to me, because my TV station doesn't update it's FCPX so they cannot read HEVC, and Compressor will not allow HDR selection if 8 bit is selected, plus YoiTube will not honor 8 bit as HDR.

FCPX has no HEVC export option, you must buy Compressor to have that feature. Handbrake doesn't pass through 10 bit data even though it has a 10 bit export option. I have a PC running a 5GHz overclocked i9-9900K, so if I wanted fast 8 bit HEVC, I already had that. The i9 PC also shows Quicksync 10 bit HEVC options for the 9th Gen Intel CPU, so not sure why Apple is screwing us with their non implimentation.

Paul
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it shouldn’t make any difference, but also try disabling automatic graphics switching.

I wouldn’t go to Apple store unless it’s a hardware issue. Apple geniuses are not known for their FCPX/video related savviness. You will get better answers posting in the Apple FCPX and Macrumors digital video forums.

Here’s a comparison between the MBP 16” and the 2015 MPB:

Unfortunately, the old comparison videos out there are all the i9 16 inch with 8 cores...but his 2015 rMBP is a bit slow. I just replaced the thermal paste on mine, so my scores are much beter than the ones he shows, for instance, 2015 Bruce X was like 57 seconds for me, but 70 in that video. My 16" Bruce X was 27 seconds, but thats a GPU render test for the most part. I can understand the lack of hardware encoding for 10 bit, dissapointing, but the h264 underperformance cannot be accepted. I have run out of settings to adjust, and all my issues are with h264 out of FCPX and Compressor, which are run through the T2 and use Metal, so we are talking a hardware pipeline that the handbrake encodes are not being screwed by. With no return options to B&H, I really ust need to do a side by side h264 export with the new and old and show Apple their Macbook page where it shows more than 2x FCPX performance. I wish i knew a way to test the T2 chip, but Apples got that on lock down.

RESOLVE H264 TEST ADDED

Identical 4K projects, identical 4K h264 hardware enabled encodes.

16 inch Macbook 1:59
2015 Macbook 2:42

IMOVIE TEST ADDED

Identical 4K projects, identical 4K h264 hardware enabled encodes

16 inch Macbook 3:00
2015 Macbook 4:45

It's just seeming to me that only things not run through the T2 chip are as fast as expected. I'm guessing here that iMovie isn't using the cool new hardware encoding or such, so they can handicap it to make FCPX look faster and beter? I remember during my system updates, the latest Catalina update said something about improved h264 and HEVC for Pro Video or something like that...I wonder if that latest update broke my hardware encoding?

Paul

 

[Paul Anderegg]

Just performed a complete SSD erase and reinstall...the issue is still there, test export of h264 file was 1:19 for the 16" and 1:07 for the 2015...ugh...will have to take this to the Apple Store...

Paul