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Anyone having Qmaster issues?

bigbossbmb

bigbossbmb

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 1, 2004
1,759
0
Pasadena/Hollywood
Everything is running great on my new Mac Pro (octo 2.8 16gb RAM 2TB) except trying to create a QuickCluster in Qmaster for Compressor exports.

This is driving me crazy since I'd really like the speed boost from actually using all 8-cores. There have been a few posts on Apple's support pages, but no answers. Any Ideas?
 
Yeah, I reposted in the other thread you asked in as well but I wanted to let you know that I'm having some troubles too. You do need to have Share checked and then click start sharing. User darthraige :) helped remind me to select the name of my cluster in the drop down menu when you submit your batch. Don't use the option "This Computer". I am still having some issues though, I can't seem to get all 8 (or 4,5,6 or 7 either) to work above 10%-40% for more than a minute or two. It ramps up to 92% for a few seconds then just comes back down again. I'm doing some more testing this afternoon and will post any developments.
 
Yes, I'm aware you need to select the cluster in the drop down. It takes a few minutes for Compressor to even recognize the cluster and include it as an option. Using the "This Computer" option works fine and I get about 220-250% proc usage.

I have tried both Share and Managed options in the Pref Pane.

Whenever I submit batches to the cluster or "include unmanaged..." Compressor hangs and I have to force quit.
 
I had that hang problem too. I don't quite remember what I did to fix that but here's a sreeny of how mine is set. (I'm not sharing right now as you can see, it should be set up like this and of course click start sharing and you should be fine).
 

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I've noticed Qmaster acting flaky, too, on both of our 8-core Mac Pros.

I have it set up like "4God" showed in his example. Works like a champ when it works. Sometimes Compressor sees the virtual cluster. Sometimes it doesn't.

My biggest problem is that when I try to export from FCP to Compressor, FCP hangs and nothing gets encoded.

But if I export a QuickTime movie from FCP and then launch Compressor, it encodes fine using all 8 processors with the help of Qmaster.
 
barefeats said:
...My biggest problem is that when I try to export from FCP to Compressor, FCP hangs and nothing gets encoded.

But if I export a QuickTime movie from FCP and then launch Compressor, it encodes fine using all 8 processors with the help of Qmaster.
Click to expand...

Ah......just happened to me too. FCP just froze when I tried to export using Compressor.
I was just coming to post this and saw your comments. I hope there's a fix for this soon.
 
So I've set up my Qmaster Prefs to match the image posted above. I put the Qmaster status into my menu bar so I could check what it displays. I started sharing, opened up FCP and exported a sequence to Compressor. 5 minutes in and Compressor still doesn't see the cluster. The menu bar says that I have 4 instances of Compressor that are Idle and waiting. Opening up Qadministrator and the Apple Qmaster programs shows that they don't see the clusters either.

Unchecking "Managed" and switching it to "Services with cluster controller" actually go the cluster to show up in Qadministrator. In the service browser, it lists 4 instances of Compressor that are unmanaged. When I try to apply settings after checking the "allow use of unmanaged services" box, it tells me to enter in a Mail Server in the preferences. When I do that and try to apply, the program crashes and I get to report it to Apple.:rolleyes: 'cause they care.
 
Yeah, it's real buggy right now. Sucks. I hope Apple is aware of this as it seems to be more than an isolated issue. I would be happy if FCP export using Compressor would work no matter how many cores I use. Right now, it just hangs.
 
I can export with Compressor just fine when not trying to load a Virtual Cluster. So I can go through with two cores... so I guess I can't complain too much. I'd just really use more of the power that I paid for.
 
Did you guys check the Apple support forum?
This thread in particular:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6494377&#6494377

My MacPro is still in shipping, so I can't experiment - but improved encoding performance was the #1 reason for me to order the new computer - so needless to say, I am very interested in the outcome.

I am a little disappointed about this statement in the thread:
"Unfortunately there is no way to speed up encoding when exporting directly out of FCP into Compressor"
This is how I work most of the time - until now, at least.

- Martin
 
Do some of Compressor's processes show up in Activity Monitory as not responding?

Tracer
 
Try setting up a 1 Computer Cluster, not a Quick Cluster.

If you need help, PM me.

Tracer
 
You cannot setup a cluster of your local cores when exporting from FCP via Compressor due to licensing issues. Since FCP is involved in this case, Compressor tries to invoke multiple sessions of FCP (one for each core) and you're machine is only licensed for one instance. I know I'm explaining this poorly but you can watch the MacBreak podcast episode where its explained better.

http://www.pixelcorps.tv/macbreak

This is a video podcast where they frequently talk about Final Cut Studio apps. Episode 89 is titled "Troubleshooting Compressor". You can subscribe to the podcast and then in iTunes click the GET button for episode 89.
 
Very good video. The licensing issue seems very weird, so this is why Export to Compressor doesn't work as we think it should?

I've been experimenting with a 'Reference Movie' (Exported to Quicktime then to Compressor) I couldn't get my QuickCluster to work, but my 1 machine cluster did.

Link with my 2 Processor MDD setup as a 1 Machine Cluster

Link

Tracer
 
jceeetle said:
You cannot setup a cluster of your local cores when exporting from FCP via Compressor due to licensing issues. Since FCP is involved in this case, Compressor tries to invoke multiple sessions of FCP (one for each core) and you're machine is only licensed for one instance. I know I'm explaining this poorly but you can watch the MacBreak podcast episode where its explained better.
Click to expand...

Downloading the video now... sadly I'm off to work, but even trying to run a batch through compressor without FCP, Compressor doesn't recognize the cluster (left it open for 5 minutes, still nothing).

would it actually work if I use a macbook as the controller and submit the job through that?
 
You can set up the Mac Pro as a Cluster Controller by making a 1 machine cluster with QAdministrator. Since it's processing abilities are included in the cluster, it should create 8 instances.

Tracer
 
This is frustrating.

I've read most of the "Distributed Processing Guide" pdf and created the cluster using Qadministrator. Everything went in fine and it looked like the cluster was built. Compressor didn't recognize the cluster.

After a restart, Qadministrator didn't have the cluster listed and doesn't see any of the instances that are shared through the Qmaster Pref Pane.

Checking the activity monitor, all of the Compressor and Qmaster processes are not responding, even after a fresh restart. This makes me think it's a Leopard issue, although I hope I'm wrong.
 
Sounds like a software issue.

Do the tasks work for a few seconds and then becoming unresponding under Activity Monitory?

I've had Compressor become flaky if I was running other programs at the same time.

Tracer
 
jceeetle said:
This is a video podcast where they frequently talk about Final Cut Studio apps. Episode 89 is titled "Troubleshooting Compressor". You can subscribe to the podcast and then in iTunes click the GET button for episode 89.
Click to expand...

Just watched the podcast and it looks like it was done before Leopard. I followed along exactly and got the content agent error.
 
Update, It's Working!

So I received my new 750GB F1's and I reinstalled the OS and apps on the new drive. I didn't migrate anything over from the old drives (moved stuff by hand). When installing FCS, I checked yes for making the computer available for distributed processing. After install, I didn't change anything in the Qmaster Pref Pane besides the cluster storage location and number of instances.

Taking a video file into Compressor, I submitted to "This Computer" with use unmanaged services checked on. Looking at Activity monitor, all of the CompressorTranscoderX processes showed plenty of activity (130-140% on avg).

It works! I finally cracked the mystery! Don't migrate anything ever!
 
bigbossbmb said:
...When installing FCS, I checked yes for making the computer available for distributed processing...
Click to expand...

I think this is the ticket. I'm getting ready to do a fresh Leopard reinstall myself and I'll remember to check that box this time around.
 
I thought I had checked this before, but maybe I didn't. If you check "yes" for distributed processing in the install, then it sets up the Pref Pane for you. All you need to do is determine the number of instances and start sharing.


I'm soooo happy I finally got this to work. Although exporting QT Movies out of FCP is still a little slow, I think I'll just do it as a master file when the project is complete. It's unfortunate that Apple can't figure out a way to enable virtual clustering out of FCP.
 
Now I'm confused... I am rendering my first big job on my brand new MacPro, an MPEG-2 export straight out of FCP, and it's using all eight cores - at least, that's how I interpret the image in the Activity Monitor:

cpu.gif


Granted, each core is only running at 40% or something like that, but still... Overall, this close-to-2-hour sequence will render in about eight hours, roughly one third of what it would similar projects used to take on my Intel iMac, so I am very happy.

I thought this wasn't supposed to be possible? Am I misinterpreting what I am seeing, or what's going on here?

- Martin
 
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