Group Processing doesn't work

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larryfitz Author

Level 1

9 points

Group Processing doesn't work

For the life of me, I can't get group processing to work in Compressor.

The setup:

Main machine:

5K iMac 2019 (Intel)
Compressor 4.7
OS 14.2.1
Ethernet connection

Remote node

Mac mini M2
Compressor 4.7
OS 14.2.1
Ethernet connection
Running 1 or 2 instances of Compressor. Changing this doesn't affect the problem.

I'm trying to transcode completed ProRes files that live on an external drive connected to the iMac. FCP is not part of the equation.

On the iMac, "Enable Automatic File Sharing" in Compressor results in an error message that I must enable file sharing. I have done so, for the entire volume and all folders within, but the error persists. When I deselect Automatic file sharing, and mount the iMac's external drive on the remote machine (mini), the job will process, but no work is sent to the mini. In other words, the processing remains local on the iMac.

It seems that no combination of automatic or manual settings is working. Could it be an issue mixing Intel and Apple silicon machines? Any thoughts? Thanks?

iMac 27″, macOS 14.2

Posted on Jan 14, 2024 4:44 PM

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Answer 1

larryfitz Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 16, 2024 8:23 AM in response to larryfitz

Conclusion: I think it's a problem with Intel/M2 interoperability.

In a test, when I originated a job on the m2 mini, and used a Mac Book Air as the remote node, I was able to split a job between the 2 machines, more or less as expected. As soon as I included the Intel iMac into the group, either as the "host" machine or a processing node, shared processing failed.

A couple of other notes:

Automatic file sharing never worked as advertised.
I did need to specify a rendering password for each machine, otherwise the job wouldn't even start. Thanks again, Luis, for that suggestion.
Compressor often complained about missing passwords for the remote machines even though the password had been supplied. I'm not sure how I finally cleared the error.
Most surprisingly, using the Mac Book Air as a rendering node for the m2 mini slowed things down -- a lot. A test job on the mini took 1 minute to render; adding the Air as a node made the same job take 10 minutes. The delay seemed to be caused be the mini needing to stitch the segmented renders back together into a finished clip when the rendering was competed. This was hardly the result I was going for.

Shared rendering is clearly a little creaky, and I'm disappointed that this isn't working the way I had hoped it would. At least I found out during testing and not when on a deadline.

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Answer 2

Jan 15, 2024 4:56 AM in response to larryfitz

There are a number of things that need to be done; I am not sure if the list is exhaustive, but in case it helps:

In System Settings:

1) File Sharing must on on both macs

2) SMB Sharing must be on (System Settings->General->Sharing, click Options...)

3) Guest user must be on

In Compressor:

4) Settings->Computer, turn on "Allow other computers..."; check "Require password" and choose a password

5) Settings->Shared Computers create the desired combination and fill in the correct passwords

Test a batch and see if the batch has errors and/or warnings. It may be that it says the other computer is "not trusted", in that case, click the Certificate and then click Trust.

At this point, it should work. Are you in a home or work/academic network? I am thinking that maybe some ports used for sharing may be blocked by the network.

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Answer 3

larryfitz Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 15, 2024 10:22 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

HI Luis,

Thanks for your reply. I've actually tried all of this, with the exception of requiring a password for suggestion #4/#5. I'll give that a shot. It's odd that a password should be required if guest access is also on, but then again, none of this makes sense. It's especially weird that automatic file sharing doesn't work at all.

I'm working in a home network situation, and I'm not aware of any ports being blocked.

I'll post an update later. Thanks again for your suggestions.

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Answer 4

Jan 16, 2024 8:42 AM in response to larryfitz

Thank you for the detailed report. It is quite possible that mixing an Intel and an Apple Silicon mac is part of the problem. In my limited testing, I was in the same situation, with an Intel MBP and a Mac Studio.

I'd just like to add a point that I think is very relevant: by introducing a second machine, you probably won't gain (and may actually lose, as in your experience) unless you have a rather big job. Of course it takes time to split into pieces, sending them to the remote machine and back, and stitching stuff together. If the compressing time is relatively fast, all that extra work causes what you have seen - it takes longer (sometimes a lot longer).

But if you are sharing multiple files, or the same file to multiple export formats, then it may indeed help. Oh, using a fast(er) mac does help, too.

I guess I will try this again some time, when I get access to a second Apple Silicon Mac (unfortunately, probably not soon).

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Group Processing doesn't work

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