Compressor 3's QAdministrator hogging cluster

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Compressor 3's QAdministrator hogging cluster

Hi Folks,

I'm on latest version of Lion, FCX, Compressor 4 and latest for Compressor 3 from FCS3.

I can create a cluster just fine through system preferences, but Compressor 3 " hogs " it and won't let Compressor 4 see it.

By that, I mean, I can go into QAdministrator from within my Final Cut Studio folder and it sees the cluster. Then I can adjust and create my cluster, go into Compressor 3 and after clicking Submit, I see it as an option.

If I bypass Qadmin from FCS and go into FCX and choose share - send to compressor, version 4 launches, but if I go to Apple QMaster on the menu bar, it will not see the cluster. Therefore, I can't use it upon submitting.

I tried trashing QAdmin from FCS, but that did nothing.

Any thoughts? very frustrating b/c I used to export a self-contained QT from FCP7 and used BitVice to compress m2vs for DVDs as it automatically recognizes all cores.

Unfortunately with Compressor 4, i still have to tweak settings so it will use all cores - but that doesn't seem to be working either!

I'd use Compressor 3, but of course, when you share - compressor from within FCX, it goes to the new version.

Any ideas?

Cheers,

Keebler

Posted on Jan 22, 2012 12:46 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 23, 2012 8:18 PM in response to Keebler

Hi Kleeber, quiet an interesting problem. I dont have the same environment as you do so I'm going to suggest that these might be places you could look.

it seems compressor.app V4 administers all Apple Qmaster itself via the Compressor.app | application menu Apple Qmaster and maintains this state information in ~/Library/Application Support/Apple Qmaster. (getting tired oft yping this in .. 😝). This is unlike Qmaster V3 that was managed autonamously via the system preferences/Qmaster and maintained it goodies elsewhere... you know all this..
so back in July 2011 this made me think that the two compressors (V3 and V4) were not meant to chat to each other.. any ideas?
further the CLI interfaces for qmasterprefs, qmaster and compressor are now buried in the content of the new FCPX apps.. yep fine with that but they had Links (ln / alias) in the V3 and FCP 7 days where one could simply invoke these form the cli via terminal.app ... all this you probably know too. Interestingly Apple have documented very well in detail the use of the compressor cli command in the Apple Compressor Users Guide V4.. yes all this is known.
what appears to be missing is the use of the qmasterprefs and qmaster cli commands in the documentation of Apple Qmaster V4 (see the pdf). this strikes me as that this is no longer a supported interface for qmaster and tha one MUST USE the Compressor.app | application menu Apple Qmaster UI.. any clues on this welcomed!

so?? well this strikes me as a bit odd. I would think a CLUSTER is a CLUSTER... I too use Apple Qadministrator and make use of managed clusters.. seems more stabel that the Quickcluster in FCPX/Com.app V4).. for me any way.

Thus, I would think that in a rendering sense (Nuke etc) you could submit a render to a Qmaster cluster regardless of it origin (Compressor V4 + Qmaster V4 or Qmaster V3 and Compressor V3.5)... just a thought. Same with the transcoder.

I can try and account (guess?) for why Compressor V4 cant see the Cluster you created via Apple Qadminstrtor V3.. Maybe because the state information for the cluster(s) is now maintained in ~/Library/Application Support/Apple Qmaster (user directory btw!)... So Id imagine that FCPX / Compressor V4 are expecting goodies in here. I just checked and its seems not. Instead Apple Qadminitrator is using many ports to see whats aorund. Theres loads of undescribed file handles opened as well.. Thus unless the application has radically changed from qmaster 3 and Qmaster 4, then I'd imagine that Apple Qmaster4 and V4 should be able to see the clusters! Someone reading this may enlighten us.. please do. 😐

In short its most possible that FCPX + compressor V4 + apple qmaster v4 are tied together more that I have tried to describe above. Its very strange that the cluster you created under Apple Qadministrator cannot be found when using the workflow:

FCPX:send to compressor ; compressor V4:submit to cluster: cluster not in the list.

In the Compressor V4.app are you able to Mount the Cluster Storage? (+shift+m)? If so then thats a good sign because it uses ports to find these it seems.

do you have any further developments?

warwick

Hong Kong

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