@“Oliver (Boinx)” @“Achim (Boinx)”
I ask this question in the past… now slight update…
What is the BEST/OPTIMAL mac (MacPro, iMac, MacMini?) to use with MimoLive… not too worried about compression since the output is going direct from a Blackmagic to an encoder, however, still getting a lot drop frames in the output… What do you guys recommend to use with MimoLive… including the new iMac that was release today (March 19, 2019)
regards
Juan
could you please give us an idea of what your setup is now - how many sources, show resolution, etc? you still running the mac mini you cited a couple years ago? thanks.
No, playing with a MacPro now 3.46 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 16gb Radeon RX580 8gb - generally two cameras using Blackmagic Cards to bring in the signal…
I just really want to know what is the OPTIMAL machine for this software - what is the machine MimoLive recommends - forget what I’m using… 
knowing your toolchain is kinda important because it could determine the machine you look at. none of the mac pros have h.264 encoders in the processor, so it could be relying on the rx580 which may not still be up to the task, depending on how much you got hooked up to it. it seems the baseline is a quad core processor (i series) and dedicated video card with at least 2GB of VRAM. I’m still getting by with a 2011 17" MacBook Pro, but also only running 720p30… if you want to just spend $5k on a new Mac then by all means, go for it. Anything but a Xeon is probably a solid choice as Apple uses the chips without integrated graphics which house the hardware encoders (Intel Quick Sync Video). using a different file format on that mac pro other than h.264 to record in that goes to fast storage like a high density HDD or SSD is also recommended. a new machine should be able to utilize h.264 just fine, with the 8th Gen i Series. I’m not sure the iMac Pro utilizes the Vega GPU or not but the Xeons are so fast that there’s enough cpu power to software encode and not notice it maybe.
So the basically anything BUT a Xenon processor is the best choice - i was looking at the new $1,200 as a possible choice… I guess my confusion was in the h.264 how do I know what machine uses h.264 - so i need something with an integrated graphics card - like a mac mini or laptop
@“Juan Grano” If you ask for the ideal machine, I would say currently the iMac Pro with 10 or more cores and the Vega 64x graphics card. However, that would be vastly overkill for a 2 camera setup. I would definitely NOT recommend the current (old) Mac Pro and if you want to use a laptop, I would recommend the 15" MacBook Pro with i7 processor. The new iMacs should be great, if you go for an Core i7 or Core i9 machine.
@“Oliver (Boinx)” AH! that’s what I was looking for… thanks Olive so core i7 or core i9 processor… sweet! thanks Guys!
@“Juan Grano” every i3/i5/i7/i9 Proc released in a Mac since 2011 has the h.264 hardware encoders built in. I think the sweet spot on the new iMacs would be the $1399 21.5" with the i7 upgrade, which makes it $1579, which for the small difference in price over the $1249 option with i7 (makes it $1519), you get better graphics (doubles the VRAM) and a fusion drive.
@kmac1036 interesting… ok - i guess it all kinda makes sense now I have bought a new mac in at least 7-8 years just kept upgrading my MacPro… again i really appreciate all the help… thanks!
@“Juan Grano” no problem good luck and let us know how you wind up!
@“Oliver (Boinx)” @kmac1036
Ok still on my quest 
…
I found this machine a friend is willing to sell to me… is it worth it?
Apple iMac “Core i7” 3.4 27-Inch (Late 2012) 32gb RAM - NVDIA Geforce GTX 680M 2GB - 3TB fusion drive… my plan is to get the Blackmagic Design BMD-BDLKDVQDHDMI4K DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder, and an external PCIe box - my understanding this machine is Thunderbolt 2, can i still accomplish this?
as always thanks in advance fellas!
-juan
@“Juan Grano” We’ve used one of those iMacs for a while and it seemed to work fine for 3 cameras. I would get the Duo 2 card which allows for 4 inputs with 1080p30. This should work over Thunderbolt 2. If you can test before you buy, I’d strongly recommend this, though.
@“Oliver (Boinx)” thanks for getting back to me, I thought Duo 2 is an SDI card? I only have HDMI cameras… I wouldn’t be able connect unless I get HDMI to SDI converter right?
@“Juan Grano” Ah, yes, sorry I missed this. I confused it with the BMD Quad 2 card which has 8 SDI inputs.
I would generally recommend to use SDI instead of HDMI as SDI cables have less problems, connectors don’t fall out and the cables can be run over longer distances.
But the HDMI card should work fine.
got it thanks
@“Juan Grano” this was the card with the 4 HDMI ports: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1464918-REG/blackmagic_design_bdlkdvqdhdmi4k_decklink_quad_hdmi_recorder.html
It looks like you found a rare gem in that iMac. Worth a try, has more power than my old MBP I use and twice the VRAM you normally find.
@kmac1036 I had to do a double take, it was def a custom made iMac never seen one like that - I actually took @“Oliver (Boinx)” advice and went with the Duo 2, SDI cables are cheaper and can run longer, plus that HDMI quad is not out yet… I’ll let you guys know how it works out, again thx
@“Juan Grano” ah ok, I thought you were still stuck with HDMI.
I am concerned about the HDMI