Live data from Hacker News

Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

variety.com

171–180 of 213 posts

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#171

rule 1 of hollywood tech support: Always take what the editor says with a massive pinch of salt. I spent ten years in the movie industry, and the people that were the most forthright, and almost universally wrong about technical things were editors. "The monitor is out of grade" No, you've set the background lights to red. "The sound is out of sync" No, you've turned off the amp and somehow managed to get the crappy…

Addendum:

I used to support a large range of artists and technical staff. Every class of worker would have their own proclivities.

Compositors, at the slightest hint of any technical issue would immediately start thinking up workarounds. By the time we'd get there to see whats gone wrong, they'd be telling us there's a problem with the workaround, and not tell us the original problem.

Modellers, normally maya has crashed because they are really pushing it, they would have forgotten to publish for a while.

producers, love busting out to spreadsheets, sometimes it doesn't marry up to shotgun/ftrack, or the macro is broken because someone has changed the naming convention.

pipeline, Always trying to sneak the next new thing into production by the back door.

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#172

rule 1 of hollywood tech support: Always take what the editor says with a massive pinch of salt. I spent ten years in the movie industry, and the people that were the most forthright, and almost universally wrong about technical things were editors. "The monitor is out of grade" No, you've set the background lights to red. "The sound is out of sync" No, you've turned off the amp and somehow managed to get the crappy…

Yeah but when they are all having the same problem that means it's a problem. I've been on both sides of that situation, generic dismissals like this are not useful or helpful.

You are moving the goalposts. The topic here is that people misjudge a problem but believe they are correct.

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but when they are all having the same problem that means it's a problem. I've been on both sides of that situation, generic dismissals like this are not useful or helpful.

You are moving the goalposts. The topic here is that people misjudge a problem but believe they are correct.

Kinda hard to be moving the goalposts when there was no prior comment of mine to move them from. I'm just disagreeing. When everyone is suddenly having the same problem the probability that they are all coincidentally falling victim to the same misjudgement asymptotically approaches zero.

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#174
post #160
post #2

yikes. having written aax plugins for a while, i have to say, i’m kind of surprised this came from AVID. from what it sounds like (having scraped the surface), it’s not their editing software (Pro Tools, et al.) but their copy protection management tool/device driver - iLok. i’m sure there are some very anxious engineers in the AVID offices today.

I bought a plugin from UVI and had to use iLok for the first time recently and the experience was atrocious. Not only that, if you want to sell and transfer your iLok license you have to pay $20. I will never buy anything that requires iLok.

It is truly a cancer and the worst part about using Avid tools. I wish they would get rid of it.

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#175
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SGI workstations had hardly any lights. Their essential distinguishing feature where that they sometimes had slightly rounded corners and came in 'fun' colors. Kind of like this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Tezro#/media/File:Silicone... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Octane#/media/File:SgiOcta... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_O2#/media/File:Silicon_Gra...

Those unfortunately now just remind me of the Hot Wheels PC https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/azdp7i/hot_wh... I'd rather see more like the SGI Indy workstation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Indy#/media/File:Silicon_G...

I think Sony's got your back there. Looks like a source of inspiration for the PS4

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#176
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if Hollywood is so obsessed with DRM because they themselves are such f'ing pirates. The entire culture of Hollywood is around stealing (e.g. the endless so-and-so stole my script idea lawsuits) and defending oneself from having one's stuff stolen. Maybe they're projecting and imagining that everyone is constantly trying to steal everything. As a normal movie and TV viewer I will always look for an option to…

Since we're talking Hollywood, what's your success rate in being able to buy movies that don't have DRM? I can't think of any way to do that, really. Or are you saying that you basically can't, and therefore don't buy movies and instead stream or rent?

Music yes, movies no... you are right. That's why I don't buy many movies.

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#177
post #15

Whats with this kneejerk advice? Honestly who turns off their macs? Are they talking about sleep mode?

I had an issue recently with Virtualbox which caused my iMac Pro to crash and power cycle. That, as well as certain Xcode updates (required by other software), meant I lost my 200+ days of workstation uptime.

Do you have any idea how exactly did VirtualBox crash your iMac Pro? I’m pondering installing it on mine and your comment is scary.

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#178
post #163
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a plugin from UVI and had to use iLok for the first time recently and the experience was atrocious. Not only that, if you want to sell and transfer your iLok license you have to pay $20. I will never buy anything that requires iLok.

Ironically, the folks pirating the software didn't run into any interruption because there is no iLok

iLok has been extremely effective at stopping cracks or at least slowing them down enough to where the software is obsolete by the time a crack appears. The pirates don't have access to this software in the first place.

We can debate the merits of DRM all we want, but PACE's stuff actually works (at stopping pirates, and sometimes paying users)

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are moving the goalposts. The topic here is that people misjudge a problem but believe they are correct.

Kinda hard to be moving the goalposts when there was no prior comment of mine to move them from. I'm just disagreeing. When everyone is suddenly having the same problem the probability that they are all coincidentally falling victim to the same misjudgement asymptotically approaches zero.

What was claimed in your parent comment was that people do all sorts of idiosyncratic things with their machines but were convinced the problem was elsewhere. No?

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#180
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On two occasions I have been asked, — "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" In one case a member of the Upper, and in the other a member of the Lower, House put this question. I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. - Charles Babbage - Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864), ch. 5 "Differen…

If you want to use incorrect data to get correct answers, you need a human. That's one of the fundamental differences between humans and computers.

> If you want to use incorrect data to get correct answers, you need a human.

More often, that just gets answers that are incorrect in ways other than (sometimes, in addition to, othertimes, instead of) those explicable by the incorrect data.

Post reply on HN