I just want to post this for anyone who had a problem with this.
Problem: I was rendering a huge AE CS3 project for one of our clients over a network using 5 Mac Pro 8 Core systems and I kept getting a flicker in all my videos, that were embedded in the AE COMPS, once rendered into a TGA sequence. So, I knew one of the machines was not reading the videos correctly.
Solution: It turns out that EVERY MACHINE INVOLVED IN A MULTI MACHINE RENDER MUST ALL HAVE THE IDENTICAL CODECS. So, despite not having an AJA capture card on my 4 other machines, I still had to install the AJA Kona LH software to all machines so they had the AJA Codecs (the same would apply if you used a BLACK MAGIC CAPTURE CARD). I also had Perian installed on my main machine, so I needed to install it on all the others as well. Then you also need to make sure that all your machines have the latest updates. This all sounds very "no brainer" but you would be surprised how long it took to figure out. Basically to create a render farm using multiple machines...they all need to have identical software, plugins, and codecs installed
Bonus Thought: I would suggest using a GigaHub to network them. It transfers data way faster and is helpful when working in FULL HD renders.
Problem: I was rendering a huge AE CS3 project for one of our clients over a network using 5 Mac Pro 8 Core systems and I kept getting a flicker in all my videos, that were embedded in the AE COMPS, once rendered into a TGA sequence. So, I knew one of the machines was not reading the videos correctly.
Solution: It turns out that EVERY MACHINE INVOLVED IN A MULTI MACHINE RENDER MUST ALL HAVE THE IDENTICAL CODECS. So, despite not having an AJA capture card on my 4 other machines, I still had to install the AJA Kona LH software to all machines so they had the AJA Codecs (the same would apply if you used a BLACK MAGIC CAPTURE CARD). I also had Perian installed on my main machine, so I needed to install it on all the others as well. Then you also need to make sure that all your machines have the latest updates. This all sounds very "no brainer" but you would be surprised how long it took to figure out. Basically to create a render farm using multiple machines...they all need to have identical software, plugins, and codecs installed
Bonus Thought: I would suggest using a GigaHub to network them. It transfers data way faster and is helpful when working in FULL HD renders.