if you are fed up with render times...read on. :)

My old Athlon 2700+, 1GB DDR 3200, Epox 8RDA mobo would render 1 minute of 60i HDV(cineform) footage in 10 minutes....thats a long time! Time for an upgrade I said, gone with the Athlon. [1:10]

So I got a new Intel 3.2ghz 640 LGA775 64bit processor, Abit AA8XE motherboard and 2GB DDR2 PC5400. I have it overclocked to 3.8-4.0Ghz at 1066fsb. Its smoking fast. And renders 1 minute of full resolution 60i HDV(cineform) in 50 seconds. [1:1]

AND I can play the video preview at full frame rate(29.97fps) at half HDV resoluton [720 resolution(auto)] !!! AMAZING

It will also do raw .m2t editing & rendering, at about a 1:10 time ratio

[conditions: HDR-FX1, Sony Vegas 5.0d, Cineform codec] [effects applied during render: color corrector, fades, wipes]

***I highly recommend the New Intel 600 class chip for HDV editing***

Wow! What a wonderful experience ~

what's the video card you use and what' the render output format ? m2t or HD-wmv ?

thanks for sharing

I hate to do this, ....but my G5 dual 2Ghz Mac doesn't require ANY rendering when doing full resolution, full quality DVCPRO HD 720p editing, with 3 way color correction filters added, transitions, motion effects and fades. It will also do multiple streams simultaneously at full quality with no rendering required. It also never crashes. Sometimes it even makes me a cuppa tea when I'm not looking, ...ok, I exaggerate a little!

Have fun,

<<<-- Originally posted by Jeffrey Liou : Wow! What a wonderful experience ~

what's the video card you use and what' the render output format ? m2t or HD-wmv ?

thanks for sharing -->>>

geforce 6600GT, cineform .avi

<<<-- Originally posted by Paul Mogg : I hate to do this, ....but my G5 dual 2Ghz Mac doesn't require ANY rendering when doing full resolution, full quality DVCPRO HD 720p editing, with 3 way color correction filters added, transitions, motion effects and fades. It will also do multiple streams simultaneously at full quality with no rendering required. It also never crashes. Sometimes it even makes me a cuppa tea when I'm not looking, ...ok, I exaggerate a little!

Have fun, -->>>

? ...so you just hit "save" huh, and it saves it as a .avi, .mpg. .wmv, .m2t.....ya ok.

I don't know why Mac users are so arrogant sometimes. Personally, if I was a Mac user, I would file a police report with the Cupertino Police Dept. against Steve Jobs for grand larceny. :)

My own opinion of course, so don't get your panties in a bunch Appleytes.

Oh come on, have a little sense of humour!

Paul

Ditto. No offense taken and hopefully none given. I just like giving you guys a hard time. :)

<<<-- Originally posted by Paul Mogg : I hate to do this, ....but my G5 dual 2Ghz Mac doesn't require ANY rendering when doing full resolution, full quality DVCPRO HD 720p editing, with 3 way color correction filters added, transitions, motion effects and fades. It will also do multiple streams simultaneously at full quality with no rendering required. It also never crashes. Sometimes it even makes me a cuppa tea when I'm not looking, ...ok, I exaggerate a little!

Have fun, -->>>

Paul,

You know I own a G5 system, but frankly, add a single drop shadow, and it all grinds to a halt. Render hell

It is my greatest wish for FCP5

DBK

That doesn't sound good Darren, you probably want to get it checked out then. I meant that comment as a little tongue in cheek fun, but it's actually quite true, I think that Apple have really optimized the DVCPRO HD codec for Macs, because it edits just as though it were DV. I hope they do the same for HDV eventually, because it does sound like that currently edits better on a PC from what people are saying.

"I hate to do this, ....but my G5 dual 2Ghz Mac doesn't require ANY rendering when doing full resolution, full quality DVCPRO HD 720p editing, with 3 way color correction filters added, transitions, motion effects and fades. It will also do multiple streams simultaneously at full quality with no rendering required. "

Paul: that's good to know, but it's kinda too bad that Apple's flagship editing program doesn't even support HDV yet, and that the Apple Intermediate Codec reportedly generates obvious artifacting for even simple HDV work. And that you had to wait an extra year just to get that compared to better quality HDV solutions which have been available for PCs all that time. Bummer.

By the way, DVCProHD at 720p only has 960x720 pixels per frame, compared to 1440x1080 for HDV. That's over twice as much data per layer of HDV as you're processing per layer now, so you can figure how your performance would be affected accordingly. Meanwhile, we've seen several reports of people editing multiple streams of HDV data in real time on modest single-processor PC laptops. Gosh, does that mean a single-processor PC is more powerful than a dual-processor G5 Mac? I figured as much... ;-)

P.S. The Mac platform's real strength is in the quality of its software. Don't bother trying to brag about performance, because that's an endless debate in which you might not fare as well as you'd think in a good head-to-head comparison.

<<<-- Originally posted by Paul Mogg : That doesn't sound good Darren, you probably want to get it checked out then. I meant that comment as a little tongue in cheek fun, but it's actually quite true, I think that Apple have really optimized the DVCPRO HD codec for Macs, because it edits just as though it were DV. I hope they do the same for HDV eventually, because it does sound like that currently edits better on a PC from what people are saying. -->>>


I know it was tongue in cheek Paul, but I really don't want to mislead people into believing the Mac right now is at par with the PC as far as HD editing is concerned.

While much of the worlds television is produced on the Mac, and I am among the faithful, one of the prime areas that Apple is lacking in is handling alpha channels - the simple drop shadow.

Even with DVCPROHD, one drop shadow brings the system into requiring a render. This is not a step ahead - it is a step back and Apple need to address it.

One of my biggest complaints with Apple Faithful is the lack of our ability to tell Apple when they have done wrong. At DVExpo last winter, I got the opportunity to talk with an actual FCP Product manager. My complaint at the time - and still is - is the flakeyness of the Media Manager. The thing is a piece of crap unless you have a very uncomplicated timeline. In true Apple style - and arrogance he looked at me like I was tellinghim something new, when I know it has been brought up in numerous beta complaints.

We need to tell Apple when they can get better.

DBK

Such a lot of anti-Apple sentiment here, incredible. I agree with you in not wanting to mislead people that a PC is on a par with a Mac for editing HD Darren, after all the Mac is pretty much built for that from the ground up, so it has an unfair advantage, but we don't have to rub it in do we!!
All joking aside though, the truth is that in the final analysis it really doesn't really matter what you edit on does it?, it's the quality of what you produce. Nobody who rents a movie at their local video store cares a fig if it was edited on a dual Xeon super cached whatchamaflip or a G5. It's just our personal preferences, and the people who really matter, your audience, really don't care.

Paul: you came in and made a point of trying to brag about Macs, then you're surprised by the reaction you got? Next time you get the urge to do that, you should at least present something which is relevant to the discussion at hand, which in this case is performance for HDV editing. It's no secret among even the Mac faithful that the PC platform is currently leaps and bounds ahead of Macs for dealing with HDV footage, which is a rather surprising state of affairs considering Apple's obvious interest in making a mark for video production.

Your latest point that customers ultimately don't care how their videos are produced is what really matters. There are clearly some excellent video production tools for Macs and likewise for PCs, and we should all be glad that things have progressed so far on both platforms.

Thank you for your kind remarks Kevin. I'm sure Apple thanks you too.

Paul

Puleeeeeeze folks, he was just kidding around. Paul you are one of the most balanced Mac People I've read.
Most are clueless ludite wannabes (don't tell them it's really a computer, just don't tell them....)hehehe. I try to explain to them I already have a perfectly good religion.

Besides we all know.... the only really cool computer people are the ones that use Linux. Just ask them, they'll tell you.

I want to buy one of the mini Macs for my mother-in-law. I already have a spare monitor and mouse and keyboard. I think she will like it.

Well, I guess the problem right now is mostly (for me) being able to keep full quality. A lot of programs do marvels with DV but working with HDV sucks for the moment. When "near real time solutions" arise, compression is a major problem. I have tested quite a few possibilities and the results don't please me yet. Filtering YCrCb material is also problematic, keeping the chroma noise from jumping up, etc... I can't wait for a solid solution with real time video preview but let's be realistic, actual solutions are almost guerilla style (as they where when we tested the HD10 months ago). Let's hope that with the FX1-Z1 buzz, solutions will come out faster. Hope NAB will be good this year...