Does anyone know if the Mac Mini specs (listed below) would be able to handle Final Cut Pro smothly ( when editing Stander DV format)?
and editing photos using Photoshop CS?
Does anyone use a Mini for editing?
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Mac mini
Intel Core Duo Processor 1.66GHz
512MB RAM,
80GB Hard Drive,
8X DVD+/-RW SuperDrive,
Mac OS X Tiger v10.4
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FYI Im a PC/Windows guy and have never own a Mac but have always been very curious, and since the Mini's are afordable (and within my budget) im thinking of picking one instead of another PC. (maybe even switching completely over to Mac if it goes well) would this setup be a good starter for editing SD DV & photos?

TIA

The mini and MacBook does not meet the curren specs of FCS, as it uses the GPU for some FX processing.

Apparantly there is a way to install it anyway (even though you'll get dire warnings).

For DV, DVCPRO HD & HDV, it should work just great.

Gunleik

hmm.... I run final cut on a macbook ( 2Ghz, 2GB ram ) and have never seen any warnings. I also run FCP on a macpro.

photoshop cs runs great on it as well.... but cs3 will ( mid 07 ) run much better.

The mac mini has an integrated graphics system which uses system memory. From what I've read, this isn't a problem for FCP, but Motion won't run properly. I think this is why Apple says that it isn't compatible with FC Studio.

For someone who is using Final Cut Express Suite, would the Mac Mini fit the bill?

All of the Intel Mac Minis will run FCP Studio. The G4 Mac Minis will run all of FCP Studio except for Motion. You need a minimum of 64 megs of VRAM for Motion, and even then it doesn't work very well.

I would suggest getting an iMac. They are a much better value than the Mac Mini and just about any PC as well. All but the entry level 17" 1.83GHz with integrated graphics will run FCP Studio, including Motion.

I run all but Motion on my Mac Mini G4 1.42 with a gig of ram. I've also installed a 7200rpm hard drive which helps overall system performance and recently overclocked the proc to 1.58 ghz and it's running fine. At home on the Mac Mini I edit DV with no problems. Have even done a little bit of HDV. HDV will work in a pinch but not for serious editing.

At work I use a dual 2ghz G5 with 6 gigs of ram for uncompressed SD and a Mac Pro with 7 gigs of ram for uncompressed HD.

I never follow directions. I run Final Cut Pro, Shake, Motion, and PS all on a G4 mini.

Alex,

How in the heck did you get Motion installed on the Mini?

Ha ha, after reading a few posts, i'm begining to wonder the same thing. I guess no one told my mini.

I am beginning the process of testing out a mac-mini a macophile friend loaned to me (Intel Mac Mini no less).

I like the minimalist form factor of the mac-mini and since I work in standard Def 16x9, What are users thoughts about the mac-mini for a production environment where the primary editing will be straight cuts and dissolves. I am working with a pair of TRV950's and am seriously considering the switch to the mac platform after reading the system specs just to run Vista (Received my licensed copy of Vista business edition in the mail yesterday).

I was thinking of maxing out the mac-mini with RAM, a 7200rpm primary drive and a couple of add on drives in external enclosures to form a raid) (any thoughts on that also?) that can stack underneath the mac-mini to maintain the small form factor.

Since I edit mainly in PPro 1.5.1 on WIndows Xp currently, the learning curve doesn't appear to be all that difficult for FC Express.

Any opinions???

Cliff,

You will be cruzin right along on an Intel Mac Mini with DV and HDV footage. At home I use a G4 Mac Mini with a gig of ram. I put a larger 7200 rpm drive in it and it helped the system performance a bit.

At work I cut uncompressed 10 bit SD on a dual proc G5, which by the way, is slower than a coreduo Mini!

The Mini is really a sleeper. Great performance, fair price (the 24" iMac is the best bang for the buck Mac right now) , portable, and just darn cool. I have a 19" 1440x900 monitor and I can actually fit my entire setup in one of those rectangular rigid travel bags with wheels that is carry on legal for flight. I took it out to NAB with me last year as a matter of fact.

Dave - another question - How critical is using RAID with Standard Def footage - I am not doing any multi-cam or other intensive editing effects - 99% of the editing I do is straight cuts and dissolves. I have seen the enclosures for the Mac-Mini that sit underneath the computer itself and like the fact I can take OTS 7200RPM drives or laptop drives and edit to my hearts content.

Since it is almost impossible from what I can see for the MAC-Mini to have a raid setup (unless one uses an external RAID enclosure) how much will it affect the editing process in FCE? Just testing earlier today I love what FCE does and the fact it is so snappy compared to PPro has my full attention - even Vegas 7 seems lacking in many respects - I also do a fair amount of audio scoring and composing and Soundtrack and Garageband has me acting like a kid in a toy store.

Your thoughts?

Cliff,

A RAID is not necessary for DV footage. If you were shooting uncompressed 10 bit SD a RAID would be necessary. For DV a good FireWire drive is all you need. LaCie or G-Tech are my recommendations. Or just buy a case and make your own. Stay away from USB for your capture scratch and stick with FW.

How would a PowerMac G5 Dual 1.8Ghz w/ 2GB Ram perform under FCP editing SD DV and/or HD content?
Im thinking of getting this (used) instead of a new Mac mini...would this be a better choice?

TIA

How would a PowerMac G5 Dual 1.8Ghz w/ 2GB Ram perform under FCP editing SD DV and/or HD content?
Im thinking of getting this (used) instead of a new Mac mini...would this be a better choice?

TIA

I would get a new Mac Mini. They are faster than a G5. See my post above.

Dave - how should the HD's be configured for editing with a MAC mini?

If Raid isn't needed for miniDV, how should I break up the HD's? Would you advise a separate scratch disk for editing and rendering while footage is acquired to a third hard drive???

Coming from a Windows NLE environment, my set up is for all programs installed on one drive, My raid 0 is used for capture and editing of video, and a third drive is used for all audio editing.

Would this solution work as well for the mini or is there another setup that is more efficient?

TIA,

Cliff,

A RAID would be nice but not necessary for DV. Also, if you build a RAID try to get an enclosure that is FW400, FW800, and eSATA. Minis only have FW400. But if you move up to a MacPro some day, you'll be able to utilize all 3 interfaces (with the addition of a SATA card).

Mac OS X has a great RAID utility in thhe Disc Utility program. Use that to format your RAID and format as "MAC OS Extended-Not Journaled". DO NOT USE MS-DOS! (Yes, I'm SHOUTING).

When you have done that and the RAID is mounted on the desktop, control click or right click on it and select "Get Info". At the bottom of the window, make sure that "Ignore ownership on this volume" IS checked. This allows for ease of switching between Macs.

Sorry, started posting in the wrong place. Can't I just delete this?

Sorry, I hit the post button twice then came back to edit this double post so it wouldn't be a double post :)

David:

There used to a be a sticky at the top of this forum with an extensive review I did of the mac mini back when it was first released in Jan 05'. Here are the three links, they range from most recent to the first impressions when I purchased it.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=53479&highlight=mac+mini+bryan

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39938

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=38260&highlight=mac+mini+bryan

Anyways, I found configured correctly the mac mini could serve as a capable edit station when it was first released with the G4 1.42 chip (I edited a feature documentary, a feature film shot on super 16mm, promos and short films on my old mac mini). Even though I have no experience with the new ones, I can only assume that they are even better, as their processors are much faster - so read the articles if you would like to hear how to set one up for editing and about any other tid bits I could think of at the time...

note: I sold my mini 6 months ago to a director I was working with at the time as he needed a new computer and I had bought a G5 to edit HD features...

Dave - Since I have a pair of 7200RPM Seagate Barracuda 160GB drives, would the capacity be sufficient for editing on the drives without RAID 0 configuration??? I just purchased these drives so they are brand new (IDE interface BTW) Firewire enclosures seem quite reasonable in price - how do the stack up for editing DV Footage by themselves? Is 160GB sufficient for editing a short form project done in DV format with FCE?