Hello !

Curious to know what the world at large thinks of ibm vs. mac for ease of use for professional medium. ediiting, photoshop, and movie softwares for these 2 machines... anybody use the cannon XL1S w/ mac? let me know...

Respectfully,

Kyle R Baker
FreeFly Navigator

This is a debate that spins along year after year in forums like this. It's probably been responsible for more hard drive upgrades than any other factor. <g>

Up until a year or so ago the answer seemed to be a self-evident truth; Macs ruled the video and imaging world. But the PC world is quickly catching up particularly in the low-to-midrange front.

Personally, as a nearly 20-year PC-only user, I believe that the Mac is the best overall platform for video editing today. Final Cut Pro 3 is a tremendous tool. Macs have Firewire built into the system's architecture. Editing on a Windows PC is still susceptible to errant drivers and corrupt registry hives. That's why I abandoned Adobe Premiere on a Dell 610 dual processor workstation 18 months ago and set up a Mac G4 editing suite.

But, as I say, you can be happy and successful on either platform. If I was forced into using Windows as my NLE platform I would set up a system dedicated to the NLE and closely kindred tasks (graphics and audio) and keep all other apps on a separate system.

Hey Kyle,

in my experience both platforms offer excellent bang for the buck editing solutions. In the end it comes down to personal preference and budget, as both platforms offer low end consumer systems to $$$$$$$$$ systems.

The Mac is a great option if you just want to buy a computer, plug in your camera and be under way. You can start with the new IMac/IMovie for home movies or simple editing. If you want more power go with the G4/Final Cut Pro 3 and you'll be set up for simple editing to feature productions. The bottom line is the Mac is plug'n'play simplicity.

The PC platform offers a much larger range of hardware and software to choose from. This is great if you know what your talking about. If not you can get burn't by a system that dosen't shape up to your expecations. I'm not against PC's, I've been using a Pinnacle DV500 for the past 2 years. It took a lot of setting up, matching motherboards and other hardware to get it to work properly. I have a degree in IT/Multimedia so I knew what to do 'under the hood'. It can be a cheaper way to get into NLE if you have a really limited budget, however IMACs go for a song these days to.

Performance wise, don't listen to the company hype about processor speeds and gigaflops etc, it will just confuse you.

To sum it up, plug'n'play - MAC, computer savvy, like to fiddle - PC

Ken-Adrain,

I'm havin' that deja vu thing again. (A glitch in the Matrix...yikes!)

Either performance oriented machine is a good platform. It boils down to what you're most comfortable with.

Not to sound too high brow ( how high brow can you be living in Frisco, Tx, heh?) but... how do I say this...

Your customer/audience doesn't care what computer you use. I don't care what you use! Edit your stuff on a Toyota Corolla!!

It's not about your equipment as it is what you acomplish with it. If people put as much thought into what they're going to shoot as they did what stuff they used, we'd have more XXXXXX (insert your favorite movie here) and less XXXXXXXXX (least favorite here)

TTFN
Wayde

I have an XL1 and a Mac. They work great together. I haven't used Windows for video editing, but I saw a friend of mine capture some footage from my XL1 (or export to, I forget) with Premiere and he had to tell the program via a drop down menu what the camera make and model was. With the Mac it doesn't matter what camera you plug into the firewire jack, it just works. Or at least I haven't heard of any NOT working.

I am presently using a Mac G-4 dual 800 MzH machine, along with my XL-1s. The transfer via firewire between the two, and, between my analog ag-1960 machines are reasonable flawless. That is, for equipment that is so low priced, the system is hard to beat.

Bluntly, my biggest problem is that when the XL, and I, return home after a days shoot, the Mac dosn't have dinner ready. There must be a solution to this problem out there......somewhere.

That's basically what I was saying Wayde, just with a bit more info.

How's the storyboarding going?

Thank's for the script tips

I know it's off subject but...

the storyboarding is outstanding!! The best and I mean best thing I did was ask comic book illustrator and long-time friend Carl Braun to help me develop a distinctive perspective.

Some partnerships really click...

Martin and Lewis, Bogie and Bacall, Bill and Monica (sorry Chris, 86 the politics)

I'm launching a new website and plan to have a whole section with storyboard art. BTW Adrain, let me know where to send a really fun script, S.E.A.L.S. and I'll forward you an MS Word doc.

S.E.A.L.S. - Surveillance Extraction And Live-capture Specialists, Ninja Turtles meet James Bond.

TTFN

Wayde

Rob't J. Wolff...

Yeah, it's called a WIFE. And take it from me, it's easier to make your own dinner...<G>...than to go that route.

I'm a die hard PC user but I remember adobe premiere 4 when it came out and it wasn't easy, nor do I want to mix business with pleasure. So I decided to get the new mac. I was on their website and I priced it at about 8k. That included the $2500.00. 22'' cinema screen. Its either this or a vacation.

Screw the vacation! Man I wish I could get one of those monitors!

I've been using a Mac Cinema Display for over a year now and can't understand why all monitors aren't at least this size. When you spend hours and hours working at the computer like I do, having a monitor this size really helps battle eyestrain.

It's also helpful to be able to have two or more applications running concurrently and to be able to position the different apps all around the screen, like utility windows in Photoshop. You can imagine how useful this much room is with programs like FCP.

If you use Mac, get your hands on one of these monitors.

John,
I abolutely -love- my 22" Cinema Display. Even though I bought mine just before Apple dropped the price (medication and therapy have helped get me past this <g>) I don't regret a penny I spent on it. Honestly, the display could be a tiny bit crisper but I would never notice if it wasn't sitting next to my PC's (smaller but sharper) Silicon Graphics 16:9 monitor.

<<Ken: Even though I bought mine just before Apple dropped the price (medication and therapy have helped get me past this <g>)>>

LOL. I can relate. I held off on buying my XL-1 for a loooong time, just waiting for the opportune moment to lay down that kind of cash. I was foaming at the mouth to buy it, though, and constantly visited the Canon site to read up on it. Finally, I went out and bought it. Came home, started playing with it, then started wondering about a certain accessory. So, I went to the Canon web site...and what did I see? "Announcing: The NEW XL-1s!"

But that's all behind me now and the doctors say I'm no longer a threat to myself or society (until the XL-2 comes out). ;)

AfterBurner, hey, i'm in san diego now. Comin from tokyo where I was holed up for the last 3 years... my haunts were yokohama, shibuya, shinju-ku, omiya "for the skydiving" an just about anywhere else over there was hella phat.. I miss the hell out of it, great country. Cherry blossom parties here pretty soon huh?! thats the one thing I regret not getting photo's of ........freefly navigator

I live in Chigasaki, it's on the beach south of Yokohama, about 15mins drive(on a good day) from Kamakura. The surf is OK, make San Diego surf seem huge though. It's close to the Gotemba ski resorts and a reasonable drive to Nagano so I'm quite happy. Mind you getting good work is difficult, I'm over teaching English, most of the language schools here are really bad. Any teachers in western countries should be thankful for what they've got.

I just looked up the benchmarks for this under Adobe Premiere and the Xeons runs circles around the G4's. I'm in quite a delimma as to which to choose. Although one might say, use final cut pro 3. Well, Avid is coming out with xpress 3 which totally utilizes dual processing in both mac and pc platforms. So which to choose?

I really enjoyed the food over in Tokyo. Can't believe I went for 11 days without as much of a sniff of Mexican food and a margarita.

I think what really freaked me out were the train station box lunches. Never had any food that was pink or bright purple.

Trucked out one night into Ueno where a sushi bar owner, Satoh-san, and his staff treated me to the most incredible dinner I've ever had. I've even toyed with the idea of going back and doing a doc on Japanese food... Shabu-Shabu, noodle stands, yakatoris, etc. Westerners have no idea of the vast difference in culinary fare.

I did manage to get some very cool video of the auctions at the Tsukjii fish market about 7am right before a freash breakfast of sushi at th4e Sushi Bun.

I'm definately ready for another trip. Who knows, maybe I could be "Emeril on the road"

Wayde

Sorry - and how does this relate to the timeless PC/Mac question? I'll pack up my Titanium, load up the VX2000 and have a very nice mobil production studio ready tofine tune on my G4 at home...

Which to choose? The one you're most comfortable with. Get some face time with each and try before you buy. Forget about processor speed and all that guff... either it's real-time or it isn't, and if you're not comfortable with the interface then you won't be doing very much editing. I went with Canopus because I like their editing software and I have Premiere when I need it. I didn't choose Final Cut Pro because I'm not a Mac guy. I have used FCP before, though. If you're a Mac person, FCP makes a lot of sense. But don't get hung up on the numbers. Numbers are meaningless... it's how the screen looks, how the interface feels, and can you make sense of it and use it quickly and comfortably. That's what really matters.

>>>To sum it up, plug'n'play - MAC, computer savvy, like to fiddle - PC<<<

I couldn't have said it better myself!

I also love the line about they don't care if you edited it on a Toyota Corolla!!

Since I barely have time to even get the projects worked on, I certainly have even less time to tinker with computers and such...and I am in awe of those who are so adept at it. I just want to get in and drive the dad-gum Corolla, and leave the techno-sophistry to the computer engineers.