NLE on MAC vs. PC

[Mike Bradley]

Hi all.

My wife has developed an interest in creating digital copies and editing of Hi8mm video. For her first project she attempted to take many years of clips and edit this onto one VHS tape for sister using an older Dazzle product.

I must say that this was excruciatingly painful and SLOW. The project took months and met with limited success. I'm not sure if the problem was our PC (PII 400Mhz), or the Dazzle unit, or both. For this and other reasons, we've decided to upgrade our computer, and can't decide on a PC or MAC G4/G5, which has come highly recommended by a neighbor.

We are looking for speed and ease of use, which may favor the MAC. However, this comes with a price and our funds are not unlimited.

Please help me decide on a platform.

All advice appreciated.

Thanks.

Mike

[Jeff Donald]

The Mac will come with iMovie, a basic video editing program. It is easy to use, so easy my 10 year old son edits his own videos on his 3 year old iMac. If you or other members of your family are students, work for schools etc. you will probably qualify for Apple's education discount. Ease of use is a subjective qualification. Some people find Macs easier, other find PCs easier.

One big advantage hardly anyone mentions is the virtual lack of Mac viruses. If you've ever had a problem or worried about viruses on your PC, you can almost give up worrying with a Mac. PC viruses don't directly effect Macs and very few viruses are written for Macs. It's a little peace of mind.

[Mike Bradley]

Jeff,

Thanks for the reply. The virus issue is one the advantages my neighbor brought up, along with some others that people in this forum are already aware of; irq and driver conflicts, incompatiblity and configuration issues, to name but a couple.

I was unaware of the Apple educational discount. My wife is a teacher, so how would I find if she qualifies, and if so, what the discount is? Is this an Apple direct offering only?

Thanks again.

Mike

[Alan Tran]

on the apple website go to education, its somewhere in there

i used to try and edit video on my pc, a 2ghz p4, and it was ok, but nowhere near as easy as mac. so i switched. i use a powerbook g4, started with imovie, and then went to final cut pro 3. highly recommend.

the switch is painless, just burn cds to copy files over, or send them over your home network.

i got used to os x in like 3 hours.

[Boyd Ostroff]

<<<-- Originally posted by Mike Bradley :My wife has developed an interest in creating digital copies and editing of Hi8mm video. For this and other reasons, we've decided to upgrade our computer-->>>

Are you also planning to upgrade your camera, or will you still be using hi-8? I think that iMovie only supports DV via firewire, doesn't it? You would still need to capture your analog video and convert to DV using a device like the Dazzle over firewire (unless you get a tower machine that can take a PCI card).

I'd suggest that you also upgrade to a DV camcorder, it will make things much easier and faster plus the quality will be way better. There are some inexpensive models available now.

I would also vote for the Mac, but I'm biased ;-) If funds are tight then have a look at the eMac. The base model is about $800 (G4/800)

[Mike Bradley]

Alan and Boyd,

Thanks for the info.

Boyd -- we have upgraded to a Sony DV27. However, we have much in the way of old Hi8 tapes that need to be digitized. I guess I'm stuck buying another Hi8 camcorder just to be able to transfer them???

[Boyd Ostroff]

I'm not familiar with the DV27. Does it have DV pass-through? If so then it can convert analog to DV. Otherwise you could get one of any number of devices that will do this, or possibly use your existing "Dazzle". There are pretty inexpensive firewire converters out there, like the DAC-100. I'm sure this would work with Final Cut Pro, just not sure about iMovie.

I don't understand how another hi-8 camcorder would help. Or do you mean that you no longer have a hi-8 camcorder?

[Jeff Donald]

iMovie doesn't care, as long as it comes in on FireWire.

[Mike Bradley]

Boyd,

We no longer have the old Hi8. The DV27 has DV pass through, but that won't help with the Hi8 tapes.

I just noticed that your "signature" lists you as being in Medford.
I live in Medford also.

[Boyd Ostroff]

I see. I guess you would need to start and stop the camera manually, since the playback controls wouldn't work... right?

[Boyd Ostroff]

Really (Medford NJ)?... small world! If so, drop me a private e-mail (see my profile). I have a couple old hi-8 camcorders at work and can probably loan one to you for long enough to digitize your old tapes.

[Glenn Chan]

iMovie2 is really easy to use although some people at my school had a really really bad experience with it because of bugs (all their clips mysteriously disappeared on a large project). I'm not sure what iMovie3 is like, although it seems like it has bugs too. iMovie seems to be rock solid when you have less than 100 clips and not that many edits.

Premiere 6.5 on the PC is ok but is sometimes confusing and frustrating.

I found Final Cut Express/Pro to be intuitive except for capturing, which you need to consult the manual or an online resource for (try ken stone's FCP website; google search for it).

PCs are more user friendly and less crashy nowadays. You typically don't have to worry about IRQ conflicts.

For family videos and such either an iMac or a PC should be fine as long as you aren't using a lot of filters and titles and other things that need rendering. A PC might give a bit better speed/price ratio.

[Alan Tran]

i like to import using imovie
and edit with final cut pro

although im sure im breaking lots of rules there :)

[Nathan Gifford]

Some of the Sony miniDVs will play Hi8 directly.

[Jeff Donald]

For family videos and such either an iMac or a PC should be fine as long as you aren't using a lot of filters and titles and other things that need rendering. A PC might give a bit better speed/price ratio

The jury is still out on the new G5's as to their speed vs. a PC. However, a G5 might be overkill for what Mike and his wife have in mind. If you're looking for iMac's, they just got a speed bump today to 1.25gHz, USB 2 and some other features.