NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2003

Darrell Hinton · September 16th, 2003, 02:17 PM

Thanks Jeff. I had read the requirements and it didn't say anything about requiring .01, I just didn't know if each upgrade fixed seperate problems that didn't have anything to do with each other. Thanks again.

Jeremiah Hall · September 16th, 2003, 03:13 PM

I recently bought an emac after my beloved g3 B/W died. I have the old apple studio display monitor that I used with my b/w. Is there a way to hook it up to the emac for a dual display, instead of just video mirroring?

Thanks,

Jeremiah Hall

Jaime Valles · September 16th, 2003, 03:23 PM

Thanks all for the advice. I think the G5 would be the wise choice between the two, both being the same price. Glenn, great links to the benchmarks and discussion. It's great to finally get real-world feedback on this.

I'm going to begin editing towards the end of October, so I'm of course waiting for the last possible second to get the equipment and software. If I was in a super rush I might give more weight to the G4, but since it'll be about a month and a half until I start editing, the G5 is probably the best bet. By that point Panther might be out, which can only be a good thing for G5 performance.

As for the RAID thing, I wasn't planning on using it. I was going to just buy an additional internal drive for whichever machine I get. Which brings up another question: Where's a good place to buy a quality Serial ATA Hard Disk? Maybe a 160GB one?

Anyways, thanks for your replies. This helped confirm my gut feelings about G4 vs G5. As soon as I've got my machine ready, I'll keep you posted on how it handles.

Glenn Chan · September 16th, 2003, 04:34 PM

newegg.com is usually a good place to get computer hardware. Sometimes deals pop up where you can get a hard drive really cheap.... try any of the hot deals sites around the net. pricewatch.com is also a place to look.

IBM and Western Digital are probably good. Check out storagereview.com for information on which SATA drive is the best (not sure if they reviewed many SATA drives yet though).

You probably don't want RAID if you're doing DV editing.

Peter Richardson · September 16th, 2003, 06:56 PM

Thanks Michael. I ended out ordering the Maxtor 5000DV 160GB--having the USB was a nice bonus and the drives have an 8mb buffer. But the LaCie drives are definitely tempting for future purchases. Do you know what kind of hard drives are in the LaCie drives? I'd heard that they had Western Digital. Thanks again for the info.,

Peter

Jeff Donald · September 16th, 2003, 09:14 PM

In System Preferences>Display>do you have mirroring checked? What happens if you uncheck it? If it is grayed out it can't be changed. The video card in the eMac may have limited memory to enable dual monitors and is limited to mirroring.

Ivan Hedley Enger · September 17th, 2003, 02:26 AM

Looked good, and not bad prices either.

John Locke · September 17th, 2003, 02:36 AM

I can see that these will come in handy when, someday, you can lounge back on your couch, split your widescreen HD TV screen in two, and watch a movie while you're working on something. Until then, wired is okay for me.

Ivan Hedley Enger · September 17th, 2003, 03:08 AM

What's the name of this software, Jeff?

Jeff Donald · September 17th, 2003, 03:20 AM

One is TC Calculator, the other is MediaCalculator. I think they are both freeware.

Kevin Lee · September 17th, 2003, 03:31 PM

There is a used Maxtor 40Gig Firewire External Hardisk near where i am going for about US$120. (Auction)

http://www.maxtor.com/en/documentation/data_sheets/1394_datasheet.pdf

Anyone have any experience with this Maxtor drive for video capture/editing and recommend it?

Thats quite a bargain. And i desparately need a disk for my laptop.

If i get the Green lights from the experts.. i'll go grab it. Yes?

Thanks in Advance.
Lee

Mark Newhouse · September 17th, 2003, 03:48 PM

I just picked up a new 120GB Maxtor (7200RPM) from Costco (in the USA) for $199. I would think that you could get more than 40 GB for $120 new somewhere, even online. 40GB will fill up pretty fast depending on the kind of editing you do.

At any rate, I'm happy with my investment. Maxtor seems to make quality drives.

Boyd Ostroff · September 17th, 2003, 03:50 PM

AFAIK the eMac's only support mirroring, not separate screens. That was one of Apple's intentional limitations to keep people from buying the eMac instead of a more expensive model. But you really can't beat the eMac when it comes to 'bang for the buck', we have one at work and it's really very nice.

I think the least expensive macs that support multiple screens are the 12" powerbook G4 and the G4/1.25 single processor tower. The iBooks are like the eMac and support mirroring only (or at least the models I'm familiar with are like that).

One thing you could do with your screen... there are some relatively inexpensive scan converters that will take s-video or RCA composite input and send out a VGA signal.

Boyd Ostroff · September 17th, 2003, 04:01 PM

I was just disk shopping yesterday at CompUSA (the system drive on my 3 week old PowerMac G4/1.25 died and I didn't have time to screw around with warranty service... ;-)

They were selling Maxor 40 GB internal ATA drives for $40 (with rebate), that seemed really cheap. There are some smaller capacity (60GB) firewire drives for well under $200 now, I wouldn't pay that much for a used 40 GB drive personally. 40GB fills up really fast... spend a few bucks more, get a bigger drive that's new with warranty.

Jim Shields · September 18th, 2003, 09:54 AM

Do you folks know if the Laird DV transcoders will work with FCP 3 on a dual 1GHz G4 (MDD). We have them as part of our PC-based avid systems at work, but I want to bring my comp in to capture some stuff I shot a while ago on DVCPro for my demo reel. I can't take the deck home, and the deck doesn't have firewire I/O, anyway, just component, composite, etc. I suppose if worse came to worse, I could rent a DVCPro deck with Firewire I/O and just take the tapes home, but I'd prefer to do it for free.

If the laird won't work, any other suggestions for how to get the footage into my comp?

September 16th, 2003, 03:13 PM	#1022
Jeremiah Hall Regular Crew Join Date: May 2003 Location: Columbia, SC Posts: 69	emac question I recently bought an emac after my beloved g3 B/W died. I have the old apple studio display monitor that I used with my b/w. Is there a way to hook it up to the emac for a dual display, instead of just video mirroring? Thanks, Jeremiah Hall

September 16th, 2003, 09:14 PM	#1026
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	In System Preferences>Display>do you have mirroring checked? What happens if you uncheck it? If it is grayed out it can't be changed. The video card in the eMac may have limited memory to enable dual monitors and is limited to mirroring. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

September 17th, 2003, 02:36 AM	#1028
John Locke Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Austin, TX USA Posts: 2,882	I can see that these will come in handy when, someday, you can lounge back on your couch, split your widescreen HD TV screen in two, and watch a movie while you're working on something. Until then, wired is okay for me. __________________ John Locke SursumFilms.com

September 17th, 2003, 03:20 AM	#1030
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	One is TC Calculator, the other is MediaCalculator. I think they are both freeware. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

September 17th, 2003, 03:31 PM	#1031
Kevin Lee Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Canada Posts: 224	Maxtor 40Gig Firewire External Hardisk?? There is a used Maxtor 40Gig Firewire External Hardisk near where i am going for about US$120. (Auction) http://www.maxtor.com/en/documentation/data_sheets/1394_datasheet.pdf Anyone have any experience with this Maxtor drive for video capture/editing and recommend it? Thats quite a bargain. And i desparately need a disk for my laptop. If i get the Green lights from the experts.. i'll go grab it. Yes? Thanks in Advance. Lee

September 16th, 2003, 02:17 PM	#1021
Darrell Hinton Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 77	Thanks Jeff. I had read the requirements and it didn't say anything about requiring .01, I just didn't know if each upgrade fixed seperate problems that didn't have anything to do with each other. Thanks again.

September 16th, 2003, 03:23 PM	#1023
Jaime Valles Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: New York City, NY Posts: 316	Thanks all for the advice. I think the G5 would be the wise choice between the two, both being the same price. Glenn, great links to the benchmarks and discussion. It's great to finally get real-world feedback on this. I'm going to begin editing towards the end of October, so I'm of course waiting for the last possible second to get the equipment and software. If I was in a super rush I might give more weight to the G4, but since it'll be about a month and a half until I start editing, the G5 is probably the best bet. By that point Panther might be out, which can only be a good thing for G5 performance. As for the RAID thing, I wasn't planning on using it. I was going to just buy an additional internal drive for whichever machine I get. Which brings up another question: Where's a good place to buy a quality Serial ATA Hard Disk? Maybe a 160GB one? Anyways, thanks for your replies. This helped confirm my gut feelings about G4 vs G5. As soon as I've got my machine ready, I'll keep you posted on how it handles.

September 16th, 2003, 04:34 PM	#1024
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	newegg.com is usually a good place to get computer hardware. Sometimes deals pop up where you can get a hard drive really cheap.... try any of the hot deals sites around the net. pricewatch.com is also a place to look. IBM and Western Digital are probably good. Check out storagereview.com for information on which SATA drive is the best (not sure if they reviewed many SATA drives yet though). You probably don't want RAID if you're doing DV editing.

September 16th, 2003, 06:56 PM	#1025
Peter Richardson Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 608	Thanks Michael. I ended out ordering the Maxtor 5000DV 160GB--having the USB was a nice bonus and the drives have an 8mb buffer. But the LaCie drives are definitely tempting for future purchases. Do you know what kind of hard drives are in the LaCie drives? I'd heard that they had Western Digital. Thanks again for the info., Peter

September 17th, 2003, 02:26 AM	#1027
Ivan Hedley Enger Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Vestfold in Norway Posts: 103	Looked good, and not bad prices either.

September 17th, 2003, 03:08 AM	#1029
Ivan Hedley Enger Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Vestfold in Norway Posts: 103	What's the name of this software, Jeff?

September 17th, 2003, 03:48 PM	#1032
Mark Newhouse Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Tucson, AZ Posts: 63	I just picked up a new 120GB Maxtor (7200RPM) from Costco (in the USA) for $199. I would think that you could get more than 40 GB for $120 new somewhere, even online. 40GB will fill up pretty fast depending on the kind of editing you do. At any rate, I'm happy with my investment. Maxtor seems to make quality drives. __________________ --Mark

September 17th, 2003, 03:50 PM	#1033
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,797	AFAIK the eMac's only support mirroring, not separate screens. That was one of Apple's intentional limitations to keep people from buying the eMac instead of a more expensive model. But you really can't beat the eMac when it comes to 'bang for the buck', we have one at work and it's really very nice. I think the least expensive macs that support multiple screens are the 12" powerbook G4 and the G4/1.25 single processor tower. The iBooks are like the eMac and support mirroring only (or at least the models I'm familiar with are like that). One thing you could do with your screen... there are some relatively inexpensive scan converters that will take s-video or RCA composite input and send out a VGA signal.

September 17th, 2003, 04:01 PM	#1034
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,797	I was just disk shopping yesterday at CompUSA (the system drive on my 3 week old PowerMac G4/1.25 died and I didn't have time to screw around with warranty service... ;-) They were selling Maxor 40 GB internal ATA drives for $40 (with rebate), that seemed really cheap. There are some smaller capacity (60GB) firewire drives for well under $200 now, I wouldn't pay that much for a used 40 GB drive personally. 40GB fills up really fast... spend a few bucks more, get a bigger drive that's new with warranty.

September 18th, 2003, 09:54 AM	#1035
Jim Shields New Boot Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Austin Posts: 19	Laird Blue Flame Pro transcoders Do you folks know if the Laird DV transcoders will work with FCP 3 on a dual 1GHz G4 (MDD). We have them as part of our PC-based avid systems at work, but I want to bring my comp in to capture some stuff I shot a while ago on DVCPro for my demo reel. I can't take the deck home, and the deck doesn't have firewire I/O, anyway, just component, composite, etc. I suppose if worse came to worse, I could rent a DVCPro deck with Firewire I/O and just take the tapes home, but I'd prefer to do it for free. If the laird won't work, any other suggestions for how to get the footage into my comp?