2010 MacMini and FCP6? Will they play nice? at DVinfo.net

Shaun Roemich · March 3rd, 2010, 12:03 PM

I almost can't believe I'm asking this but I NEED to complete a small number of projects in the next month or so and I'm waiting on the new MacPro for a new desktop solution and my prior offline edit iMac was dropped twice, rendering the FW controller inoperable (and cracking the screen... not me who dropped it).

I don't want to drop (pardon the pun) a bunch of cash before the new MacPros drop (again, I'm having too much "fun" with this...) so I'm wondering if I can cripple my way through a handful of short form edits until I can buy my MacPro. HDV 720P60 captured as ProRes over FW to external FW drives (I can daisy chain through the drive to get connectivity to the camera/feeder).

Tried Google searching DVi and didn't get any RECENT hits.

Any one with actual experience? (I can't really go with "it SHOULD work" here...)

Apple's minimum requirements state NVIDIA graphics w. 128MB and the Mini meets that. This would be for FCP almost exclusively - I don't need to run Motion on this machine.

Thanks in advance!

William Hohauser · March 3rd, 2010, 04:09 PM

Do you plan to capture as ProRes with the Mini? I've successfully used my old dual 1.66 MacMini to capture DV video and playback 720p ProRes from an external FW drive with minimum problems. Never tried to capture ProRes on it. Usually I use the Mini as a standby DVD authoring station or the make web files with small projects. Sometimes the Mini stutters while playing back and Time Machine gets in the way so it pays to turn it off before going to DV tape. In theory, the Mini should be able to do whatever a low end laptop can do but I've found my older dual 2gh MacBookPro to be more responsive and less prone to stutters. Now it's a few years later and the Mini should be a little better. Sorry, had to use the dreaded "should".

Nigel Barker · March 4th, 2010, 01:31 AM

The Mac Mini can be considered as a laptop with reasonable expandability (two monitors, five USB ports, Firewire 800.). If you are on a tight budget I guess it could be useable with FCP & is certainly a lot cheaper than any MacBook or MBP.

The latest Mac Minis (since March 2009) are vastly better than the previous models & in particular have quite decent Nvidia 9400M graphics. However the basic 160GB disk is really, really slow. I just upgraded my wife's Mini from 1GB to 4GB RAM & replaced the disk with a WD Scorpio Black 320GB 7200rpm & the difference in performance is fantastic. Doing the upgrade yourself is pretty easy if you can handle a palette knife & there are lots of tutorials around the 'Net. Apparently it won't even invalidate your warranty.

Shaun Roemich · March 4th, 2010, 01:55 PM

Thanks guys. Looking at the 320GB hard drive version w. 4GB of Ram as the NVIDIA gaphics processor coshares system memory and my old iMac w. 3GB was just about right.

William: will be capturing ProRes but my old iMac Intel 2.16GHz was up to the task so I SHOULDN'T (breaking my own mandate here...) have a problem.

As mentioned, system drive speed isn't critical to me as all media will be external.

SIGH, guess I'm going shopping this weekend.

Again, thanks for the input. Wish me luck...

March 3rd, 2010, 12:03 PM	#1
Shaun Roemich Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia (formerly Winnipeg, Manitoba) Canada Posts: 4,088	2010 MacMini and FCP6? Will they play nice? I almost can't believe I'm asking this but I NEED to complete a small number of projects in the next month or so and I'm waiting on the new MacPro for a new desktop solution and my prior offline edit iMac was dropped twice, rendering the FW controller inoperable (and cracking the screen... not me who dropped it). I don't want to drop (pardon the pun) a bunch of cash before the new MacPros drop (again, I'm having too much "fun" with this...) so I'm wondering if I can cripple my way through a handful of short form edits until I can buy my MacPro. HDV 720P60 captured as ProRes over FW to external FW drives (I can daisy chain through the drive to get connectivity to the camera/feeder). Tried Google searching DVi and didn't get any RECENT hits. Any one with actual experience? (I can't really go with "it SHOULD work" here...) Apple's minimum requirements state NVIDIA graphics w. 128MB and the Mini meets that. This would be for FCP almost exclusively - I don't need to run Motion on this machine. Thanks in advance! __________________ Shaun C. Roemich Road Dog Media - Vancouver, BC - Videographer - Webcaster www.roaddogmedia.ca Blog: http://roaddogmedia.wordpress.com/

March 3rd, 2010, 04:09 PM	#2
William Hohauser Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: New York City Posts: 2,650	Do you plan to capture as ProRes with the Mini? I've successfully used my old dual 1.66 MacMini to capture DV video and playback 720p ProRes from an external FW drive with minimum problems. Never tried to capture ProRes on it. Usually I use the Mini as a standby DVD authoring station or the make web files with small projects. Sometimes the Mini stutters while playing back and Time Machine gets in the way so it pays to turn it off before going to DV tape. In theory, the Mini should be able to do whatever a low end laptop can do but I've found my older dual 2gh MacBookPro to be more responsive and less prone to stutters. Now it's a few years later and the Mini should be a little better. Sorry, had to use the dreaded "should". __________________ William Hohauser - New York City Producer/Edit/Camera/Animation

March 4th, 2010, 01:55 PM	#4
Shaun Roemich Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia (formerly Winnipeg, Manitoba) Canada Posts: 4,088	Thanks guys. Looking at the 320GB hard drive version w. 4GB of Ram as the NVIDIA gaphics processor coshares system memory and my old iMac w. 3GB was just about right. William: will be capturing ProRes but my old iMac Intel 2.16GHz was up to the task so I SHOULDN'T (breaking my own mandate here...) have a problem. As mentioned, system drive speed isn't critical to me as all media will be external. SIGH, guess I'm going shopping this weekend. Again, thanks for the input. Wish me luck... __________________ Shaun C. Roemich Road Dog Media - Vancouver, BC - Videographer - Webcaster www.roaddogmedia.ca Blog: http://roaddogmedia.wordpress.com/

March 4th, 2010, 01:31 AM	#3
Nigel Barker Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK Posts: 3,531	The Mac Mini can be considered as a laptop with reasonable expandability (two monitors, five USB ports, Firewire 800.). If you are on a tight budget I guess it could be useable with FCP & is certainly a lot cheaper than any MacBook or MBP. The latest Mac Minis (since March 2009) are vastly better than the previous models & in particular have quite decent Nvidia 9400M graphics. However the basic 160GB disk is really, really slow. I just upgraded my wife's Mini from 1GB to 4GB RAM & replaced the disk with a WD Scorpio Black 320GB 7200rpm & the difference in performance is fantastic. Doing the upgrade yourself is pretty easy if you can handle a palette knife & there are lots of tutorials around the 'Net. Apparently it won't even invalidate your warranty.