advice on a Mac at DVinfo.net

Dale Guthormsen · February 12th, 2006, 05:57 PM

Good evening,

I am considering moving my editing over to a Mac plateform. I use premiere pro studio collection on a pc and I am tired of bugs of sorts that seems to come with windows.

Would final cut express and an Imac be adequate for making wildlife videos?

How does premiere 1.5 behave on the Macs??

Gus

Mike Phan · February 12th, 2006, 06:48 PM

I don't think Premiere 1.5 is available on the Macs. FCPE is sufficient enough with the new Imacs but I would wait until it can run natively with the new Intel chips.

Boyd Ostroff · February 12th, 2006, 07:49 PM

There is an old version of Premiere that runs on the Mac, I used it for awhile but got frustrated and switched to FCP. However Adobe stoped developing Premiere on the Mac (maybe) 5 years ago. There are a couple people here at DVinfo still using it I think.

Final Cut Express is a good value, but they have intentionally left out some nice features. It can only work with DV-25 and HDV I think, it doesn't do batch captures, no 24p support and no 3-way color corrector. Probably some other things missing too. Final Cut Studio is very nice if you can afford; it also includes several other Pro applications which are well worth the money.

I don't know the timeline for Final Cut Express on the new machines, but Final Cut Studio will be available at the end of March.

Dale Guthormsen · February 12th, 2006, 11:41 PM

Well, thank you for the info. If I go mac i will go with the final cut pro. I can't imagine putting anything together with out proper color control!!!

I am seriously considering the change over and appreciate any information. I was looking at the dual core g5's and the fact they can have a huge amount of ram where the I books only 2.5 gigs which would problably be fine.

thank you again

Gus

Andrew Khalil · February 13th, 2006, 12:10 AM

I switched from Premiere Pro to mac last year and as I've mentioned around the board a lot, I've been very happy with the switch. 2gb is plenty for editing DV and my Dual 2.0 can handle everything I've thrown at it so far. If you're going to go HD, more power/ram is needed.

Johan Forssblad · February 13th, 2006, 02:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

I don't know the timeline for Final Cut Express on the new machines, but Final Cut Studio will be available at the end of March.

Hello Boyd,
Yeah, they say so but I wonder if there will be any suitable computer to use that software on if we would like to edit HDV?

The MacBook Pro and new iMacs both lack FireWire 800 connections. According to other threads here it is highly preferably and the USB 2.0 will not match it.
In such case we will have to wait for new Intel equipped Powermacs. Who knows when it will be available and the inevitable initial problems fixed.
So if we like to start editing HDV soon, which way do you suggest?
1. Buy the "old" best PowerMac available with the existing FCP 5?
2. Wait maybe half a year or more for new Intel Macs?
3. Buy an available PC solution with a Canopus Edius system or something other out there in the PC world?
I'm in this situation myself and don't know what to do.
As far as I know Final Cut Express HD do not work natively. If you start with Express HD and convert later to Final Cut Studio then you will not get the highest quality which forces you to capture and rework your whole material again if you like maximum quality.
Any opinions would be appreciated./Johan

Boyd Ostroff · February 13th, 2006, 06:17 AM

Well obviously nobody can tell you what the performance will be with software which hasn't yet been released. I have a dual 2.5 G5 and FCP 5, and can edit HDV without any problems. Why do you feel that you need firewire 800? I have never used it myself. I don't know of any cameras which support it (but I suppose I could be wrong there). AFAIK, the new Macs have firewire 400 and that should be more than adequate for HDV. I have a whole stack of firewire 400 external disks and they work just fine for video. The MacBooks have an expansion slot, and I'm sure we'll see firewire 800 cards for it soon if you really feel the need.

iMacs have never been the platform of choice for video editing. They are a very good value IMO, but if you're a serious user you'll want some sort of a tower configuration which allows for expansion. Responding more specifically to your points:

1. Sure, if you're in a hurry just buy one of the G5 PowerMacs. They are a known quantity and have a large user base of happy video editors.

2. The Intel machines have a lot of promise but are still unknown quantities. Personally I don't like to be the first kid on the block with a completely new product line, but that's just me. If you can wait until new machines are introduced and we have some feedback from real users then this is probably the best way to go. That might take longer than 6 months however.

3. I think you need to decide whether you want to go the Mac or PC route for staters. I don't use PC's, and am not interested in switching myself so I can't help you there.

Johan Forssblad · February 13th, 2006, 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

Why do you feel that you need firewire 800? I have never used it myself. I don't know of any cameras which support it (but I suppose I could be wrong there).

Thank you Boyd,
No, the camera does not need FW800 at all. The bit rate is much lower so FW400 just works fine.
I was thinking about the harddisks for editing. Many recommends RAID setups to work happily with HDV. In such case FW800 could be of advantage. I have an 1 TB HD with FW800 to a PowerBook 1 GHz so far but this system is way too slow. It cannot even capture a Final Cut Express HD project without lag of 67 %.
What is your opinion here? How much RAM do you need to feel happy with HDV 1080 and FCP?

Best regards /Johan

Boyd Ostroff · February 13th, 2006, 07:05 AM

Hi Johan; I also have a 1ghz Powerbook, but wouldn't even try to edit HDV with it. Last summer I was working on a big project in South America and it was my only computer however. I found that it worked surprisingly well for editing PAL DV once I tweaked the realtime settings in FCP. Of course anything which needed rendering was very slow. I used two firewire 400 drives in that configuration (one for backup) and also had a firewire 400 PC card which I felt was cheap insurance against problems against problems with capturing from my Z1.

I just don't have enough experience working with HDV to give you much advice there. All I know is that my dual G5 2.5ghz with 2.5gb RAM seems to work fine on the few very small projects I've done. When it comes to RAM, more is better :-)

February 12th, 2006, 05:57 PM	#1
Dale Guthormsen Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Saskatchewan Posts: 3,048	advice on a Mac Good evening, I am considering moving my editing over to a Mac plateform. I use premiere pro studio collection on a pc and I am tired of bugs of sorts that seems to come with windows. Would final cut express and an Imac be adequate for making wildlife videos? How does premiere 1.5 behave on the Macs?? Gus

February 12th, 2006, 06:48 PM	#2
Mike Phan Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Elk Grove, CA Posts: 93	I don't think Premiere 1.5 is available on the Macs. FCPE is sufficient enough with the new Imacs but I would wait until it can run natively with the new Intel chips. __________________ PowerMac G5 Dual 2.5 2.5GB RAM/500GB/9800 256 Radeon/DeckLink Pro FCP HD/AE 6.5/DVD Studio Pro/Motion Canon XL2/Glidecam 4000/SteadyStick Sony PVM-1350 Monitor

February 12th, 2006, 11:41 PM	#4
Dale Guthormsen Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Saskatchewan Posts: 3,048	thanks Well, thank you for the info. If I go mac i will go with the final cut pro. I can't imagine putting anything together with out proper color control!!! I am seriously considering the change over and appreciate any information. I was looking at the dual core g5's and the fact they can have a huge amount of ram where the I books only 2.5 gigs which would problably be fine. thank you again Gus

February 12th, 2006, 07:49 PM	#3
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	There is an old version of Premiere that runs on the Mac, I used it for awhile but got frustrated and switched to FCP. However Adobe stoped developing Premiere on the Mac (maybe) 5 years ago. There are a couple people here at DVinfo still using it I think. Final Cut Express is a good value, but they have intentionally left out some nice features. It can only work with DV-25 and HDV I think, it doesn't do batch captures, no 24p support and no 3-way color corrector. Probably some other things missing too. Final Cut Studio is very nice if you can afford; it also includes several other Pro applications which are well worth the money. I don't know the timeline for Final Cut Express on the new machines, but Final Cut Studio will be available at the end of March.

February 13th, 2006, 12:10 AM	#5
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	I switched from Premiere Pro to mac last year and as I've mentioned around the board a lot, I've been very happy with the switch. 2gb is plenty for editing DV and my Dual 2.0 can handle everything I've thrown at it so far. If you're going to go HD, more power/ram is needed.

February 13th, 2006, 06:17 AM	#7
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Well obviously nobody can tell you what the performance will be with software which hasn't yet been released. I have a dual 2.5 G5 and FCP 5, and can edit HDV without any problems. Why do you feel that you need firewire 800? I have never used it myself. I don't know of any cameras which support it (but I suppose I could be wrong there). AFAIK, the new Macs have firewire 400 and that should be more than adequate for HDV. I have a whole stack of firewire 400 external disks and they work just fine for video. The MacBooks have an expansion slot, and I'm sure we'll see firewire 800 cards for it soon if you really feel the need. iMacs have never been the platform of choice for video editing. They are a very good value IMO, but if you're a serious user you'll want some sort of a tower configuration which allows for expansion. Responding more specifically to your points: 1. Sure, if you're in a hurry just buy one of the G5 PowerMacs. They are a known quantity and have a large user base of happy video editors. 2. The Intel machines have a lot of promise but are still unknown quantities. Personally I don't like to be the first kid on the block with a completely new product line, but that's just me. If you can wait until new machines are introduced and we have some feedback from real users then this is probably the best way to go. That might take longer than 6 months however. 3. I think you need to decide whether you want to go the Mac or PC route for staters. I don't use PC's, and am not interested in switching myself so I can't help you there.

February 13th, 2006, 07:05 AM	#9
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Hi Johan; I also have a 1ghz Powerbook, but wouldn't even try to edit HDV with it. Last summer I was working on a big project in South America and it was my only computer however. I found that it worked surprisingly well for editing PAL DV once I tweaked the realtime settings in FCP. Of course anything which needed rendering was very slow. I used two firewire 400 drives in that configuration (one for backup) and also had a firewire 400 PC card which I felt was cheap insurance against problems against problems with capturing from my Z1. I just don't have enough experience working with HDV to give you much advice there. All I know is that my dual G5 2.5ghz with 2.5gb RAM seems to work fine on the few very small projects I've done. When it comes to RAM, more is better :-)