Mac G4. Can you capture HD?

[Michael Lyas]

Hi. I work in SD at present. Hope this doesn't sound like a Mac rave, but here goes. My Mac:

OSX.3.9
QT 6.5.2

Powermac G4: Gigadesign Dual (DP) 1.8GHz (Formerly DP533GHz)
RAM: 1.25G (Can Push out to 1.5G max.)
ATI 9800Pro 128Mb

Protools 001 PTLE6.4
FCP 4.5 HD, Motion v1
Squeeze v4.1

Anyway, I'm in the market for a decent camera. Looking at Sony's A1P etc, Panasonic P2 etc.

While my Mac is a G4 with a Bus speed of 133Mhz, the Fastest G4 was the FW800 DP 1.42GHz and the bus speed of that Mac was a Max 166 Mhz, not a staggering speed bump, but the fastest G4 ever made.

Realising I would need to invest in a eSATA or FW raid system for storage $AU2000-3000

To go G5 I would have to upgrade to '001 to 002R - $AU2000
Upgrade FCP Studio to v 5 $AU1000-1200

I also get annoyed that there are huge conflicts with Panther and Tiger QT issues, ie. I'm stuck at QT 6.5.2, I belive you can't run QT 7 in Panther with all kinds of conflicts.

Is there anyone out there who is capturing HD and using a G4 FCP4.5?
Would my Mac cut it?

The speedd bump from upgrading some 12 months ago has been great, to upgrade to G5 brings a whole studio upgrade, almost.

Thanks

Michael
South OZ

[Mike Schrengohst]

I can edit DCPRO HD on my PowerBook.
Shooting HVX-200, P2 injest.

Mike Schrengohst
www.MotionZoneHD.com

[John M Burkhart]

I use my dual 1.42 g4 tower, with 1.7 gigs, and Final cut studio 5.

I cut sony's 1080i HDV with no problem. It is slow to render of course, but it will get me through until the intel powermacs come out.

You should be ok with your setup. But you will need FCP 5 to cut hdv, no question about it. You just can't do it with 4.5.

Hope this helps,

JB