Need logical upgrade from macrosystems avio

[Blayde Stone]

We are at the point of considering an upgrade from our Macrosystem Avio/DV
editing system,to something faster and a little more high end.
In all honesty, it has served us well!! In fact we are keeping it
for back-up.
We produce mostly weddings, some promotional & instructional
projects,and many memorial videos.
Cannon GL-2's are our choice of camcorders ,so all footage will
be standard definition for now.
Requirements: turn key system under $.4,000.medium learning
curve.
FCP,Avid,Adobe,other????

Your input is welcomed.!!
Blayde@Cornerstone

[Marcus Marchesseault]

This first paragraph is a bit of a rant as I became frustrated with Apple.

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Well, I was going to try to make a balanced review and include an Apple and a PC system for either FCP or Vegas, but Apple's site crashed Firefox and IE. I finally got it working in Opera, but the bad news continued. Apple doesn't seem to have a decent mid-range system and has very poor choices of graphics cards. The most affordable powerful hardware right now is the Intel Coreduo dualcore chips in the 2.4Ghz range with 4Meg of cache. The Apple iMac systems are the slower chips with less cache. The Mac pro systems have nice processors, but the cost of the system approaches your $4,000 limit without even adding a monitor. All of their systems use the anemic nVidia 7300GT graphics cards. These are cards that retail for $70 and are about as fast as a decent card from 4 years ago. A $70 graphics card in a $3000+ system that had a 3D graphical OS is totally unforgiveable. It is always important to eliminate bottlenecks in systems, but Apple doesn't seem to understand.

*************

This means I recommend a PC with Sony Vegas. Sony Vegas seems to becoming very popular and has had quick updates for some of the new hardware. It also seems to render very fast in native HDV files in case you want to upgrade your cameras. I just ordered parts online to build a new system and really nice components came out to about $1300. A nice Samsung monitor would add about $350.

If you order it online, I checked Falcon Northwest www.falcon-nw.com and speced a system similar to mine and it came out to $2800. Add Vegas for ~$400 and some Vasst Vegas training for $300 and you still have some money left for a nice monitor. This is turnkey (you install Vegas) for under $4000 that can do almost everything, including efficient HDV editing and includes some training to flatten your learning curve. If you build it yourself, add two or three days of your time and save ~$1400.

To be completely fair, since the steam coming out my ears has diminished, many people would probably recommend a nice Macbook pro with FCP as a possible $4000 solution. It will have all the bottlenecks and shortcomings of a laptop, but it gets you into an Apple system that could do amazing DV editing on-the-go. You could also do this with Vegas on a PC laptop. It seems that the only mid-level Apple systems are the laptops. The desktops are either slow or really expensive.

I guess this leaves you with:

Cheap - build a PC yourself and use Sony Vegas (same as "Fast" choice but cheaper)

Mid - Apple or PC laptops with FCP or Vegas (both should be very fast for DV, but maybe fall a bit short for HDV)

Fast - PC workstation with Vegas (very fast for DV and smooth for HDV)

Exhorbitant gushing of cash out your bank vault - Apple workstation with FCP (although some would say worth it)

If you like, I can give you my list of components for a home-built PC that completely eliminates bottlenecks. I.e. all components are mid-high level with no shortcuts taken nor unusually expensive parts used. It took me two days of research to come up with the parts list.

[Blayde Stone]

Marcus,

Thanks for your prompt response! ,a lot of good info there.
It will take me a while to review and digest , and it is a great
starting point.I am leaning toward a lap-top set up, if you
have any more input about this area of editing ,feel free to
respond at any time.I'm going to look around DVinfo,any area
that you would reccomend???

Thanks,

Blayde @ Cornerstone

[Marcus Marchesseault]

I would guess that the NLE is the most important choice. Of course, that also chooses your computer, but your personal workflow is more important than the hardware. Go to the editing sections of this forum and see if there are any specific hardware recommendations. Fortunately, you are at a time when both the PC and Mac are using Intel Core2duo processors which happen to be the fastest at this time. Any dualcore system of at least 2GHz should be fine. Try to find someone in your area, or maybe a Mac store with FCP and play with the software yourself. I know that there is a super-cheap version of Vegas at computer stores for about $60 that has all the basics of the full version. Whichever "feels" right to you is probably the best choice since all else if somewhat equal.

[Blayde Stone]

It's a wet and rainy day here in Florida,just right for cruzin' DVinfo. Sooo...
I tookalook around the neighborhood, and yes Marcus, you are correct in
pointing me in the direction of Sony Vegas. It appears to "fit the application"
of what we need to get our work done, support is a "biggie"
We however are still waffling between a lap-top or workstation
portability is not too much of a concern at the moment.

Thanks and "VIVA VEGAS"!!!
Blayde@Cornerstone

[Ron Edwards]

Hey.

Why learn a new system? May not be any faster. Get a faster Cassie !

Ron