Which should i buy?

[dasonras]

I am planning on buying an editing system. I use both Final Cut Pro and Avid Xpress Pro, and in my opinion, both programs have their high and low points.

I am not sure if I should buy a fast PC with Avid Xpress Pro or should I buy a G5 with Final Cut Pro on it. Which do you think is a better investment?

[TotalX]

PC - you can always upgrade the parts.

[MichaelP]

Iis refreshing to see someome seeking an editing solution that is not married to an OS. I always felt that someone should seek out the best tool for the job at hand regardless of OS.

That being said, I will let you put the prices together for CPU and monitors. CHeck out the specs for Avid Xpress Pro and Final Cut Pro. Basically, the fastest and most RAM is always good.

From there, look at the application itself, what kind of work do you do? DV, SD, HD? Frame rates? Film? Is this a personal system or are you planing on serving clients? WIll you ever need to bring your project to a facility for farther refining? Interop with audio workflow? etc.

If you but Xpress Pro, you get both Mac and Windows, but the latest version of Xpress Pro HD is windows only for now. It adds DV50, 720p directly over FireWire and 23.97p with 2:3 insertion back out over FireWire. It also allows for 4 camera playback of multicamera sources in real time.

At Sundance, 720p/23.976 as well as NORMAL pulldown directly over FIreWire was demostrated. That is a March release.

If you can clarify your exact needs based on program types and delivery needs, I can get much more specific with features set you would find usefull in Xpress Pro. I don't use FCP so I cannot give you the POV from that side of things.

Michael

[dasonras]

^^ Well, for the most part, i am an 'Avid Editor'. I have also used FCP and the only thing that i liked about it is that it seemed more flexible.

Anyways, I am purchasing an editing system mainly for my independent shorts and some small freelance work. I always work in 24p projects. At this point i am leaning more toward Avid, since i am most familiar with it. Only, i am concerned about Hard drive space. This is where i assume i'll be hit up for my money.

[MichaelP]

Well hard drive space is always a concern no matter the system being used. You can always work in an offline quality and recapture just the media used for the final sequence.

Working at native 24fps does give you a 20% boost in storage. But as George Lucas said in a interview several years ago, if he had a magic wand to give him whatever he wanted, he cited "infitinite storage" as his wish.

Michael

[bilgami]

i would go with the pc axp just cuz pcs are ez to work with as far as upgrades.