New iMac 24" as HVX Editing station...?

I guess not... :)

Well the Mini DVI adapter got here today and shipped 2 days ago, i ordered it with the iMac. Apple just charged my card for the iMac about an hour ago, so i can only assume its going to ship either tomorrow or monday and make it hear next week. Estimated ship date says the 19th, but the esitmated ship date of the Mini DVI adapter was the 15th , and the 15th was when it got here. :P So hopefully, this will ship tomorrow and ill recieve by tuesday!

Ive only got my Macbook Pro 2.0ghz to benchmark against, but ill run some Final Cut Pro renders and outputs on the Macbook and then the iMac if i can.
 
Im looking foward to making it, ive been staring at the specs page for the iMac all day back and forth, its in another tab right next to this one in safari. Ive been looking for FCP benchmarks online with it, but theres not any NON apple benchmarks, but apple has it listed at 1.5x faster in FCP than a 2.0ghz Core Duo setup.
 
Idk if im bumping this but I got to use an iMac 24in & MacPro today and all ive got to say is ddaaaamn..... The iMac exceeded my expectations 10 fold. It ran everything flawlessly, played back 1080p HD like a champ, played a 1min sequence at 720p w/50 transitions and many audio layers great too. Not to mention the screen is the sexiest thing ive every seen...forget you Christy. :) Render times were pretty close to the macPro in alot of stuff I did also. Point being, get this thing and hook a G-Raid up to it, you'll have smooth sailing baby. MacPro seemed like it was more for business intensive people. People who do full HD quality commercials and stuff like that. I do alot of intensive stuff and will be on my iMac alot but I wont be using HD footage either just DV from my XL2 so its even more overkill. HD later or not the imac runs it perfectly so im not worried. I save 500 bucks and get a kick butt screen. No complaints, I know what im buying in the next week lol.

-Kyle
 
Thats awesome to hear! I dont have a Mac Pro to do a comparison in with HD rendering, but thanks for posting this! Ill be doing my comparison against a Macbook Pro Core Duo 2.0ghz.

basically same machine, but the Core 2 Duo chip in the iMac as well as the updated video card to 7600 GT w/ 256mb ram, against my Macbook Pro with the x1600 w/256mb ram.

Both are mobile processors.

I was never worried about the iMac not having the power to run any HD stuff because my Macbook Pro Screams with Final Cut and all HD footage, renders real time to external HDTV display no problem. Rarely ever do i drop a frame, and if i do its because of Photoshop running in roseta at the same time, but even that is rare! Thats why i decided to go with the iMac instead, seeing as the HVX footage isnt going to magically need more power in its CPU editor 1 year down the road, ya know?!

Plus i save more than 500 bucks, because i dont have any displays right now besides a 720p LCD HDTV (not CPU style monitor) so i would need a display and i NEED it to be 1080p. I only buy apple stuff really so id be about 1000 bucks for the Apple Cinema Display at 23" 1080p to go along with the Macpro, as well as needing 2 video cards to run the 2 monitors, thats an extra 175 i beleive. So for what i needed, in my specific circumstances, i saved about 1800 after taxes maybe?

OH! BTW, the iMac is now in Alaska and will be here on the 20th according to Fed Ex. It shipped from Shanghai, to the Phillipines, to Anchorage. Next stop most likely Portland, then Sac town, and San Jose, then my Office, then finally its nice long life in my Apartment.
 
How long has Vin Deisel been a secret agent? Thats the same amount of time left till it gets here.

*vin voice* ...2 days...

*update - it went to Indianapolis for some reason :( i really cant take the wait, I just want a desktop again, the laptop is a dream come true when at work and not in the house, on the road etc...but at home, i want my 24"s of 1080p Mac goodness
 
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I was back and forth betweeen the Mac Pro and the iMac. I hope most of you get to read this. I ordered the Mac Pro, this is why:

I cant afford to upgrade very often. - It's easier for me to expand ram, hard drives, videocards etc. piece by piece, not the entire setup. So I'm still using this machine in 3-4 years, and by that time I'm going to want more than 3 GB ram.

Hard Drives are undervalued. My setup looks like this: 500GB + 500 GB + A raid with 2x 20GB drives with set up as Raid 0, this way I maximize the throughput on scrachdisk intensive apps like Adobe Photoshop or even Mac Os X. This can not be done on a iMac either way.

Connectivity. Bottlenecks are easily neglected in modern computer systems. I want to be able to log video where I see it fit. With an iMac, you can only log into the internal HD drive, unless you have a firewire 800 or USB 2.0 drive. For me, that's another extra expense. I tried to log video from the HVX in 1080p into a USB 2.0 drive via the iMac and failed. - I guess this is because of the bottleneck system.

I ordered a 30" Cinema Display (jay!) Why the hell would I need a 30" display? Well, I cant afford to buy both a good computer display and a nice flat panel TV. So I got this instead, with an eyeTV usb dongle which gives me TV on the Mac.

Conclusion: The iMac is a great machine, and good enough for most. But I cant afford to fool myself into buying a cheaper (but limited) machine in the long run.
 
Im not trying to fool anyone including myself. For not being able to afford an upgrade , thats a pretty pricey system you picked up! Congrats

may i ask when the last time you upgraded your mac before the mac pro?
 
Cynic821 said:
Im not trying to fool anyone including myself. For not being able to afford an upgrade , thats a pretty pricey system you picked up! Congrats

may i ask when the last time you upgraded your mac before the mac pro?
Click to expand...

The last machine I bought was a Dual G4 1 Ghz, but I wrecked it by blowing compressed air on the CPUs a year ago. I learned two things from that purchase. 1: When configuring a modern Pro system, the slowest CPU is always good enough. This is because even the fastest CPU isn't good enough. - My point is, I configured my Mac Pro to 2.0 Ghz because I think it's pointless to spend the extra money on getting my export-times down from one hour to 50 minutes. 2: Don't blow compressed air on your system.

So a relative has let me loan this Powerbook 17" (1 Ghz G4) for a year now. I use a PCMCIA adapter to connect the HVX to the machine so I can log to an external drive, which don't work either way because the CPU can't handle the DVCPROHD codec. I don't even have P2 cards. I'm ready for this upgrade.
 
We purchased a 2.66 Ghz MacPro and use it with the Studio, AE, PS, Illustrator and some boutique apps.

Anything UB screams. We have XP on one drive, a p2 backup HD on another, and a 400 Gb Hitachi SATA on another.

We have ordered two more hard drive carriers, and plan to have further backups and media drives on those.

We also have 5 Gbs of RAM and a 30-inch ACD.

The set up is fabulous.

We strictly use SATA drives for capture and editing.

We have one FW burner but eschew any FW or USB devices for capture or editing.

USB 2.0 does not have fast enough sustained data rates to reliably pass video. While FW works in a continuous data stream. USB 2.0 uses data burst packets. That is not good for working with video files. Even though USB 2.0 on the bench can be faster than FW, all that data it's passing is not all YOUR data. A lot of it is the tremendous communication overhead that USB requires to talk to its devices.

That's my experience at least.
 
David S. said:
USB 2.0 does not have fast enough sustained data rates to reliably pass video. While FW works in a continuous data stream. USB 2.0 uses data burst packets. That is not good for working with video files. Even though USB 2.0 on the bench can be faster than FW, all that data it's passing is not all YOUR data. A lot of it is the tremendous communication overhead that USB requires to talk to its devices.

That's my experience at least.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I learn new things every day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb#USB_2.0_Hi-Speed_vs_FireWire

- prox
 
"Date/Time

Activity

Location

Details

Sep 20, 2006 8:51 AM

Delivery exception

SAN JOSE, CA

Customer not available or business closed

8:23 AM

On FedEx vehicle for delivery

SAN JOSE, CA



8:04 AM

At local FedEx facility

SAN JOSE, CA "

Thats what fed ex says this morning in tracking. Bogus since people have been here in the office all morning since 8am. I called fed ex and its being retried today if the driver has time. Im upset , but ill try and make it through, but if its not here today i WILL NOT BE HAPPY. I hate fed ex anyways, UPS PWNS!
 
Cynic821 said:
Thats what fed ex says this morning in tracking. Bogus since people have been here in the office all morning since 8am. I called fed ex and its being retried today if the driver has time. Im upset , but ill try and make it through, but if its not here today i WILL NOT BE HAPPY. I hate fed ex anyways, UPS PWNS!
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Cynic,
Call FedEx back and go up the chain as far as is necessary to get them to deliver today. Just keep asking to talk to the person's supervisor when they shut you down. FedEx does this all the time. It's outrageous! I call and get really pissy every time they do it to me, and virtually every time, they send someone out with it. B
P.S.: I've had the same thing happen with UPS --- they all suck!
 
Cynic821 said:
Thats what fed ex says this morning in tracking. Bogus since people have been here in the office all morning since 8am. I called fed ex and its being retried today if the driver has time. Im upset , but ill try and make it through, but if its not here today i WILL NOT BE HAPPY. I hate fed ex anyways, UPS PWNS!
Click to expand...

This has also happened to me as well with FedEx. It used to be the most reliable company out there, but for our company, that has changed.

On six separate occasions in a row, I took a weighed and packaged shipment to the FedEx airport office. They weighed it, and measured it, and gave me the price.

Six straight times, the actual billing was higher. FedEx tells me that at the station the quoted prices are only "estimates."

Interesting that each of the estimates was lower than the final billed prices. Never higher. Try going to a supermarket and buying a loaf of bread where the price in the aisle is only "estimated."

Twice I was billed for a residential delivery when it went to a business address.

Don't get me started on DHL
 
Well i called twice already, and they call and message the delivery guy and there is no response from him, im calling back at 2pm again to get this today.

I guess today is the day the guy decided to quit and steal all the packages, because he doesnt respond to anything and is obvioulsy lying saying that no one was here at 8:51 when clearly this place has about 8 people in it and 1/4 full parking lot at 8am. The guy says that he can have it dropped off at a local Kinko Fedex and im like WTF?! why cant you drop it off here. He says thats my only other option.

Reminds me of that commercial for sprint with the "Red Dots". Im ready to aggitate those dots, the guys in the commercial have it, Fed Ex doesnt.

I only use UPS but it was apples choice to use Fed Ex. A long time ago when i worked game crazy, DHL shipments would constantly come opened already with tons of Video games and systems missing. Like blatantly opened , not even retaped closed.

BTW, the automated Service line for Fed Ex is attrocious, the only person i can find to speak to is billing each time, then they have to transfer me. The billing guy says he knows the service sucks. Im guessing his calls arent recorded.
 
Update. got through to someone directly in Dispatch and he says the driver will be here before 3pm pacific time with it. Well see i suppose....

A little tip, during the main menu of the fed ex customer service line, you can Say "Representative" to get connected to someone immediatly. Its not a listed option in the menu, which is as shady as it gets.
 
PM:
contentlab said:
how did compressed air kill your system? did you get some of the fluid on the chip from not holding the can upright or something?

i'm just curious since i've never heard of this happening before even though I and all my PC builder geeks use air cans to clean out dusty systems on a regular basis.

regards

jason
Click to expand...

Let me encourage you to post such questions in the public forum, this way more people can benefit from shared wisdom :)

I held the can the wrong way, sprayed fluid and didn't wait long enough before I booted the system, so one of the two CPUs died. The cost was too big for me so I sold the broken system.

- Prox
 
iMac is finally here, had to complain and finally he came ... anyways, its pretty awesome, got FCP installed and all that fun stuff, ill post more and answer any questions anyone wants to ask now, but ill post more later on tonight.
 
Cynic821 said:
iMac is finally here, had to complain and finally he came ... anyways, its pretty awesome, got FCP installed and all that fun stuff, ill post more and answer any questions anyone wants to ask now, but ill post more later on tonight.
Click to expand...

A couple of questions:

1. Did you go with 3 gigs of RAM and the 256 7600 GPU?

2. Can you go out the DVI port (I believe there is one) and run the desktop display to a second monitor?

Did you also go with the bluetooth mouse and keyboard?

How does Motion run with the iMac?

Finally, are you running footage off the internal drive or an external?
 
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