Best Macpro setup?

[wrlds_apart]

I keep hearing about all this "Amazing Uncompressed Editing" abilities. Click here. But I am not sure if that is something I need or not.

I am a Graphic Designer but have taken a couple of film classes and fell in love with it. I completed a couple of shorts in school that came out fairly well and I know I could take off with it. I just got 2 HV20's and a Brevis on the way, wireless system (sound)...suddenly I have two pairs of friends that are getting married this spring and I figured I would film their weddings...both want final product in HD. This sparked the idea that I can pay for my equipment with weddings for the next year...my real passion is shorts and documentaries.

So I want the ability to Edit, Color Grade, and create VFX all in HD. Is it necessary to buy a system that is meant for "Uncompressed HD?" Will I get a better end result? Or will I be working in some sort of compressed HD anyways and upconverting once the editing etc. is finished?

If no one wants to answer...maybe point me in the right direction. Ive spent hours on forums and websites trying to figure this stuff out...my eyes are crossing so finally I just post about it! THANKS!

 

[Batutta]

Well, if you're shooting with an HV20, that means you're cutting HDV, in which case any mac made in the past two years will be able to handle it fine. With previous versions of final cut it was advised to convert HDV to a less lossy codec after capture, as when you started adding effects and stuff in an HDV timeline image quality would degrade fast. However, in FCP 6, you have the option of keeping your clips in HDV format and only rendering your effects in apple's new PRO RES codec, so you maintain quality. You can work with HD with anything down to a MacBook, it's just a question of how long you want to wait for things to render.