best system to watch and edit native 5d2

If you buy cheap you buy twice.

$2500 for the base model mac pro.
http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MB871LL/A?mco=MTM3NDc3ODQ

Do the upgrade to the ram for 6GB ($150) 6GB is just fine.

and buy an additional 640GB Western Digitial hard drive off newegg.com (install your self) for additional storage. (yes, get the 640, they are faster due to 2 platter design than the 750)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218

Like I said you can get education discount on the computer (10%) if you sign up for a class somewhere.

Use your old monitor or buy a cheap 24" dell ($250)


Done
 
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iMac 27-inch: 2.66GHz $2,000 ?

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27 inch | 21.5 inch
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The Mac is going to convert your 5D files to ProRes (or AIC). So you simply need a Mac that can edit 1080p ProRes effectively. If you are willing to do the same transcode on a PC you can buy any $800 desktop and do the same thing.
 
PerroneFord said:
I don't understand this advice at all. Why would anyone spend this much on a Mac just to edit 5D files?
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What is the lowest end mac or PC that you can work the 5D files when converted to DNxHD or another intermediate file?
I can build a fast PC Quadcore for under a grand.
3dsmax get's used on almost every project which is why I work with a PC, Mac doesn't support it.
 
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Do you have to sit there and wait hours or days for the mac to convert all the footage with prores or is it some internal module that will convert it seemlessly?

At the rate I go. I will end up wanting 2 5d2's from multiple viewpoints from the wedding. I can't sit here and convert all that data.
 
ROCKMORE said:
What is the lowest end mac or PC that you can work the 5D files when converted to DNxHD or another intermediate file?
I can build a fast PC Quadcore for under a grand.
3dsmax get's used on almost every project which is why I work with a PC, Mac doesn't support it.
Click to expand...

This GREATLY depends on the NLE you choose. Some handle DNxHD very easily. Others not so well. I have a friend who is editing with Edius Neo using CanopusHQ. Software was $199 and he is able to work to work in HD in real time. Scrubbing, playing, no issues at all. He certainly doesn't have that hot a machine. A Quadcore with Neo 2 should play CanopusHQ or DNxHD like butter.

Of course Avid can do it as well, but it's REALLY expensive to get into.

BUT, I would advise you to head to the forum for Edius or other NLEs and ask about people's experiences with their NLE. Do your homework and you should be fine.
 
enginyr said:
Do you have to sit there and wait hours... for the mac to convert all the footage with prores...
Click to expand...

No, you don't have to. But timeline performance isn't going to be smooth at all if you don't. Your choice.

enginyr said:
At the rate I go. I will end up wanting 2 5d2's from multiple viewpoints from the wedding. I can't sit here and convert all that data.
Click to expand...

Better find a new solution then. You could use something like Mpeg Streamclip to batch transcode to ProRes, but you're still going to have to do it to get smooth performance. Especially with multiple streams.
 
PerroneFord said:
I don't understand this advice at all. Why would anyone spend this much on a Mac just to edit 5D files?
Click to expand...

I highly value you opinion Perrone, but I have to disagree with you here.

The mac pro systems are fast and expandable edit systems that are in my opinion some of the best edit systems available. I think that the price is low considering what you get. I can't see transcoding on one machine, then moving the footage over later, why not just have 1 edit system that does everything? You can epand the ram, hard drives, video cards and add a pcie kona LHe card for HD-SDI out and balanced audio.

I would never reccommend an imac for a professional video setup as it has none of the aboue expandability options and is just not made for pro video work. You would probably burn that thing up trancoding files and it would not last near as long as a mac pro.

In fact, I would say to spend even more and get the next mac pro model up as it has 8 cores for $3200 (don't buy any upgrades from apple). You need all the processing power you can get if you want to transcode to pro res. It takes forever!
 
If the MacPro is what is required to smoothly edit ProRes files, then that's what someone should get if they want/need a Mac. Just seems like an awful lot of money. And I was not recommending an iMac. I just didn't know the MacPro was $2300. Everyone says they are price competitive to PCs, but I could get a PC that fast for half that price. So I don't know....
 
so you guy are saying everyone is sitting and transcoding all this 5d footage on both mac and pc which takes days sometimes?

No same day editing?
saneproductions: so now even an Imac quad core can't even handle this footage raw??
 
enginyr said:
so you guy are saying everyone is sitting and transcoding all this 5d footage on both mac and pc which takes days sometimes?
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No, we are NOT saying that. What we ARE saying that if you don't transcode the footage, you cannot edit with smooth timeline performance in most cases. So it's going to be hard to get your edits right.

There are some NLEs that improve things, but 5D footage is not the same as AVCHD. It's like AVCHD on steroids. My editing system can play AVCHD in realtime on the timeline. Natively. I can't get CLOSE to that with 5D or 7D footage.

enginyr said:
No same day editing?
saneproductions: so now even an Imac quad core can't even handle this footage raw??
Click to expand...

I'm on a PC with 8 cores, and it's still not enough.
 
PerroneFord said:
If the MacPro is what is required to smoothly edit ProRes files, then that's what someone should get if they want/need a Mac. Just seems like an awful lot of money. And I was not recommending an iMac. I just didn't know the MacPro was $2300. Everyone says they are price competitive to PCs, but I could get a PC that fast for half that price. So I don't know....
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Yes, that is what is needed. I agree that you could get a similar PC for the same money, but I think that you need to have more technical know how if you plan on going the PC route. Final Cut Pro is almost turnkey by comparison for new editor (I have taught video production at MS, HS and College level both Avid and FCP and FCP is about a million times easier to pick up if you are a new editor). If you want to stay industry standard for pro paying work, it is usually just Avid or FCP and FCP is cheaper when you consider price per feature.

Excuse me throwing that imac reference into the same post, I know you were not recommending that.
 
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enginyr said:
so you guy are saying everyone is sitting and transcoding all this 5d footage on both mac and pc which takes days sometimes?

No same day editing?
saneproductions: so now even an Imac quad core can't even handle this footage raw??
Click to expand...

I have done field transcoding on my macbook pro 2.4 ghz dual core and it took about 5 hours for 22GB worth of raw footage (around 66 min) to transcode to pro res using compresser (not pro res HQ which takes almost twice as long). On our 8 core mac pro edit suite (base model), it takes about 1/3 of that time.

If you do go 8 core ($3200 model), that is good, but don't go with the faster 8 core setup as that $500 or whatever for the few hundred MHz speed increase is not worth it. 6GB ram is fine.
 
saneproductions said:
I have done field transcoding on my macbook pro 2.4 ghz dual core and it took about 5 hours for 22GB worth of raw footage (around 66 min) to transcode to pro res using compresser (not pro res HQ which takes almost twice as long). On our 8 core mac pro edit suite (base model), it takes about 1/3 of that time.
Click to expand...

That's about what I see on the PC going to DNxHD. My 8 core does it in about real time or slightly faster. My Laptop does it about 1:4 or 1:5. Been a while since I've converted in the field, so I don't remember exactly.
 
PerroneFord said:
That's about what I see on the PC going to DNxHD. My 8 core does it in about real time or slightly faster. My Laptop does it about 1:4 or 1:5. Been a while since I've converted in the field, so I don't remember exactly.
Click to expand...

They need to come up with GPU accelerated h264 to DNxHD transcode for CUDA. I could really put my tri-sli gaming PC to work! I would totally transcode on PC and finish on FCP then (although there is still the drive format issue).
 
saneproductions said:
They need to come up with GPU accelerated h264 to DNxHD transcode for CUDA. I could really put my tri-sli gaming PC to work! I would totally transcode on PC and finish on FCP then (although there is still the drive format issue).
Click to expand...

Drive format is a non-issue. I have an HFS+ external hooked to my PC right now, and just transferred some color graded 5D files to it (as DNxHD). Easy as pie.

And yes, CUDA based DNxHD transcoding would be great, but Avid would have to deprecate it's Nitris hardware somewhat. Not sure we'll be seeing that any time soon. But we can hope.
 
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