Editing video on a Mini Mac.

[Sean Michael]

Is this doable (assuming you upgrade the onboard RAM from 256k to 1 GB) or a complete waste of time and moula?

 

[kito]

IT is totally doable,render time and compression will take longer than say on a g5,but what a great deal,and yes go with at least a gig of ram.If you get it put up a product review.

 

[reservoir]

Very doable. You will be able to do everything except use Apple Motion. This requires a more *beefy* video card. Otherwise you'll be able to run the "Production Suite" , "Protools", etc. just fine. I've tested all of these so far. You're only complaint would be that it will run considerably slower than a G5 or dual G5. But you'll be saving a few thousand dollars if you can put with the extra render times, etc. ~reservoir~

 

[aaron_wade]

could you run fcphd or fcphd express on the mac mini? can i transfer footage from a dv deck to the mac mini also? sorry for the simple questions, but im new. hehe.

 

[Sean Michael]

My understanding is that the Mac Mini onboard RAM is upgradable to 1GB max (from the standard 256MB). The upgrade can be easily and cheaply done by the user.

RAM upgrade

As far as capturing footage from a DV deck, I assume this would be a definite yes? I'd use an external hard drive for storage--I think the Mac Mini tops out at 80GB.

Not sure about fcpHD . . .

 

[reservoir]

FCP runs fine on the mac mini. Better put in 1GB of Ram. Get the upgrade from Crucial at

http://www.crucial.com/store/listpa...t=RAM&model=Mac+mini+(G4+-+1.25GHz)&submit=Go - 1.25GHz

http://www.crucial.com/store/listpa...t=RAM&model=Mac+mini+(G4+-+1.42GHz)&submit=Go - 1.42GHz

$161.99 for the 1GB. ~reservoir~

 

[Terry_Lasater]

It's just too bad they decided to make the Mini a G4 instead of a G5. Heck, even the iMacs are G5.

 

[kito]

It's just too bad they decided to make the Mini a G4 instead of a G5. Heck, even the iMacs are G5

Ya,whats up with that.

 

[J_Barnes]

It's hard to fit a thermonuclear device inside a shoebox and not have it all melt.

 

[Terry_Lasater]

It's hard to fit a thermonuclear device inside a shoebox and not have it all melt.

Well, the iMacs are G5's packed in an LCD monitor.

 

[J_Barnes]

Yes, but the iMac has more surface area so that the flux capacitor to dissapate excess heat. Time travel really requires so much engineering, doesn't it?

 

[Terry_Lasater]

Ahhh, I see... I had my sarcasm filter set to "on". Pardon me.

 

[SkiUtah]

I'm editing on an 800mhz iMac right now, and its manageble.

 

[Terry_Lasater]

I'm editing on an 800mhz iMac right now, and its manageble.

Who do you think you're fooling? I edit on an 867MHz G4 tower w/1GB of RAM and it bites!

I'll be stepping up to a G5 in the next two months in preparation of my new HDX.

 

[bgundu]

HDV on Mac Mini

HDV on Mac Mini

totally doable.

http://www.hdforindies.com/2005/02/reader-report-final-cut-express-hd-mac

 

[Terry_Lasater]

Since your post immediately followed mine, I thought I'd point out that I'm not doubting it can be done.

 

[SkiUtah]

Who do you think you're fooling? I edit on an 867MHz G4 tower w/1GB of RAM and it bites!

I'll be stepping up to a G5 in the next two months in preparation of my new HDX.

You're doing something wrong then. Sure the renders take a long ass time, but i rarely drop frames or anything of the like.

And hopefully this summer I will also be upgrading to G5.

 

[reservoir]

The reason for the G4 in the mac mini was price. Could a G5 have been done? I think so. But Steve Jobs made it crystal clear that the mac mini was intented to be at a price point to make winblows users switch. The mini is a little smaller footprint than the iMac so overheating may be an issue as well, but I'm 99% sure the main reason for the G4 was cost in order to appeal to a wider audience.....say...Fed up Windows users who wanted something better at *about* the same price as a mid-level PC!! ~reservoir~

 

[Terry_Lasater]

You're doing something wrong then. Sure the renders take a long ass time, but i rarely drop frames or anything of the like.

And hopefully this summer I will also be upgrading to G5.

No, I'm just not diggin' the long renders and occasional dropped frames on playback - especially when you have several audio tracks. Actually, I've been using Macs for 15+ years. So, I'm usually good at keeping the system nice and tidy.

However, I want a system that will allow me to use Motion and explore the upper end of FCP's capabilities.

 

[Policar]

Just bought a mac mini! Those things are sweet, especially with a flat screen. Awesome, awesome, awesome....

BUT:

256mb of RAM is NOT enough.
The HD is really slow. Won't necessarly be a problem, but could be a pain.

I edit on an eMac usually (1.25ghz/512mb ram) and it's fine. I can output with 3:2 pulldown in real time and color correction, etc. renders in real time fine. I also use a 1ghz g4 and it's borderline too slow for my taste. I also use a dual G5 at work with a 20'' cinema display and a dual monitor. It's amazing.

So...the mac mini will be fine as long as you don't do anything too crazy (lots of visual effects in maya). Render times will be managable, but you'll need the extra ram badly.

I also have an overclocked Athlon XP 3200+ with a PCI-E Radeon X800 XL and it just screams. I'm a mac loyalist, but uhh...WOW. It's just so insanely fast. That computer blows me away with its awesomeness. (So does the dual opteron with a nvidia quattro card at work.)