FCP-HD System Requirements

Taylor Moore

Taylor Moore

Veteran
i am in the process of build for a client a FCP-HD system for editing HD. System will primarily use HDCam as the importing format. We are looking at getting the 3.5 terrabyte array..
G5-2gig ...2 gig of ram.

Any advice would be a big help..if someone has built a working system like this...thanx
 
Re: FCP-HD System Requirements

[quote author=Taylor_Moore link=board=FCP;num=1089142720;start=0#0 date=07/06/04 at 12:38:40]i am in the process of build for a client a FCP-HD system for editing HD. System will primarily use HDCam as the importing format. We are looking at getting the 3.5 terrabyte array..
G5-3gig ...2 gig of ram.

Any advice would be a big help..if someone has built a working system like this...thanx[/quote]

You are really on your way as it is. Photoshop is essential. I like having combustion around. For HD, get HD formatted dual monitors, 20" at least, and an HD format monitor for the HDCAM VTR. HDCAM I do not right now believe is available for anything but SDI input, so you will have to get a compatible HDI-HD card, several of which are on the market and work with FCP. Shake is also a good option for compositing on an HD system.
 
Re: FCP-HD System Requirements

A couple of disclaimers, I do not own FCP-HD or any Apple products, however I am evaluating them. I was one of the founders of Silicon Grail – a company that Apple purchased about a year and a half ago; they based the new Motion Graphics software on our products.

I am not sure of the availability of the Panasonic HD1200A DVCPro HD VTR, I have used one and was very impressed, and this VTR simplifies HD I/O over 1394 for ~ $25,000. I agree that it is a good idea to have an HD-SDI card; I recommend the Aja Video Kona2 with the breakout box ~$2,500.

Depending on how many users you plan to use concurrently and if you are going to use the DVCPro deck and firewire, the XServe Raid is a little overkill. You will not need the Fiber Channel bandwidth and additional expense, you can also add this later as your needs grow. If you are going to use multiple users then XServe Raid might be a good idea but to use it effectively you will also need a Fiber Channel switch and XSan file system, which has not been released yet. If you have never used a Storage Area Network before you do not want to be the first one on your block to try XSan.

Ram is relatively cheap; I would up the RAM to 4Gigs.
 
Re: FCP-HD System Requirements

[quote author=ChuckS link=board=FCP;num=1089142720;start=0#2 date=07/06/04 at 19:02:49]A couple of disclaimers, I do not own FCP-HD or any Apple products, however I am evaluating them.  I was one of the founders of Silicon Grail – a company that Apple purchased about a year and a half ago; they based the new Motion Graphics software on our products.

I am not sure of the availability of the Panasonic HD1200A DVCPro HD VTR, I have used one and was very impressed, and this VTR simplifies HD I/O over 1394 for ~ $25,000.  I agree that it is a good idea to have an HD-SDI card; I recommend the Aja Video Kona2 with the breakout box ~$2,500.  

Depending on how many users you plan to use concurrently and if you are going to use the DVCPro deck and firewire, the XServe Raid is a little overkill.  You will not need the Fiber Channel bandwidth and additional expense, you can also add this later as your needs grow.  If you are going to use multiple users then XServe Raid might be a good idea but to use it effectively you will also need a Fiber Channel switch and XSan file system, which has not been released yet.  If you have never used a Storage Area Network before you do not want to be the first one on your block to try XSan.

Ram is relatively cheap; I would up the RAM to 4Gigs.
[/quote]

I am waiting for Motion with a great deal of anticipation. Is there anything you can tell me about it?
 
Re: FCP-HD System Requirements

[quote author=ChuckS link=board=FCP;num=1089142720;start=0#4 date=07/06/04 at 20:15:51]Tons, what would you like to know?

[/quote]

Does it have a network render engine so you can render across machines?
 
Re: FCP-HD System Requirements

When it was Ray’s and Chalice, those are the products Apple got when they purchased Silicon Grail, the licenses floated so you could run as many concurrent instances of the software that you owned on any machine on the network and we also sold a command line renderer. Having said that what I have seen of Motion in HD on a G5 there wasn’t much rendering required.

When those applications were designed, you could purchase Discreet Flame (running on an Onyx) or Quantel for a million bucks, Chalice was developed to give the user as much, or more functionality but it ran on small desktop computers so we were very well versed with distributed rendering and shared memory segments etc. Again, from what I’ve seen Apple has done a very good job of integrating that methodology into Motion. For most of the FCP user’s this is transparent and way over their heads, but having the ability to distribute the workflow is a very powerful concept that should allow “power” users to develop and manage a look efficiently.
 
Re: FCP-HD System Requirements

[quote author=ChuckS link=board=FCP;num=1089142720;start=0#6 date=07/07/04 at 13:59:00]When it was Ray’s and Chalice, those are the products Apple got when they purchased Silicon Grail, the licenses floated so you could run as many concurrent instances of the software that you owned on any machine on the network and we also sold a command line renderer.  Having said that what I have seen of Motion in HD on a G5 there wasn’t much rendering required.  

When those applications were designed, you could purchase Discreet Flame (running on an Onyx) or Quantel for a million bucks, Chalice was developed to give the user as much, or more functionality but it ran on small desktop computers so we were very well versed with distributed rendering and shared memory segments etc.  Again, from what I’ve seen Apple has done a very good job of integrating that methodology into Motion.  For most of the FCP user’s this is transparent and way over their heads, but having the ability to distribute the workflow is a very powerful concept that should allow “power” users to develop and manage a look efficiently.
[/quote]

Wonderful. I am waiting for it with great anticipation. Although I was always a fan of Flame and Smoke, The FCP / G5 platform is getting closer to an all purpose professional media engine at a price point even wedding video people can afford.
 
Re: FCP-HD System Requirements

You know Slapdragon, it is that Chinese proverb/curse – “May you live in interesting times.” It is true that the cost of some significant tools is coming down, but it is doing it at a time when the barrier for quality and complexity is going up, which ultimately will be a good thing.

The digital film industry, just like the music and photography industries before it, has been decimated by the proliferation of off the shelf digital tools. On one hand, you would think that the fact that these tools are more cost effect would be a good thing, but as more people buy into the new technology the only differentiation from one project to the other is the price – so now we’re witnessing a huge consolidation in the movie and broadcast industry’s.

What excites me about what Apple seems to be doing is providing tools that enable the user to create, replicate, and manage their own look, which would allow them to charge more for that look. Its not so much that you can edit just like Flame and Smoke for less, it’s more that you can do something differently that gives you a different look and feel. The problem is that when most people evaluate new technology they compare what is new with what they already have, I am not that interested in who has the best color corrector, I am more interested in how and why they do color correction in the first place.

Here’s a link to an article that you might find interesting - http://industryclick.com/magazinear...aseid=6524&magazinearticleid=107804&siteid=15 Its not about the DVX or DV but I’m sure you’ll get the point. Let me know what you think.

~chuck 8)
 
Re: FCP-HD System Requirements

Yikes, ChuckS has some credentials...

perhaps he'd take on some writing/editing for the motion graphic/EFX section of the "opensource film knowledge project".
 
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