ideal fcp set up

For what?

DV editing?
HDV editing?
HD DVCPro HD Editing?
Uncompressed editing?

Digital sources?
Analog sources?
Budget?

Your question lacks details, and so will the answers.
 
An Intel Xeon Mac Pro with 16GB of ram, a Blackmagic Decklink Card and a fast RAID drive with as many terabytes as you can afford. Two 30 inch Cinema Displays. A 50 inch 1080p TV for monitoring. As for decks, at the high end you're better off renting, unless you want to mortage your house...And as long as we're dreaming, a rack of Xserve's for distributed rendering.
 
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... cept FCP only runs on 4 gigs of ram... but hey - with the other 12 you can do some amazing things!! Best off to get the x1900 video card too (not kidding).

CaptM
 
24fps,

Blackmagic Design and AJA both make add-on video cards for editing suites. The cards allow you to bring footage into FCP and go out of FCP using SDI, multiple audio channels, and with RS-422 control (for ultimate frame accuracy). They come in many flavors now. Some support only SD, some HD and SD, and some can provide hardware conversion ability for you (between HD/SD). The AJA Kona 3 is the one that does it all.

You can google either brand name to get to their homepages. All of their various cards are listed. This is for going out to professional decks though. If you're always finishing on DVD or for the web or such then they might not be worth it for you. Or if you have a post facility that you take your hard drive/edit to, then again, these may not be of much value.

Cheers.
 
can I get this again on a self employed freelance editors budget im using dv but I plan to move into hdv asap after I upgrade my computer
 
HDV for anything professional is going to cost you big bucks... no way to monitor HDV out of FCP without a huge budget.

CaptM
 
lairhair said:
can I get this again on a self employed freelance editors budget im using dv but I plan to move into hdv asap after I upgrade my computer
Click to expand...

That depends on how much you make as a freelance editor. Like the first response said, we need more details.

CaptainMench said:
HDV for anything professional is going to cost you big bucks... no way to monitor HDV out of FCP without a huge budget.

CaptM
Click to expand...
The Matrox MXO is only $999 and can get respectable results on a budget when coupled w/the 23" Apple Cinema Display. Shane Ross was able to use that combo to get results very close to his Sony CRT HD b'cast monitor.

That's more that what monitoring DV costs, but it shouldn't break anyone's bank who's getting paid to work.

-A
 
Good point... not ideal but good point - however.... Doubling the cost of your computer when you've already stated you don't have the money... well...

CaptM
 
Ok I appreciate the answers so far but I will give as much info as possible. Im doing freelance videography cinematography and editing. Iv been doing it for about 3 years. I also have a part time job in retail making a hair over minimum wage. I have a chance to grow with a reputable wedding videography company and plan to ditch my part time job and go full time school and freelance work. I have 3k saved up so far and dont plan to buy a mac pro until the new ones come out. Then I plan to sell my imac 2gb ram 200gb external hard drive and fcs1. By that time I will have worked enough and sold enough to have about 5k assuming apple releases the new mac pros around march or april. I will then be almost fully dedicated to freelancing and want to do it right. I am almost maxed out for DV when it comes to videography and I will move to HD soon but I want to max out my editing potential. thanks
 
Remember to buy Ram and Hard Drives from outside of Apple, save yourself some big bucks.

For 700 bucks, one could get 16 gigs of ram, Apple charges 3-4x that much. They charge nearly 300 bucks for a 500 gig drive if I remember correctly.


Also, when using Motion and now with FCP, you want to have a good video card. It equals to better performance.

So you need a fast processor, lots of ram, lots of hard drive space (speed depends on what you're workin with), and a good video card.

Also I hear a Blu-Ray Drive may be a BTO-Option so HD may not be so far away for you.
 
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