Mac or PC ?

ronedee

ronedee

Active member
Hi Guys! I'm a newbie to all of this stuff, but know enough to get me in trouble! LOL

Thanks in advance for all of your advice. I got my "recent schooling" on the HMC150 right here on DvxUser!

I just picked up the 150 and will be using it for "GB" including: Weddings, parties, recitals, concerts etc. I have a background in Graphic Arts as well as many other related areas. I was a videographer back in the dark era (and HEAVY era) of the 80's! And I'm getting back in up to my neck!

I love the 150 and haven't had anything this nice since my "old Sony VX3"! Which was more expensive than the HMC150 back in '93!

Anyway, I really want to hit the ground running here on Decoding and editing.

I have a PC & a Mac! (this sounds like the beginning of a commercial) Anyway, I have a HP xw9300 workstation w/ a 2.3ghz AMD Opteron duo running XP, and (2) G5 2.1ghz duo's (pre Intel) running OS 10.4 w/ 30" Cinemas on both.

I don't have any editing SW on the HP, and I do have FCP 5.4 on the Mac's, and was thinking of upping to 6.

I pretty much figured from all your posts, I have the least desirable pos' to decode & edit on! :crybaby:

So WWYD in my situation? :dankk2: guys! Ron
 
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I think either one will be a little sluggish, that is the down side of AVCHD, even 4GB memory is just OK. I am searching software which can transcode AVCHD to regular WMV9 or Quicktime format, so my computer can handle. So far, tried a few, VoltaicHD seems to introduce motion artifacts, while ArcSoft MEdiaConverter only support WMV9 more than 10 Mbps, (up to 40Mbps), if you want mp4 or mov, it only supports up to 10Mbps, (got it from Hauppage HDDVR)
I tried CoreAVC demo version, it sucks, I could not figure out even how to use demo version, so I do not know the results.

Good luck!
 
Well I've tried Premier and FCP (6.0.5) on my Macbook Pro (2.5GHZ Core 2 Duo, 4GB Ram, GeForce 8600M GT 512MB, 7.2k RPM HDD)..

Final Cut as you know requires the footage being converted to a compatible format. So I don't know the performance there. On this computer the conversion to pro res takes about 2x real time.

Premier CS4 on this computer will play and edit the raw footage (1080, no preset for 720 yet). It's a bit sluggish but it's better than anything else I've seen.

I'm thinking you should build a solid PC for $1.5k :) That's what i'm going to do.. and install Premier.
 
i transcode 24Mbps avchd to canopus hq, and it's editable with a 6750 core2duo running xp and sony vegas pro... how does the core2duo stack up against your opteron?

i can edit that native avchd on the same computer with nero(~$50 if you look around), but it's a clumsy interface with serious editing limitations... you do get smart rendering with nero, however.
 
Mac or PC?

Mac or PC?

Thanks guys! I haven't done anything this intense on there computers, mostly CS & web stuff! So there hasn't been any real comparisons, or need for speed until now! Opteron was the cats ass a few back. I guess the true test will be coming!

I love the Mac's, but the PC comes in handy for most things "mainstream".

I really hate to do anything rash at this point, but I realize I will need to upgrade sooner or later. And, I probably can get a decent chunk for these computers right now.

It seems I'd be better served by the PC I have, with Canopus & Vegas, for the time being.

Another "good" thing is these 150's are selling like hot cakes, so we'll probably see more solutions as time goes on.
 
gday guys,

I'd go the mac, but you really need to give it plenty of resources, I have a G5 2.5 quad with 8 gig of ram. Sadly due to power pc chip final cut won't have a bar of avchd off the camera or the nextodi (a must for all owners of a HMC152) .

So i use toast 9 it coverts to apple pro res or dvchd pro quickly and effortlessly

I also have a 3.0 ghz dual core vista pc with 3 gig of ram running vegas 8c, natively yes it logs and transfers but jeeze it gives the machine a nasty dose of asthma
 
Thanks! I was leaning toward the Mac just because I've had so much good luck with them. I was considering CS-4 Adobe Premium Pro or FCP 6 for the Mac, but wondering if my PPC G5 will stand in the way?

I was also thinking of setting up the PC w/ Vegas and Canopus, just to have a backup in case of trouble, and frustration. But, that could be a double whammy and lead to "airborne computers"!!LOL

In any event, I'm gonna really try to stick w/ the Mac and make it work if at all possible.
 
ronedee said:
I love the Mac's, but the PC comes in handy for most things "mainstream".
Click to expand...

"Mainstream" means what?

There are plenty of Macs doing "mainstream" whatever in homes, businesses, companies, editing suites, etc.

Not being contentious, but what is meant by "mainstream?"
 
I have no problem with your question. I meant as far as SW development. As I said, I would rather use my Mac's. But I also don't like being a guinea pig for third party developers telling me to call Apple support for answers.

Unfortunately, "mainstream" means that the majority rules.

Not that using a PC is any cakewalk either. I like to know what the enemy is doing too! LOL

If you are a Mac user you know what I mean.
 
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a lot of things are geared toward PC. I love my mac SO much more than i love my pc. that said, i will be building a PC to edit on. I might not even hook that one up to the internet, and just keep my current PC for that purpose only.
 
ronedee said:
Hi Guys! I'm a newbie to all of this stuff, but know enough to get me in trouble! LOL

Thanks in advance for all of your advice. I got my "recent schooling" on the HMC150 right here on DvxUser!

I just picked up the 150 and will be using it for "GB" including: Weddings, parties, recitals, concerts etc. I have a background in Graphic Arts as well as many other related areas. I was a videographer back in the dark era (and HEAVY era) of the 80's! And I'm getting back in up to my neck!

I love the 150 and haven't had anything this nice since my "old Sony VX3"! Which was more expensive than the HMC150 back in '93!

Anyway, I really want to hit the ground running here on Decoding and editing.

I have a PC & a Mac! (this sounds like the beginning of a commercial) Anyway, I have a HP xw9300 workstation w/ a 2.3ghz AMD Opteron duo running XP, and (2) G5 2.1ghz duo's (pre Intel) running OS 10.4 w/ 30" Cinemas on both.

I don't have any editing SW on the HP, and I do have FCP 5.4 on the Mac's, and was thinking of upping to 6.

I pretty much figured from all your posts, I have the least desirable pos' to decode & edit on! :crybaby:

So WWYD in my situation? :dankk2: guys! Ron
Click to expand...

Have had pretty good luck with EDIUS 5 on PC and its native handling of AVCHD. You might give it a look see before you buy by downloading the fully functional demo from the edius site. It is a very stable editor. Adobe CS4 is also a very decent option especially if you bundle it with the Nvidia Quadro CX card. At this point I would not look into FCP because it does not handle AVCHD in its native format, nor are your macs going to be able to handle the prores encoded file.
 
Timothy Harry said:
At this point I would not look into FCP because it does not handle AVCHD in its native format, nor are your macs going to be able to handle the prores encoded file.
Click to expand...

I understand what Tim is saying, and I also would prefer native import of AVCHD/mts files.

However, moving to prores HQ from mts gives you are better color space, etc. Sure it bumps file sizes, but remember that eventually you are going to have to output to some delivery format and it won't be mts/avchd

So, yes, there is a transcode, and most duo core Macs handle pro res just fine.
 
Thanks Tim! I've been moving slowly and cautiously on the SW end of it. I want to be as well informed as possible. I have been moving forward on my computers, increasing my ram and hard drive space, etc.

I have got FCP 6 coming. I am familiar with it, and jumped on the upgrade from 5. I have CS4 w/ Premium Pro coming for the Mac, also an upgrade. I'm a Graphic Artist and my company is helping out financially.

But, I will be on my own $$$'s w/ the PC.

My goal is to get the most out of what I have at this point. And hopefully, by the time I upgrade my computers, the issues will be worked out of the various SW I own.

I didn't think this would be this challenging! But, I'm up for it.
 
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