Min. requirements for 1080p editing?

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Evan Sherlock

Member
I am going to be upgrading my editing set-up soon and I have been keeping my eye on the iMacs. The Mac Pro is simply out of my price range at this point. I guess my main concern would be editing 1080p video. I will be acquiring a HVX-200 camera and am just not sure if the iMac can handle the resolution. My planned specs would be:

24 inch LCD Screen,
2GB RAM,
2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo,
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256MB SDRAM

Pretty much everything maxed out, except the hard drive.
I am concerned about transferring the HD footage to the iMac, because on another forum somebody sad that the data rate for the iMacs hard drive would not be high enough to capture 1080p. This would all be edited in FCP. I usually only edit DV which is much less processor hungry so I am not sure of the requirements needed to process 1080p. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I would also prefer if the question be answered by people with similar hardware specs or know what they are talking about since this is going to determine my final decision. Thanks!
 
Throughput would only be a problem if you capture uncompressed. DVCProHD has a maximum bandwidth of 100Mbps, that is no problem for modern hard drives.
 
So, when you say compressed, do you mean that I can't transfer the footage in it's original format, instead I would have to transfer them in say .mov format? Just making sure :). Also, I would figure that I should have no problem recording the footage to a p2 card or fs-100 and then transferring via FireWire? Anyone else have experience editing with similar hardware specs at 1080p?
 
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I use the Imac to edit 720 p and it works with limitations. I'm using a conventional FW drive, 800 would help, but there may be a limitation running drives/capture on the same FW bus. On a desktop Mac an extra FW card can be installed, not possible on Imac. Maybe the computer experts here can fill us in on this one - is the firewire bus a bottleneck on Imac? Anyone using Imac successfully for 1080?
 
No, what I'm saying is that the native DVCProHD format is already compressed and requires a maximum of 100Mbps.
 
My bad, I figured thats what you meant. Thanks for your reply!

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Alright, just to make sure I am set with everything, here is a little example of what I plan on doing. Some stuff I covered above, but I rather be %100 on everything I expect to be able to do.

1. Record footage in 1080/24p using HVX-200.

2. Record this footage to a P2 Card or FS-100.

3. Transfer DVCPro HD footage to iMac via FireWire 400 or 800 onto iMac HDD.

4. Edit transferred footage using Final Cut Pro.

I know I am saying stuff over, but I just want to be sure.:) If anyone sees any problems with my expectations listed above, let me know. Thank You!
 
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I can't say any more than this, but it's been hinted to wait until after NAB to order Macs for the pro apps. The specific situation I am involved in requires minimum hardware that will run all the pro apps. At present, iMacs meet that requirement minimum. But it was hinted we not buy a dozen iMacs right now, and wait until after NAB.

My personal speculation is that FCS 6.0 will have higher minimum hardware requirments than the current minimums.

Point is, at this time, don't buy ANYTHING until after NAB!
 
The iMac 24" can handle all the 1080p hvx footy you can throw at it. Im on an iMac 24" at my house for editing and ill say its perfectly suited for FCP and eidting HVX footage. Im not a 3d guy so i cant comment on pushing it to its limits there, but in FCP i can Flop M2 footage, color correct and add another filter and still not have to render in timeline to preview 1080p playback in real time full rez.
 
Just what I was wanting to hear, Cynic821! However I think I may try to wait until NAB just to see what new products are coming out like others said. Thanks for all your replies!
 
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