My Solution

VMT said:
iMoviers, hobbyists, dabblers probably don't care much about what pro users say. I wouldn't be surprised either if the negative reviews are just a lot of angst that will dissipate and be forgotten once FCP X implements some of the missing pro features.
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Full disclosure-- I'm a PC/Adobe guy, so I don't have a dog in the fight, I'm just a really interested observer.

But how many iMoviers/hobbyists/dabblers are going to plunk down $300 for a program if you get most of it in iMovie? I mean, for what it is $300 is a pretty good price. But given what I've read about it so far, what does it have over iMovie that justifies folks in that market spending the extra cash. I ask that sincerely, as I do not know.

Also, Apple has always been first and foremost a *hardware* company. All their software exists to sell their hardware. Will folks making the jump to a cheaper but every bit as reliable Win7 PC, because their only reason to own a MacPro or MacbookPro was Final Cut Pro/Studio, be offset by folks buying cheaper Macs for what is essentially iMovie Pro? I don't know, but I doubt it

I really have a hard time seeing a lot of Pro folks not simply moving over to Adobe or Avid after this (or even Vegas or Edius for folks deciding to buy a Win7 machine their next time around). Especially if folks also have After Effects and Photoshop in their workflow. And I don't see the consumer market being big enough to pick up the slack in both lost hardware and software sales
 
Mike Harvey said:
I really have a hard time seeing a lot of Pro folks not simply moving over to Adobe or Avid after this (or even Vegas or Edius for folks deciding to buy a Win7 machine their next time around). Especially if folks also have After Effects and Photoshop in their workflow. And I don't see the consumer market being big enough to pick up the slack in both lost hardware and software sales
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That's exactly what I hear most of my peers doing. Almost to a person.
 
qwerty123 said:
@Hunter: where are you (and other people) going to get custom PC's built?
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I did a bit of looking around and decided on cyberpowerpc.com they have an unreal amount of customizations and upgrades (also good warranty and good reviews). Under the special pc category you can find the graphic workstation (what I'm using as a base)- nice looking case too.
 
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Build the PCs yourself! I grew up doing it. It's half the fun of buying a PC.... go to Newegg.

You don't need the warranty all the individual parts are warrantied when you build youself, tech support sucks anyway (all they do is tell you what anyone who knows anything about computers knows anyway, and google is better than the overseas guys and their scripts). I've built every PC I've ever had myself and never had a problem. You get a lot more for your money.
 
I just helped my friend who worked on X-Men First Class FX shots build a rig, this isn't the full list of parts but here's a handful of the key parts (prices may have changed this was a couple weeks ago):


$109 CASE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112239

$315 - Core i7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

$150 16gb) RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...a-_-na&AID=10440897&PID=3332167&SID=u00000626

$135 power supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009


$330 graphics card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...595&cm_re=GTX_570_evga-_-14-130-595-_-Product


$99 Blu-Ray burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136226

$255 Intel 510 SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...42&cm_re=Intel_510_SSD-_-20-167-042-_-Product


$160 MSI MOTHERBOARD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130574
 
if all you use your computer for is work then get a Quaddro but the GTX 570 does the job fine if you aren't using top-end pro apps (aka Houdini), and even the GTX series is fine, especially in Adobe. The benefit to the GTX is just for games/entertainment
 
One potential issue for me is that I'd like to be able to color grade in DaVinvi Resolve. But Resolve only works in a MAC or Linux environment. I'd like to go the PC route and save some serious $, but the lack of support for Resolve puts a damper on going that way. Any thoughts about having our cake and eating it too?
 
dop16mm said:
I've been looking at Premiere and the CS5.5 suite, and that seems to be my best bet, but the key selling point seems to be the mercury engine that only works with certain video cards.
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There are two aspects to the MPE -- software, and hardware. The MPE still works in software-only mode and will give good performance. But hardware acceleration with a supported card makes it all that much better.

So, you're still getting benefit from the MPE; it's just not as good as it could be with a supported card.
 
Those links are mighty helpful to me. I am researching the possibility of building a PC to run Adobe software as a viable alternative/2nd editing station to sit next to my Mac Pro.
 
I have built PCs many years and to get a similar machine than a MacPro you pay pretty much te same. Yes you can get a plasticbox with tons of fans that will need exchanging, but a solid piece like the Mac Pro, if you find it, costs you more than 3500 with grafx cards etc. that argument is over and out with. And we are not even talking laptops yet.

if CS5.5 is better than FCP7? sure, it always was....but in a year FCPX will be leaps ahead of anything else, believe me.
 
Nektonic said:
Those links are mighty helpful to me. I am researching the possibility of building a PC to run Adobe software as a viable alternative/2nd editing station to sit next to my Mac Pro.
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I have one under my desk running Edius6, because FCP7 was never able to do everything. Neither will CS5.5 or FCPX.....you will always compromise. But since I cme to apple I have to say at least the OSX is so good, it alone saves me many workingdays per year. so if you go CS5 i´d consider it on an apple.
 
alpi69 said:
I have one under my desk running Edius6, because FCP7 was never able to do everything. Neither will CS5.5 or FCPX.....you will always compromise. But since I cme to apple I have to say at least the OSX is so good, it alone saves me many workingdays per year. so if you go CS5 i´d consider it on an apple.
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What I plan on doing is maybe adding a new PC with Premiere/Adobe software as a second station while keeping my Mac Pro and FCP going as well. Then in a year or so, if I decide I want to stick with Adobe, I can always get it for the Mac as well. On the other hand, if FCPX matures to where I decide I want to use it, then I can put it on my Mac and still have my Adobe PC running as well. I have an older PC that I use for basic documents and Photoshop. The old PC is too weak to run as an editing station though. I kinda like the idea of having a second editing station, if not so much for backup, but for the fact that I am really impressed with what Adobe's software offers.

Of course FCPX has some nice stuff too. I am curious to see how it develops over the next year or two. I really hope that Apple doesn't abandon the professional market by phasing out the Mac Pro line and taking FCPX in a more consumerish direction. At this point though, I guess I will just have to wait and see.
 
why not just duel boot?

Slag apple all you want, but they build kit to last, and since intel, to be flexible.

Last year I met my first ever, 400mhz PowerBook that I sold on over 8 years ago. still going strong for email/web etc.

My nehalem macpro runs Nuke beautifully, makes no noise and had many months of uptime. that will run for many years ahead.

The Linux box I'm currently freelance Nuking on, I am currently hard rebooting 2-3 times a day, and need to do a 'desktop manager' reboot 20-30 times a day (ctrl f5, then f7) when the wacom driver crashes.

This whole 'apple is ripping you off' stance I've never understood. for the most part they try to bring the high-end to the desktop, spreading the tech amongt the masses.

You can feel your high-end skills are being cheapened and porned at this point, or you draw strength from the fact that you can edit or comp and actually make these machines and software fly despite all the tutorials and YouTube clips allowing anyone with a crack of the software to learn what you've spent years learning...

And remember that there are always younger people chomping at your ass, prepared to embrace new technologies you can easily dismiss.
Stay young at heart, and don't get stuck in your ways.
 
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I look after a bunch of 3D render guys that do very high end building renderings. They always built there own boxes until the boss a few years ago bought the whole office MacPros for all. The render guys installed XP 64 and over the last few years have never had us work on their machines. The guys love them with windows on it. Never do they have the issues they had with build boxes. I didn't think I'd ever see the day but they all run Macs at home..... but with windows.
 
Here ya go Matt-

I spent the past week looking into the intel 980x vs the 2600k and realized I could get plenty bang out of the 2600k for less money, also realized I could get plenty of juice from a GTX580 vs a Quadro 4000 in Premiere Pro for a heck of a lot less (see GPU benchmarks at ppbm5.com)- so the final build came in under $2000 from cyberpowerPC.com (with 5% discount coupon "INSTANT")

Specs:

NXTZ silent white mid-tower case (w/ silent liquid cooling)
Intel i7-2600k quad core (3.4Ghz)
16GB (1600MHz) Ram
120GB Intel SSD (for boot and apps)
500GB x2 raid 0 (for temp working drive- I have an external raid 1 for back-up)
NVIDIA GTX580
12x Blu-ray multi writer
wifi card
12 in one flashmedia reader
Win7

$1968 Built and shipped

ZSseBaJUxj6FnFJniqUSlWHMPEHfhJg2XsamKnp-W08Z11WktGZPKTXoq7AdN46676HQLfNM8nRw_bPxTu-ARNtOxyi7H1t_Kte_F4Oj6aBzmT4LsQf9ZlyOVD1ZD5zlwByQlHrRee1S4Iv6gsJfrde9OCZCLRGpZW9H6aIVXQLZGsVcYzLb6kFPMnzUCQ

I priced out a Macpro with similar specs for fun and it came to $4600 once you added the GTX580 and intel ssd (and you would be getting the older generation of intel CPU) Price it out and see for yourself.

Now Im going to take advantage of the 50% off adobe switch program and ill be rocking : )
 
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