Need Advice in Editing System

[Giganova]

Hi all --

I finished shooting a feature-length documentary movie and are about to start editing 70 hours of footage. The footage is in 720/24p ProHD format (20 Mbps). I started editing on a MacBook Pro (which worked surprisingly well), but its time to upgrade to a faster editing workstation. What do you think about the following editing station?

- Mac Pro 8-core, 2.66GHz, 8GB Ram, 2x NVIDIA GeForce GT120 512MB
- 2x Apple 24" LED cinema displays
- Final Cut Studio (already have it)
- Magic Bullet Suit (tried the demo version, nice!)
- 6x 1TB Lacie Big Disk Firewire800 hds plus rack (already have it; will upgrade to RAID later)
- Shuttle Xpress controller (already have it; cool little gear)
- Matrox MXO2 Mini
- Matrox MXO2 PCIe host adapter
- JVC 10" DT-V100CGU color production monitor for color grading
- KRK RoKit 6" nearfield active audio monitors
- AKG K171 MkII headphones (already have them)

Couple of questions:

- Is the combination of Matrox plus cheap production monitor for color grading wise?
- The production monitor does not need to have the same (or higher) resolution like the footage, correct?
- Given that Apple will release a new line of Mac Pros next month I am thinking of waiting to get one of the new models. Will the Matrox gear work with a new Mac Pro right out of the box or is there a significant lag time until all drivers are up to date?
- Are there any good articles/tutorials about how to set up a proper postproduction/editing system?
- Will the above be able to handle 1080p footage shot with a 2/3" camcorder (or possibly a Scarlet)? I will update soon and need to have a system in place that is able to handle my next project.

Thanks for your help and suggestions!

 

[VGurcu]

1-Yes and no. Yes because that is theory behind Matrox MXO2 mini.
No, because above mentioned JVC monitor:
a-Not a cheap production monitor (a good one for SD editing/field monitoring)
b- Doesnt need the Matrox for calibration as it already has blue only and other functions to be calibrated properly. Matrix MXo2 has its calibration benefits for TV or computer monitors that arent designed to be used as production monitor.

2-HD and SD color space processing is quite different from what I read, and although in theory yes you can edit HD with SD monitors through up/down conversions, in practice it is not recommended. It is much better to have a cheap TV monitor that has native resolution (1024x 768 in your case ) than having a production monitor that has only 300 lines... That is where Matrox comes handy. A monitor like this for example: (you can find other cheaper brands/models)
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...X_15_M_Lynx_15_15_4_3_LCD.html#specifications

3- Who knows? From what I heard Matrox is quite good keeping with updates, and since it works with current software and you need one, you might as well get one.

4-Yes there are, but I am too lazy to find it for you

5-Yes it will...

 

[Staven]

* Get a refurbished Mac to save moola.

I think the 8 core is almost overkill for your project, but buying that system should make it so you can edit most anything.

I wouldn't get Magic Bullet right away. As you have Final Cut Studio, you already have Color which is an awesome program for color correction. If you hate Color, sure buy MB, but I'd at least give color a try first.

As far as I've read instead of the NVidia card, get the ATI 4850... whichever one you can upgrade to on the build to order. It's supposed to be way better for video than the 120.