New 21.5" iMac sufficient for AVCHD transcoding? and future proof?

A

ajm1945

Member
My first post here: I need to buy a new iMac, 2.7GHz i5, 8GB memory, AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 512M memory, I know it will be sufficient for general video editing (i don't do 3D), but how about transcoding 1080p video from AVCHD to other format? Say transcoding 30min AVCHD to Apple Quicktime, how long will it take?
Also what is usually the bottleneck in terms of video editing performance, CPU? video card? HD speed? Also how about using it for editing 2K video in the future? I am short on money, so I want to make sure this iMac will be good for the next 5 years. Many many thanks!

Andrew, Scottsdale, AZ
 
Thanks, 2K I mean something like 3840x2160, you think the much higher resolution is not much more demanding than 1080?
 
Thanks for the clarification, can anyone answer the question regarding the performance of iMac? especially the amount of video memory, 512M seems a little bit too small these days!
 
Video transcoding is processor heavy and system memory heavy.
Video memory and even the video card itself are far less important as long as it's modern.

For right now, you're fine. Can't answer about future-proof since I have no experience of the future.
 
What program are you editing with? If it's Premiere CS5 or above, than the video card does make a difference.

Also, honestly, I wouldn't worry about editing 2K... unless you're shooting with a new RED camera, there isn't any commonly used format that is shooting 2K. HDV, AVCHD, AVC-I, DVCPro, XDCam, XDCam EX, HDCam are all 1080 at most. I don't think anyone is going to be introducing a camera in the next five years under $20k that is going to be shooting 2K. Chances are if you get into a situation where you're seriously editing 2K, you're going to have a budget to get a better computer anyways.
 
Final cut express, but AVCHD is too CPU intensive and transcoding takes too long, so I don't know if i5 will cut it. Thanks for posting.
 
ajm1945 said:
Final cut express, but AVCHD is too CPU intensive and transcoding takes too long, so I don't know if i5 will cut it. Thanks for posting.
Click to expand...

Remember that editing AVCHD is as much dependent on the editing software as the computer hardware. I edit on a PC with Premiere. CS4 stunk when it came to editing on my rig (a nearly four year old computer with a Q6600 2.4GHz CPU), but CS5 on the same computer is night and day better. What are the specs on your current Mac? Because you may want to consider instead moving to FCP-X, which would be cheaper and not require any transcoding as it supports AVCHD natively. FCE is a 3.5 year old program and AVCHD is a relatively new format, chances are you might be better served with FCPX.

That said, using current software my Q6600 has no issues cutting AVCHD. Given that the new LGA1155 i5 chips are a couple generations past, I have a hard time seeing them having any issues.
 
Thanks, I plan to get the latest FCE, which supports AVCHD, should I transcode to other format first, then edit it or should I just edit it natively, and if I do it natively, will the latest 21.5" iMac do the work? (i5, 8GB memory, etc). Thanks!
 
ajm1945 said:
Thanks, I plan to get the latest FCE, which supports AVCHD, should I transcode to other format first, then edit it or should I just edit it natively, and if I do it natively, will the latest 21.5" iMac do the work? (i5, 8GB memory, etc). Thanks!
Click to expand...

FCE is discontinued, and they aren't selling new copies. It's FCP-X and that's it (which has native AVCHD support). Like I said, I don't have any issues editing native AVCHD on much older hardware in my Win7 PC, so I don't see how a new i5 with 8GB of RAM would cause you any issues.
 
Since it seems you do not already have a Final Cut product, is there any particular reason you need to go Mac? For the same price you can get an i7 PC and PPro or Edius or AVID.
 
Dell Studio XPS 7100
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T (3.2 GHz)
AMD Radeon HD 6770 1GB
8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz, 4x2GB
Windows Home 7 Premium
1TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive 7200 RPM
Monitor: Dell 21.5 Inch Wide, ST2220LB, 1920x1080
Wireless WLAN, USB2.0, Ethernet
Dell AX210 Speaker, 2.0, 1.2W
16X DVD+/-RW, Sound: THX TruStudio PC
$1109 before tax, free shipping, $1197 after tax, (how much I paid in total)
 
If going PC then building as system really is the way to go. You choose what you want and the price is always lower. I paid less than that for an i7 with 2 24" monitors over a year ago.

If you do go Mac. Don't they have an i7 version?
 
Yeah, there are i7 options for Macbook Pros and iMacs. Though if he decides to go the Premiere route, he's better off just swapping out his existing graphics card for an nVidia card with CUDA.
 
I insisted on brand name computers, that is why I bought that, in the future, if necessary, I will upgrade video card if necessary. My editing will not be the type that are most demeaning on the computer. I will sell my 20" iMac on eBay.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top