New Mac editing system

M

MDew

Member
I’ve been using PC for editing for many years and now despite many upgrades to bring my PC up to (what I thought was) par for editing HDV, I’m sick of Premiere crashing and locking up for apparently no explainable reason. At this point I can’t tell if it’s the computer or the program, but I am in desperate need of a fix to finish the project I’ve been doing for over a year now.

So I’ve begun the research for a new system and the results have been really discouraging. I’m reluctant to buy into a PC system after all the problems I’ve endured over the years, plus I’ve heard such overwhelming support for Mac & FCP as a much more stable platform for editing. But wow – I had no idea how expensive Macs were. $10k looks like about what I’d have to spend to get what I want. I didn’t even realize computers could cost that much! That compared to around $3k for the same thing on PC? Seems a little outrageous to me.

Basically I’d like to know if it’s worth spending over 3 times more to go the Mac route or if upgrading to a newer PC would be the simpler solution. I just want something that WORKS - without any more upgrades, crashing, headaches, and stress. I’m under a time restraint to get this project done so I can’t waste any more time with POS programs.

My dream system would be something that could seamlessly capture & edit HDV footage from my Canon XH-A1 and export to DVD or Blu-Ray. I’d also like to be able to preview the footage on an HD monitor. Since many of you seem to be editing on Mac I would really appreciate any recommendations about what I should be looking at as far as hardware, or if this is even possible.

Thanks for any help (and sorry for the length here).
 
10K???!!!! You don't have to spend that much. My main (and only) machine is a year-old 15inch MacBook Pro - it's what I use to edit footage from my Sony EX1. Sure, I'd love to have a Mac Pro, a 24'' ACD, a MXO card, a broadcast monitor - but an MBP is a perfectly fine start.
 
Mdewd I think no matter what system you go with you will need to maintain it. Video production is always evolving and software and hardware need to keep up with that. I've always used a Mac and I've always had to update or install something as time goes on. I think that's just a fact of life. I do think- or I like to think Macs are easier to work with. I can't confirm that but I notice a lot of people have a lot of issues with PCs.

$10k would buy you a nice Mac set up for sure. I don't know where you got that price but if you configured it on the Apple site then you are looking at a high price. Many authorized dealers can do better on those prices for you- mostly save money on ram and other 3rd party goodies.

http://www.powermax.com/ you can email or call these people and they can help configure something for you. They consult and help you figure out what you really need. I know there are other great stores and maybe you have one near you.

I might wait to buy brand new until 09 just for the new Mac towers. You can buy a really nice refurbished Mac that will easily get the job done right now. Maybe go sit down on a Mac and try one before you buy it.

"buy it nice or buy it twice" is a really great moto. I strongly believe in it.

PC vs. Mac ????? it's a tool and really I don't know if one is truly better than the other. I've never heard of a better hammer- it's all about who is using the tool.


(all that said buy a Mac ha!)
 
An 8 core Mac pro will run you about 3K with a good video card. Spend another 500 for RAM aftermarket, then get a video I/O card (anything from and Intensity Pro witj HDMI and analog I/O for around $350 up to 3K for a Kona card) What you spend on HDD/Raid solutions would be the same whether you go PC or Mac

My current setup cost about 4500 for an 8 Core, 8 gigs of RAM, a few TB of Storage and an Intensity Pro card.

I would only swich platforms if you want to switch apps and go to FCP. I prefer Macs, but they aren't necessarily better.
 
iMac 3.06 processor 1gb RAM, then buy 4GB ram on newegg for $75. monitor included. about $4000
Mac Pro 3.0 processor, 2gb ram, plus a monitor, upgrade ram on newegg. about 5,000.

The difference is that you can keep upgrading your mac pro, your imac will be maxed.
 
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Cool, thanks a lot for the suggestions so far. Based on those ideas, I’m not quite so scared of Macs. I must’ve just been shooting too high with my first price estimate on there. After looking again, I’m not sure how exactly I came to 10k, but this was what I was looking at for options:

Mac Pro
2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xenon Processor
8 GB (4x2GB) memory
1TB hard drive
Nvidia Quadro FX 5600 1.5GB Graphics card
One 16x double-layer Superdrive
Apple Cinema Display 20” flat panel
Apple Cinema HD Display 23” flat panel
$6,047
+ FastMac Internal Blu-Ray burner
$529
+ Final Cut Studio Pro 2
$1299
=$7875

Are some of those unnecessary upgrades? The Intensity Pro card looks like a good addition as well. I would definitely like the chance to try out a similar system before forking over that much money. Does anybody here have experience with a good Blu-Ray burner and outputting with DVD Studio Pro to Blu-Ray? That’s also something I know very little about. Thanks again for all the ideas so far.
 
Xtopher said:
iMac 3.06 processor 1gb RAM, then buy 4GB ram on newegg for $75. monitor included. about $4000
Mac Pro 3.0 processor, 2gb ram, plus a monitor, upgrade ram on newegg. about 5,000.

The difference is that you can keep upgrading your mac pro, your imac will be maxed.
Click to expand...

also the fact that the macpro has *8* cores. So there is a large difference in fact.

EDIT: also if you had the money for the 10k or so. id say get the 3.2ghz or 3 ghz. That's the one thing you can't upgrade after market. Oh and if i'm not mistaken, dvd studio can not do blueray...
 
But Toast does. You can out put through compressor, than dump it into Toast for burning.

Unless you are currently delivering in HD, I would hold off on the BR burner. Those are probably going to drop in price. Apple HD Cinema Displays are (IMHO) an unnecessary expense.
 
Macaholic262 said:
also the fact that the macpro has *8* cores. So there is a large difference in fact.

EDIT: also if you had the money for the 10k or so. id say get the 3.2ghz or 3 ghz. That's the one thing you can't upgrade after market. Oh and if i'm not mistaken, dvd studio can not do blueray...
Click to expand...

yeah, thanks for the correction man.


Side Note: Once you go Mac, you never go ... I can't say it sorry, I'm done now.
 
OK, yeah I wasn't set on Blu-Ray but eventually it would be nice to have, since I paid $2k more to get an HD camera it would be nice if I could actually see that in the final product! :(

So in your opinion is there not much of a difference between the HD CD monitors and the regular flat panel Apple ones? For once I would just like to have the best possible output for previewing, so I can be sure I won't be noticing problems if it's shown on a big screen. I just need to find a store where I can see these things in person...
 
You don't want to do your critical previewing on a computer monitor without something like a Matrox. (around a grand) So IMHO, the exact computer monitors you get aren't that important...although I am sure there are lots of people who will disagree.

The other options are something with HD-SDI out like a Kona card with an HD production monitor (3K for the card, plus a few K for the monitor)

or

Something like an Intensity pro card with an HDTV. (350 for the card, plus whatever you want to spend on the TV)

Option one or three works for most people.
 
I've been doing some more research based on the suggestions you guys have provided, so thanks a lot for the help. I'm still struggling to understand the external monitor set up, as I've never done that before. Even if you order a 2nd monitor with your computer, video previewing will not work without a BM Intensity card or something similar? Or is that just for hooking up an HDTV?

And the Intensity Pro card can be used for capturing straight to FCP as well? Is that considerably better than Firewire?
 
MDew said:
Even if you order a 2nd monitor with your computer, video previewing will not work without a BM Intensity card or something similar? Or is that just for hooking up an HDTV?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can monitor that on 2 computer monitors as long as the video card with your computer supports that (which pretty much all macs do), but you won't get accurate colors. I often switch back and forth.

MDew said:
And the Intensity Pro card can be used for capturing straight to FCP as well? Is that considerably better than Firewire?
Click to expand...

You can use the IP card for capture from HDMI of the camera you are using has that output. The advantage is that it is uncompressed. But a lot of cams (including the DVX) don't have that option. You can also use the IP card to capture analog (like VHS tapes). But it's a manual process as FCP cant control the device that way (Which is what FW does)
 
I spent about $4500 CDN. I bought a Mac Pro, 8 core 2.8ghz w/ 2 gigs of RAM and then 4 gigs of aftermarket RAM, plus a Bose computer sound system setup, a Logitech VX Revolution mouse, a 500 gig G-Tech external, backup battery supply and dual 20" displays.

It renders like an absolute BEAST. It makes render times almost a joke and I shoot/edit from my XH-A1.

-Kegan
 
As others have said, don't get the upgraded hard drives or RAM through Apple. Cinema displays are nice but definitely not needed, as was also said earlier. These considerations alone can save you some loot.

And about your comment on Blu-Ray and HD... I've shot 85% HD for the last couple years, and have never had to do blu-ray. Heh most of my stuff is for the web. Since this is the case, I didn't purchase any BM or Kona hardware– I simply bought another video card and went from it's DVI output to an HDMI input on a 42" plasma. It runs basically like a 3rd computer monitor. It doesn't give me accurate color reproduction, but having a fullscreen playback is great when clients or over, showing my edits, watching movies, etc.

So that being said– are you sure you need Blu-Ray? Have you researched this? Is it's investment going to make a return? Just my $0.02. Good luck.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. Based on your recommendations I don't think I'll worry about the Blu-Ray option as of yet, I can always upgrade to that later if I have to. I was just wondering if anybody had gone that route yet and how well it works. I was looking at HPs and you can order those with BR drives for not much more, so I was curious if it was worth $600 more to get one in a Mac.

And no, my camera doesn't have HDMI output so I guess I couldn't capture with the IP card. So basically the only reason I'd get that is if I wanted accurate color reproduction in my 2nd monitor? That would be nice...
 
MDew said:
Mac Pro
2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xenon Processor
8 GB (4x2GB) memory
1TB hard drive
Nvidia Quadro FX 5600 1.5GB Graphics card
One 16x double-layer Superdrive
Apple Cinema Display 20” flat panel
Apple Cinema HD Display 23” flat panel
$6,047
+ FastMac Internal Blu-Ray burner
$529
+ Final Cut Studio Pro 2
$1299
=$7875
Click to expand...

Your RAM is ridiculous. If you're editing HDV not full HD, then you definitely should go with 2GB and upgrade as you go. The 20" ACD does nothing for you. Get a Matrox MXO and two Cinema Displays. The MXO2 outputs to the ACD and allows input as well. Do you really need Blue-Ray? Are you going to use immediately.

Get a 500GB and a decent RAID setup that also allows for redundant backup. Also consider buying a refurbished mac... they work just as well but cost less!
 
*DO NOT* upgrade the GFX card. For using Motion and Color the ATi cards provide the fastest times and are the most compatible. As far as RAM goes getting an extra 4gig is a good middle ground. 2gig is too little IMO and 8gig is only helpful if you do a lot of heavy exporting/rendering in AE or Compressor.

-A
 
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