GH13 Panasonic VS Canon, Mac VS PC Win 7 - the ridiculous war / herd mentality

I can only put it this way, for those who joined video editing yesterday the pc is comparable to the mac, but for those who have been in this for years all know the truth. I was forced to abandon the hobby until i could afford a mac years later. Since i moved to mac my basement is clean, i no longer see the extras of everything(memory, graphic cards, soundcards etc.) all over and never opened the mac, why should i ?, i want to edit my videos not maintaining and modifying the machine. Oh and in those years, although i had a pc dedicated to video, the pc would crush in almost every edit, i hear it no longer does that, but i have moved. For the first time i hear there is a decent working pc and hurra a demand for a rematch.

All the Mac did was move repairs from the user to the overpriced Apple store. You can do the same thing with PC's. Buy a business class Lenovo or HP workstation and you can get the same type of support where somebody else fixes it for you. All Apple has done is take away the ability for people to fix their own machines so Apple can make more money on the repairs.

I had an iMac that I purchased the extended warranty on 5 days before the cut off date. I was glad I did because the monitor stopped working. With an iMac if the monitor stops working you are pretty much SOL. I took it in to the sanctuary to be blessed, I mean Apple store to get fixed and they told me without the warranty it was going to cost $700.00. $700.00 on a $1,200.00 iMac. Now a normal computer I could have just went out to buy a new monitor problem solved. On top of the cost it was going to take 4 to 5 days for the repair.

Maybe Apple gives you a sense of not having to worry about the computer but I can tell you they do break down and it costs a fortune to fix them. Ironically you would think you will pay more for a computer so it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to fix it if it does break. Nope. Apple gets you with the cost up front and then they get you again when it does break. All the parts are still slapped together in China.

In this world it is all about luck. None of us can say from our own personal experiences how good or bad a platform is because of what we noticed. I have had PC's that literally have not been shut down or restarted for 6 months straight. I have had macs crash constantly. It is all about luck and knowing how to best use your machine. I teach students who all use macs and some of them have had interesting horror stories about buying a brand new MBP and taking in to get fixed 6 times already and Apple not really giving a crap why it doesn't work. I personally use a 17" MBP because at the time it seemed like a nice laptop. It is a very nice laptop but my wife almost left me for paying as much as I did. My main reason for buying it was FCP. Now that FCPX is here I wish I could go back and buy a Lenovo workstation class laptop instead. Lenovo is one of those good support companies that will bend over backwards to fix your system. They are not much cheaper then a MBP but they add extra hardware that is very useful for an editor. These days I use Premiere CS5.5 which I like a lot more then I used to. I would prefer it even more on a PC with a supported CUDA graphics card however. Something the Lenovo laptop has.

Anybody want to buy a 17" quad core MBP? kidding. I tried it already and my wife really wanted to kill me when I mentioned it to her.
 
All the Mac did was move repairs from the user to the overpriced Apple store. You can do the same thing with PC's. Buy a business class Lenovo or HP workstation and you can get the same type of support where somebody else fixes it for you. All Apple has done is take away the ability for people to fix their own machines so Apple can make more money on the repairs.

I had an iMac that I purchased the extended warranty on 5 days before the cut off date. I was glad I did because the monitor stopped working. With an iMac if the monitor stops working you are pretty much SOL. I took it in to the sanctuary to be blessed, I mean Apple store to get fixed and they told me without the warranty it was going to cost $700.00. $700.00 on a $1,200.00 iMac. Now a normal computer I could have just went out to buy a new monitor problem solved. On top of the cost it was going to take 4 to 5 days for the repair.

Maybe Apple gives you a sense of not having to worry about the computer but I can tell you they do break down and it costs a fortune to fix them. Ironically you would think you will pay more for a computer so it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to fix it if it does break. Nope. Apple gets you with the cost up front and then they get you again when it does break. All the parts are still slapped together in China.

In this world it is all about luck. None of us can say from our own personal experiences how good or bad a platform is because of what we noticed. I have had PC's that literally have not been shut down or restarted for 6 months straight. I have had macs crash constantly. It is all about luck and knowing how to best use your machine. I teach students who all use macs and some of them have had interesting horror stories about buying a brand new MBP and taking in to get fixed 6 times already and Apple not really giving a crap why it doesn't work. I personally use a 17" MBP because at the time it seemed like a nice laptop. It is a very nice laptop but my wife almost left me for paying as much as I did. My main reason for buying it was FCP. Now that FCPX is here I wish I could go back and buy a Lenovo workstation class laptop instead. Lenovo is one of those good support companies that will bend over backwards to fix your system. They are not much cheaper then a MBP but they add extra hardware that is very useful for an editor. These days I use Premiere CS5.5 which I like a lot more then I used to. I would prefer it even more on a PC with a supported CUDA graphics card however. Something the Lenovo laptop has.

Anybody want to buy a 17" quad core MBP? kidding. I tried it already and my wife really wanted to kill me when I mentioned it to her.

My experience echos yours in many respects. I too have owned many mac laptops and they indeed do breakdown quite a bit. I still love apple but I purchased my first Lenovo (a tricked out W520) and am beyond pleased. I may not be able to drink Apple juice for a while now. These things are built to work and take damage. There are so many little features that it has that are just freaking amazing on top of it's raw horsepower.
 
sheep-dog.jpg


herd
noun
1.
a number of animals kept, feeding, or traveling together; drove; flock: a herd of cattle; a herd of sheep; a herd of zebras.
2.
Sometimes Disparaging . a large group of people: The star was mobbed by a herd of autograph seekers.


open-ear-hearing-aids.jpg


heard

hear
verb, heard
1.
to perceive by the ear: Didn't you hear the doorbell?
2.
past tense: It was, quite literally, the beep heard round the world.
 
Oh man, I just read your rant on Vimeo. I'd invest in a spell check / grammar check if you're going to type out persuasion essays in the future. I agree with you 100%, it's the artist that makes projects great, not the tool they're using. But not knowing the difference between "there," "their," and "they're" distracts greatly from the point you're trying to make.
 
All Apple has done is take away the ability for people to fix their own machines so Apple can make more money on the repairs.
If you've got an ounce of dexterity and technical sense, fixing macs yourself is no problem. They sell parts for those, too.
 
Oh man, I just read your rant on Vimeo. I'd invest in a spell check / grammar check if you're going to type out persuasion essays in the future. I agree with you 100%, it's the artist that makes projects great, not the tool they're using. But not knowing the difference between "there," "their," and "they're" distracts greatly from the point you're trying to make.

I know the difference but I was dead tired and it was 3am and I type at light speed... and made that video and a quick blog about it... but thanks for pointing it out I fixed it.

http://www.blackoutsblog.com (HERD or HIVE & group think)

I now, to close with a bang, I again remind you of the words of Trumpet Dinopup:

"Apple Crapple!"

 
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I got a Mac 3 years ago. I had learned the OS and Final Cut at work and wanted a computer to work off of on my own.

I had 2 complete top case replacements (trackpad completely stopped working...twice) which required several days to a week to resolve...and a complete graphics card failure -- due to recalled graphics card which was part of the logic board.

Besides the hardware failures, I once bought into the notion that Macs might be superior creatively. I've since outgrown that. People are creative, not the hardware or software. Same thing with camera size. It is going to take some time to change the general perception of people that equate camera size with quality.
 
If were talking about the operating system alone here, then there is literally no difference between the two in functionality.
 
Most of my colleagues in audio land buy Macs and then run Sequoia, Pyramix, whatever in Windows on their Macs. So they pay more, and run slightly slower. So that is an elemental truth, some people prefer the Mac, for whatever reason, as a statement.
The Mac PC debate will go on forever, unless, and this is a big unless, someone creates an operating system that actually works for everything. But then, why would anyone upgrade?
IMHO there is no grand audio software for MAC anymore, but I'm sure someone will fix that fairly soon.--Sonic Solutions was a revolutionary product. I'm sure lots of great videos have been made on Final Cut, and on Macs.
So the debate is simply reflective of the failure of both systems.
 
In all fairness though your client is just reiterating what she's heard and seen. I ran into it at a gig where a guy was simply amazed that I was shooting with my 150 instead of a Sony. He said that the industry standard is a Sony that I was a fool for even having a panasonic.. but that's just a rookie's interpretation as he's still in a film school. HE was even more alarmed when I said that I hate sony camcorders and didn't want to use his.... but after some time he warmed up to the 150 and was pretty darn impressed with the little bugger... And then I brought out the Gh2 and he laughed and laughed cause he had a 7D... But then after a bit of shooting and his sensor started to overheat and he had to stop shooting I came over and completely made fun of that guy... but all to show him how rediculous it is. It's subjective and what I want and like is all that really matters. I buy it and use it and that's cool cause I am what produces this stuff and not some camera or editor...


So it's just hyperbole and what people are used too.. And I"m a hardcore mac guy and I can't think of a single video or audio person that I know here or in LA that uses a PC.. and that's a couple of thousand people. Maybe it's their guilty pleasure, but I doubt it... In the creative world it is still the dominant tool, whether its justified or not....
 
The whole discussion about which is better Mac or PC, Panasonic or Sony or Canon is ridiculous and childish. During World War II, Germany had the best equipment, best technology, but lost the war. Tool does not matter, only the creator and his work. I understand the intentions of the creators of this post, but the tales which are better holidays: Easter and Christmas is really pointless.
P.S. I still have the largest ... :-)
 
That is not true... Easter is closer to mac - it's just soooo gay. It's like a lame version of Halloween with a rabbit and you don't even get to dress in costumes for the candy, you are forced to get it in a basket.
 
In all fairness though your client is just reiterating what she's heard and seen. I ran into it at a gig where a guy was simply amazed that I was shooting with my 150 instead of a Sony. He said that the industry standard is a Sony that I was a fool for even having a panasonic.. but that's just a rookie's interpretation as he's still in a film school. HE was even more alarmed when I said that I hate sony camcorders and didn't want to use his.... but after some time he warmed up to the 150 and was pretty darn impressed with the little bugger... And then I brought out the Gh2 and he laughed and laughed cause he had a 7D... But then after a bit of shooting and his sensor started to overheat and he had to stop shooting I came over and completely made fun of that guy... but all to show him how rediculous it is. It's subjective and what I want and like is all that really matters. I buy it and use it and that's cool cause I am what produces this stuff and not some camera or editor...


So it's just hyperbole and what people are used too.. And I"m a hardcore mac guy and I can't think of a single video or audio person that I know here or in LA that uses a PC.. and that's a couple of thousand people. Maybe it's their guilty pleasure, but I doubt it... In the creative world it is still the dominant tool, whether its justified or not....

This was exactly the situation I was in. The 'Artist' did a launch party and I was projecting the videos and running the red carpet interviews and filming them and doing sync sound it was quite a bit. EVERYONE there had their Canon 7Ds and 5D mark IIs and were completely FLABBERGASTED at the quality level of the projected image because the detail really comes out the bigger you go, so all of them were complimenting her and me on the videos.... another reason I use Win 7 is because I work small and fast and I can pop them memory card right into my hd laptop and check shots where as mac can't even see it... so when she had the nerve to say I didn't know what I was doing.... (she had though I had edited her videos on the mac - she just assumed) I was ready to walk.

Client has since apologized - all is well.
 
That is not true... Easter is closer to mac - it's just soooo gay. It's like a lame version of Halloween with a rabbit and you don't even get to dress in costumes for the candy, you are forced to get it in a basket.

Using the word "gay" interchangeably with "lame" is pretty inappropriate on a public forum Michael. I hereby register my complaint for this use of the word in this context - it's an open door to homophobia, and I don't think the moderators should tolerate it at all.
 
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