What are you guys using to edit Af100 footage?

[D10S]

I'm using FCP and Avid on a Mac.

 

[David Jimerson]

Honestly, for AVCHD right now, the hands-down winner, for my money, is Adobe CS5 in Windows with at least an i7 950, at least 8 GB of DDR3, and a fast CUDA card. The Mercury Playback Engine will make your life much, much happier and it's simply better in Windows.

You owe it yourself to consider it strongly. The advantages are plenty.

 

[CraftyClown]

Premiere is the way to go. I've abandon Avid in favour of Premiere and I've been editing on Avid like 14 years.

I'm really interested by this Editman. I too have been editing with Avid for years and cannot imagine using anything else. Premier was never a consideration as a serious editing tool. Have they really caught up as an NLE? and did you find the transition difficult?

 

[groveChuck]

taras- when you ask "what are you using to edit AF100" do you only mean what machine, or also what NLE?
Are you willing to change edit platforms?

And think long and hard about whether you really need edit mobility (as opposed to an offload station) on a laptop, vs more power for your money on a desktop.
Get the fastest processor you can afford, and if you go CS5, a Cuda card, to edit native/real time.

Premiere is the way to go. I've abandon Avid in favour of Premiere and I've been editing on Avid like 14 years.

I'm in the midst of that transition, also, after 13 years on Avid (and not having to look at the keyboard to hit the right keys)- it's slow going on my part ("what's that command again?"), but I think it will be well worth it. CS 5 is a very impressive suite.

And I also recently moved from an HP workstation to a 6 core 3.33Ghz Mac Pro, so hopefully I'm set for a while (and can add FCP later if desired), though a powerful PC could suit your needs (I'm an OS agnostic).

Good luck, happy shooting/editing!

 

[Barry_Green]

One more thing, what is the exact workflow with the af100 then?

With Premiere CS5, you drag the files to the timeline. Done.

With FCP, you currently have to transcode it using a process called Log & Transfer. Some people love it, I hate it, it's one of the main reasons I don't and won't use FCP. Later this summer Panasonic will introduce a plug-in software module for FCP that will let you avoid the Log & Transfer step. You may not want to though, because editing h.264 natively is quite computationally exhausting, and certainly some computers won't be up to the task -- it all really depends on whether they've brought the graphics card in to accelerate the editing process. Premiere Pro CS5 does, and it handles AVCHD easily and smoothly. But if the h.264 decoder isn't helped out by the graphics card, it might be a slow slog editing, in which case the transcoding that FCP forces upon you might actually even be a preferable way to go.

 

[CoryTV]

Avid/FCP editor here..

Avid/FCP editor here..

I'm bi-- I switch between Avid/FCP on my MAC PRO depending on jobs (FX heavy FCP, edit heavy AVID) I have been a beta tester in the past...

..that said, I am BLOWN AWAY by the performance of AVCHD clips in premiere. It works much smoother than most AMA footage does on AVID. I wanted to test footage to make sure I couldn't have to move backwards in my workflow. (That's why I never went DSLR, though I've been tempted..)

I just ordered my AF100 today, but I had downloaded some sample footage, and I can't believe how well it worked... (Currently using a Matrox Mini because its supported by both AVID & FCP and now Premiere)

I use AE primarily for effects, so the Adobe interface is comfortable, and I just set my keys to be the same on all NLEs.

The only bummer is that nothing can touch COLOR in the AE world, so I'm still going to have to figure out a Premiere>Color workflow..

Cory

So needless to say, I'm no longer bi. I guess I'm tri.

 

[dregenthal]

Edius v6, PP CS5, Avid M/C.
(on HP Pavilion Elite, Windows 7 64, i7, 12 gigs ram)

Have all three, rarely use Avid any longer.

Edius is my preferred because it's just too easy--my choice depends on where I'm going with the finished product (which is why CS5 is part of my mix).

 

[Shooter]

so I'm still going to have to figure out a Premiere>Color workflow..

Did you take a look at Colorista II?

 

[Alpha Beta Omega]

I'm really interested by this Editman. I too have been editing with Avid for years and cannot imagine using anything else. Premier was never a consideration as a serious editing tool. Have they really caught up as an NLE? and did you find the transition difficult?

I think editing speed has been one of Avids key benefits but in the emerging world of all digital media and the excellent integration with AE and how you easily can import FCP projects into PP, this is my first choice now. At first I found PP to be slow and more difficult to use but after using it more and more these last six months I think it's a very nice NLE solution. You have to relearn some but in the end I'm impressed. I also only need the CS5 suit and Audition to do it all.

 

[CoryTV]

Did you take a look at Colorista II?

Looks good. Not a lot of info on performance.. How does it do? One of the real benefits to color is how much it does in RT.. But using that as an Effect in premiere is definitely enticing.... I could actually become a "premiere guy" if it's really competitive, especially because I'm already an "aftereffects guy"

 

[bhdfield]

Avid MC 5.3 on a 5 year old laptop and 6 year old HP XW8200, both run great with good old XP 32-bit. Using Nanoflash though. The AF100 AVCHD took 3 hours to transcode 1 hour of AVCHD. No thanks.

 

[pekinazer]

A nice HP z600 or z800 and the one and only AVID MC...... and an AJA io Xpress for HD-SDI and HDMI i/o......

 

[jonatha]

Honestly, for AVCHD right now, the hands-down winner, for my money, is Adobe CS5 in Windows with at least an i7 950, at least 8 GB of DDR3, and a fast CUDA card. The Mercury Playback Engine will make your life much, much happier and it's simply better in Windows.

You owe it yourself to consider it strongly. The advantages are plenty.

Ya that is true,windows and Adobe CS5 is great

 

[ATL Media Group]

Adobe CS5 on my desktop which is:

i7 920 @3.4ghz
12GB OCZ
MSI GTX560 Ti OC
WD Raptor 600 GB soon to be OCZ Revodrive X2 (ridiculous fast!)
4 TB storage
dockable external storage.
Win 7 64bit

I have never bought a pre-built desktop PC (other than a cheapo emachine for my kid) and never will. I did buy a $650 laptop that will edit the native files for the AF100 in realtime without rendering in Edius. FCP is good, but not good enough for me to spend more on a lower powered computer to run it and not have it edit the native files. That's two steps back imho.
Like the new Macbook... Look at this Asus: http://www.amazon.com/G73SW-A1-Repu...PDKIKX0DER&s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1300850786&sr=1-2
Only $1700 and I gurantee it'll smoke that new MBP. Nvidia GTX 460M with 1.5gb should be able to run CS5 mercury in RT.

 

[Gary Huff]

Looks good. Not a lot of info on performance.. How does it do?

I applied Colorista II to some 4k Red One footage I was editing in Premiere (on a Sony VAIO i7 laptop with 8GB of RAM and a 330M NVIDIA with Mercury Hardware playback turned on) and most of the time it played back just fine (playback resolution set to 1/4). Generally don't have a issue with using it, and it's incredibly powerful. Great tool.

 

[taras4444]

Thanks all for the info again, I know I really want a laptop for portability but what bout the following pc:

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA CASE + 2 FRONT USB

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-960 (3.20GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® P6X58D PREMIUM: DDR3, USB 3.0 & SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)

Graphics Card
1.5GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, 3D Vision ReadyFree ItemFree Item
FREE Need For Speed™ World Starter Pack with any Nvidia® GTS450 or above!

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5002AALX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5002AALX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200rpm)

3rd Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 320 SERIES SSD, SATA 3 Gb/s (upto 270MB/sR | 130MB/sW)

RAID
RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD) (£9)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£89)

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
800W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£79)

Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)

Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio (£32)

Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Firewire & Video Editing
1 x IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE PORT ONBOARD

 

[David Jimerson]

I'd suggest looking at a mobo which supports triple-channel RAM and going with 12 GB DDR3 (triple-channel).

 

[taras4444]

Excuse my ignorance but what is mobo, a brand? Do you have a link?

 

[maxusa]

By "mobo" David means motherboard. However, I feel the need to respectfully disagree with the triple-channel memory recommendation (i.e., Intel X58). While the most powerful desktop solution up until early 2011, it is no longer the fastest overall architecture and/or best bang for the buck. Look into the recent motherboards based on the Intel P67 Express chipset (Socket LGA 1155) in the $200-250 range. Paired with a 2nd generation Intel Core i7-26XX series processor, a P67 system is on par if not better than the previous champion X58 for less money. Numerous online reviews support this point (e.g., THG 1, THG 2, AnandTech). For existing owners of the older triple-channel X58 rigs (like yours truly), it makes sense to stay with this generation for a while. However, new builds must invest in newer, more affordable, and faster technology going forward. My 2 cents.

EDIT: I just realized that DIY folks may benefit from the System Builder Marathon articles at THG. Every few months, THG builds the best possible system in several price bands (e.g., $500, $1K, $2K) with precise list of components. Simply use a THG build from the desired price band as a reference, and you no longer need to worry. I would only suggest to buy your own video card... something from the nVidia GeForce GTX 570, 580, 590 variety if you intend to use Adobe Premier CS5+, which takes advantage of modern nVidia GPUs. If you want SDI (and G-Sync) in your video card, then go with the nVidia Quadro 4000, 5000, and 6000 variety. Hope this helps.

 

[jcamilo]

MAC FCP no hassles