will it work

rollinfive0w

rollinfive0w

Member
for the time being, i have an OLD iMac 1.8Ghz G5 w/ 1.25gig of ram, and a 1.5Ghz powerbook w/ 768mb of ram. i used FCP a lot w/ SD cams and ofcourse it is not fast, but im ok w/ the speed. what i am asking is will these comps due alright w/ HD either compressed or uncompressed, i see the recomendation is 2/4gigs of ram. i am sure it will be slow, but should i even bother with these comps to edit or just wait for when i purchased the new computer to start filming in HD.

if i am correct, i can still use the A1 to film SD?

thanks
~pieces
 
I know some one using a 1.8Ghz G5 for HD editing and while it's slower than my Dual G5 and 8 core Intel, it still does the job. He just has to wait a little (some times a lot) longer :)

768mb of ram is too small for HD, you need at least 1GB I think.

RAM is cheap though, and I bet you could upgrade your RAM to 2GB or even 4GB for $50-$100 if you buy in the right places. The RAM you need is now old technology, so no longer bleeding edge prices.
 
Yes, you can film in SD with the XH-A1. In fact, you can do it quite nicely. Some people have some problems with it, but others seem to be fine with it. I am in the same predicament as you, and the SD capabilities of the A1 are what sold me on it. I do not have HD capabilities yet, but at least when I eventually make the change (when it becomes worthwhile), I am comforted by the fact that the A1 will be able to step up to it beautifully. In the mean time, I shoot in SD. I just filmed an interview-style film with my Dad, so I can do a documentary type of film for posterity, about some of his life experiences. It's a great opportunity for me to learn more about filming, lighting, camera work etc,.. and record a permanent record of some of my Dad's life. But I filmed in SD, using the vividRG preset, and it came out beautifully IMHO.

But back to your last question, YES, you can film SD on the A1. See the user manual for instructions on switching it over. Have fun!
 
I edit my XH-A1 1080i footage in FCP on a dual 1.25 G4 with 2 gigs of ram, and it works decently. It doesn't hum, but it can get the job done.
 
Look into ingesting your footage into another codec. THis process will take a little longer at the beginning, but once your footage is in, everything else will be faster.

Elton? Can you give advise?

Elton has the lowdown on this I promise you.
 
I'd say that if you have the latest FCP, try capturing and editing using the HDV easy setups and see how the computer responds. It might be ok for non-fx-intensive editing.

--HDV 1080 24p for HD 24F footage
--HDV 1080 30p for HD 30F footage
--HDV 1080 60i for standard HDV video

If the computer feels too slow for your needs you could always transcode to ProRes or DVCPRO HD via Media Manager. All you have to do is select your HDV footage in the appropriate bin and right click/media manager. Go to "recompress" and choose ProRes 1080 422 or DVCPRO HD 1080. The Media Manager will simply convert the footage (with all the original names and tape timecode, thankfully) and save it to the location of your choice. It may take much longer than "realtime" so best to do this sort of thing overnight if you have hours and hours of footage.
 
FCP 4.5 is over 3 years old. I don't believe it supports HDV so you'd probably need to stick with DV until you get FCP 5.1.2 or later.
 
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