Hi-Def Video Editing, is a Mac the way to go?

TheBigCheese

TheBigCheese

TheBigCheese

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Hi guys

This is a very early days question and I'm very much mulling over what to do.

Basically I'm looking to record / edit / burn hi-def content, anything up to 1080p for burning to Blu-ray (and HD-DVD when the burners become available).

This won't be just hobbywise, I will be using it in my business as well so it's got to be something reliable and most importantly - quick.

Now I will be the first to admit that I know nothing about Macs (I've never even ventured into this part of the forum before), except that they seem expensive for the spec you get (I could be wrong, don't know how they are optimised).

Anyway, I was having a trial tonight with some small 1080i and 1080p videos and shocked myself a bit at how appalling bad they ran when viewed in the video editor - the encoding performance was even worse.

My specs are:
C2D 6600
2GB RAM Corsair TwinX
Source HDD - RAID 5 setup
Editing HDD - RAID 0 setup
Output HDD - Seagate .11 via esata.
Graphics Card - 8800GTX (though I wasn't putting any filters etc on anything)
Adobe Premiere CS3 video editing package.

The RAM and HDDs are 7200rpm versions and the RAM is pretty nippy, yet it ran very choppy, averaging a frame every 2-3 seconds at times which really surprised me.

I tried encoding three small videos that were eleven minutes in total and cancelled it after two hours and it was only at 75%...

Now I do know that I should be using a quad core processor and it's only Win XP Home (I understand that XP Pro can make better use of separate threads - so i read earlier) so I am putting myself at a bit of a disadvantage to begin with but I didn't think it would be so bad.

I've just bought an LG Blu-ray burner and am thinking that it's going to be a chore rather than a pleasure getting the material ready to burn with what I'm using now.


So...I might have to be facing the prospect of buying from scratch again to make a custom made hi-def editing machine or....maybe a Mac and Final Cut Pro (which I understand is one of the best editing packages on the market).

The reason I am tempted by a Mac is I'm rather embarrassed to say because of The Gadget Show (it used to be so good in the early series). Anyway, they were testing hi-def camcorders and then capturing and editing the footage...to cut a long story short the Mac laptop slaughtered the top of the range Sony Vaio giving smooth previews and editing etc.


So after this rather wordy post, I would be incredibly interested to hear any of your thoughts on the advantages of a Mac over a PC, how much I might be looking at spending and how upgradeable etc they are.

For example would I be able to add the LG GGW-H20L into the system or they not able to be upgraded in that way?

Many thanks for taking the time to read this post and I will be very grateful for any information / advice / links that are offered. :D
 
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A Mac Pro would be the best way to go, 4 cores as standard or 8 cores upgrade will be plenty and up to 16GB of RAM and 3TB internal storage.

I would go for a decent monitor, such as a Dell as the Apple ones are pretty pants and overpriced.

As you've said, most big companies use Macs for video editing and sound editing, iirc BBC uses them? So that would be ideal along with Final Cut Pro.

Yeah you can use the LG GGW-H20L, but I think the the Mac Pro has IDE connectors for optical drives so you would need a converter. (not 100% sure on that, someone correct me if I'm wrong)

Imo, OS X is a lot more reliable that Windows and although Macs are expensive, they are well worth the money.

One last thing, if you are looking to buy soon, hold off until after the 15th Jan as that's when the MacWorld Expo is and updates/lower prices might be available on the Mac Pro.
 
gurdas said:
The Apple screens use the same panels as the Dells, so while overpriced.....not really pants
Click to expand...

I think Dell revised the panels within their screens last year, whereas Apple still use the same panels from 2003. Don't quote me.

The BBC exclusively use the Quicktime H.264 format to store their ENTIRE video catalogue, and a lot of Macs in post-production :)
 
EVH said:
I think Dell revised the panels within their screens last year, whereas Apple still use the same panels from 2003. Don't quote me.

The BBC exclusively use the Quicktime H.264 format to store their ENTIRE video catalogue, and a lot of Macs in post-production :)
Click to expand...

You may be correct, however I have a cinema display and the quality is fantastic.
 
TheBigCheese said:
Hi guys

This is a very early days question and I'm very much mulling over what to do.

Basically I'm looking to record / edit / burn hi-def content, anything up to 1080p for burning to Blu-ray (and HD-DVD when the burners become available).

This won't be just hobbywise, I will be using it in my business as well so it's got to be something reliable and most importantly - quick.

Now I will be the first to admit that I know nothing about Macs (I've never even ventured into this part of the forum before), except that they seem expensive for the spec you get (I could be wrong, don't know how they are optimised).


Anyway, I was having a trial tonight with some small 1080i and 1080p videos and shocked myself a bit at how appalling bad they ran when viewed in the video editor - the encoding performance was even worse.

My specs are:
C2D 6600
2GB RAM Corsair TwinX
Source HDD - RAID 5 setup
Editing HDD - RAID 0 setup
Output HDD - Seagate .11 via esata.
Graphics Card - 8800GTX (though I wasn't putting any filters etc on anything)
Adobe Premiere CS3 video editing package.

The RAM and HDDs are 7200rpm versions and the RAM is pretty nippy, yet it ran very choppy, averaging a frame every 2-3 seconds at times which really surprised me.

I tried encoding three small videos that were eleven minutes in total and cancelled it after two hours and it was only at 75%...

Now I do know that I should be using a quad core processor and it's only Win XP Home (I understand that XP Pro can make better use of separate threads - so i read earlier) so I am putting myself at a bit of a disadvantage to begin with but I didn't think it would be so bad.

I've just bought an LG Blu-ray burner and am thinking that it's going to be a chore rather than a pleasure getting the material ready to burn with what I'm using now.


So...I might have to be facing the prospect of buying from scratch again to make a custom made hi-def editing machine or....maybe a Mac and Final Cut Pro (which I understand is one of the best editing packages on the market).

The reason I am tempted by a Mac is I'm rather embarrassed to say because of The Gadget Show (it used to be so good in the early series). Anyway, they were testing hi-def camcorders and then capturing and editing the footage...to cut a long story short the Mac laptop slaughtered the top of the range Sony Vaio giving smooth previews and editing etc.


So after this rather wordy post, I would be incredibly interested to hear any of your thoughts on the advantages of a Mac over a PC, how much I might be looking at spending and how upgradeable etc they are.

For example would I be able to add the LG GGW-H20L into the system or they not able to be upgraded in that way?

Many thanks for taking the time to read this post and I will be very grateful for any information / advice / links that are offered. :D
Click to expand...

As much as i love mac's your best bet would get a couple of 10,000 RPM raptors in RAID0 pop in a Q6600 quad core and 4GB of RAM and you should see a difference. I have a quad core and the raptors in RAID0 with 4GB of RAM and a 8800GTX and it flys. This upgrade would be about £500 if you went Mac Pro you will be looking at £3,000. If money was not a problem then the Mac pro would be a option but PC's are not far behind mac's for video editing etc now.
 
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gurdas said:
You may be correct, however I have a cinema display and the quality is fantastic.
Click to expand...

Oh no, you misunderstood..

I wasn't implying they're not good, in fact I'd get one everytime on looks alone, but I know the performance on the updated panels in the Dell's are somewhat better now they've been revised.

I was just saying Apple needs to update them.. come on Steve!!
 
Well I can't speak from personal experience but my cousin is a freelance editor (works for disney etc) and she uses a 17" powerbook for half her work. Everybody I know in that kind of field prefers macs but as said, for your uses you'll likely find the cheapest option is an upgrade to your existing system...
 
If your going MAC, Mac pro(4 core) with at least 4 gigs of ram(i would go 8) and a internal raid would be the best bet. You may aslo need a blackmagic or kona card for input and output depending on your source. Id also recomend doing a course for fcp as its an arse if things go wrong.

I finished editing a series late last year that was shot and cut in HD(DVCPRO HD) on fcp, we had over 17tb per cutting room. Pic of Editing suite(old 2.5gig mac, pre intel) Pic of Drives As we were cutting in DVCPRO HD res we were able to run the systems off of firewire 800 drives. We had a macpro suite for uprezing to 1920/1080 and fx work with the internal and external xraids.

Our workflow wasnt very complicated(apart from the multi framerate stuff that i wont get into here) but still people dont really edit in HD yet as the data files are so large.

What format are you shooting in? Depending on your shooting ratios id advise editing in SD, like pal DV. Then recapture(called a conform) at the full HD res that you want to finish in. This is what all the BBC series's do when producing HD programs(planet earth, life etc)

Or the other option is Sony Vegas. Also does HD and allows you to stick with PC. Its lightweight, easy to use. and doesnt have 1/2 the bugs FCP has.

Good luck

http://www.smalltalkdiaries.com/ <-- series airs some time in feb on CBBC
 
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