Currently I have a PowerMac G5 (dual 2.3) w/ 2.5 GB of RAM.
Shooting on a Z1u & downconverting and editing everything as SD (this machine doesn't handle HDV too well). I'm still running FCS1 for now... yet to upgrade to FCS2.

The video quality of my projects are ok, I guess. I'm sure it could be better but I haven't had any complaints either. I'm just plagued by being my own worst critic! (Who isn't?!)

So reading all this stuff about capturing and editing in ProRes (what the heck is that?!) has got me thinking if it would be worth to to go that route and if my machine could even handle it. When I look at the system requirements for FCS2, it SHOULD work fine on my Mac. Reading an article (http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/capture_hdv_prores_fw_balis.html) here though says I need an Intel Mac.

Is anyone else running FCS2 and using the ProRes thingy on a G5? If so... how's it working out? Is there a huge quality difference?

It's an architecture thing - not a grunt thing as far as I am aware.

Prores isn't a 'magic' solution, it's a pretty cool codec that works as an intermediate solution very well for a number of things - but if your current workflow is working for you it's not really going to be a magic solution.

Thanks for the response. My workflow works for me (downconverting and editing in SD), I just wonder if there's something I could do to make the quality of my video better.

Since my machine can't handle editing HDV, I wonder how much I actually lose en route before sending my project thru Compressor.