View Full Version : HDV, FCE - firewire speed, powerbook G4


Zev Suissa
March 25th, 2005, 12:27 PM
I'm editing an HDV project and had to use Final Cut Express b/c Final Cut Pro wouldnt recognize the Sony hdr fx1. Logged the footage but the playback is dropping frames, freezing and skipping.

I tried both firewire 400 and usb 2.0 - Does the speed of the drive matter with HDV? I thought it used roughly the same MB/s (around 24) as DV.

OR is my G4 powerbook, 1Ghz, 1GB RAM is too slow?

Has anyone else been able to edit HDV with that equipment? Or do you recommend I find a G5 somewhere?

Confused... alone... scared... :(
thx.

Dylan Pank
March 25th, 2005, 12:48 PM
"HDV" on FCE may need more speed than USB and firewire provide because it's not HDV anymore. FCE transcodes HDV into another codec (AppleIntermediateCodec, or AIC) which is up to 5 times the datarate of DV. I would recommend editing from the hard drive.

Your G4 is right at the bottom of the requirement for HDV so I wouldn't be too surprised playback isn't perfect.

Boyd Ostroff
March 25th, 2005, 12:49 PM
I also have a 1ghz powerbook, but haven't tried FCE or HDV. However, the system requirements on Apple's site indicate you're right on the edge of what works http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/specs.htmlHDV
• 1GHz or faster PowerPC G4 or G5 processor
• IGB of RAM
• All above OS, QuickTime and graphics card requirementsYou could also try iMovie HD, but its specs also call for a 1GHz or faster processor.

Murad Toor
April 1st, 2005, 10:18 PM
It's not the FireWire or USB that's the issue. It's the processor. AIC files are smaller than DVCProHD, and DVCProHD is plenty "safe" for editing over FireWire. Zev, I recommend a dual-processor G5.