Hi guys, I am currently running a wedding video business and am looking to upgrade my system. I am currently editing with premiere 6 and after effects 6 and am using sony pd-170 dv cameras. I am interested in switching to a G5 system and using the new Final cut. The question is which system do I buy from apple, and how different is FCP from Premiere? Also can an avi from a pc be used on a mac system? I do not want to spend an obscene amount of money on this system because mostly it is slow mo and dissolves with some after effects special effects. I do need a system that will last at least 8 years without a complete overhaul like the pc's

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated....And keep in mind I have never used a mac before.

See this thread that just started: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=45170

I went to the advanced search here in the forum, selected that it should
just search in the Mac forum (the one where this thread is in) and typed
in "AVI" (without the quotes) as the keyword to search on. I found the
following threads on the FIRST page:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=27591
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=23066

There are probably more on the following pages (try the search yourself).

May I ask why you need a system to last for 8 years (weird number?). I'd
say that is probably not possible. For a number of reasons. Components might
fail and there is a very very large chance we will be editing with different
formats (and thus newer versions of FCP or whatever NLE we are using then)
that might strain the system much more.

In most businesses computers are written off after 3 years of use. At least
that is my experience (that's not to say you can't use them 5 or 8 years!).

In my opinion Premiere 6 simply does not compare to Final Cut or Premiere Pro (upgrade/overhual of Premiere). Premiere 6 was buggy, slow, and you needed lots of button pushing for editing.

Premiere Pro's interface is similar to Final Cut's in my opinion. Premiere 6 is pretty different because it still used the A/B editing style.

The question is which system do I buy from apple, and how different is FCP from Premiere?
If you're doing this professionally, your best bet is likely a dual processor system. If you use the tool day in and day out, it may make sense to get the top machine even though it has a lower $/performance ratio than the lower dual processor machines.

You also need to look at the formats you are handling. DV has the lowest requirements, but uncompressed and HDV have particular requirements. There's another thread on this forum about what Mac to get.
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=45170

Also can an avi from a pc be used on a mac system?
Yes... kind of. Macs and PCs have different file system formats (FAT, NTFS, mac extended or something) but this isn't an issue if you share files over a network. Samba/OSX takes care of file system translation, although extensions may not always stick around if it originated on Mac.

Final Cut doesn't take AVIs well... you may need to convert it to Quicktime. And vice versa.

I do need a system that will last at least 8 years without a complete overhaul like the pc's
Generally computers don't last long because they increase in speed every two years. Which means they also lose value very fast. As well, there is always new software coming out as well as new video formats (i.e. HDV and HD, which strain current systems).

Video editing generally requires a lot of computer power, but there's not enough so we have to wait around for renders (which can hurt your productivity). It probably makes sense to upgrade your machine every few years.

2- You might also want to look into Sony Vegas. There is a demo available so you could take a look at it. Glen Elliot (on this forum) and others use itto put out some excellent work (you can do a search in the wedding forum for glen elliot and you should be able to bring up some of his posts). It won't necessarily make your work better, but you may find it a very capable and very cost-effective tool for wedding videography work.

As someone who recently shifted to the Apple side from the PC, I can say that it's been worth it--with a few hang-ups along the way. First off, the stability of the system--from the programs to the OS is wonderful. It's not perfect--there have been times where FCP has inexplicilbly crashed on me--BUT, the integration of the software is a definite plus and those crashes are few and far between compared to using Premiere on Windows. I still can't shake using Windows as my main machine for everyday tasks--but the G5 is growing on me for dedicated editing.

With regards to using .avi on the MAC--let's just get this out of the way--it sucks. It will take in the file--but it will also warn you that FCP doesn't like it. Using .avi without converting them to .mov is like working with molasses. Luckily, Quicktime Pro will save you some heartache and convert those files to .mov. However, if you have some hour long clips that need converting, prepare to sit back for awhile and suffer through the encoding. On the flip side, FCP can convert you project to quality .avi should you need to transfer something to a PC.

As someone who has used Premiere extensively in a past life, I can honestly say that you will not have many growing pains shifting to FCP. As Glenn mentioned, Preimere Pro's interface is very similar to FCP.

I have a Dual G5 2.5 with 2gb of Ram. I still need more RAM for playing around with applications like Motion and FCP (Motion is another wonderful tool!!! Great for weddings!!) I would recommend however getting the minimum RAM from the Apple store and then buying additional from a third party. You'll save lots of $$ that way.

Anyways, enjoy the transition should you make it. I do not believe you will be disappointed.

Cheers!