ProRes requirements
 

Hi all!

I'm getting ready to help a post studio make the move to HD, and had a question about ProRes sytem requirements.

We have one Quad G5, a few dual G5s (at 2 GHz), and 2 Intel Core Duo iMacs, all running FCP 6.

According to Apple's specs page, at http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/specs.html , a Quad is the minimum requirement to capture in ProRes.

What I'm wondering is: Is that also the minimum to edit in ProRes? That is, could we capture in ProRes on the Quad G5, then hand the files off to the dual G5s for editing? The programs we're editing are about an hour long, so long-term stability is really a consideration.

Also, will the iMacs be able to handle ProRes? I would think that with their processors, they'd be fine (they only have 1 GB of RAM in them right now, but that's going to be upgraded), but is there some consideration, I'm missing?

Thanks very much for your collective help!
Daniel

I'm pretty sure the Imacs are out for ProRES. It is a FW800 device. There are no FW800 connections on the Imacs.

ProRes
 

A FW 800 device? I'm talking about the ProRes 422 codec for Final Cut, moving around via FireWire 400 drives.

Or is there something I'm missing?

FCP tells me I can not render ProRes 1080 on my 2x2,5GhZ G5 with a 6800 Ultra gfx-card. So you might have a problem working with ProRes on those machines.. Unless I have done something wrong though, but I can't figure out what if so.

Edit: That's working with HDV-files I have converted to ProRes in Compressor after capture.

Which flavor of ProRes, HQ 220Mb or Medium 145Mb?

No difference, I can make a timeline and play it, but whenever I need a render I get "The effect XXXXXXX cannot be rendered in a sequence of this size with the current graphics card".

I haven't tried with 720 though, as I was insulted by this and went to DVCPro HD Instead, which works. :p
I don't know what the requirements are for graphics card and ProRes, but obviously one of the better ones that came with these G5's won't cut it.

Isn't it best to edit in HDV then move into prores for Colour correction?

I'm new to FCP, so I'm not positive.

You should have varying degrees of success with those machines for editing and playback, if I understand correctly. You can, and may have to, playback at half res, but even that supposedly looks more than good enough for editing.

It's only capture that requires a MacPro, according to Apple.

HD on an iMac?
 

Hi everyone!

I'm working with a post house that's doing their first HD job. Right now, we've got two G5s capturing and editing our HD footage, using the DVCProHD codec (as ProRes isn't reliable enough on G5s).

They also have two Intel Core 2 iMacs, both with 3 GB of RAM, that they'd like to use as additional HD editing stations.

So I'm wondering: Does anyone out there have any experience using Intel iMacs for HD? With 3 GB of RAM, will it be fast enough, or will we run into terrible delays and slowdowns further in?

Any experiences, positive or negative, would be very welcome---thanks!

Daniel