Apple computer requirements for HDV
 

OK ... I've checked back through the posts and can't seem to find a concrete answer to this.

I have been using Liquid Edition on a PC for SD work up to this point. And, although Edition can work with HDV files it has no 24P support and definitely no 24F support. There is, of course, work arounds ... but as I am going to have to move up in PC hardware to work in HD I have been wondering what kind of financial outlay would be necesary to move to FCP and a Mac.

So , I kind of have two questions I guess.

One - Can someone please tell me what model(s) I should be looking at and in what configuration. I don't want a laptop, I want a serious desktop and I can't have something that drags it's heels while it's working. I understand that Macs now have dual processors, etc. so I'm assuming that it's possible to get a fast machine.

Two - If anyone out there has experience with FCP and Avid , could you give us your opinions on both and perhaps some of the advantages and disadvantages of each.

And please ... I'm not trying to re-kindle the age-old battle between PC and Mac. Don't preach about the virtues and evils of the two platforms. We are looking for constructive comments here so we, (and possibly others on this forum), can make an informed intelligent decisions.

Thank you,

Tim Hodgson

Which Mac
 

I can't answer all your questions but I can tell you what I use.
I have a Quad G5 PowerMac with 2.5 Gigs of Ram which is about a year old next week. It runs FCP extremely fast and imports HD in real time.
My MacBook Pro is 2.16MHZ Intel with 2.0 Gigs of Ram and it is very fast although it imports at about 3/4 speed. I saw the follwoing maching on the Apple Store for 3300.00 and it should be much fasster than my G5 PowerMac.

Refurbished Mac Pro Quad 3.0GHz Intel Xeon
Two 3.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors
2GB (4 x 512MB) memory (667MHz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC)
250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200-rpm hard drive
16x SuperDrive (double-layer)
ATI Radeon X1900 XT graphics with 512MB memory
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Any of the new Macs with a dedicated graphics card will run the FCP suite - that's any Mac Pro, any MacBook Pro, and any iMac except the base model (which has Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics).

4GB of ram is the sweet spot (FCP does not support more than 4GB and may have issues if there is more than 4GB installed). At very least it's nice to have 3GB.

If you're after a heavy-duty desktop, then the Mac Pro is your best bet. I run FCP on one of the first generation MacBook Pros, which only support 2GB of RAM (Intel core duo limitation), and I wish that I had a little more for running multiple applications at once.

I've used both FCP and Avid. I prefer FCP, but I think it really comes down to personal choice. FCP is better featured than Avid Xpress DV, and less expensive than Avid Xpress Pro.

Hope this helps

If you want to buy a new Mac Pro desktop then I advise you to wait until Jan, because to see what Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) have up his sleeve. There are always new stuff being release in Jan during the keynote. A new version of the Mac Pro might be release in Jan.

What about the Mac Book Pro With intel core 2 duo with 2Gb of RAM and 2.33Ghz ? Would these be able to handle the A1's footage at full resolution, and how many tracks would it manage to play in Real time ?

I have a 20" intel iMac 2.0 with 2gb ram and the 256mb graphics card. It easily breezes through HDV. I run FCP 5.1.2 with no issues.

Moved from Canon XH to Non-Linear Editing on the Mac.

I'm on the a MacBook Pro (original) Core Duo 2.16GHz with 2GB RAM. It works great with HDV on FCP.

The only time I get frustrated is when I'm working in Motion too. Switching from app to app is slow, because both of those app LOVE memory.

FCP dynamically reduces the resolution of HDV the more simultatious streams you're running. I get two streams running off an external FW800 2 drive RAID - no problems! Three streams and four streams and the resolution gets reduced.

What are the issues if there is more than 4gb?

FCP will only address 4GB, but I seem to recall that some people reported it will only address 2GB if there is more than 4GB installed.