Buying a PC
 

Apart from alienware, does anyone know a good place to buy a PC and editing suite?
Or possibly second hand?

Which are you shopping for, Trent? A Mac or a PC?

I'd like to know the answer to the question - in my case a PC.

Dont know
 

At the moment - either. Depends on price. Depends what I can get on either platform. So im asking about both and going from there.
Am I only allowed to speak to one forum, Ken? Will the Mac people not answer me if I also look for a PC?

Naw, feel free to ask both camps, Trent. I was just curious about your mission.

You can achieve success with either platform. I'm a Mac editor, myself.

O cool.
I never know how deep or weird the rift is between Mac and PC operators.

So far, im either waiting for 'ex-demo wednesday' or whatever it is over at the Apple Store and get a Mac and Final Cut or buy a PC from Alienware with Matrox 100 and use Premiere.

As a personal perspective, I think that Macs are overpriced for what they are. But there are issues such as ease of use and software (FCP is only available for Mac) to consider also.

If future upgradability is a consideration, you might be better off with a PC. But if you're not comfortable tinkering with the insides of a computer, that's probably a moot point.

Pricing is a personal perspective. My perspective is they are an excellent value. But the real question at hand is what NLE software do you want to run? Final Cut Pro 3 is more than the equal to Premiere. FCP 4 is due out within the next 30 days. From the looks of it, FCP 4 will set the standard by which all other under $1,000 NLE software is judged.

The compositing features may eliminate almost all my need for After Effects. The greatly enhanced titler will mean no more Graffiti or Boris. A new render engine and tighter integration with DVD Studio Pro means no more Cleaner.

So what does all these added features mean to me? Savings of $$$$ of upgrades for these other programs. For you? You'll have an industry standard set of tools, and be saving thousands in additional software.

At this point many people want to talk about processors and performance. If you're buying your computer to work (editing) then today's Mac's are plenty fast for a professional work flow. If you're buying it for gaming, when you take a break in that all night project, then a get a PC. You'll get much higher frame rates in Quake III with a PC.

I switched to FCP from Avid several years ago. I'm a certified Avid editor, but I'd never go back. But if FCP ever went away, I'd go back to Avid. They are the two professional NLE software suites.

Vegas 4 has a very loyal and dedicated user base. I've never used it, but it seems very full features and has a nice complement of additional capabilities. It's audio features are probably best in class.

Premiere, has matured in stability a great deal with the last two versions. It is stable and capable of producing very nice programs. It is the least expensive of the group. However, it lacks the full set of audio and compositing tools that the other have. You would probably want to add After Effects to round out it's capabilities. It is a little weak in audio, compared to the others.

Get a good demo of the software and get all your questions answered. Try to ignore the extreme bias that most platform users exude and pick the best software and supporting hardware to meet your needs.

Unless you're editing for web, I guess.

You raise a number of good points there Jeff. Life's too short for a Mac-PC fight, it's really not that important. Suffice to say, I've used both and prefer the flexibility of the PC. But there's a lot of cool stuff for the Mac (if you overlook the Fisher Price OSX interface arf arf).

OS X allows you to create your own interface (themes) or download ones created by others. There are even themes that make OS X look just like XP if that's what you like.

FCP 4 fixes one of my major complaints with previous versions. The keyboard can be completely remapped. This is a feature of the higher end Avids (not sure about Xpress). It was the one feature I really missed when I switched.

New tools in FCP 4, DVD SP 2 and QuickTime are said to eliminate the need for Cleaner. Even if you're doing web work. Since neither FCP 4 or DVD SP 2 are released yet, I can't verify the claims.

Cheers Jeff
 

Thanks for your post.
FCP4 looked awesome. I'm not really in to games. Ive got a PS2 and that does me fine so its strictly for work.
The Mac system would be pricey compared to a Pc, say Matrox 100 which gives u Premiere in the package and a DvD authoring package - but FCP4 just looked so good.
I'd have to go for the Apple finance scheme but I think i'd enjoy my work more with the Mac.
I'm not good with loans, I hate owing, so its whether I can talk myself into it really.

I have no direct experience of XP, but from screenshots I think that XP is almost the last thing that I'd like MacOS to look like. A discourse on GUI aesthetics and usability is probably way OT, but suffice to say, the original MacOS GUI was way superior to Win...IMO...which is why I reverted my Mac from OSX to OS9. But I only use it for testing rather than production, so I can get away with that.

I've been shopping around too...
 

check out these links fro NLE editing systems.

www.velocitymicro.com
www.guygraphics.com
www.promax.com

it depends on what exactly your looking for.

good luck,
MIKE




try it, you'll like it
www.GetawayTheMovie.com

Posts above
 

Well I havent been able to talk myself into getting in to more debt. The bank manager scared me half to death and so im going with my other option, the Matrox 100.
I used to use a Pinnacle DV500+ which was just about adequate for my needs so the Matrox100 will blow that away. And compared to the Mac, will leave me some change for other needs. Other than alcohol.
My next question - to annoy the people who probably find it difficult to comprehend how I can know so little about computers and wondering how I manage to even post!? - is what system should I get?
As I know nothing, id go for the Matrox recommended requirements. Ive sent off e-mails for quotes from all the people you guys kindly posted and none of them came back with the same system - and none matched the Matrox recommended system.
Im now going with a little firm who will build a system for me which is great - if you have a clue what your on about - which I dont. They will beat my best price.
If anyone has the Matrox100 or can suggest a system or at least things I must have or should look out for, id love to hear from you.
Thanks for the help so far, I honestly really appreciate your input.

AVID
 

I use avid xpressDV. I think it's a really great system. Avid is releasing XpressPro later this year and that software looks even better. It'll be a $300 upgrade for xpressDV users.

I would check it out if it's in your price range. (i'm not sure how it compares to the others price wise). Avid has recommended hardware posted on their website. You can run it on a DELL.


MIKE




try it, you'll like it
www.GetawayTheMovie.com