Our corporate company has asked me to research an editing system and cameras to do corporate production in house. If you had a wishlist, what would it be? I'd like to use the Mac Pro, with either HDV or Sony's XDCAM EX because we want to use compact professional cameras. On the computer side of it, I know to get the fastest processors, but what about RAM, graphics cards, and hard drives. I figure it is cheaper to just get one internal hard drive from apple and buy the others via aftermarket to save some money on the drives. Please give me some general guidance on what we would need!

All post roduction will be in SD at this time, but I recommend an HD camera so they can transfer to HD in the near future. They also want to be able to do audio/video podcasting, and webcasting with the system.

Thanks

Kurt,

The problem with such a wide-ranging and open-ended question is that you'll get tons of responses with opinions from both ends of the spectrum.

The best thing to do in your situation is to pull up the list of sponsors on this site and have them consult with you directly. This way you'll get clear, concise information and be able to discern the difference between what you think you want and what you really need. You'll also start a relationship with a company that will supply your hardware/software and be able to provide technical support when needed - and you will need it.

I can personally vouch for Omega Broadcast and Abel Cine LA.

I kind of figured that. I wish we had some that were closer to us here in southern Indiana!

The only company I know that is close to us is Duncan Video in Indianapolis. Has anyone had any experience with them?

Kurt,

My wish list would be different to yours but here is my recommendation for your company.

Get a 24 inch iMac, final cut studio2, A couple of external FW drives and any one of the JVC, Canon or Sony HDV prosumer cameras. Oh, and a couple of lights!

If you had a wishlist, what would it be? I'd like to use the Mac Pro, with either HDV or Sony's XDCAM EX because we want to use compact professional cameras. On the computer side of it, I know to get the fastest processors, but what about RAM, graphics cards, and hard drives.

I'll start with the editing suite:

Certainly a Mac Pro 2.8 GHz quad-core, get minimum RAM from Apple and buy more from third-party vendor (much cheaper, however make sure it has Apple certified heatsinks). I would recommend starting with 2-4 Gigs of RAM. Personally, I wouldn't consider an iMac for an editing suite if you are going to be doing regular work on it. iMacs are fine for amateurs and their home movies or YouTube blogs, but not for serious video production. I would go with the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 card if you plan to go HD in the future.

For the camera, that's more subjective. Are you are going for web delivery, exclusively? If so, I don't see much advantage in using HDV for the web. An SD miniDV cam would do just fine. But if you want the option of HDV as well, I would recommend a Sony cam that offers both HDV and DVCAM (which I believe the Z1U offers, IIRC).

I figure it is cheaper to just get one internal hard drive from apple and buy the others via aftermarket to save some money on the drives. Please give me some general guidance on what we would need!

You will want drives with a speed of 7200 rpm not 5400.

I wouldn't consider an iMac for an editing suite if you are going to be doing regular work on it. iMacs are fine for amateurs and their home movies or YouTube blogs, but not for serious video production.

For the camera... (edit) An SD miniDV cam would do just fine.

You see what you did there?

I wouldn't consider an iMac for an editing suite if you are going to be doing regular work on it. iMacs are fine for amateurs and their home movies or YouTube blogs, but not for serious video production.

I recently edited a full HD commercial on a iMac 24'', native hdv on a fw800 external drive. Playback realtime with colorcorrection. Made a lot of money.
iMac for amateurs? Hm....

Guys, don't take it as a personal dig or anything...

iMacs and Mac Pros are two different classes of machines, you can't argue that. While the former may be able to "do the job," the latter is the best tool for the job. And if you are looking at buying one or the other, if you have the budget the Mac Pro is wisest over the iMac in the long view.

I certainly didn't mean any offence. I should have better worded my post.

@Kurt: I just noticed something you said in your initial post:

On the computer side of it, I know to get the fastest processors, but what about RAM

The absolute fastest is not necessarily the way to go. Check out my thread for more info about "processor power:cost effectiveness" ratio.

Guys, don't take it as a personal dig or anything...

iMacs and Mac Pros are two different classes of machines, you can't argue that. While the former may be able to "do the job," the latter is the best tool for the job. And if you are looking at buying one or the other, if you have the budget the Mac Pro is wisest over the iMac in the long view.

I certainly didn't mean any offence. I should have better worded my post.

@Kurt: I just noticed something you said in your initial post:



The absolute fastest is not necessarily the way to go. Check out my thread for more info about "processor power:cost effectiveness" ratio.

No problem Mike. I've been making films for too long to get offended.

No one would argue that if you can afford it, the Mac Pro is the way to go. My point is that for an average in-house corporate production set-up you may not need all of the bells and whistles on your system that some of the rest of us do and that you will be better off spending the money on a better camera, some lights or a decent microphone. With the type of camera you suggest no amount of processor power will deliver anything other than an amateurish looking video.

Indeed, there is a significant difference in perceived quality on HD capture for SD delivery as opposed to SD capture and for web delivery in particular a progressive scan HDV camera will knock the socks off an interlaced SD camera.

I guess, you pays your money, you make your choice.

[QUOTE=Liam Hall;845631]No problem Mike. I've been making films for too long to get offended.[QUOTE=Liam Hall;845631]

:-) I'd hate for anyone here to think I was being condescending. I have nothing but love and respect for my peers here in these forums.

I see your point(s). Where I'm coming from is that an extra $1,750 (USD) to step up from the top iMac to a Mac Pro (~ half of that extra $1,750 is in an Apple 23" Cinema HD Display) gives you horsepower and scalability down the road that you can't necessarily get from an iMac.

I really have no idea what his budget is or what he would be producing with it. I guess for all I know all he really does need is an iMac with FCE and a Z1U with some simple lights and mics. But it did sound to me like he was looking to go along the upper echelon, though ICBW.

:-) I'd hate for anyone here to think I was being condescending. I have nothing but love and respect for my peers here in these forums.

You not being condescending. I think you've made that clear:)

If the OP could give us more details of what he needs to do and how much they can afford to spend, I'm sure between us on here we'll be able to give him some decent advice.

I think their budget is anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 for everything. I'm recommending they go with a two camera setup and I want to be able to do HD or HDV so that in the near future, we can produce some company literature and guides on blue ray discs for our sales teams. We will also be producing a lot of CD-R's and DVD's for our North American operations. The reason I want to do webcasting is that our facilities and plants are spread out all over the country and in Canada, so I thought certain videos can be distributed this way. I am a Corporate Pilot for the company so I know how everything is spread out and they have to ship dvd's all over the place when it comes to certain videos.

Hope the budget helps! At that rate, I think we better go with the Mac Pro.
I also have one of the sponsors helping me out design a system. One thing I really want in a camera stabilization system. Anybody have any experience with one and/or recommend one over the other.

Thanks

Here are some of our preliminary plans.

• IN-HOUSE VIDEO PRODUCTION FACILITY for corporate type videos
• WEBCASTING
• AUDIO PODCASTING
• VIDEO PODCASTING
• DVD PRODUCTION IN-HOUSE (Hundreds if not over 1000 dvd's/year)
• INSTRUCTIONAL AND TRAINING VIDEOS
• TRADE SHOW PRESENTATIONS for digital signage and marketing
• SHOWROOM Point Of Purchase VIDEOS

I think their budget is anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 for everything. I'm recommending they go with a two camera setup and I want to be able to do HD or HDV so that in the near future, we can produce some company literature and guides on blue ray discs for our sales teams.

With that, I say Mac Pro and the Sony EX1. For external media drive space, G-Tech or CalDigit are good choices.

I don't have any experience with stabilizer systems, so I can't help you there.

With that, I say Mac Pro and the Sony EX1. For external media drive space, G-Tech or CalDigit are good choices.

I don't have any experience with stabilizer systems, so I can't help you there.

Yep, I agree with Mike. I'd also add a decent set of legs, like a Sachtler System 6 SB/2D, a bag of lights, possibly Lowel DV creator and a decent lav mike.

As for stabilizers, you'd better post that in the Steadicam forum - I don't know two people who agree on the most cost-effective solution!

OK, I've got two recommendations on the MAC PRO regarding Processor and RAM and they are conflicting! Any opinion on this? I told them we plan on going with the PMW-EX1 Solid State HD Camera from Sony.

1st Configuration:
Dual 3.2 Quad Cores
16GB RAM (Company states that if the processors need help in anyway, they will ask the RAM to help perform complex operation such as rendering and compressing)
Nvidia 8800GT Graphics Card

2nd Configuration:
Dual 3.0 Quad Cores
4GB RAM (Company states that FCP has a set limit of how much RAM it will actually use and this is only good if I am running a bunch of programs at the same time which we won't be. Anything more is money that should be spent on other equipment)
Nvidia 8800GT Graphics Card

Which is more in line with what we're doing?
I always thought the RAM was for multiple apps but I may be wrong!
I need help!!!!

OK, I've got two recommendations on the MAC PRO regarding Processor and RAM and they are conflicting! Any opinion on this? I told them we plan on going with the PMW-EX1 Solid State HD Camera from Sony.

1st Configuration:
Dual 3.2 Quad Cores
16GB RAM (Company states that if the processors need help in anyway, they will ask the RAM to help perform complex operation such as rendering and compressing)
Nvidia 8800GT Graphics Card

2nd Configuration:
Dual 3.0 Quad Cores
4GB RAM (Company states that FCP has a set limit of how much RAM it will actually use and this is only good if I am running a bunch of programs at the same time which we won't be. Anything more is money that should be spent on other equipment)
Nvidia 8800GT Graphics Card



I agree with the recommendation for the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB. I don't know about the "set limit of how much RAM" FCP will use. I would certainly want to get a second opinion (from Apple, if possible) about that. I disagree with the recommendation for the 3.0 Quad Cores, and I base that on my findings when looking into the ratio between cost and performance:

Looking at the MacWorld Benchmark Test (http://www.macworld.com/article/131971/2008/02/32ghzmacpro.html?t=205), it appears that there is a minimal advantage to springing for the upgrade from the dual-2.8GHz configuration. MacWorld testers found "the new 3.2GHz Mac Pro to be nearly 9 percent faster than the stock, 2.8GHZ 8-core Mac Pro."

9% increase in performance... for a 55.2% increase in cost! Hardly what I would call a healthy ROI.

The cost just isn't worth it. Much better putting that money towards RAM, a KONA card, a broadcast monitor, or another important piece of gear. Even though you have a fat budget for equipment, you still want to make sure you maximize those dollars and I think Config. 1 does that more than Config. 2



http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=115092

Thanks Mike and everyone for some opinions!

This is what it might look like at this point:

Dual 2.8 Processors
16GB RAM
Nvidia 8800GT Graphics
(1) 320GB Apple Internal Drive for apps, (2) Internal Seagate Barracude .11 500GB or 750GB Drives
(2) External G-Tech GRAID2 1TB Drives
(2) 23" Apple Cinema Displays
(1) 32" or 37" LCD HDTV Flat Panel Monitor (does this matter if it is 720P or should I move up to a 1080P?)
Blackmagic HD card
Still haven't made up my mind on speakers yet!
I need a good power conditioner/battery backup to protect this stuff also!

This stuff is too hard to decide on.

(1) 32" or 37" LCD HDTV Flat Panel Monitor (does this matter if it is 720P or should I move up to a 1080P?)


If you're going to be using the EX1 cams in HQ at 1080p then you won't get to see the full glory of it on a 720p monitor (though it will still look amazing!). If you've got the bucks to go 1080p, then go 1080p... however this is just a TV we're talking about, right?

You may want to consider a broadcast monitor. I've only worked with Sony LUMA LCD (see here (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/386979-REG/Sony_LMD212S_LMD_212S_21_LCD_Video.html) and here (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/494607-REG/Sony_LMD2450WHD_LMD_2450WHD_LUMA_Series_24_.html)), which I liked.

One could credibly argue that springing for a broadcast monitor over an HDTV is maybe a bit overkill if you aren't working on actual projects actually meant for broadcast, however it is the best tool for colour correcting. I don't have one personally (I can't afford one... at least, not yet), and I have been able to calibrate my Samsung LCD HDTV pretty darn well, if I do say so myself... but if I had room for it in my budget, it would certainly be a priority. And if you have a $30k budget, you more likely than not have room for one even after your Mac Pro, EX1s, audio and lighting gear, and accessories.

Thanks Mike and everyone for some opinions!

[...]

This stuff is too hard to decide on.

Oh, that's not necessary. My consulting fee is all the thanks I need.






;-}D

Mike,

Yeah, It will be a TV and I would like to use it as my monitor. I think I'm going to get the 1080p, that way if we do any 1080p stuff for tradeshow digital signage, we'll be able to preview in the way it will be displayed.

The other reason I want to go to a larger screen like a 32"-37" is that whenever the executives or anybody else stops by and asks how their project is going, you can invite them in and show them on a screen with a little bit of real estate.

Kurt