Hi,
More info is adding to my confusion to decide between a PC and iMac HDV editing system.

I am inclined towards an iMac (1.8G, 1GB) due the stability it provides. But the AIC problem that I've read on the posts is beyond my comprehension. And I am running out of time, since I need to make a decision asap.

One of the posts said that I would need FCP to work around this problem.

Is the "FC Express HD" enough to for editing HDV content from the Z1? Will this work around the AIC problem? Or is the "Final Cut Pro 5" (or FC Studio) necessary?

Thanks,
Ritesh

Is it now possible to edit with a consumer laptop, one of those Circuit City specials (17" monitor, 3.2 mhz speed, 80-100gb hard drive, 1gig memory) with an external hard drive or is that too slow? If you could shove in more memory would that do it? I'm just so tired of towers, I'd almost be willing to scrape up the extra thousand to untether my bad self.

Betsy,

Yes a laptop like that will work fine. An external 7200rpm USB2 drive will comfortably playback two streams of 1080i HDV footage for real-time transitions and effects. 3.2Ghz is above the needed spec's for CineForm products. We often use a 3.2Ghz laptop for doing demos of Aspect HD (we also used a laptop to editing HDV footage for a guerilla film competition last year.)

David Newman
CTO, CineForm