Beginer who needs some guidance on Mac DV editing at DVinfo.net
DV Info Net

Go Back   DV Info Net > Apple / Mac Post Production Solutions > Final Cut Suite

Final Cut Suite
Discussing the editing of all formats with FCS, FCP, FCE

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old August 5th, 2004, 04:46 PM   #1
New Boot
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Danbury, CT
Posts: 6
Beginer who needs some guidance on Mac DV editing

Hi,
Just joined the DVi community and I'm looking for some advice on how to get started on editing my 4 hrs worth of old home movies which have already been digitally transferred onto Mini DV tapes, and they look fantastic. I have a Sony DCR-PC330 mini DV Camcorder and an iMac with OS X imovie (which I haven't yet learned, I figure I'll learn as I go). My Mac has 400 mhz, 128 megs of ram (which I am going to upgrade to 512 megs if needed) and 4 gigs of available hard drive space (was thinking of getting a Firelight 40 gig external drive). I'm basically just looking for advice on whether or not the external drive and the RAM upgrade are necessary.

Thanks!
Patrick
Patrick Venuti is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 5th, 2004, 05:22 PM   #2
Warden
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Clearwater, FL
Posts: 8,287
Yes, upgrade both your ram and your hard drive.
__________________
Jeff Donald
Carpe Diem




Search DVinfo.net for quick answers | Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors
Jeff Donald is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 5th, 2004, 05:34 PM   #3
Major Player
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Venice, CA
Posts: 346
10 minutes of footage takes 2 GB of disk space, so an external drive is really necessary. The latest version of iMovie is really easier to use than earlier versions, but it sounds like you have an older machine that probably has an older version of OS X and iMovie. There are lots of books out there, so do a search on Amazon and look for your version of iMovie.
Mark Sloan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 5th, 2004, 08:38 PM   #4
New Boot
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Danbury, CT
Posts: 6
Ram and External HD

Thanks so much for replying so quickly, this info is very helpful to me, I really appreciate it. I have version 3.0.3 iMovie. Is this the latest version? I just upgraded to OS X so I'm assuming I have the latest update.
Patrick Venuti is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 6th, 2004, 08:41 AM   #5
New Boot
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Calgary AB CANADA
Posts: 9
Don't know if your iMac is Firewire capable. The LaCie external firewire hard drives work great and are a reasonable value. Have been using a 120Gb as my scratch disc with FCP for about a year and just bought a 500Gb.
Tim Lane is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 6th, 2004, 01:47 PM   #6
Major Player
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Venice, CA
Posts: 346
iMovie is up to 4.0.1 and the nicest new feature compared to 3.x is the ability to cut clips in a normal fashion and drag the edges to change the size of the clips. You can always go check http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/edit.html to see the newer features and see if they are worth it to you.
Mark Sloan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 6th, 2004, 06:17 PM   #7
Major Player
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Rego Park , NYC
Posts: 665
Re: Beginer who needs some guidance on Mac DV editing

<<<-- Originally posted by Patrick Venuti : Hi,
Just joined the DVi community and I'm looking for some advice on how to get started on editing my 4 hrs worth of old home movies which have already been digitally transferred onto Mini DV tapes, and they look fantastic. I have a Sony DCR-PC330 mini DV Camcorder and an iMac with OS X imovie (which I haven't yet learned, I figure I'll learn as I go). My Mac has 400 mhz, 128 megs of ram (which I am going to upgrade to 512 megs if needed) and 4 gigs of available hard drive space (was thinking of getting a Firelight 40 gig external drive). I'm basically just looking for advice on whether or not the external drive and the RAM upgrade are necessary.

Thanks!
Patrick -->>>

If you have a iMac DV G3/400 mhz--then 128 megs of RAM is fine if you are doing it under Mac OS 9. [It never hurts to get more--but I've edited tons of home movies with an iMac exactly likes yours and 128 megs under Mac OS 9 runs great--you may still need to tweak the amount of memory alloted to it)

You definitely need a bigger hard drive. Five minutes of footage is about a gigabyte. To do an hour movie project--you should have at the very least a 20gig drive.
Even when you get the bigger hard drive do you really want to dump all four hours of it onto your hard drive at once? You can be more selective in what you capture.

As for other hints---

Personally:

Do NOT upgrade past iMovie 2.0.3.

If you can find the original iMovie 2 discs--reinstall that--you'll be MUCH happier.

iMovie 2.03 is FAST and pretty much rock solid.

iMovie 3 is a piece of junk. Buggy and slow.

The latest version--4.01 is good--but only if you have a fairly fast Mac---a 400 mhz G3(like your iMac)--would make editing pretty frustrating but not impossible.

That's all I can think of at the moment...

but I envy you---discovering iMovie for the VERY first time is a joy!


EDIT: Ooops--didn't read that you already upgraded to 3.01...hmmm....

You might boot into 9 just for EDITING.....
John C. Chu is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 6th, 2004, 07:56 PM   #8
New Boot
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Danbury, CT
Posts: 6
imovie and ram

i wish i had your reply sooner because I just purchased a memory upgrade to 512 RAM from 128....which i now see was a big mistake. But I don't get it, won't 512 be much faster than 128? Now I'm confused as heck. I also upgraded to OS X just for imovie, thinking I should certainly get the latest version....and now I see that was a wrong move as well. Damn.
Help.
Patrick Venuti is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 6th, 2004, 08:38 PM   #9
Major Player
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Rego Park , NYC
Posts: 665
Re: imovie and ram

<<<-- Originally posted by Patrick Venuti : i wish i had your reply sooner because I just purchased a memory upgrade to 512 RAM from 128....which i now see was a big mistake. But I don't get it, won't 512 be much faster than 128? Now I'm confused as heck. I also upgraded to OS X just for imovie, thinking I should certainly get the latest version....and now I see that was a wrong move as well. Damn.
Help. -->>>


No, no, no! It is NOT a mistake---buying more memory is always a good move.

I was saying that if you using iMovie 2 in Mac OS 9---128megs would have been fine.

I'm just talking from my personal experience as I used to have a Ruby Red iMac DV 400 like yours.

The thing about upgrading that iMac DV 400 is that you have to figure out the total cost of what you are spending--some memory there, the iLife packeage and a bigger hard drive could go towards a eMac(which you can find refurbed for $549) which can run the latest version of iMovie fairly quickly(without the spinning beachball of death)

In my humble opinion--the iMac DV is a terrific editing machine running iMovie 2.

John C. Chu is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 7th, 2004, 04:25 AM   #10
New Boot
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Danbury, CT
Posts: 6
Phew! Thanks for clarifying...

Thanks for clarifying that....and the line about the "spinning beach ball of death" is hysterical...! I have not had even 2 minutes to learn the iMovie program so I will be learing as I go along....By the way, do you know if it's possible to add music to my edited iMovies from "store bought" CD's?
Patrick Venuti is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 8th, 2004, 11:10 AM   #11
New Boot
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia, Rest of the World
Posts: 20
Images: 3
adding music to an edit is possible
see the import program
enjoy
__________________
Coordinator Eurovision Asia-Pacific
Andre Bentlage is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 8th, 2004, 04:25 PM   #12
New Boot
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Danbury, CT
Posts: 6
thanks for the info about the music

Thanks, I only asked because I thought there might be some odd coding or something that would prevent copyright infringement.
Patrick Venuti is offline   Reply
Reply

DV Info Net refers all where-to-buy and where-to-rent questions exclusively to these trusted full line dealers and rental houses...

B&H Photo Video
(866) 521-7381
New York, NY USA

Scan Computers Int. Ltd.
+44 0871-472-4747
Bolton, Lancashire UK


DV Info Net also encourages you to support local businesses and buy from an authorized dealer in your neighborhood.
  You are here: DV Info Net > Apple / Mac Post Production Solutions > Final Cut Suite

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

 



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:55 PM.


DV Info Net -- Real Names, Real People, Real Info!
1998-2024 The Digital Video Information Network