Will an iMac G5 work with HDV?
 

For editing weddings, will my iMAC G5 (1.8 Ghz and 756MB RAM) be able to handle it with FINAL CUT EXPRESS?

Is it really hard to edit HDV? Is it hard for me or is it hard for the computer?
-EDWIN

Based on reports I've seen from Mac users, I'd say you could only do limited HDV editing on your current computer. With a fast dual-processor Mac and FCP5 your HDV editing experience should be like editing DV now, but HDV needs a *lot* of processing power to get that result.

One thing you can do with some HDV cameras is record in high-definition for future use but capture the video to your computer as widescreen DV, so you can edit on your current setup and then re-use the footage in HD later when you get a better computer. In other words, start building up an HD footage library now even if you can't afford a computer to edit it, and do all your editing and delivery in SD for the next year or two.

I've tried on my G5 iMac it's very sloooooooow! but it does work! I wouldn't like to do it every day though

I have a single processor G5 1.6 ghz Power Mac and I know I need to get something faster. I just wish the dual dual-cores from IBM would ship (unless Apple is planning on waiting for the Intel switch).

heath

I have to disagree with the rest of the fellas- the iMac G5 using iMovie works great.......just max out the ram and the machine will surprise you. I also have a G5 dual 2.5ghz so I have a baseline and the iMac version does fairly well. If you use iMovie you'll be using the AIC codec- if you have FCP5, you'll be editing natively- keep that in mind!

(same data rate as dv)

I agree with Steve. The iMac G5 will handle HDV fine. As a matter of fact, it's made for it. It's not considered a "pro" machihne but it is very capable. HDV actually has a slightly lower data rate than DV, however, the strain on the system comes from editing GOPs (group of pictures) rather than frame based editing for SD formats.

I agree with the previous two. Try to upgrade to at least 1GB of ram - it'll work great.

We use an iMac G5 2GHz with 2gb of ram. Editing HDV in final cut pro 5 is pretty smooth as long as you don't do too many filters/effects/video layers.

If you can afford to upgrade to FCP 5, I believe it is well worth it for the native HDV capabilities.

I can't wait for HD DVD (Blu Ray or whatever), because when you work with HDV in FCP, on export it is HD MPEG-2 ready to be put onto the dvd.

Fyi, you can already author HD DVDs with DVD Studio Pro 4 using HD Mpeg2 or H264 - that will work with future HD dvd players (the spec is already established - the hardware/media isn't).

Yes, but they are only playable on a G5 Mac (iMac included). I do believe, however, that a new JVC Pro HD DVD player (http://pro.jvc.com/prof/Attributes/p...&feature_id=08 red laser, not blue) will play these discs if the content in MPEG-2 (i.e. HDV footage from Sony cameras at 25Mbs). It is interesting though, because Sigma makes the chip for this and has announced a chip that will decode H.264 at HD resolutions. Also, it will be interesting to see if this player will work with the menus of a DVD Studio Pro 4 HD DVD or if it will only play the content.

iMac G5 2.0gz 1GB ram, working perfect. FCP5 DVDSP4

Awesome.

heath

New annoucements on Apple products are due on Wend the 12th of October. One of the rumors is that a bump-up in G5 speeds and perhaps even the dual-core will be announced.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1306

We'll see what happens, but I'm optimistic.

For now, good to know a G5 2.0 ghz works with HDV!

heath

Hrm.. I think you're confused a little or I wasn't clear. The HighDef DVD spec is already established. Meaning, the format of the data that will be written on the disc already exists and is set. It's why you can author HD DVDs with DVD Studio Pro - these aren't some funky format that only work with Macs. THOUGH, it just so happens the only guaranteed to work HD DVD player only comes with a Mac. They will play fine when a hardware player finally exists to play them, or a good PC based player comes along - simply because the data on the disc is authored to the standard and HD/Blueray players will be backwards compatible with DVD+-R/DL media. It really doesn't have anything to do with HD-DVD or Blueray either; those are just the media - the data on either disc will be the same. The data works. The hardware/media doesnt [yet].

I hope that makes more sense.

JVC has a pro DVD player that will play, I think, the Toshiba HD DVD and HDV DVDs.

heath

As far as I know there's nothing special about the DVD players in current Macs, so support for HD DVDs must be based on the OS and underlying hardware. If there are no other currently shipping devices which can play the DVD Studio Pro HD discs, then that means you have to play them on Macs until other compatible players (or PC playback support) start shipping.

Kevin is correct. Apple is ahead of the curve on this and hoping that Sony gets Blue Ray to market in PS3 before M$ gets to market with HD DVD.

You're right, it's a standard DVD (+-R or DL, et al). It's not a newer style disc.. (Blueray or HD-DVD).

I think there's confusion about the technology and what it does, what it doesn't do. All these new discs add are higher capacity over standard DVD discs: 15GB, 30GB, 50GB, etc. They have nothing to do with what or how the data is stored on them.

The HVDVD_TS structure (high def version of VIDEO_TS) has been established as the way video data will be stored on one of these fancy new discs. That is here now and today. It's independent of the Blueray/HD-DVD media. All a DVD Studio Pro disc is is a normal UDF formatted DVD with a valid HVDVD_TS on it (rather than a VIDEO_TS). Blueray/HD-DVD players - when they are available - will also backwards compatible with existing DVD & +-R discs, so this scheme works. Manufacturers aren't yet producing HD content - though they could be - because, yes, there's no mass marketed way (other than a Mac) to play it back yet. It's not a question of things not being ready though (excluding Blueray and HD-DVD), it's a question of business risk - why make something that very few people can currently use.

Now, the only reason Macs are so graced to have a working High Def DVD player are the fact that Apple updated DVD Player.app to include High Def support (both because they tend to trendset and because they needed it for playback of DVDSP). Other than recognizing UDF, it really doesn't have anything to do with hardware. PCs could easily have a High Def DVD player but Microsoft doesn't ship dvd software by default with a Windows installation. There's no motivation for OEM dvd authors because there's no real way to author content yet on a PC.

All this being said, if you're a Mac user you've got everything available to you TODAY to start High Def DVD authoring. It's easy enough to keep everything HD in Final Cut/Motion/Effects, then export 2 final versions of your project: 1 SD (Downsampled from HD), 1 HD.

Then, just create a normal SD project in DVDSP when you are ready to author. Complete it all (make a backup of the DVDSP project), build the _TS disc, and convert it to HD. Just change all of your assests to the corresponding HD material and BAM - High Def disc. If you've got the hardware and software already, IMO it's a real disservice to not be doing things in both HD and SD. Gives your client the warm and fuzzies (don't charge extra for it) and for just a small bit of extra manual work, it gives you a version for now and a futureproofed version for later.

I hope I'm not beating the topic to death, but I thought I was seeing a lot of confusion on this topic. I've been doing HD alongside SD authoring for a while now (I give both versions to clients @ no additional charge) - one is for now, one is for later. Hope this clears things up if they were unclear before.

Actually, Microsoft has had a process for authoring and playing HD DVDs on PCs for several months now, but I haven't heard of too many people using that. It sounds like Apple may be more in tune with formal HD DVD specifications, which is good if those discs really do turn out to play on future blue-laser players. But in any case, agreed that this shouldn't have anything to do with the Sony HD players versus the Toshiba HD players, both of which should be able to play the same standardized file formats.

And by the way, Microsoft has thrown their full weight behind the Toshiba hardware, meaning that will likely become the most common solution for burning HD DVDs in the future. Nothing Sony can do can change that, so we've got a problem if their players become popular but all our comptuers come with Toshiba burners. Great.

What about the same 1.8 Ghz iMac G5 with 2 GB RAM, working in DVCPROHD from the HVX200? Will it be harder to handle than HDV considering more data, or will it be easier than HDV considering frame based editing?
-EDWIN