Hi Bob. Im in the same position as you really, been using vegas for years and very happily edit on it, however...windows is just letting me down time and time again, it's very hard to feel secure editing now a days. Im moving over to the mac, originally i was going to run vegas on it but after learning (a little bit) of final cut pro i have come to learn that although it takes twice aslong to do what im used to doing in vegas it has a work flow that suits me better and it has a great support sytem from third party vendors. The major cononcern for me between vegas and final cut pro was the way im used to editing. I myself prefer timeline editing but final cut pro is a 3 point edit system (although you can edit on the timeline if you want but i find it orkward), so thats something to think about.

Dan, a great way to learn FCP is to download the tutorials from Larry Jordan from Lynda.com. Larry is a great teacher and within a couple of weeks you can be editing like a pro. Well, perhaps not like a pro but you will know your way around and be able to do what you want.

Daniel, I am in the same situation as you: considering moving from Windows over to a MacPro with FCP for more reliability and a more stable platform as opposed to spending the money on a PC with Vista.

I wrote this threat earlier:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=111826

(wouldn't it be cool to have a Mac version of Sony Vegas...)

And the tutorials on lynda.com are great, I just tried a few of them.

Regards,
Erwin

And there i was thinking i was the only person using lynda.com :) yeh they have great tutorials on pretty much everything. Erwin i was reading your previous thread before and it does seem we are in similar positions, i would really love vegas on the mac!!! Im defo moving over to the mac, im sorry but windows have failed me, i mean is it too much to ask to just work properly. All machines are prone to fail but some more than others and windows likes to throw a new spanner in the works all the time. I dream about editing without worrying if the next time i turn my computer on it says "system disk fail, please format"

Sounds like you are dreaming of a Mac!

I wonder if your experience would be any better on a Mac running Windows/Vegas. You could use your Windows partition solely for editing and do the other stuff, email, chat boards, etc. on the Mac partition. Probably not, but worth a try.

Wouldn't consider that. Stick with FCP. It does the lot and is native to the mac. Vegas is fine but IMO FCP is far more powerful and not difficult to learn. I was editing footage on it (FCP3) the day I installed it with just trial and error.

Day to day working on it becomes second nature. You won't look back for one second.

Steve,

I agree - FCP is really great. And very easy to learn. I have taught people to use it and have had them editing within an hour.

It also has the largest installed base of any pro NLE and Apple has thus far been very good about supporting its users.

And editing from the timeline is a very streamlined part of the process. I have been at it for 10 years, since v. 1 and have never used three point editing on it.

system specs.
 

Aloha Daniel,
Could you list some more details about your pc system (Processor speed,video card, hard drive speed, editing software, OS...) ? If I stay with a pc in the future and do get this camera, I'd like to know what isn't working so far.

Also, are any of the Mac people using Avid to edit with any sucess?
Thanks,
WZ

That advice is very encouraging, im definetly sold on the mac option now anyway. Wayne, my PC setup is as follows:
intel e6400 core 2 duo 2.13ghz
2gb ram
300gb sata 7200 hd
256 radeon graphics card (nothing to do with performance in vegas though)

it handles hdv 1080i fine from my previous sony zi, but 1080p hq from ex1 is very slow. Its almost like im working on a series of still images rather than a video (although technically it is a series of images but you know what i mean)

Ouch
 

Ouch Daniel ,
That hurts...in the wallet I mean. I have an almost duplicate system as yours except a quadro fx 2500 card and avid xpress pro. Thank you for the info.
Aloha,
Wayne Z

I know I'm in the minority here, but I've been VERY happy with video editing on a PC for the past several years.

For my EX1, the setup I'm working with is as follows:

HP xw9300 with 2 dual-core AMD 2.8 GHz processors
2 GB RAM
ATI XT2900 graphics card
CalDigit SV2R HD RAID Array - 2.5 TB
Adobe Premiere Pro CS3
Matrox Axio hardware

A hardware-accelerated setup is certainly different from just a PC running Vegas (or Premiere) or a Mac running FCP. The array of I/Os appeals to me (SDI/HD-SDI, component, composite, S-Video, AES/EBU, XLR), along with real-time monitoring on whatever monitor I choose.

Axio does a great job handling the footage off my EX1 (including 1080p/24), but I do have to convert it to MXF first. It's a minor snag in an otherwise flawless workflow. Matrox is working on native support for the EX format, but it may be a little while.

Concerning stability, I'm VERY selective about what programs I install and how I use this machine. No e-mail, no MS Office, work to have nothing running the background. So far it's been rock-solid, running Windows XP SP2. DON'T get Vista for video editing at this point. It's just not stable enough yet.

XP, on the other hand, is a pretty solid and stable setup, provided your computer can handle what you throw at it.

I'm working on my "old" first revison dual G5 2Ghz, leopard, final cut pro. I just upgrade RAM to be 4Go and, as it only handle 2 drives, add 2 dual S-ata cards (quad port was not out at the time) with 4 S-ata drives with software RAID.

I have no problem with EX1 footage. Conversion to prores HQ is slow, as rendering, but working fine.

I way upgrade to a MacPro 8 cores and the nvidia 8800GT soon. You can have up to 4 drives, so having one for system and 3 with RAID for editing should be fine.

As other said, you have the choice to take your time at work, or take your time debuging windows... I go for a mac :) You'll see it's not more expensive as a PC when you compare to productivity and ease of work.

I have no experience on avid though.

Wayne, i wouldn't worry too much as i've been told that my specs should be able to process the 1080p hq footage ok but of course it doesnt, however that may be down to the pc world again as i do notice so many things running in the background which change how my system operates from one time to the next. One problem i have with windows is the fact that i wanted to keep my editing machine AWAY from the internet because we all know how suseptable xp is to viruses, but there are a few instances which require the net like framework 3, ms updates etc. This now means before i connect to the net i have to install a virus protection package which isnt any good until i connect to the internet anyway to download the updates and even tho it sounds extreme, within that time you'd be suprised what crap can end up on your machine. So anyway wayne back to my original message, ive been told it should work but for me it doesnt, although it plays a variety of of other files fine

Sony Vegas here. Personally I think it all boils down to what your comfortable with and I always viewed the whole PC vs. Mac and Vegas vs. FCP vs. Avid arguments a tad bit silly. Keeping in mind that editing used to be done with nothing more then scissors and tape, at the end of the day editing has much more to do with skill and talent than does with what program you're using.

I'm actually buying a new computer and this is the system that should be geting here this week:

Proc: Intel Core 2 Quad QX9650
MB: GIGABYTE GA-X38-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX
Ram: 4 Gigs of CORSAIR Dominator 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
C Drive Raided: 2 74GB Western Digital Raptor 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache
D Drive Raided: 2 1TB HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000 7200 RPM 32MB Cache
Video Card: 8600 GT
Power Supply: 850W

- Ray

Raymond, with those specs it's tempting to stay in PC world. Stop making me want to change my mind ;)