Do I need a MAC G5 quad

[Edward Robinson]

I want to start doing wedding videography business but I have a problem. I was going to get a MAC G5 QUAD , Final Cut Pro, and sony z1u. Now i can get all of this but i will be broke as you now what. I am thinking of getting a Custom built PC dual processor 2gig ram ect which will save me about 1500.00 ( Difference between getting PC vs MAC ) If I do go with a PC then what video editing software would most be like final cut studio as far as different applications (ei motion, dvd studio, ect ) One main thing that i want is it to also have is to be able to support muti cams. any help would be greatly appreciated. Also if i do go with a Mac G5 does it need to be a G5 Quad. Could I get away with a Dual processor

[Jon Omiatek]

It depends on what you want. The MAC and DVD Studio Pro comes with pre built templetes that look very professional. Live Type and Motion are great too.

I personally use two Dell Dual Core machines with Vegas, Photoshop, after effects and DVD Architect. I think you will save much more than $1500 with the PC route. My Dual core with 24 inch monitor was $1250, they had a killer deal a couple months ago @ dell. The MAC software is much more expensive that PC stuff.

I suggest that you purchase the system that friends are using so you have help with your new editting software. I prefer vegas after using both. Edward Troxell is great and responds quickly to questions in the forum on dvinfo. If you do multi camera weddings you would need a mulit camera plugin like Excalibur or Ultimate S. I have both and use them both all of the time!

Starting you would also need at least one wireless mic and at least one more camera. They rent cameras in my area but if I were just starting out and only had one camera I would hire someone with a camera as the second shooter.

When I started I had the following:

2 GL2's
2 Bogen tripods with 501 heads
Wireless Mic
2 20 Watt On camera lights

I then quickly sold the GL2's and started using PD170's or VX2100's, Sony is king in low light!

I suggest that you start with what you can afford and if you get business upgrade later.

Jon

[Glen Elliott]

I want to start doing wedding videography business but I have a problem. I was going to get a MAC G5 QUAD , Final Cut Pro, and sony z1u. Now i can get all of this but i will be broke as you now what. I am thinking of getting a Custom built PC dual processor 2gig ram ect which will save me about 1500.00 ( Difference between getting PC vs MAC ) If I do go with a PC then what video editing software would most be like final cut studio as far as different applications (ei motion, dvd studio, ect )
The closest to the way FCP edits and it's integration with other programs will be the software from Adobe. Premiere Pro, Encore, After Effects, and Photoshop. However my choice is firmly seated with Vegas, DVD Architect, and Photoshop. DVD Architect allows you to create graphics in Photoshop and import them as menus and buttons.


One main thing that i want is it to also have is to be able to support muti cams. any help would be greatly appreciated.
FCP has native multi-cam support, and Vegas has script add-ons like Excalibur. http://www.jetdv.com/excalibur/multicam.php which I've been using to edit my multicam weddings for years now.




Also if i do go with a Mac G5 does it need to be a G5 Quad. Could I get away with a Dual processor
To edit standard DV footage a dual is more than enough...granted a quad will be faster but not enough to change your workflow dramatically. Now with HDV that's a different story- the quad might be a good idea if you go the HDV route at this time.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Welcome to DVinfo Edward! I have a dual 2.5gzh G5 and it is way more than adequate to edit DV. I've just begun working with HDV, and don't see any problems there either but haven't done any work with effects where rendering time might be more of an issue. But FCP 5 has really been optimized for the G5's. I get a much higher level of realtime than I was getting under FCP 4.5 on the same machine. I haven't yet used the FCP 5 multi-cam feature but it looks very cool.

Regarding cameras, I have a Z1, a VX2000 and a PDX10. I really like the Z1. I only use the VX as a deck these days. The PDX10 is a very nice little camera that shoots native 16:9 but it's abouit 2.5 f-stops slower than the VX. The Z1 is a bit better in low light than the PDX, but not as good as the VX. There has been endless discussion as to whether the Z1 is well suited to wedding videography because of these low light issues. I don't shoot weddings, but do shoot some pretty dark operas. This fall I was shooting wide open at +12dB on the Z1 and the resulting footage looks surprisingly clean. You might want to look at the low light "sticky" thread and also the PD-170 vs Z1 comparison here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=54414
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=50112

Let us know what you decide to buy and how it works out for you.

[Peter Jefferson]

if u grab urself a dual dualcore system, 2gb ram, raided HDD with another raided backup, at least 1.5 TB storage, Vegas 6, dvda3, after effects, maybe particle illusion, Blufftitler ummm.. what else..

oh yeah and leave urself enough change for an advertising budget, youll be set for HDV..

BUT as a business i would alwyas recommend you have 2 machines in case of worst case scenarios and HW system crashes (which happen) as well as having teh ability ot use that second system as a capture unit while u continue to edit..

oh by the way.. NEVER connect ur editign machine to the net unless ur security is top notch.. stay away from Nortons.. go for AVG (free) and Sygate (free)

[Brian Duke]

I have a G5 2.5. Would not be caught dead working on a PC =) To each his own

[Peter Jefferson]

roflmao...
mac heads.. cant live with em, cant kill em... lol
Although i do envy the DVCProHD support, theres nothing FCP5 can do that gives me a hard on... lol

[Brian Duke]

Hehe.. Cant really support Bill Gates and his pirates of silicon valley. Plus I don't find PC's very user friendly. Further, Macs look much cooler and more powerful... its really a matter of what you are used to. My first computer was a quadra 650 15 years ago.

[Mick Isdes]

Dual G5 with 3 to 4 gigs RAM and everything else you mentioned and you'll be happy in the long run. Plus with the MAC you get excellent customer service and your machine will hold a resale value.
I use Dual 3.2ghz HP's for work apps. and it seems like I am always rebooting.

[Dave Perry]

Edward,

I think someone in your position starting a new business will end up better off spending the extra $1500 on a Mac setup. You will more than likely earn that back in savings on maintenance time in the first 6 mos. The Macs we use rarely need maintenance and when they do it's quite quick, simple, and easy.

Since we switched to Macs, the dual 2 ghz zeon processor pc we have is working out just dandy as an e-mail reader:)

[John M Burkhart]

Hi Edward,

For the record, I'm editing long form HDV projects right now on my dual 1.4GHZ G4 Macintosh.

While rendering does take a while, the actual editing has plenty of real-time goodness, so much so that I've decided to skip the G5 generation all together and hold out for the new Intel Powermacs late next year.

So in my opinion, get a mac, you won't be dissapointed (I was a die-hard pc user), and you certainly don't need a quad to edit HDV.

JB

[Glen Elliott]

Originally Posted by Brian Duke

Hehe.. Cant really support Bill Gates and his pirates of silicon valley. Plus I don't find PC's very user friendly. Further, Macs look much cooler and more powerful... its really a matter of what you are used to. My first computer was a quadra 650 15 years ago.

Having used both- there is nothing mystical about the Mac platform and/or FCP. In regards to an NLE I found Vegas to be much more powerful and intuitive. Several of the same functions easily executed in Vegas took many more keystrokes and wrestling with tiny sliders and #'s to achieve. That said I don't disrespect the Mac or FCP- it just needs to be pointed out when people make blanket statments about one being "more powerful" than the other. There no reason to try and play the elitist role- there's nothing mystical about the Mac platform or FCP. Just another tool to work creatively.

As much as I prefer the Mac OS over XP I sold my dual G5 because Vegas is so much more a joy to work on, it transends any shortcomings of the OS it's built on.

[Glen Elliott]

Originally Posted by Dave Perry

I think someone in your position starting a new business will end up better off spending the extra $1500 on a Mac setup. You will more than likely earn that back in savings on maintenance time in the first 6 mos.

Again- this is farcical information. The "only" reason a PC may need more maintinance is soley due to the fact they hold the market share in the world of personal computers. In doing so they become the proprietary target for viruses, worms, etc. If your taking your PC on the net unprotected your risking infection moreso than with a Mac. In regards to software stability I've actually had more problems with OSX permissions getting corrupt than anything I've ever encountered in the past 5 years on XP. That said- I don't think either of them have an advantage in regards to stability as XP runs on a rock solid NT kernal and has been for many years.

The misconception that Macs are more stable and less maintinance is just that...a misconception.

The most important thing to focus on in regards to the original posters question is workflow and price point. For price and flexability the PC has it in the bag. Workflow?....that can tend to be subjective, however I don't think either platform holds any solid advantages in this respect.

When trying to help someone start a business in wedding/event videography it's best to present factual information that is objective in nature rather than elitist rhetoric from one camp or the other.

[A.J. Briones]

Originally Posted by Glen Elliott

The misconception that Macs are more stable and less maintinance is just that...a misconception.

ah, the platform wars.

i disagree with the above quote. if you look at actual it costs in the business world, even factoring in the number of pc's vs. number of macs on the same network, you'd see that pc's actually do have a higher cost with maintenance. nt was rock solid back when it was called windows 2000 (a near perfect os at the time). a good windows user can keep his system clean by routinely running anti-virus software, keeping files out of their desktop to not bog down the system and defragging every once in awhile... things i don't ever have to worry about... i just work. as a small business owner with no it staff, even the slightest risk of virus infection or data loss can set me back big. i don't want to take that risk if there's an alternative.

where macs win big for me is in the things that i don't have time to futz with on a pc:
ease of networking. out of the box, i can have a new mac on my network without any setup. file sharing in 2 button presses. windows is great until something that works all the time suddenly stops working and you have no idea where to look (prefs? registry? app conflict? dma conflict? reboot? virus? hardware failure?). also, there's workflow related system tools like automator. no more repetitive tasks, ever. i just make a batch for everything: from resizing images and running photoshop actions on them to setting up project files on a new client drive. system wide instantaneous search that makes my job much easier. if i am looking for candice's entourage i just search for "candice" and it brings up EVERYTHING on her, from photos to text files to email. then there's the small things that i appreciate like a built-in dictionary (ctrl+cmd+d and highlighting a word brings up a contextual dictionary, how cool is that?) and system-wide spell checking so i never have to look like a moron to any of my clients ever again. in fact, i did not realize how horrible a speller i was until mac os x. glen, if windows had it you'd see that you misspelled "maintenance" and "flexibility". ;-P

if you ask me, the real misconception is that macs are more expensive, but if you actually did a cost comparison, part by part, macs come out pretty even.

me? i use both pc's and macs. i have a ridiculously high end dual core boxx pc at my day job as a 3d animator, and i have 8 macs in my videography business. i work well in both environments, but since i work on large data files when animating, i have to defrag my machine after every project. i like to use my desktop like i use my real-world desktop, but doing so on windows bogs down the system (especially since i work in large files). i also found that even though boxx is a respected high-end pc manufacturer, some of the components they use are cheap, like their frontside usb and firewire connectors that routinely fail and need replacement. this is all fine and well. we have a solid it staff and they fix all my problems quickly. what if this happened at home while i'm capturing video!?

at home, i just bought a g5 quad for my business, and i'm very impressed. it kills my dual 1.8 g5.

mac os x tiger checks for permissions errors on-bootup, and permissions issues are no-brainers compared to registry errors and the like. everything is where it should logically be, and you'll never have to use regedit or run adaware.

just note that you will have to factor in the cost of additional ram, as the amount it comes with is not enough to run fcp well.

glen is right about this, however: it doesn't matter how stable or elegant the os is if you don't like the nle app.

go to an apple store and check out fcp. then go find someone who has vegas or avid or premiere pro and try those out. that's what you really should be asking. asking pc or mac just summons a flame war. ;-P

[Brian Duke]

Mac Mac Mac Mac EVERYBODY Mac Mac Mac Mac COME ON EVERYBODY Mac Mac Mac Mac Once you go Mac you don't go back.. hehe