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A GOOD MACHINE FOR 1080p Video Editing

I

I AM THE MAN

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 10, 2011
291
0
I recently became a YouTube Partner, and I will soon be purchasing an HD 1080p Camera. With that, I would like to purchase a new machine (Windows or Mac). I want to purchase a machine in which I can edit the 1080p (60fps) video at a decent amount of speed.

I currently own both Windows and Macs and I use Sony Vegas on Windows, and Final Cut Express + ScreenFlow + iMovie (iMovie VERY RARELY AND ONLY IF I NEED TO GET A FAST EDIT DOWN). My minds are headed towards buying either an iMac (i7) or a Mac Pro.

As far as Windows goes, I really do not know what to buy as far as the specs go, because I currently have an i5 that i use to edit videos on Sony Vegas and CS5 (AfterEffects) and its pretty slow (my graphics card is a Nvidia 9800).

Thanks for the help, and I know I might sound a little unorganized, but im honestly very confused where to start, so thanks for all the help :)
 
Last edited:
simsaladimbamba

simsaladimbamba

Guest
Nov 28, 2010
22,670
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located
Any current Mac will handle your task, some faster, some slower. But know in order to edit properly, you need to transcode the highly compressive HD footage (using some MPEG-4 codec) to a QuickTime (.mov) using Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) as the codec for video and Uncompressed as the codec for audio.
You can do such things via the Log & Transfer window in FCE or MPEG Streamclip's batch list (CMD+B).
Using MRoogle you will find hundreds of similar threads.

Anyway, if the budget is there and you make your money with this, the Mac Pro is the safer bet, due to upgradeable GPUs and HDDs and more RAM (if needed).
 
I

I AM THE MAN

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 10, 2011
291
0
simsaladimbamba said:
Any current Mac will handle your task, some faster, some slower. But know in order to edit properly, you need to transcode the highly compressive HD footage (using some MPEG-4 codec) to a QuickTime (.mov) using Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) as the codec for video and Uncompressed as the codec for audio.
You can do such things via the Log & Transfer window in FCE or MPEG Streamclip's batch list (CMD+B).
Using MRoogle you will find hundreds of similar threads.

Anyway, if the budget is there and you make your money with this, the Mac Pro is the safer bet, due to upgradeable GPUs and HDDs and more RAM (if needed).
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply. Would the iMac 27 (i7) be a good bet or the Mac Pro. I find it hard to chose between them, and I really don't want to exceed a $2000 (I will be purchasing a Refurb iMac).
 
simsaladimbamba

simsaladimbamba

Guest
Nov 28, 2010
22,670
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located
I AM THE MAN said:
Thank you for your reply. Would the iMac 27 (i7) be a good bet or the Mac Pro. I find it hard to chose between them, and I really don't want to exceed a $2000 (I will be purchasing a Refurb iMac).
Click to expand...

The i7 will totally suffice, but know, that you need to get external HDD storage too, as using the internal HDD (the HDD used for the OS) for video editing is not recommended.
 
F

FroColin

macrumors regular
Jun 4, 2008
150
0
You may be able to get a 2008 mac pro on craigslist for around 2 grand. Everything else will be crap so your going to have to add ram and hard drive but look around. There are some good deals to be had on the 2008 mac pro and it's a good machine
 
K

Keebler

macrumors 68030
Jun 20, 2005
2,960
207
Canada
refurb store also has great deals on mac pros. i'm editing 1080P on a quad 2009 pro. edits just fine. no issues.

i'm also using a maxtro max card for outputting to AppleTV, the other i-devices and youtube. Wicked fast card. not cheap, but if you're outputting to youtube, it's a no brainer imho. :)
 
J

JAWWC

macrumors regular
Jun 1, 2008
144
0
I edit multi camera 1080p footage on my late 2009 27" core2duo iMac completely fine, just takes longer to render/export.
 
S

SidBala

macrumors 6502a
Jun 27, 2010
533
0
Mac or PC, I would highly suggest you get a higher end sandy bridge i7.

Couple this with a good CUDA card and you can encode H264 quite quickly using the gpu.

That said, the windows option might be cheaper and better performing.
 
Gator24765

Gator24765

macrumors 6502a
Nov 13, 2009
781
3
Texas
Congrats man on being a partner. WHat kind of videos do you do?


As far as a good machine? You can't go wrong with a mac, I love editing video on them. The new Final Cut Pro X would be a cheap and professional addition to the mac for all of your editing needs.
 
S

stefmesman

macrumors 6502
Jun 25, 2010
432
1
Netherlands
i edit on an i7 iMac. does the job well enough. all depends on how large your edits will be. Are you gonna do alot of effects work? or just editing some files together? For most my needs the i7 does more then enough. and i do pretty heavy edits.

a mac pro would be a better choice. but you will spend alot more buck for the amount of bang :p (expandability and external screen are pro's and con's)
 
I

I AM THE MAN

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 10, 2011
291
0
SidBala said:
Mac or PC, I would highly suggest you get a higher end sandy bridge i7.

Couple this with a good CUDA card and you can encode H264 quite quickly using the gpu.

That said, the windows option might be cheaper and better performing.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry to ask, but what is a CUDA card?
 
I

I AM THE MAN

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 10, 2011
291
0
Gator24765 said:
Congrats man on being a partner. WHat kind of videos do you do?


As far as a good machine? You can't go wrong with a mac, I love editing video on them. The new Final Cut Pro X would be a cheap and professional addition to the mac for all of your editing needs.
Click to expand...


Thanks! As far as my videos go, Im a Tech-Reviewer.
 
I

I AM THE MAN

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 10, 2011
291
0
stefmesman said:
i edit on an i7 iMac. does the job well enough. all depends on how large your edits will be. Are you gonna do alot of effects work? or just editing some files together? For most my needs the i7 does more then enough. and i do pretty heavy edits.

a mac pro would be a better choice. but you will spend alot more buck for the amount of bang :p (expandability and external screen are pro's and con's)
Click to expand...

Nothing to big. I just want fast times as far as rendering/importing/exporting times go.
 
G

gameface

macrumors 6502
Sep 11, 2010
472
0
Boston, MA
1080p tells us absolutely nothing. There are $200 cameras that shoot that and you could cut it on a 7-8 year old machine. There are $100K+ cameras that shoot that which you couldn't. For speed it is more dependent on your I/O, the codec the camera uses and the bit-rate instead of how much ram you have and what proc you go with.
 
laurim

laurim

macrumors 68000
Sep 19, 2003
1,985
970
Minnesota USA
simsaladimbamba said:
Any current Mac will handle your task, some faster, some slower. But know in order to edit properly, you need to transcode the highly compressive HD footage (using some MPEG-4 codec) to a QuickTime (.mov) using Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) as the codec for video and Uncompressed as the codec for audio.
You can do such things via the Log & Transfer window in FCE or MPEG Streamclip's batch list (CMD+B).
Using MRoogle you will find hundreds of similar threads.

Anyway, if the budget is there and you make your money with this, the Mac Pro is the safer bet, due to upgradeable GPUs and HDDs and more RAM (if needed).
Click to expand...

As a sidenote, isn't ProRes 422 the current preferred editing format? That's what I use now.
 
G

gameface

macrumors 6502
Sep 11, 2010
472
0
Boston, MA
laurim said:
As a sidenote, isn't ProRes 422 the current preferred editing format? That's what I use now.
Click to expand...

It doesn't work with FCE. And transcoding to prores just for the sake of it is stupid. I do it when working with multiple formats or H.264 footage but if I am cutting a 3 cam shoot from EX-1's there is no way I would transcode all of that for no reason.
 
laurim

laurim

macrumors 68000
Sep 19, 2003
1,985
970
Minnesota USA
gameface said:
It doesn't work with FCE. And transcoding to prores just for the sake of it is stupid. I do it when working with multiple formats or H.264 footage but if I am cutting a 3 cam shoot from EX-1's there is no way I would transcode all of that for no reason.
Click to expand...

Ah, sorry, I missed the express part.

All of my work involves using multiple formats and my final result movie is ProRes 422 so that's MY world. The OP wanted faster rendering and editing so using ProRes (if he had FCP) could facilitate that. Excuse me for suggesting it.
 
G

gameface

macrumors 6502
Sep 11, 2010
472
0
Boston, MA
laurim said:
Ah, sorry, I missed the express part.

All of my work involves using multiple formats and my final result movie is ProRes 422 so that's MY world. The OP wanted faster rendering and editing so using ProRes (if he had FCP) could facilitate that. Excuse me for suggesting it.
Click to expand...

HOW DO YOU KNOW? He still hasn't told us what kind of footage he is cutting. There are a lot of formats that are a lot less strenuous than ProRes 422. He could literally be making it harder to cut with the horrible blanket advice that this subforum provides from rank amateurs that don't know their ass from their elbow.

laurim said:
Excuse me for suggesting it.
Click to expand...

Don't get your balls in a twist. It's the internet not a graduate class. And since you've been around so long you should know this place is filled with horrible information and little kids. Harden the hell up.
 
I

I AM THE MAN

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 10, 2011
291
0
gameface said:
1080p tells us absolutely nothing. There are $200 cameras that shoot that and you could cut it on a 7-8 year old machine. There are $100K+ cameras that shoot that which you couldn't. For speed it is more dependent on your I/O, the codec the camera uses and the bit-rate instead of how much ram you have and what proc you go with.
Click to expand...

Sorry. I will be editing using a T2I Rebel. Native Format.
 
laurim

laurim

macrumors 68000
Sep 19, 2003
1,985
970
Minnesota USA
gameface said:
HOW DO YOU KNOW? He still hasn't told us what kind of footage he is cutting. There are a lot of formats that are a lot less strenuous than ProRes 422. He could literally be making it harder to cut with the horrible blanket advice that this subforum provides from rank amateurs that don't know their ass from their elbow.

Don't get your balls in a twist. It's the internet not a graduate class. And since you've been around so long you should know this place is filled with horrible information and little kids. Harden the hell up.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I don't have balls to get into a twist but I guess you do, lol. I just asked a simple question about what uncompressed format people used to edit nowadays and you went into a tizzy. I don't understand why you think ProRes 422 is "strenuous" since I use it all the time, but whatever. Obviously, you're the editing god here and no one else should bother contributing to the conversation. Glad you admitted converting to AIC is correct.
 
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