cant use 1080p videos on my G5

Get a newer computer?

I seem to recall when I had a G4 back in the day, that HD video wasn't viewable or editable by PowerPC-chipped computers...(or at the very least, you were limited to 720p and not 1080?) it's one the reasons I upgraded to an Intel Mac.

I think you need to find a more powerful computer in order to edit. Perhaps a friend or colleague has one?

The D3100 records AVCHD movies in a Quicktime wrapper. You'll need an Intel-based Mac to open and edit them.

You may be able to use a converter like Voltaic to convert to, say, ProRes in a QT wrapper but it will be a lengthy process. And you'll have to buy it.

Agnusdei said:

is there a way around it ??

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No. Not apart from a conversion utility such as Voltaic.

Agnusdei said:

thank you so much!! too bad i have to get to use a newer computer.. ... but anyway thnx! is there a way around it ?? like getting a better video card or something??.. ok...

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You could probably get a easily capable used iMac Mini for under $500. Anything post-2007-ish will do. About the price of a new card possibly?

Like MartinX said...upgrading the processor is the only surefire way to do this. That conversion may not work...a guarantee would be a computer upgrade.

mstrze said:

You could probably get a easily capable used iMac Mini for under $500.

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Seems such a downer to go from a dual G5 tower to a Mac Mini

Personally, I was very happy going from my dual G4 tower to the iMac. The only thing against a Mac Mini as a main machine is that I don't think you'll be able to run all of FCS on it because of a lack of a dedicated video card.

Agnusdei said:

ok! thanx guys! i'm sad because i cant use my HD footage here, but thanxs for your help!

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If you can find someone with a recent system, convert your files to QT Uncompressed (if possible).
Then try and get it in your old system.
You just cant play it back real time but do what you have to do then export to a format that works or as QT Uncompressed and send to a diff system that can handle it.

martinX said:

Seems such a downer to go from a dual G5 tower to a Mac Mini

Personally, I was very happy going from my dual G4 tower to the iMac. The only thing against a Mac Mini as a main machine is that I don't think you'll be able to run all of FCS on it because of a lack of a dedicated video card.

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No, what's a downer is the fact that the mini is probably faster than the dual G5...

The latest mini has dual 2.4 or 2.66 GHz 64-bit cores, up to 8 GB RAM; which makes it equal to or better than every G5 except the quad. Even the video chip is better than anything that can work in a G5! (Although it does use shared RAM instead of dedicated RAM.)

$600 buys you something that is almost guaranteed to be better than your current system. (Unless, of course, you have special-use add-in cards that aren't either built-in or easily replaced with USB/FireWire devices, or many internal hard drives.)

Anonymous Freak said:

No, what's a downer is the fact that the mini is probably faster than the dual G5...

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I mainly meant it in terms of size, to go from a HUGE G5 TOWER to a wee little Mac Mini

martinX said:

I mainly meant it in terms of size, to go from a HUGE G5 TOWER to a wee little Mac Mini

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BAHA! i really laughed hard at that. thanks for the laugh

the problem with a Mac Mini is that compared to 5year old tech, its great in terms of grunt - but its the bottom line machine in the Mac line up!

dont forget that the MM has ZERO expandability

DoFoT9 said:

dont forget that the MM has ZERO expandability

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Not much different to the iMac. Once you shove in a load of RAM, there's not uch more to do with an iMac except plug in USB devices. Just like the Mac mini...

martinX said:

Not much different to the iMac. Once you shove in a load of RAM, there's not uch more to do with an iMac except plug in USB devices. Just like the Mac mini...

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Well, only very recent hard drives are faster than FireWire 800, and you could even put a 64+ GB SD card in and set that as the boot drive! If you opt for the server version, you could have dual 1 TB drives inside (sadly, Apple only offers 500 GB; but the server version comes stock with two,) plus a 64 GB SD card as the boot.

This discussion pops up every few months so I may as well revive it...

The current Mac mini is about as good as the previous gen iMac, but with integrated graphics. That will be your limiting feature with Motion but in general it is fine with, say, FCE. My home iMac is a C2D and I cut AVCHD on it with no problems. I can even run the entire thing on one hard drive and still have 4 or 5 concurrent streams of AIC footage running in a sequence.

martinX said:

Not much different to the iMac. Once you shove in a load of RAM, there's not uch more to do with an iMac except plug in USB devices. Just like the Mac mini...

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except you can upgrade the iMac CPU, GPU, 2x max RAM(as stated), HDD + SSD, eSATA and much more. i dont see you being able to do all those in the MM.

DoFoT9 said:

except you can upgrade the iMac CPU, GPU.

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No you can't. Once you have it, you have it.

HDD + SSD

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Granted you can specify SSD, but that's also getting pricey by comparison. I would get it and use the SSD as a scratch disk, but many wouldn't see the value.

eSATA

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Not unless you send it to these guys for major surgery. Once again, I'd be a pig and get the lot if I could (it's not offered to us Down Under folk) but that's just me.

Still, I was just saying that whatever you can do with FCE on the last generation iMac, you can probably do with a current Mini if you have budget constraints.

martinX said:

No you can't. Once you have it, you have it.

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i REALLY wish you would research before you debate a topic you dont know about. how embarrasing for you.

you CAN upgrade BOTH CPU AND GPU in the 2009 and 2010 iMacs

Granted you can specify SSD, but that's also getting pricey by comparison. I would get it and use the SSD as a scratch disk, but many wouldn't see the value.

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who cares, we arent talking costs here.. its a feature.

Not unless you send it to these guys for major surgery. Once again, I'd be a pig and get the lot if I could (it's not offered to us Down Under folk) but that's just me.

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major surgery? its still covered under warranty hardly major at all. bummer we cant get it.

Still, I was just saying that whatever you can do with FCE on the last generation iMac, you can probably do with a current Mini if you have budget constraints.

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sure, in essence, but it would be many times slower.

DoFoT9 said:

you CAN upgrade BOTH CPU AND GPU in the 2009 and 2010 iMacs

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Not according to others. If you can, then well and good. I was under the impression just getting inside an iMac was not trivial ("disassembling the Aluminum iMac models is rather challenging").

It seems that iMacs are as upgradeable as they always have been: not much.

who cares, we arent talking costs here.. its a feature.

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We're always talking costs. Else we'd all be getting a MacPro.

major surgery?

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I call it major because only one place is doing it. If I could pop into any Apple reseller and get it done, it'd be minor and we'd all be getting it and rejoicing.

martinX said:

Not according to others. If you can, then well and good. I was under the impression just getting inside an iMac was not trivial ("disassembling the Aluminum iMac models is rather challenging").

It seems that iMacs are as upgradeable as they always have been: not much.

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very credible sources you have there

the parts are socketed, the upgrade is possible. components are identical to that of a PC. GPU - i could turn my 2009 iMac basically into a 2010 iMac if i wanted (minus dual HDDs)

I call it major because only one place is doing it. If I could pop into any Apple reseller and get it done, it'd be minor and we'd all be getting it and rejoicing.

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you and i both know that apple will NEVER allow that, unfortuntaely

DoFoT9 said:

very credible sources you have there

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An Apple forum discussion, iFixit (who tear down everything they can get their hands on) and EveryMac would be credible, IMO.

GPU - i could turn my 2009 iMac basically into a 2010 iMac if i wanted

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Perfect Replacement/upgrade for 2009/2010 27″ iMac video (27″ Models only). Professional installation recommended.
Sure you can - for $400 + whatever a CPU is worth (assuming it works) + postage + installation @$100 per hour. Everything's doable, it's just a matter of how much you're willing to pay.

I edit video and commission/maintain AV equipment for a living and I prize simplicity, usability and stability of a system over anything. Being a digital video forum, that's how I frame my opinions.

Now I get it: trust it to be a cockroach giving me so much grief