27'' iMac VS 8-core Mac Pro for editing

[tri3limited]

An offliner...hah. I can see the look of disdain you had on your face when you typed that. I shoot too!!!!

No disrespect meant there! Apologies.

On a side-note though there's nothing wrong with the offlining bunch, they're the creative lot that make my sessions somewhat more interesting! Far more exciting than the online robots :S ;P

 

[MovieCutter]

No disrespect meant there! Apologies.

On a side-note though there's nothing wrong with the offlining bunch, they're the creative lot that make my sessions somewhat more interesting! Far more exciting than the online robots :S ;P

When you work in news, that's all we have time for anyway

 

[knewsom]

So, a SHOOTER/EDITOR, huh? I did that for awhile, in Promos, at CBS13 in Sacramento... then became a producer doing the same, then moved to LA. News and the rest of the industry are so incredibly different. It's WEIRD.

 

[MovieCutter]

So, a SHOOTER/EDITOR, huh? I did that for awhile, in Promos, at CBS13 in Sacramento... then became a producer doing the same, then moved to LA. News and the rest of the industry are so incredibly different. It's WEIRD.

It is, I WAS a promo/commercial shooter/editor/writer/producer/MG artist for Fox Carolina out of Greenville, SC for a few months...worst job ever. Seems like us news guys have to do everything these days. I'm only 25, so hopefully I'll fall into feature work soon and join the rest of you old fogeys

 

[knewsom]

OLD??? I'm only 29! But don't be surprised when you end up in LA if all you can find is Assistant Editor work at first... the way it goes out there is basically if it didn't happen in LA, it didn't happen. ...unless it got major attention and made tons and tons of money. It's a strange strange town.

I'm in DC now, and concentrating on my other job. ...being a DAD.

 

[Bonsai71]

I'm considering buying a new mac for HD film editing (I currently have a Macbook Pro from 2007).

Thanks for all the insight everyone.

....

There's no doubt that i'd save way more money with the iMac, but I want to make sure it's a good investment. It'll be something I'm planning on keeping for years. The iMac can do about 16GB of ram, and I could always get externals instead of internal HD's, so in terms of expandability I guess the only argument left is that with the Mac Pro I'd get more FW 800 and 400 ports, where on the iMac i'm limited to one 800 and 4 USB 2.0s.

If rendering and editing in Final Cut and Avid will be much, much, faster on the Mac Pro then it makes the decision more difficult for me. If the difference is marginal then I think I'm going to go with the iMac.

A more interesting question I have for you is, "Whats Wrong with your MacBook Pro ?"

That would guide people trying to help you a lot I think.

The biggest difference between the current Pro and the Quad iMac is storage speed, in my humble opinion. Is the internal 2Tb going to be enough for each project? Its the only drive you will be able to access at semi decent speeds (~130MB/sec) whereas on the FW800 bus, even with a fast external drive, the interface will cap out at 80MB/sec.

However, the Pro, even with a software raid of 4x drives, will easily manage 400 MB/sec - and if you are talking about HD feature work (4K uncompressed) you might need that raw storage speed.

Capacity can be achieved with externals on the iMac, but through a relatively narrow pipe. (FW800) Depending on your projects, that may become a wall, or may be forever copying onto the internal drive to get smooth playback of HD footage.

However, my advice is similar to others, buy the iMac, keep the considerable money saved towards a pro in 2 years time, and sell the iMac then against the purchase of that pro, *if* you even need it, or who knows, a newer iMac with USB3.0 or 'LightPeek' for fast external storage.

Processor wise, and especially for the money, the iMac is a good investment, its shame it is not equipped with port multiplying eSATA connectors, or an ExpressCard slot, then it really would eat the bulk of the Pro's sales market! The current 16Gb max of RAM is fine - again, in my oh so humble, opinion.

 

[RebootD]

I always post this but here it goes:

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I like the AIO form factor? Yes: iMac No: Mac Pro
2. Do I already own a high-quality screen that I'm happy with and willing to make room for two screens? Yes: iMac No: Mac Pro
3. Do I love glassy screens? Yes: iMac No: Mac Pro
4. Am I okay with having multiple external hard drives daisy chained on my desktop vs hidden inside my machine? Yes: iMac No: Mac Pro
5. Can I live without more ports, memory expansion or future gfx cards? Yes: iMac No: Mac Pro

 

[tri3limited]

I always post this but here it goes:

Ask yourself these questions:
<snip...>

I really think this thread would have been worth reading first. It's quite an industry specific ask on quite a few levels. He's not asking which machine is better, but which one will benefit his future career. It's actually quite a toughie as well. I'm sure if he was after performance figures the OP would have searched, as he has been here since 2006.

Sorry to be a bit of a douche towards you but our conclusion was about 8 posts back.

Thanks for your time.

 

[MovieCutter]

OLD??? I'm only 29! But don't be surprised when you end up in LA if all you can find is Assistant Editor work at first... the way it goes out there is basically if it didn't happen in LA, it didn't happen. ...unless it got major attention and made tons and tons of money. It's a strange strange town.

I'm in DC now, and concentrating on my other job. ...being a DAD.

I'm in DC at the moment as well, what house are you in?

I really think this thread would have been worth reading first. It's quite an industry specific ask on quite a few levels. He's not asking which machine is better, but which one will benefit his future career. It's actually quite a toughie as well. I'm sure if he was after performance figures the OP would have searched, as he has been here since 2006.

Sorry to be a bit of a douche towards you but our conclusion was about 8 posts back.

Thanks for your time.

+1

 

[RebootD]

I really think this thread would have been worth reading first. It's quite an industry specific ask on quite a few levels. He's not asking which machine is better, but which one will benefit his future career. It's actually quite a toughie as well. I'm sure if he was after performance figures the OP would have searched, as he has been here since 2006.

Sorry to be a bit of a douche towards you but our conclusion was about 8 posts back.

Thanks for your time.

Hey no problem I'm used to douchey responses from people who think they are the be-all of this site and feel the need to put down others comments as if they are part of the forum elite police. (Like you and apparently MovieCutter) Perhaps in the future you could keep your derogatory comments that benefit no one to yourself? Just a thought.

My responses were about the 'benefit of his future career' if you bothered to put the questions into perspective.

Have a great night.

 

[MovieCutter]

Hey no problem I'm used to douchey responses from people who think they are the be-all of this site and feel the need to put down others comments as if they are part of the forum elite police. (Like you and apparently MovieCutter) Perhaps in the future you could keep your derogatory comments that benefit no one to yourself? Just a thought.

My responses were about the 'benefit of his future career' if you bothered to put the questions into perspective.

Have a great night.

You're special...we know what we're talking about because we work in the industry the OP apparently is looking at getting into, so we have this little thing called experience. Until you have the experience in the industry we do, I suggest you take our comments to heart since your comments aren't relevant to the discussion at hand. They simply read as if you haven't even read the thread and decided to inject your own personal preferential beliefs. Just a thought. Have a lovely night yourself.

 

[RebootD]

You're special...we know what we're talking about because we work in the industry the OP apparently is looking at getting into, so we have this little thing called experience. Until you have the experience in the industry we do, I suggest you take our comments to heart since your comments aren't relevant to the discussion at hand. Just a thought. Have a lovely night yourself.

Right even though I edit video and photos while also doing graphic design for a living? Perhaps you just proved the 'elitist' comment I made earlier as proof positive.

 

[MovieCutter]

Right even though I edit video and photos while also doing graphic design for a living? Perhaps you just proved the 'elitist' comment I made earlier as proof positive.

If the shoe fits...cheers!

 

[knewsom]

I'm in DC at the moment as well, what house are you in?

I actually haven't worked here at all yet, just moved less than two months ago! Work seems scarce here in DC, except for a few commercial houses that seem to be pretty well stocked... And of course, the obligatory international news gigs, which I'm just not sure I want to do.

What are you up to in DC? Going to be here for long?

 

[MovieCutter]

I actually haven't worked here at all yet, just moved less than two months ago! Work seems scarce here in DC, except for a few commercial houses that seem to be pretty well stocked... And of course, the obligatory international news gigs, which I'm just not sure I want to do.

What are you up to in DC? Going to be here for long?

For the immediate future. I've got a pretty good full-time gig going and do a freelance show on the side with the boss which allows me to globe trot quite a bit, so I can't complain.

 

[knewsom]

Sounds like a sweet gig! Travel as much as you can while you're young, footloose and fancy-free. It gets more difficult when you get older and have kids, and obligations, and all that. Not impossible, just more complicated.

We should grab a potbelly sometime, or a beer. Hit me up sometime - this username at the mac!

 

[zara10]

clarification

Thanks for initiating this thread. I hope you don't mind a request for clarification:
Is it possible to output to HD Cam on the imac? If not, what is the workaround on this?
Is there any reason why a long form project with Red rushes could not be cut on the imac if it is down converted to ProRes?
Would there be any difficulty down converting to ProRes on the imac?
Is there any reason not to edit on the imac if ultimately it is to be finished in 2K.

 

[Kallel00]

If Adobe's Mercy Engine isn't fake, a 2008 Mac Pro with a GTX 285 would be able to do real-time editing of an AVCHD file without any kind of slowdown.


This is just an example that shows where a brand new Core i7 Imac could really be a bust , altho it still is a very very very beautiful monitor


Edit: If that were to happen, and I'd own an IMac 27th, I'd just buy myself a 2K PC with a top gen video card to run Premiere CS5 on it. It'd still be cheaper than a a Mac Pro, monitor included

 

[reel2reel]

You'll probably only use your computer for what you're doing now, your own personal work, cutting reels, small side projects, and maybe some independent work, once you start working in the industry. In my experience, it's a very, VERY rare thing to be doing professional work from home. Usually, they want you in house, not in YOUR house. If you want to make a feature film or something like that, make sure you know exactly what your image acquisition is going to be ahead of time so you can design a good workflow. Post here if this is the case, and we'll help you. Or, post on the Cow.

In terms of MoGraph, I'll point to one of my best friends who has worked as a compositor, AE, and Editor in LA for YEARS, and does the best MoGraph of anyone I've ever known. He does all his own work on last years' iMac, which has included some heavy things, and has never had trouble with it.

Regarding the notion that only HD-SDI from an AJA device is sufficient for monitoring and grading, I'll remind everyone involved in this discussion that the quality of your monitoring output is only as good as the quality and calibratability of your monitor. If he's outputting through a Kona3 (or AJA IO, which IS a badass box) to a Vizio 720P monitor from Costco, there's no point, as the integrated display on the iMac is going to be FAR more accurate. In my own work as a colorist in LA, I've often relied on the Apple Cinema display as a secondary check, even though I was using a $50,000 calibrated 2k display through the Kona 3 card. Dunno why, that display always just looked a little rosy, to my eyes, Sonys tend to. The iMac has an excellent integrated display, so when you do color grading (make sure to find a second external monitor to use Color, because I don't think you can even use the app with one), turn out the lights, do it at night, and make sure you've got your built-in monitor as accurately calibrated as you can, check it with bars both in FCP and Color.

Ok, that was more than one thing. But yeah. Get the iMac. If you need a Pro later, you can just get a Pro later. Hell, you could even keep the iMac and use it as a display/render node.

You guys really need to stop pushing the notion that a computer monitor can be used for Color grading/correction. There is *no way* you can get accurate color on your computer monitor, not to mention the fact you can't display interlacing (yes, you want to see interlacing for 1080i). A Matrox MXO can turn a 2nd computer monitor into a reasonable facsimile of a broadcast monitor, but what's the point when the graphics cards in these iMac's process the video to the point that your signal is compromised (a processed signal is the last thing you want when grading). Search up on iMac 27" dithering for more info

My gripes with the iMac even as a 2nd workstation are the glossy screen (they seem to get shinier all the time) and the fact that I can't stand dealing with external drives anymore. You think you're saving on clutter with the iMac until you've got USB, FW800 cables and dangling power supplies all over the place.

Can't wait to get my Mac Pro and a 30" Dell display.

Another iMac warning:

http://blogs.creativecow.net/blog/1...s-do-not-support-high-speed-ethernet-transfer

 

[MovieCutter]

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