Canon 7D Files On An iMac 9G55 2.4 GHz?

[chkdg8]

Is my iMac capable of handling these HD files? Especially raw 1080P files shot at 24P? I'm moving from a SD camera and iMovie to a Canon 7D with a copy of Final Cut Studio. Also, as soon as Apple irons out all of the wrinkles with their 27" i5 and i7 units, I might consider picking up one of these purely as my editing station. In the meantime, I wanted to get anyone's opinion on my tech specs. I purchased my iMac back in October 2007 but the only drawback now is that I'm stuck with DDR2 memory capped at 4GB. I take really good care of my Mac. Very little apps installed, monthly clean ups, only 25GB used out of my 320GB internal HDD and external drive set ups for my HTPC content and TM.

One of the reasons why this worries me is because I ran a sample mkv at 1080 and I realized some skipping and stuttering. Plus, when viewing my iStat Pro menus, the processor, all temperatures and memory usage were peaking big time. I can only imagine the toll this would take when rendering these files in FCP. Just some of your experiences and technical know how would be much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[jackerin]

Is my iMac capable of handling these HD files? Especially raw 1080P files shot at 24P?

A couple of things you might want to check up is the iMac model since there is no "9G55". There is a OS X 10.5.6 build that is 9G55 according to Wikipedia, but that is not related to your hardware. The video files that the 7D will be producing will probably not be raw video since that would fill up memory faster than, well, just about anything you're used to; usually it's H.264, which while quite processor-intensive, should play on your iMac if it's a Core 2 Duo. (I have a Mac mini C2D 1.83Ghz and can play a 1440x1080 x264 file I have, though sometimes it chokes on high-action scenes.)

 

[LethalWolfe]

Step one when editing footage from a camera like the 7D in FCP, FCE, or iMovie is to transcode the footage into a different codec like AIC or ProRes. These codecs are less CPU intensive so they are easier for computers to handle but they are bigger so you'll need to make sure to have a big enough, fast enough external HDD for them (7200RPM FW800 drive would be the minimum, IMO).


Lethal

 

[mooney47]

24fps in iMovie

I don't think iMovie will work with 24fps. You might end up converting to 30fps. If you want to 24fps, maybe you'll need Final Cut Pro.

I use Final Cut Express, shoot mostly at 1080p30fps and use a 1080i60 timeline in Final Cut Express.

Oh...I see you have Final Cut Studio...okay...you're moving AWAY from iMovie...I should read more carefully...