So...I find myself in the following dilemma: I just bought a new 14inch iBook...it's great...I love it. When I was buying it I thought that perhaps, in a few years, I might learn video editing, but it was indefinite...a bit of a dream. Well...I've decided that I'm sick of doing seemingly 'practical' things (I was about to enroll in a Library Science program, because it seemed to be a 'safer' career path!) Well...film is what inspires me, truth be told, so I'm looking into MFA programs in film...and so I wonder...would it be ridiculous to keep the iBook if one of my main apps will be video editing? When I bought the iBook, I thought that, if need be, I would use the money I saved by not buying the 15inch PB (nearly a thousand dollars!) to invest in a G5 iMac, and use the iBook on the road. The reality is that most of my work will likely be done at home, so at present, at least, I don't need to be totally mobile as regards video editing (or so it seems--please, film students, tell me if I'm wrong on this point! Maybe I'll really need mobile film editing capabilities and will be frustrated by having a relatively poor video card?) HELP, please!
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HELP!iBookForVideoEditing?
- Thread starter Mr. Monsieur
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Video editing has practically nothing to do with the video card. Your G4 iBook is possibly faster than my Titanium Powerbook and I video edit just fine. You may want to get an external FW drive to import video onto however because the 4200RPM drive in the iBook is nothing to behold.
You will probably want to upgrade that iBook to the max of 1.25GB of RAM though, then it'll definitely be faster than my Tibook.
Good Luck.
EDIT: Just saw that you have 768MB of RAM, and that should be fine. My older video editing PC had only 384MB.
You will probably want to upgrade that iBook to the max of 1.25GB of RAM though, then it'll definitely be faster than my Tibook.
Good Luck.
EDIT: Just saw that you have 768MB of RAM, and that should be fine. My older video editing PC had only 384MB.
I dunno how in depth you gonna get with the video editing but I use my ibook g4 800Mhz to do work on the road using photoshop and imovie. Does me fine. My 733 quicksilver G4 which i just added a Pioneer 107D. All i did was added some RAM and they run GREAT.
THANKS for the posts!
Boy this forum is cool! THANKS for the posts! As you both have experience working video on the Mac, could you tell me what apps would require a more powerful processor and video card? I'm just beginning to research the world of digital video and am pretty clueless!
Boy this forum is cool! THANKS for the posts! As you both have experience working video on the Mac, could you tell me what apps would require a more powerful processor and video card? I'm just beginning to research the world of digital video and am pretty clueless!
Well starting out I'd play around with iMovie, because that's basically a free video editor. If you find you need more features, Final Cut Express should be able to suffice. I wouldn't look into Final Cut Pro unless your output is for film/HD or if you need Soundtrack.
In fact if you want to look at the requirements for FCE, look here. As you can see, your iBook more than passes that line and the only Video Card requirements are that it be AGP (All Macs have had AGP since roughly 2000). Your iBook nearly doubles the requirements for Real Time Extreme.
If you decide to go Pro, here's the specs. Again, your machine passes every requirement. Only one that it doesn't is for editing DVCPRO HD, and all you'd need for that some more RAM (it requires 1GB of RAM).
Video isn't the most demanding thing you can do on a computer and if you watch documentaries or interviews with video editors, you usually can see old Macs sitting up and in use. Apple even had a promotional 3D video that was composited (and rendered?) on a Mac back in 84 (I believe).
I'd just like to point out that you'll definitely need an external hdd that runs at 7200RPMs. 18 minutes of DV video consumes about 4GBs, so don't forget to have enough space to import and export a video.
Another option that's available for DV editing is something by Avid. I checked the requirements for Avid Express DV and they're slightly over FCE's requirements but will still run with more than enough headroom on your iBook.
www.avid.com
Avoid Premiere, though if you talk to Windows videographers they'll swear by Premiere. Mainly because that's all they've got that any good (besides Avid, which can be pricey). Premiere is no longer made for the Mac platform BTW.
In fact if you want to look at the requirements for FCE, look here. As you can see, your iBook more than passes that line and the only Video Card requirements are that it be AGP (All Macs have had AGP since roughly 2000). Your iBook nearly doubles the requirements for Real Time Extreme.
If you decide to go Pro, here's the specs. Again, your machine passes every requirement. Only one that it doesn't is for editing DVCPRO HD, and all you'd need for that some more RAM (it requires 1GB of RAM).
Video isn't the most demanding thing you can do on a computer and if you watch documentaries or interviews with video editors, you usually can see old Macs sitting up and in use. Apple even had a promotional 3D video that was composited (and rendered?) on a Mac back in 84 (I believe).
I'd just like to point out that you'll definitely need an external hdd that runs at 7200RPMs. 18 minutes of DV video consumes about 4GBs, so don't forget to have enough space to import and export a video.
Another option that's available for DV editing is something by Avid. I checked the requirements for Avid Express DV and they're slightly over FCE's requirements but will still run with more than enough headroom on your iBook.
www.avid.com
Avoid Premiere, though if you talk to Windows videographers they'll swear by Premiere. Mainly because that's all they've got that any good (besides Avid, which can be pricey). Premiere is no longer made for the Mac platform BTW.
I know a guy who does some pretty cool stuff with a 500mhz G3 iBook running 10.1 with 128MB of RAM. He never complais about it because he doesn't know he has a slow computer. His results are great though so it's more a case of "garbage in, garbage out" than anything. Your skills are the same no matter what computer you use.
7on...HorrorTaxi...drizahy4...I hope it's not silly to post just to say thanks...I suppose this post looms larger in my mind because for a second I thought that all my research, waiting, etc. for the purchase of my iBook was completely in vain, as I'd have to sell it and go out and buy a PB...and now I'm REALLY glad to hear that it wasn't all in vain! THANKS again!