Mac & FCP HD vs PC & Premier Pro 1.5

[evil_santa]

I am putting together a Video editing / DVD workstation for my work. I asked for...

G5 2x2.5 with 2gb ram
500GB Raid 3 disk storage
Decklink Extreme SDI I/O card
Final cut pro HD
DVD studio pro
Discreet Cleaner

Unfortunately after many meeting the company’s Director of Operations has told me that we can’t have a Mac and must use a PC, as he can’t provide support for a new Mac. I have got our supplier to provide a quote for a PC equivalent. They have suggested…

IBM Zpro dual Xeon 3Ghz / 2GB Ram / 36GB hd DVDROM / CD-RW / XP Pro
600Gb video storage
Adobe Premier Pro v1.5
Discreet Cleaner XL
Adobe Encore v1
Adobe Audition 1.5

The last Windows machine I used regularly had 3.1 on it! I have only used 95/98/2000/xp occasionally for Internet usage when away from home. On my G4 at home I did have premier 5.5 but never go on with it & used it to trade up to FCP. I have been told that Premier Pro 1.5 is a FCP Rip-off and should be able to work it ok. One of the reasons we wanted FCP is for Soundtrack & Livetype. All the above Adobe apps are windows only so I can’t try the demos on Adobe web site.

If anyone has used any of the Adobe products or can suggest alternatives, I would much appreciate your input.

This system will replace a G3/400 with media 100 v3 & mpac (about 11 min 3:1 storage). We want the new machine to do more than the G3 can. Long-form editing, off-lining, DVD creation, VCD creation, encoding (AVI/MPEG1/MOV) & music creation.

Thanks

eSanta

 

[26139]

quick question...

Your company can't support a new G5 but it could support an old G3? You should tell your boss you don't actually need a comp tech to be able to run the mac...

 

[evil_santa]

I have tried every argument I can think of, we have suggested not having the G5 on the network, & having a 3rd party service contract, but no we still can't have it. Its very frustrating. We used to have quite a few mac in our graphics department but they get replaced with PCs. We now only have a g3 & a g4 in the building vs 200+ pcs!

 

[Horrortaxi]

It sounds like you're suffering from the IT world's ignorance about Macs. And you may well continue to suffer if you have to use Premiere (and on Windows no less).

The Mac won't need any support--ever--probably. But you won't convince anybody of that. I think it just comes down to getting the right tools for the job, but what do I know?

The PC is okay and Premiere will get the job done, but they're not doing you any favors. The rest of the industry will laugh at you.

 

[PeterD42]

Have you offered to pay for Mac support yourself?

 

[kaltsasa]

Good luck scraping by with a Windows box and Premiere. Tell your Director of Operations that I'll be out here in the real world getting work done with Final Cut Pro. You want to do DVD creation, VCD creation, encoding (AVI/MPEG1/MOV) & music creation, and your Director is even considering a Windows box, lol, looks like time to start looking for a new job. Why eat a soyburger for $10 when Apple will give you a ribeye for $5. It doesn't make support or financial sense to get a Windows machine for what you need to do, when a Mac will do it better and more and at a more cost effective price(support included).

 

[LeeTom]

Premiere is pretty much a joke compared to Final Cut. I don't know of any serious company that does video editing that DOESN'T use Apple's solution. Sorry, it sounds like you work for a lame company. I'm not even all that pro-Apple of a person... it's the industry standard.

Lee Tom

 

[paulypants]

I feel sorry for you I really do, i don't think I could work in an environment with that kind of attitude--premiere is a joke compared to FCP HD, studios that pride themselves on their work would never settle for less...

 

[zakee00]

yeah i'd tell my boss to gth

 

[evil_santa]

Have you offered to pay for Mac support yourself?

I am seriously thinking of getting a 15" PB to take into work to make a point. But our IT boys will stick their heads further in the sand, and mutter that macs are a security risk.! and windows is secure.

 

[TreeHugger]

macs need IT support??? Your boss and IT department would be unemployed if you all would use macs at work.

hell editing a movie on iMovie is better than in Premiere ;-) (j/k)

 

[unixkid]

!!!

u can edit video in winblowz???! wow! who knew! lol (JK)

been there done that.... i started editing video on windows and thats what made me switch lol!! it was so bad i switched to a f*cking mac!!! i couldn't EVER imagine buying a MAC or even using one! now im a HARD CORE mac addict!!!!! lol!

tell ur boss that since these r media professionals that its not possible to use "WINTENDO" in a productive environment and that u MUST use OS X and theres NO other option. Theres no need for "IT" with macs so it will cut down cost and theres no need for anti virus, etc.. plus there faster so its all realtime editing.

im ordering a dual 2.5ghz G5 with 2gb of ram and a 20"cinema display.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Premiere is pretty much a joke compared to Final Cut. I don't know of any serious company that does video editing that DOESN'T use Apple's solution. Sorry, it sounds like you work for a lame company. I'm not even all that pro-Apple of a person... it's the industry standard.

Lee Tom

By "Apple's solution" do you mean Apple hardware or Apple hardware and software? A Mac based Avid still rules the roost although FCP is/has been making noteworthy in-roads into once "Avid Only" domains.

The latest version of Premiere, Premiere Pro, is a very big step in the right direction, and away from, it's early versions. Comparing the two in non-specific terms is becoming less and less relavent IMO as the paths for each seem to be driving apart. By that I mean Apple's end goal for FCP, IMO, is different than Adobe's end goal for Premiere Pro.


evil_santa,
Pro isn't an FCP rip-off. Both FCP and Pro ripped off Avid. What format are working with (I see you have a Decklink card for the Mac, but no card for the PC)? Will you be making the actual DVD's yourself or just authoring them then sending out for actual production? How long will your long form projects typically be? Will you on-line as well or will you go out of house for that? What kind of work will you typically do (Copropate/Industrial, Event, TV shows, etc.,)?


Lethal

 

[evil_santa]

Pro isn't an FCP rip-off. Both FCP and Pro ripped off Avid. What format are working with (I see you have a Decklink card for the Mac, but no card for the PC)? Will you be making the actual DVD's yourself or just authoring them then sending out for actual production? How long will your long form projects typically be? Will you on-line as well or will you go out of house for that? What kind of work will you typically do (Copropate/Industrial, Event, TV shows, etc.,)?

Lethal

Yep the PC will have the Decklink or similar SDI card. The new edit suite will be used as a support machine for a Quantel Editbox, I mainly make Promotions & Ads on the Editbox. The Editbox is ideal for the kind of short form compositing work I do, but we also have to make longer sales presentation & compilation tapes, these can be between 5min to 1hr +. The idea is that the FCP/Premier suite will be used to do the longer non graphic jobs that are a pain to do on the Editbox.

We also make a lot of mpegs to email to clients for approval, I work with in-house producers, so the client seldom in attendance. We are now being asked to supply copies of the work on DVD or VCD for viewing. This week a client asked us to make a compile of all the Sponsored Promos, Interviews & Ads that we have recently made for them, they wanted this on DVD so they could have it running on a large screen TV on their stand at a trade fair.

We would also want to make DVDs for our own sale team containing sales reels, pitch ideas, client testimonial & programming examples. These could range from a one off disk, to a run of 1000+. Last year I had to make up a tape to send to agency with all the video for a DVD, I spent more time making the tape up than it would have taken to load it into Final Cut.

We also would use the system to get media into the Editbox, we are usually sent artwork as tiff, psd Pdf & occasionally .avi / .movs to use on client jobs. The only way in/out of the Editbox is through the SDI.