My G5 1.8 is driving me crazy...

nospleen

nospleen

macrumors 68030
I purchased my G5 about two weeks ago and I have been pretty happy with it. It felt on par, maybe a little faster than my old dual 1.42. Today I am trying to make a movie for a friend of mine. I am putting about 250 pics together in imovie with the Ken Burns effect, transitions, and music. I did this a bunch of times on my old dual 1.42. I have never seen a beach ball so much in my life. The machine seems to be lagging behind, I have to wait for a while before I can add another transition or just change the volume level on a song. I think this is ridiculous! I am still running stock with 512 of ram, but I have 1 gig on the way. My question is, is it this slow because imovie is optimized for the G4? Or is the G5 not worthy of the hype? I hope when I get my ram in that I will see an increase in speed. I did not get this frustrated working on my old 12 inch powerbook. What gives? Will panther change things, or do they need to totally overhaul imovie for the G5? Before I ebay this mac, I wanted to get some feedback. If it is just software related, I can wait, if not, this thing goes. Thanks!
 
You've barely got enough RAM. I believe that the 1.8 GHz machines were recommended to have much more RAM than 512MB. I would suggest 512MB for G3 iMacs, not G5s anyway. Since it's on the way, I'm sure you and your G5 will be feeling better soon.
 
iApps are optimized for G4

;) Hi, maybe i can help you out, the prob is not your G5 ! As i know all iApps are optimized for G4 with there Altivec Unit and the G5 lags this one ! Instead it have a modified Altivec Unit which isn't compatible to the one in G4s. I think Apple will update those iApps soon with speed patches for G5s.
 
Lots of RAM, Panther, and updated apps (especially optimised for the G5) will make it MUCH faster.

Nothing beats a dual, but if you can be patient, you will not be diappointed.
 
iMovie gave me a lot of $h!+ (and still does) when I upgraded from my iMac G3 to my Dual 867 G4. If you can spare a few hundred dollars, Final Cut Express is definitely worth it.
 
I have to agree with XnavxeMiyyep. iMovie is not the best app out there, for free its awsome, but for what you are doing, FCPX or FCP4 would run awsome on your machine. Ditch iMovie, if you can.
 
Originally posted by Laslo Panaflex
I have to agree with XnavxeMiyyep. iMovie is not the best app out there, for free its awsome, but for what you are doing, FCPX or FCP4 would run awsome on your machine. Ditch iMovie, if you can.
Click to expand...

I actually have final cut express. I have not used it yet. I am so comfortable with imovie that when I open final cut express I freak out and close it. :D I plan on buying one of those dummy books and learning the ins and outs. I have a friend who says it is not that all different than imovie in terms of use, but that it is an awesome program.
 
Re: iApps are optimized for G4

Originally posted by Macnasien
;) Hi, maybe i can help you out, the prob is not your G5 ! As i know all iApps are optimized for G4 with there Altivec Unit and the G5 lags this one ! Instead it have a modified Altivec Unit which isn't compatible to the one in G4s. I think Apple will update those iApps soon with speed patches for G5s.
Click to expand...

The G5 Altivec unit is backwards compatible with the G4's.



Sandon said that the SIMD unit on the PowerPC 970 uses the same set of 162 instructions that Motorola's AltiVec uses. This means that applications optimized for AltiVec will perform normally on the PowerPC 970. Halfhill added that all applications optimized for AltiVec on the Macintosh should see performance boosts on the PowerPC 970, if it indeed is used by Apple.
Click to expand...
( http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2002/10/16/ibm/index.php?redirect=1063827837000 )
 
Originally posted by nospleen
I actually have final cut express. I have not used it yet. I am so comfortable with imovie that when I open final cut express I freak out and close it. :D I plan on buying one of those dummy books and learning the ins and outs. I have a friend who says it is not that all different than imovie in terms of use, but that it is an awesome program.
Click to expand...
It really is very similar, except it has more features, but it's not quite as simple. Play around a little, and you'll figure most of the stuff out eventually. I figured it out in a week when I had a deadline to finish a project. It is also much faster than iMovie.
 
Re: Re: Re: iApps are optimized for G4

Originally posted by nospleen
Well that sucks! imovie is very dissapointing on this thing. I was hoping an update would fix it right up. Maybe not.:(
Click to expand...

Repeating what's been said here before, but that extra RAM is going to help. Processing the Ken Burns effect on 250 images is going to take a lot of time, and it's going to help if there's more memory to store that info beforehand.

Again, maybe FCX will give you a little more joy.
 
Originally posted by XnavxeMiyyep
It really is very similar, except it has more features, but it's not quite as simple. Play around a little, and you'll figure most of the stuff out eventually. I figured it out in a week when I had a deadline to finish a project. It is also much faster than iMovie.
Click to expand...

Can you choose chapter selections and export to iDVD?
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: iApps are optimized for G4

Originally posted by adamcoop
Repeating what's been said here before, but that extra RAM is going to help. Processing the Ken Burns effect on 250 images is going to take a lot of time, and it's going to help if there's more memory to store that info beforehand.

Again, maybe FCX will give you a little more joy.
Click to expand...

The Ken Burns effect has always been super slow. However, and it might just be my mind missing the extra processor, but my dual 1.42 seemed faster. I can deal with waiting to render, but spinning beach balls drive me crazy. When that happens I cannot even add a title, song, effect, etc...
 
Originally posted by nospleen
Can you choose chapter selections and export to iDVD?
Click to expand...
Probably. My project was only 6 minutes long, so I didn't have to worry about chapters. I think you save it as digital video, then put that into iDVD. Or if you have a VCR with the right ports and cables, save directly to a video.
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: iApps are optimized for G4

Originally posted by nospleen
The Ken Burns effect has always been super slow.
Click to expand...

I know it really is considering if you set your screen saver to cycle through the pictures folder it will go through them and use the ken burns effect in real time, go figure.
 
I would download the app aquamon, or similar app to check current ram usage, to see if thats your problem, but I assume if you are using iMovie, itunes, and a few other apps open, you will be out of your 512 RAM.

check versiontracker.com
 
Re: Re: iApps are optimized for G4

Originally posted by adamcoop
The G5 Altivec unit is backwards compatible with the G4's
Click to expand...
While this statement is true, it does leave out other factors.

Basically the G4 and G5 have different optimization requirements. The iApps should get a speedup with their next release.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Back
Top