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new mac for final cut

H

hansolo669

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 5, 2009
201
0
welcome to the new mac for final cut thread.
im currently searching for the best mac to learn final cut, and i belive many of you are as well but thanks to the ongoing help of many forum members we are developing a amazing resource for the student learing to edit, or the adult wanting to begin editing.

original:
ok this has been bugging me for a bit
should i get a new(or older but still intel) imac and use it for final cut
or get a older(maby new) mac pro quad for final cut
which one will be better
im planing of going slightly low end with my next mac laptop, so i wold like a desktop that can run final cut, and all my apps(gimp, live type, fire fox, dreamweaver, opera, safrie, and others) at (or close to) the same time!
thanks
 
Any new Mac will be able to run Final Cut. If your budget is tight, a last-gen 24" iMac would be an excellent choice. They're very popular as editing stations (for good reason), and the prices are unbeatable right now.

If you can stretch your budget a bit, the i7 27" machine would be a perfect solution. Especially if you're doing HD editing, the i7 will be much quicker in rendering video. It can also address more RAM than the previous gen machine, which you might find useful going forward.
 
Normally, I would recomend a Mac Pro for your needs. However, I would argue that the current Mac Pro's are grossly over-priced for the specs. So I would say go for an imac.
 
Hackintosh? Surely the most cost effective price/performance option. Just do some homework, and your done. :)
 
hmm ok so 27 inch i7. sounds good hopfully much faster than my single 1ghz powermac g4(noh relly) and im going to run dual displays(trust me i need to)
also a hackintosh relly i mean i wold like to see if it works but for a project sensitive machine no...just no, i mean it might break in the middle of a render or some carp... so back up yeas main .....no thanks.

but anyway thnks for the help now, to do some reaserch

p.s. any new reoprts on the imac doa situation?

p.s.s also its goning to be hard getting used to not having anything (with lots of powha) under my desk...hmmm
 
UglyLittleSpud said:
The 27'' i7 is a fantastic machine, no question about that. I was very nearly heading that way myself until I realised Hackintosh would work out almost as good for far less money.
I understand your concerns about reliability, but have a read through this -

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t125231.html

A hack can be just as stable as a real mac, as long as you build carefully!
Click to expand...

hmm intristing :/ i have read up a bit on hackintoshes but...hmmm.:cool::apple:
 
ok so stuff happend :/ (i hate mony)

(part one): so i know lots of you will say ppc is out dated but... wold a high end g5 work for learning to edit on? relly its just :final cut, blender, some adobe crap(ps/stuff), and ff. and thats basicly it, i know that the high end quad 2.5 is about as fast as some mac pros. and windows software=nope.

(part two): i guess what i'm saying is could someone that knows more than me could say what a good beginner/learner setup for final cut is it wold be immensely appreciated

ok ignore part one part two makes more sense
 
hansolo669 said:
ok so stuff happend :/ (i hate mony)

(part one): so i know lots of you will say ppc is out dated but... wold a high end g5 work for learning to edit on? relly its just :final cut, blender, some adobe crap(ps/stuff), and ff. and thats basicly it, i know that the high end quad 2.5 is about as fast as some mac pros. and windows software=nope.

(part two): i guess what i'm saying is could someone that knows more than me could say what a good beginner/learner setup for final cut is it wold be immensely appreciated

ok ignore part one part two makes more sense
Click to expand...


Don't sell yourself short; the MacPro is your best choice. The MacPro has more upgrade options, too.

Habitus :apple:
 
hansolo669 said:
hmm intristing :/ i have read up a bit on hackintoshes but...hmmm.:cool::apple:
Click to expand...

Yeah, you really do want to know WTF you're doing if you go hackintosh. I would recommend starting on a iMac. It's not as customizable as a pro, but a much better bargain-for-specs.
 
ok just cause i love to see what people say :p

what if i got a 17inch mbp for home with a led cinima display, and a 13 or 15inch mbp for school?

im still leaning to a mp but its good to have options
 
ok just cause i love to see what people say :p

what if i got a 17inch mbp for home with a led cinima display, and a 13 or 15inch mbp for school?

im still leaning to a mp but its good to have options
 
hansolo669 said:
ok so stuff happend :/ (i hate mony)

(part one): so i know lots of you will say ppc is out dated but... wold a high end g5 work for learning to edit on? relly its just :final cut, blender, some adobe crap(ps/stuff), and ff. and thats basicly it, i know that the high end quad 2.5 is about as fast as some mac pros. and windows software=nope.

(part two): i guess what i'm saying is could someone that knows more than me could say what a good beginner/learner setup for final cut is it wold be immensely appreciated

ok ignore part one part two makes more sense
Click to expand...

I would not recommend buying a non-Intel Mac. There are too many video codecs out right now that require an Intel Mac to edit them (Sony SxS, XDCAM EX for example). You need at least Final Cut Pro 6.0 and an Intel Mac....any Intel Mac will work. I'm able to edit 1080 30p footage on my older MacBook Pro (2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB ram) but I'm editing from a G-RAID connected via FW800 so that might help a bit.
 
MitchLewis said:
I would not recommend buying a non-Intel Mac. There are too many video codecs out right now that require an Intel Mac to edit them (Sony SxS, XDCAM EX for example). You need at least Final Cut Pro 6.0 and an Intel Mac....any Intel Mac will work. I'm able to edit 1080 30p footage on my older MacBook Pro (2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB ram) but I'm editing from a G-RAID connected via FW800 so that might help a bit.
Click to expand...


oh well...thats good to know
i also have a post just above yours saying:

ok just cause i love to see what people say :p

what if i got a 17inch mbp for home with a led cinima display, and a 13 or 15inch mbp for school?

im still leaning to a mp but its good to have options
Click to expand...

but thanks for your input :D
 
Have you said what kind of footage you want to edit?
I haven't found anything in this thread, but maybe I have lazy eyes.

If you wanna edit DV, every MacBook and MacMini will do, if you wanna edit HDV, the MacBook Pros and the iMacs and even the MacMini will do.

If you wanna edit uncompressed SD and HD footage, the MacPro or the 17" MBP with the ExpressCard /34 slot will do.
 
spinnerlys said:
Have you said what kind of footage you want to edit?
I haven't found anything in this thread, but maybe I have lazy eyes.

If you wanna edit DV, every MacBook and MacMini will do, if you wanna edit HDV, the MacBook Pros and the iMacs and even the MacMini will do.

If you wanna edit uncompressed SD and HD footage, the MacPro or the 17" MBP with the ExpressCard /34 slot will do.
Click to expand...

ok this gets my vote for most help full post :D
personlay i like to edit in uncompresed formats when i can, so manly uncompressed sd, bit of hd, and a good portion of regular dv

so final setup will (with any luck)=
17'mbp + cinima display + some nice stuff

or

mp + some display + 30inch cinima + nice stuff

and other mac for school :D

thanks guys :D
 
hansolo669 said:
ok this gets my vote for most help full post :D
personlay i like to edit in uncompresed formats when i can, so manly uncompressed sd, bit of hd, and a good portion of regular dv

so final setup will (with any luck)=
17'mbp + cinima display + some nice stuff

or

mp + some display + 30inch cinima + nice stuff

and other mac for school :D

thanks guys :D
Click to expand...


When you want to edit uncompressed, you might need additional hardware like for input via SDI.
http://www.aja.com/products/kona/ for Final Cut Pro

Or if you want to go Avid: http://www.avid.com/products/Media-Composer-Nitris-DX/index.asp or http://www.avid.com/products/Media-Composer-Mojo-DX/specs.asp.

You need to know how you capture the footage, thus the need may arise for those products I spoke of.
 
spinnerlys said:
When you want to edit uncompressed, you might need additional hardware like for input via SDI.
http://www.aja.com/products/kona/ for Final Cut Pro

Or if you want to go Avid: http://www.avid.com/products/Media-Composer-Nitris-DX/index.asp or http://www.avid.com/products/Media-Composer-Mojo-DX/specs.asp.

You need to know how you capture the footage, thus the need may arise for those products I spoke of.
Click to expand...

ok, thanks..well just another step in the lerning process
 
hansolo669 said:
ok, thanks..well just another step in the lerning process
Click to expand...

Have you ever edited before? And if so, with what application and what kind of footage (SD - Digi Beta, DV / HD - HD Cam, HDV, P2, Red, ....).

Because it seems you might be going overkill right now.


Just to give a little insight in my "evolution" as an editor.

I started with a normal PC in 2000 with a capture card called Fast AV Master 2000 which had a Composite input (for S-VHS tapes) and a dreadful piece of editing software (Ulead Media Studio).
In 2001/2 I upgraded to another PC and another capture card, Pinnacle something (still with Composite ) and Adobe Premiere 5 and a Firewire card for capturing DV material.
In my study (2001-2005) I had access to Avid Media Composer and Xpress (also some Xpress DVs) and lots of video inputs (Firewire, SDI, Component) and some video acceleration devices for the Media Composer.

At work now we have two Macs (one PowerMac G5, one MacPro 1,1) with two Avid Media Composer versions and Mojo boxes and an EditShare RAID and plenty of external 1TB Firewire 800 HDDs.


And all that was just for SD editing, the only time we use uncompressed material is when I batch capture the finished sequence for the final colour correction in Avid DS (another production house though).


So if you use tape based footage you can edit compressed, but you can still used uncompressed footage for the final sequence with the help of batch capturing.

It should be the same for non-tape based footage. That will save some HDD space (uncompressed SD footage in PAL resolution takes up 20MB/s, HD footage might go up to 200MB/s) and lessen the CPU activity and HDD throughput.

I hope that helps in some way.
 
spinnerlys said:
Have you ever edited before? And if so, with what application and what kind of footage (SD - Digi Beta, DV / HD - HD Cam, HDV, P2, Red, ....).

Because it seems you might be going overkill right now.


Just to give a little insight in my "evolution" as an editor.

I started with a normal PC in 2000 with a capture card called Fast AV Master 2000 which had a Composite input (for S-VHS tapes) and a dreadful piece of editing software (Ulead Media Studio).
In 2001/2 I upgraded to another PC and another capture card, Pinnacle something (still with Composite ) and Adobe Premiere 5 and a Firewire card for capturing DV material.
In my study (2001-2005) I had access to Avid Media Composer and Xpress (also some Xpress DVs) and lots of video inputs (Firewire, SDI, Component) and some video acceleration devices for the Media Composer.

At work now we have two Macs (one PowerMac G5, one MacPro 1,1) with two Avid Media Composer versions and Mojo boxes and an EditShare RAID and plenty of external 1TB Firewire 800 HDDs.


And all that was just for SD editing, the only time we use uncompressed material is when I batch capture the finished sequence for the final colour correction in Avid DS (another production house though).


So if you use tape based footage you can edit compressed, but you can still used uncompressed footage for the final sequence with the help of batch capturing.

It should be the same for non-tape based footage. That will save some HDD space (uncompressed SD footage in PAL resolution takes up 20MB/s, HD footage might go up to 200MB/s) and lessen the CPU activity and HDD throughput.

I hope that helps in some way.
Click to expand...

the first major thing i edited was a school mini-movie for history on a 600mhz g3 ibook, and it was shot on a dv sony handycam (i have also done movie maker and some fce vids but they have been short, and shot with a crappy digicam)

i do think that getting super expensive new awsome crazy stuff, right now is a bit insane(besieds i dont have that kind of mony) its not like im going to run out and buy this stuff tomorow, and looking at the kinds of things i dont understand(ok have much of a clue about) its going to take some time.

in retro spect after reading your above artical, i think relly editing compressed --> uncompressed is the way to go.

im still in high school im getting my first job this summer i was planing on buying a very erly used mp, just so it wold be faster than the powermac i have right now.

relly all i want ppc or intel is somthing that will let me go through high school and through collage/university, and let me edit my way through those years(if that makes sense).

im not one of those "well this guy says i should get this so i should" types but sometimes i get cougt up in the moment, and just need to take a step back or have someone experianced, say "hey wait a sec all you need for lering this stuff is....."

i guess the long and short is could some one with actual experiance give me a hand and lead me through this mess of everyones opinions.

a sincere and heart felt thanks to everyone that contributed
 
I'm in need of a new computer(s) too.. I was thinking of the 27" iMac but then got turned off due to the size, It will be a tight squeese to fit in on my desk! and I also wanted either express card slot or a PCI spot so I could get a matrox mini with Max to speed up my exports... Depending on what apple does, I'll either go all out on a laptop or a mac pro or go in the middle spec. of the mac pro and macbook pro...I really hope apple adds back in the express card slot on the 15s :/
 
I gather from your post, that you might only need a decent MacMini, iMac or MacBook Pro, current or one or two generations ago, if all you want to do is learning by doing. Those machines are still quite capable ( I edited on my G4 iBook with a 12" display once, it was hard due to the low resolution with Avid Xpress DV Free, but it got the work done with DV material) for what you wanna do, editing DV material or even material from those new HDD/Flash cameras with HD capability.

If all your footage comes from consumer or prosumer cameras, there is no need to edit uncompressed, as those cameras record compressed.

You also need fast external HDDs, Firewire 800 will suffice for that.

I personally recommend the current 17" MBP, for its 1920 x 1200 resolution and its ExpressCard slot, which gives you the ability to add additional ports if needed.
The MBP also gives you enough mobility, if that is needed too.

But a MacMini or iMac might also go.

This purchase will help you editing for the next three to five years, unless you get a good paying job and can update sooner, if necessary.

Some questions to help you (and other posters) get a clearer picture what you want and might need.

What will be the source of your footage? - DV, HDV, H264 encoded footage found on most file based consumer cameras, something else....

Do you need portability?

Do you need expandability?

What will be the final product? - video DVD, Blu-Ray, YouTube, Vimeo, other ....

How important is screen resolution for you?


That's it for now, it's quite late here.


PS: Don't take the following as an insult, but if English is your first language, you should work on your spelling, as that will come in handy for future job applications, and it also makes reading a bit hard.

Have a good evening...
 
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