new production setup questions

[joberster]

Hey everyone,

I'm just starting as a graphic designer/media producer at a local cable company. It's about time to let them know what equipment I will need, and I thought you may be able to enlighten me a little bit.

I will be sharing the graphic design work with another co-worker, but I am the sole video and motion graphic guy in my department and will need to output commercials and other video work. So far all I know is I'm working on a Mac Pro with no exceptions. I will be using Final Cut Pro and After Effects on a regular basis, and hopefully learn Cinema 4D.

While I need to get the best out there, as it will probably be 4 or 5 years before I can upgrade again, I also don't want to go completely overboard and piss off my new employer. For starters, I'll probably just get the Quad Mac Pro rather than the 8-core, unless you guys think it's necessary. I will also need a DVCPro deck, but again, not too expensive.

Any suggestions would be very appreciated, especially with hardware (graphics cards and capture cards and such), that's where I don't know so much.

Thanks!

 

[Consultant]

Video: 8 core. If they are working in video the price of Mac Pro isn't too much compared to the professional video cams.

Check out benchmarks of the systems at barefeats.com

Why aren't they buying whatever they think would work?

 

[joberster]

Why aren't they buying whatever they think would work?

Thanks for the quick reply, and to answer your question, I'm the first real media producer besides another graphic designer in this Marketing department, so these guys don't really know much about what I need. Not to mention I will be one of two Mac users in a 500+ employee company. That is why they are turning to me to recommend my own equipment.

Do you have any other recommendations? I don't really know much about the necessary graphics cards and other upgrades/accessories/hardware I may need that doesn't come on the standard Mac Pro.