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Should I purchase Final Cut Studio 2?

T

Tattoo

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 30, 2005
273
0
Miami, Florida
I'm currently doing Wedding Videos on an old iMac 20" Core Duo machine.
I just purchased a Sony HVR-HD1000U and have been importing HDV via Firewire using iMovie & iDVD.

I noticed that importing "real time" is about 1/8 or at the most 1/2 times.
The imports are very very long and the file size is huge.

Will Final Cut import faster or better than iMovie?
I know there will be a big learning curve to move from iMovie to Final Cut and that transition has me holding back because I'm afraid that I will get way too far behind in my work while learning a new program.

The New Sony Camera I bought also has HDMI out but my iMac (or any Apple Computer for that matter) doesnt have HDMI inputs yet.

Should I just be patient during the import process or will Final Cut Studio make a difference?

Thanks for your help.
 
I may be going out on a limb here, but I don't think so. Your import time is never going to change unless you go to a P2 card or the new Sony express card on the EX1, etc or some type of hard drive based recording. Sure, you can import different levels of quality or resolution based on different cameras and type of inputs and outputs, but if you are importing a one hour tape it is going to take one hour. The type of camera or editing system is not going to make the tape play faster or slower. I am about 4 months new to FCS2 coming from an Avid PC system. I have not found the "basic" learning curve to be a problem. For sure there is still a lot to learn but nothing that is keeping me from my work done. Hope that helps.
 
Using FCP will get your ingest times down to real time and the file sizes will be much smaller than when using iMovie or FCE because iMovie and FCE don't edit HDV natively. They transcode it into the Apple Intermediate Codec which takes time and increases the file size by 3 or 4 times.

I'd definitely say get FCP if you make money doing videos. You can still use iMovie until as you're learning FCP do you don't have to worry about any down time.


Lethal
 
Hardware is your problem.

Your processor is turning (transcoding) your HDV footage into 'Apple Intermediate Codec', and is not fast enough to do it in real-time.

With FCP you can edit HDV (without having to transcode to AIC as you do in iMovie), but I doubt your processor is up to working with HDV natively (it's a lot more processor-intensive than AIC, which is why iMovie transcodes).

If you're finishing on a DVD you could check if your camera has some sort of HDV to DV downconvert, and capture and edit in DV. Final Cut probably is going to take you a while to get to grips with, so you might want to try this first.

HDMI is irrelevant here.
 
I wouldn't worry about speed too much. I work on a dual 2.0ghz G5 day in and day out w/HDV w/o any problems and the OPs iMac is faster than my G5. The render and export times might be longer, but capturing footage will be in real time and storage requirements will be a lot less.


Lethal
 
You're right, I saw the "old" but glossed over the "Core Duo". I was thinking of an older G5 or something. So it's a bit puzzling that capture is less than real-time, as I've captured to AIC on a CoreDuo MacBook a number of times, always managing real-time for all but a matter of seconds.

Seems like the problem is elsewhere. Are you capturing to the internal hard drive?
 
KeithPratt said:
You're right, I saw the "old" but glossed over the "Core Duo". I was thinking of an older G5 or something. So it's a bit puzzling that capture is less than real-time, as I've captured to AIC on a CoreDuo MacBook a number of times, always managing real-time for all but a matter of seconds.

Seems like the problem is elsewhere. Are you capturing to the internal hard drive?
Click to expand...

Im capturing to an external FW800 drive.

None of this matters as I just came back from the Apple Store and dropped 5K on a MacPro 8 Core 2.8 with a 30" ACD :D:D:D
 
Tattoo said:
None of this matters as I just came back from the Apple Store and dropped 5K on a MacPro 8 Core 2.8 with a 30" ACD :D:D:D
Click to expand...


I'll have to concur with Trudd.

If your going to spend that kind of money on the hardware, you should at least try and get FCS (used) off of eBay or something and get familiar with FCS. Then if you like all the added bells and whistles, upgrade to FCS2 and get some added plug-ins as you go along.

It seems that you are heading towards a more complete professional production system that needs the software to enhance your final product to the client. You've got the Ferrari, but your running it on regular not high test :apple: ;)
 
I use Final Cut Studio on my iMac so while the setup isn't optimal, it is doable. The initial learning curve is quite substantial. I have been an iMovie user since 2001 and I was completely lost the first time I launched Final Cut Pro (version 6 was my first). The workflow is also quite different from nearly-all-in-one iMovie approach. Depending on your requirements, you may need to learn DVD Studio Pro, Soundtrack Pro, and other Final Cut Studio modules. Take a look at the manual and see if it is something you will want to learn.

That said, once you master it, there's no going back.
 
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