Video Editing on iMac G3

[DarioPhantom]

I know it's crazy to think, but I just wanted to ask about video editing on a iMac DV G3 400 MHZ machine. It's upgraded to 1GB Ram.

I've tried using iMovie 5, but the export times are absolutely crazy. I was wondering if Final Cut Express 1.0 or another alternative would work out better.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Seth Mac Fan]

I know it's crazy to think, but I just wanted to ask about video editing on a iMac DV G3 400 MHZ machine. It's upgraded to 1GB Ram.

I've tried using iMovie 5, but the export times are absolutely crazy. I was wondering if Final Cut Express 1.0 or another alternative would work out better.

Thanks in advance.

Trust me on this , NO . I had a imac g3 400mhz 768mb of ram close to 1GB and it could not do much but VERY light web browsing , it can also play game emulators , classic os 9 software stuff but not much of a video editing machine , I mean the ipod touch is like 2.5x time faster than the the 400mhz imac and way better graphics built in .

 

[666sheep]

Try older iMovie under OS 9 and check this thread maybe: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1236418/

 

[Seth Mac Fan]

Yeah , good idea . If you ran OS 9 it would have more graphics power because it would not be running all the GUI effects mac os x uses . But the speed would still not be very good and it would only be a little faster . I dont know how good video editing is on os9 you would probably be using a really old video editor . My advise for you is to buy PowerMac g5 they are pretty cheap these days and you can put in a decent video card in it , it would be way better than a imac g3 for video editing and just overall usability of the mac os .

 

[zen.state]

Use the OS and editing apps from the era the system was new and you will get by fine for consumer/personal level stuff.

OS 8.6 and an old copy of Adobe Premiere will perform admirably. Most people use 9 when they go classic but IMO 8.6 is the greatest pre-X OS by far. Performs better than 9 and much more stable and reliable.

 

[Dane D.]

It will be painful, I run iMovie 3.0.3 in 10.4.6 using a 1.1GHz cpu and max RAM of 1GB. Instead I use a eMac 1.25GHz or my son's MacBookPro. It really bogs down importing video, I would walk away and do something else. The G3s just aren't fast with crunching data like G4s or the newer Intel models. The export is worst. I use the best quality settings and it will take much more time than G4s or Intels.

 

[TacticalDesire]

Plus, I'd think you'd be severely limited to what formats you could use with an older version of software and OS 8.6 or OS 9 no?

 

[zen.state]

You guys are missing some proper perspective here. What do you think people did before the G4 or G5? They used G3's...

Trying to run more current software actually cripples a computer in many ways and video work is one of them. For basic personal video editing even apps from the 90's are all you need and they will actually make any G3 very usable.

Computers evolve with the software of their era so old computer + old apps = decent performance. If you need the latest apps in 2012 then you shouldn't have a PowerPC at all.

 

[PowerPCMacMan]

I agree with this! Although I'd like to see proof that coreplayer does allow the G4 Powerbook 1.67 DLSD to support watching videos at 720p/1080p.

You guys are missing some proper perspective here. What do you think people did before the G4 or G5? They used G3's...

Trying to run more current software actually cripples a computer in many ways and video work is one of them. For basic personal video editing even apps from the 90's are all you need and they will actually make any G3 very usable.

Computers evolve with the software of their era so old computer + old apps = decent performance. If you need the latest apps in 2012 then you shouldn't have a PowerPC at all.

 

[zen.state]

I agree with this! Although I'd like to see proof that coreplayer does allow the G4 Powerbook 1.67 DLSD to support watching videos at 720p/1080p.

I don't have a PowerBook to confirm that with but my G4 tower with a 1.8GHz plays 1080p fine in CorePlayer. Even 8000kbit/sec .mkv.

Doesn't matter to you though because you cannot buy it any longer as you read in the other thread.

 

[Lil Chillbil]

yeah older software takes up less space how do you think we skated by with only 3gig hard drives

older software=less space
less space=less time searching for files

----------

I don't have a PowerBook to confirm that with but my G4 tower with a 1.8GHz plays 1080p fine in CorePlayer. Even 8000kbit/sec .mkv.

Doesn't matter to you though because you cannot buy it any longer as you read in the other thread.

I can back up that statement

 

[PowerPCMacMan]

Zen,

I have the G4 optimized mplayer X, will this allow me to play a clip or movie from youtube in 720p/1080p format? I also configured it exactly how you explained. Yeah, its too bad I will never be able to get coreplayer. But who knows? if enough of us knock on the developer's door he might let it still be available for those who have yet to purchase it.

Just a guess, though highly unlikely as he had a reason to discontinue it.

You guys are missing some proper perspective here. What do you think people did before the G4 or G5? They used G3's...

Trying to run more current software actually cripples a computer in many ways and video work is one of them. For basic personal video editing even apps from the 90's are all you need and they will actually make any G3 very usable.

Computers evolve with the software of their era so old computer + old apps = decent performance. If you need the latest apps in 2012 then you shouldn't have a PowerPC at all.

I don't have a PowerBook to confirm that with but my G4 tower with a 1.8GHz plays 1080p fine in CorePlayer. Even 8000kbit/sec .mkv.

Doesn't matter to you though because you cannot buy it any longer as you read in the other thread.

 

[Zeke D]

I own Adobe CS1, CS3 and CS5. I run CS3 on my intel machine, and CS1 on my PPC machines. I _could_ run CS3 on my PPCs but it just runs like a dog. I only ran CS5 because it was a requirement for a class I was taking. (educational discount FTW)

As computers have become more powerful, programmers have become lazy. Zombie threads, poor resource management and the use of horribly bloated platforms (I'm looking at you C#)

I keep all my software when upgrading, because you never know how crappy the new software is going to run.

 

[thekev]

These things are far less painful when you take a frozen in time approach. If you're running software from the era of that machine and sticking to formats and file sizes that were common to that time, you will be much happier with its performance. Obviously every bit of ram helps given the much slower drives of that time. Ram densities are almost starting to outpace growth requirements. Pretty soon it may be one of yesterday's issues.

 

[Seth Mac Fan]

I have the G4 optimized mplayer X, will this allow me to play a clip or movie from youtube in 720p/1080p format? I also configured it exactly how you explained. Yeah, its too bad I will never be able to get coreplayer. But who knows? if enough of us knock on the developer's door he might let it still be available for those who have yet to purchase it.

Just a guess, though highly unlikely as he had a reason to discontinue it.

If you have tiger or leopard I would install Mactubes it can play hd youtube videos , it all depends on how good your video card and speed is . Im not sure if it will play 720p but it does play hd . Give it a try it may be what you are looking for . But keep in mind that that is for youtube videos only I believe .

 

[DarioPhantom]

Well, I did some light video stuff on iMovie 1.0.1 (in fact I'm currently typing this on OS9. It brought back some good memories...)

And it was okay. But I really don't find it too appealing to switch back to OS9 every single time I want to edit video. Unless I keep it on Classic all the time...however, I'll keep on trying different things and see if I can find something that works for me.

And to the person who said a G3 is only good for light web browsing...I really disagree with that statement. But I'll save that argument for another time.

 

[Seth Mac Fan]

And to the person who said a G3 is only good for light web browsing...I really disagree with that statement. But I'll save that argument for another time.

I did not say that was only what they are good for , I said they can be good for specific things only at this point . I said they are good for classic os 9 software and game emulators . They are still great machines and if you are happy with it that is all that matters . I would just not use it as a main computer in this new world of technology we are living in . I also would not reccomend video editing on it unless it is really light editing .

I should have mentioned they are also good for music they have petty decent speakers in them too . Anyways Im glad you are happy with your imac g3 they are still useful for specific things in 2012 .