What else is needed for making movies?

[iShater]

Howdy folks. My buddy is looking into getting a new 1GHz iMac to convert his VHS collection of vacation videos into DVDs. He is also going to be making a few videos for events for family and friends.

We are getting a SD iMac, 17" and either 512 or 768MB of RAM. We will also be getting either a Dazzle Holywood or a Canopus ADVC-100 as a bridge to convert the videos.

My questions is to anyone who has done similar projects using iMovie and iDVD:

1) What other accessories do you recommend to get? (e.g. I heard an external firewire drive is a big plus)

2) Is iMovie sufficient to do this type of a project?

3) How much disk space of data should we expect to use up?

Thanks!

 

[jelloshotsrule]

it's about 15 gigs for 1 hour of dv footage....

so an external drive would be a huge plus. and given their cost per gig... it's pretty cheap.

so that answers 1 and 3.

as for imovie.... i have heard that for big projects, it's kinda clunky. how long of clips are you planning on putting together? anything more than probably 30 mins will be a bit tough

but i'll let imovie users answer more specifically... as i use fcp.

you could actually get by without imovie if you had quicktime, and didn't want to add titles or dissolves. but i'm guessing you do.

depending on your budget, it sounds like final cut express would be a perfect solution... but i don't know the financial set up....

 

[LethalWolfe]

I'm just going to add to what Jelloshotsrule said. External FW HDD w/the Oxford 911 chipset should work just fine.

iMovie should be perfect for what he needs to do. If he out grows iMovie then he could start looking at FCX, but I try out the free program frist before opening up the wallet.

I've used the DV Bridge w/o a problem, but I've heard horror stories. The Canopus ADVC is probably the best out there and I have nothing bad to say 'bout it.

If your friend has, or is planning on buying, a DV camera make sure it is supported by iMovie (most popular cameras are).


Lethal