I heard that you'd be able to create a Render Farm with Mac's over a network, using Rendez Vouz.
Keep your laptop add a Mac mini and a new powerbook, all Airported up, and you'll have a pretty powerfull machine.
I think you scared Beloved Monster off for another 12 months. Ah well.
I'm using FCP4.5 to edit DV footage with a 867MHz G4 PowerBook. Rendering complicated "make my footage look as good as possible" filters sucks. With only basic filters (crossfade, fade to black) rendering is faster than realtime.
In about 6 - 12 months I'll be looking to get a new laptop (I've been stuffing the furnace with money and will be looking for a match, okay?).
Right now, Apple's lineup on laptops looks positively lethargic compared to, say, Dell. And, yes you guessed it, the Apples still cost more!
3GHz Dell with dual core (acts like two CPUs) and 256MB graphics card - a shade over a grand UKP.
A similar PowerBook with 1.5GHz CPU and optional 128MB graphics card costs upwards of ?700 more!
Of course you can't put a price on the "experience" offered by each OS, but if you apply the 'time' argument to video rendering then I think the Dell will trounce all over the Apple.
Why do I want to do video editing on a laptop? I just do, okay?!
I would like to keep a Mac mini around the house, like a pet or something.
I heard that you'd be able to create a Render Farm with Mac's over a network, using Rendez Vouz.
Keep your laptop add a Mac mini and a new powerbook, all Airported up, and you'll have a pretty powerfull machine.
I use a Powerbook G4, to do most of my cutting, but at the production company I work for i have to use an ibook...they both run FCP pretty well though. What kind of filters are you using Miker? I dont have to render cross dissolves or colour correction at all.
CPU Vs CPU apple is obviously inferior to a Dell, but you have to put up with lousy design and a very annoying operating system. I should know i used a dell for ages, it was a brick to carry around and the CPU tradeoff was a very poor battery life.
Anyway the mac mini Might work for video editors as a cheap back up machine, or maybe for people who are just starting out. Its obviously not going to be the machine of choice for pros or serious enthusiasts although i am impressed it fits a dvd burner in there.
Just to clarify as I've seen it stated a lot here:
Dell don't make CPU's and they're not the only manufacturor in the world.
I wouldn't recommend to anyone who will use a computer seriously, to buy a prebuilt one. You are honestly better off buying your own components and doing some "self assembly".
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Just remember, GROUND YOURSELF FIRST.
very tempted by one of these, credit card at the ready...
a few notes, one you can get the gig of ram ?100 cheaper from http://www.crucial.com/
CRT monitor (not fussed by space) 21 inches for ?30 off of e-bay and my wireless mouse and keyboard from my laptop should work ok on the box.
I have no plans to use the machine for editing, but would use it for viewing rushes, being the size it is i can quite safely tuck it in my bag and take it down to the edit suite.
also, another advantage its small enough to take down on set, be hooked up to the cameras
Do you mean hook it up to the camera instead of a VCR to take quick dailies? That's quite a good idea, would it interface to a monitor (XLR?) or direct to something like a BetaSP?
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The possibilities are endless, the only limit is cold hard cash.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I've applied a 3-way colour and subtle sharpen using FCP's built-in filters. Rendering an 84 minute sequence is an overnight job.What kind of filters are you using Miker?
Also experimented with Magic Bullet for Editors and GenArts Sapphire and they are just painful with only 867MHz under the bonnet. Nattress plugins give me the quickest results, but they are still far from realtime :-(
I went through the whole purchase procedure in the Apple Store but lacked the balls to click buy. I recon a few beers and I'll purchase one tonight drunk.
?10 a month. even with a ?25k bill from my lawyers (came in last week) I still rcon I can afford it.
Thanks for the advice about building your own jb. I can service a car, design a logo make my own spinach and ricotta ravioli (i got a pasta machine), but I'm clueless when it comes to building computers, and Apple do a bloody good job anyhow.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Amen to that! Last prebuilt PC I bought was in 1995. Since then, its only buy "barebones" boxes and components for me.Originally posted by jb.:
You are honestly better off buying your own components and doing some "self assembly".
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Firstly, I dont own a Mac, i dont even have an iPod ( I have a sony minidisk) I have no reason what so ever to say Apple is great other than the fact in many cases they are.Blah, blah, blah Apple is the greatest. Blah, blah, blah, don't you love my EMO style?
Don't call me "dude", EVER and don't call me "Dumbass" whilst contradicting yourself. If you didn't actually read all the previous posts or couldn't find an adult to read them to you, then don't comment.
Once again for the "C" students: (And I will be as succinct as possible.)
Since this is a filmmaking board and we were discussing the merits of the new Apple-Mini as a filmmaking tool, I stand by my previous comments. Tool.
Secondly, why are you saying this machine wouldnt be useful as a film making tool? You are pretty narrow minded to think that can only mean video editing. Have you never heard of software such as Final Draft 7? Theres a million and one uses a computer can play in making a film.
Thirdly, your opinion that it wouldnt be powerful enough is a joke. While I accept that the machine out of the box isnt good enough for video editing, once you upgrade the ram and get a DVD burner it is. As many people have posted to point out they have edited stuff on machines with far lower specs that this and have had no problems what so ever. Unless you want loads of cheesy transitions and mutiple layered picture in picture type effects why exactly do you need a super powerful computer? All the movies Ive seen whether they are microbudget short films or 200 million blockbusters only ever use straight cuts and the occasional cross fade, where is it exactly that I am to do film making stuff this computer couldnt handle? Maybe you are the sorta film maker to use a bootleg copy of after effects to make light sabre effects or something [img]graemlins/wonder.gif[/img]
The final daft thing is that my Windows computer that I use to edit with Vegas 4 is getting old now and this mini mac is pretty much about the same in terms of power. So not only can all the mac users say they have edited on lower spec macs i can tell you that my windows computer is fairly similar and that edits fine as well.
So how about dropping the attitude and just accepting that while you wouldnt wanna buy this thing many people would.
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ January 22, 2005 09:02 AM: Message edited by: belovedmonster ]</font>
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