mac for video editing...what can I get by with?

[Moogyboy]

hey all

Finally found time to post again. Still waiting on that Panasonic miniDV cam--they wouldn't take personal checks. Guh.

Anyhow, I am really itching to finally move up from the Beige G3 I've been using since 1999-2000 (still running MacOS 8.6...and crashing at least once per session) so that I can start indulging in my yen for multimedia. Issue at hand is video editing, although I'd like to use the Mac for recording music as well. Basically I want to upgrade to at least a blue/white G3, preferably a G4--something with FireWire, something that can run OSX and current software with no problems, you know, basically bring myself up to a year or two out of date instead of five or six.

A G5 is out of my reach. The best I can hope for is a used or refurb G4 in the $300-500 range, and that's pushing it. Question is: is even this too obsolete? How about the G3 towers that are selling for $200-300? I guess what I'm asking for is your opinions on how far back in the Mac lineage I can go and be reasonably capable when it comes to current video editing and other multimedia technology.

I hope I don't sound like a babe in the woods...I've actually been a rabid Mac user since high school (late '80s) but have gotten somewhat out of touch with the Mac scene these last few years. Since OSX, really.

Any thoughts from other users would be nice.

cheers

Billy S.

 

[shroy002]

hey all

Finally found time to post again. Still waiting on that Panasonic miniDV cam--they wouldn't take personal checks. Guh.

Anyhow, I am really itching to finally move up from the Beige G3 I've been using since 1999-2000 (still running MacOS 8.6...and crashing at least once per session) so that I can start indulging in my yen for multimedia. Issue at hand is video editing, although I'd like to use the Mac for recording music as well. Basically I want to upgrade to at least a blue/white G3, preferably a G4--something with FireWire, something that can run OSX and current software with no problems, you know, basically bring myself up to a year or two out of date instead of five or six.

A G5 is out of my reach. The best I can hope for is a used or refurb G4 in the $300-500 range, and that's pushing it. Question is: is even this too obsolete? How about the G3 towers that are selling for $200-300? I guess what I'm asking for is your opinions on how far back in the Mac lineage I can go and be reasonably capable when it comes to current video editing and other multimedia technology.

I hope I don't sound like a babe in the woods...I've actually been a rabid Mac user since high school (late '80s) but have gotten somewhat out of touch with the Mac scene these last few years. Since OSX, really.

Any thoughts from other users would be nice.

cheers

Billy S.

Ok,

Some considerations - to take into account. Hard Drive space and ram are going to be critical for you. If you can get a dual processor blue and white G4 I say go for it. If you can't get a dp then get a G4 minimally, then scrape and save to get a new fast (7200 rpm at least) HD and at least a gig of ram--more ram for audio applications.

I have used a blue and white G3 and an iBook with a G3 processor both are painfully slow to render transitions and had inadequate hard drive space.

If all you can afford is a baseline G4 then I say go for it update to the latest OSX.x and buy an external firewire as your scratch drive. At this point anything you buy will be an upgrade over your beige G3 and it will have a firewire input as well (be wary of the blue/white G3 it has issues with firewire)

Hope this helps some.

Steve

 

[ChrisA]

If money is an issue take a look here
http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3
You get unlimited number of audio and video tracks in the timeline and features not unlike Final Cut Pro. The ability to work with very high resolution files and on and on. It does not run under MS Windows so you have to quality of MacOS X on the price of a build it yourself PC. They recommend a dual CPU Athalon butit goes fast enough on my 2.6Ghz P4. But then I'm only editing DV format (720x480). (The above software runs under MacOX now but most Mac owners would likey go with FCP)

What ever machine you get you will need lots of RAM (at least 1GB) and lots of hard disk space (anda way to keep it backed up) and of course a DVD burner and firewire interface.

In the Mac World a 1Ghz CPU and 1GB RAM and 100GB Disk and it will be "good enough" as long as you don't try and do it for a living

A lot of people just cut out the junk and burn what's left onto a dvd and call that "editing" A low-end computer is good for that More sophisticated post production wants a bigger machine.

QUOTE=Moogyboy]hey all

Finally found time to post again. Still waiting on that Panasonic miniDV cam--they wouldn't take personal checks. Guh.

Anyhow, I am really itching to finally move up from the Beige G3 I've been using since 1999-2000 (still running MacOS 8.6...and crashing at least once per session) so that I can start indulging in my yen for multimedia. Issue at hand is video editing, although I'd like to use the Mac for recording music as well. Basically I want to upgrade to at least a blue/white G3, preferably a G4--something with FireWire, something that can run OSX and current software with no problems, you know, basically bring myself up to a year or two out of date instead of five or six.

A G5 is out of my reach. The best I can hope for is a used or refurb G4 in the $300-500 range, and that's pushing it. Question is: is even this too obsolete? How about the G3 towers that are selling for $200-300? I guess what I'm asking for is your opinions on how far back in the Mac lineage I can go and be reasonably capable when it comes to current video editing and other multimedia technology.

I hope I don't sound like a babe in the woods...I've actually been a rabid Mac user since high school (late '80s) but have gotten somewhat out of touch with the Mac scene these last few years. Since OSX, really.

Any thoughts from other users would be nice.

cheers

Billy S.[/QUOTE]

 

[gle]

I agree, avoid G3s like the plague. I am using an old Pismo to write this post, and even browsing the internet is painfully slow. Personally, I upgraded to the dual G5 for video editing applications. I have a few friends that still use G4s, and they get nice results with acceptable performance. You should definitely consider at least 1GHz. I have not found that dual processors help all that much for most tasks. Don't get me wrong, they reduce rendering time, but they do not seem to really effect interaction speeds that much. Mac OSX is a memory hog, so at a minimum you will need 512MB of RAM. Fortunately RAM is cheap these days.

You may want to look at a Mac Mini. It is right around $500, and gives you a pretty decent box.

 

[videoeditorg4]

Sorry to burst your bubble but for video editing even on just the imovie level you will need to have at least a 800mhz G4 with a GB of RAM. I have a 1 gig g4 with a GB of Ram and i' get by pretty well but rendering takes forever. basically you can get by with a higher end g4 just make sure the memory is maxed out or you will wait about 20 minutes for every little action you do in imovie. as for Final Cut Pro, again a higher end g4 will be ok and anything like a 1.4 gig or higher is good. but you really want a G5 for serious video editing.

 

[Moogyboy]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I rather expected that I'd pretty much need to blow a couple grand if I wanted to stay in the Mac camp to do video work.

To heck with that. Since I posted my original question I've made the hard decision to jump ship; I've built a PC instead, based on a 2.08 gHz AthlonXP. Cost so far: probably around $600. I'm probbaly going to start with Premiere Elements for editing.

It's very sad to say, but I literally can't afford to be a Mac zealot anymore. I have things that I want to do. But thanks again for your thoughts.

cheers

Billy S.

 

[ChrisA]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I rather expected that I'd pretty much need to blow a couple grand if I wanted to stay in the Mac camp to do video work.

To heck with that. Since I posted my original question I've made the hard decision to jump ship; I've built a PC instead, based on a 2.08 gHz AthlonXP. Cost so far: probably around $600. I'm probbaly going to start with Premiere Elements for editing.

It's very sad to say, but I literally can't afford to be a Mac zealot anymore. I have things that I want to do. But thanks again for your thoughts.

cheers

Billy S.

Did you all notice the anouncment by Apple yesterday? Apple is switch over to Intel chips. So goodby G5 and G4, Hello Pentium and Xeon. This is NOT a rumer. Steve Jobs himself said it in front of over 1,000 peope and said by this time next year you can buy an Intel powered Mac and in two year you will not be able to by a G4/G5 mac.

He also said that Mac OS X has been running in Intel chips for the last five years. So it would seem Apple has been preparing for this. He even demoed "tiger" running on a Pentium on a huge screen.

I see it as the best of both worlds. Mac OS X on a Dual CPU Xeon 8 gigs of RAM and a stack of SCSI disks. Still such a system will sell for $6K. I know I'm having one delived tomorrow at 9:00am. Yes Intel boxes can be expensive too as there is no end to how they can be configured. This dual Xeon will run Sun's Solaris 10 operating system and I might try editing video on it using Cinelerra. (http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3)

Even today Apple is not overpriced. The Mac "mini" sells for $499. In the PC world you can not buy the equivalent software for $499. Just add up Windows XP, and the stuff included with iLive and you are past $400. One they move to Intel chips I expect Apple to sell for the price of a primium brand PC, but with better software.

 

[ChrisA]

Did you all notice the anouncment by Apple yesterday? Apple is switch over to Intel chips. .

Read the notice on Apples' web site
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jun/06intel.html