Portable Post production setup...

o-maco-mac
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Ok. I have the chance to get what I want at work right now. And what I want is either a portable post-production setup or a tower post prod setup. I can't make up my mind. So I'm listening to any suggestions. Here's what I have so far:



PowerMac G5 Dual 2.3 with 1GB memory

Protection plan

Apple 20" cinema display

Final Cut Studio



or



Powerbook 17" w/1GB mem

Protection plan

Apple 20" cinema display

Final Cut Studio



Questions: Pros and cons for either? Will Final Cut Studio work well on the 17" Powerbook? I like the portability idea so that I can work at home. (work..hahaha...this isn't work! this is fun!!!!)

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by O-Mac

    Ok. I have the chance to get what I want at work right now. And what I want is either a portable post-production setup or a tower post prod setup. I can't make up my mind. So I'm listening to any suggestions. Here's what I have so far:



    PowerMac G5 Dual 2.3 with 1GB memory

    Protection plan

    Apple 20" cinema display

    Final Cut Studio



    or



    Powerbook 17" w/1GB mem

    Protection plan

    Apple 20" cinema display

    Final Cut Studio



    Questions: Pros and cons for either? Will Final Cut Studio work well on the 17" Powerbook? I like the portability idea so that I can work at home. (work..hahaha...this isn't work! this is fun!!!!)



    Well, the real questions are what do you do and what is your final rendering setup?



    What kind of content do you make? film? HD? DVD? broadcast SD? training/education videos for print to VHS/DVD? - Long form? short form? 30 second commercials?



    Also, keeping in mind the target, will the finished stuff be rendered as QT MOV files for the web? Mpeg-2 for broadcast/DVD?....... what codec(s) and resolution(s) do you use/plan to use?



    Personaly I would say no matter what go with the desktop as a primary rig for several reasons

    a: 2 chips thatare each much much faster then a g4

    b: ram ram ram and more ram get ALL you can afford or all the system can take, if you get into some really big workflows you will learn to like 4gb of ram.

    c: HDD size / speed / upgradability -- for video ediiting you would be nuts to do it in this day and age on anything less than 7200 rpms, if you go laptop, plan on getting a FW800 drive for the media. and the tower has an internal SATA slot availible for ufture upgrades.



    another question, is his going to be the only rendering box or can you cook up a bewolf cluster of Macs at the office? If no then dont even think about the laptop, everytime you do a final render, you will regret it.
  • Reply 2 of 4
    o-maco-mac Posts: 777member
    Some training videos for dvd and for the web.

    Some videos of events.

    What's a final rendering setup?

    I actually do helpdesk work but providing videos of events and things like that are an additional part of my job. Eventually I want to FINALLY get away from doing helpdesk-customer support and do filmmaking full-time.

    I literally have the chance to do what I really want to do while doing my day-job...

    If I could have both I would but personally i think the portability is cool...
  • Reply 3 of 4
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by O-Mac

    Some training videos for dvd and for the web.

    Some videos of events.

    What's a final rendering setup?

    I actually do helpdesk work but providing videos of events and things like that are an additional part of my job. Eventually I want to FINALLY get away from doing helpdesk-customer support and do filmmaking full-time.

    I literally have the chance to do what I really want to do while doing my day-job...

    If I could have both I would but personally i think the portability is cool...



    Acctually the laptop idea for that task doesnt sound half bad to me for that, but no matter what you do the extra processors can help, but my video expertiese is limited to windows (darn managers -- mac haters!),whatever you do, justbe sure to get a TV i/o from Canopus and a cheap 13, 19, or 20 inch CRT tv to preview output for true NTSC accuracy and a VCR to print to/capture from tape - this can be an invaluable addition to a rig.



    as to the "final rendering setup" I was trying to ask if you had access an array or cluster of Mac servers or Mac desktops that could help with the rendering, but based on how you describe what you do, you likely do not so disregard it.





    example of a final render:

    our setup

    Athaon 3000+

    1GB ram

    ~80 GB hdd+40gb scratch disk

    NV6800

    Vagus on XP pro SP2 both fully updated.



    ~4HR conferance to .mpeg2 for DVD...10 HRS! that is ~2.25 minues for every one minute of tape! I am not sure how it is on the mac, but I can tell you, a dual core FX and a few more gigs of ram woulda been nice for us if ya know what I mean.
  • Reply 4 of 4
    regreg Posts: 832member
    Any time I am at home I use my dual 2.0 w/4 GB of ram. I also have a 1 Ghz pb 17 w/1 GB. The pb is okay for anything small or if you are just trying to impress someone with how gifted or savvy you are. I also have my music library on my home network, so background selections tend to be better from home. Even with the size of the 17, I find it limiting because I like to have lots of windows open. Having your stills readily availible really speeds things along. So getting a second monitor is a must. I don't do HD and don't think the pb would handle that well at all. If you do go with the pb get an external firewire drive also. Video fills up a HD fast.



    reg
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