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Posted by Smarty on 10/06/06 14:13
I just have to throw my 2 cents in here, since I have been doing HDV editing
since the day it was available..... I now have 4 systems in place, and have
made a lot of comparisons and observations.
First, Final Cut Pro Studio HD on a dual processor PowerMac G5 is among the
slower if not the slowest solution. The rendering times are just awful. Yes,
the user interface and software elegance is great, but the system just takes
forever to do many things. I have 4.5 GB of RAM, very fast SATA drives (one
as the capture / scratch disk and one for the apps), and no other competing
workflow. It is, for my money, a bad way to spend the $5K.
On the other hand, Vegas 7 studio (which ***IS*** upgradeable even if you
buy the student edition for $289) with a suitable hardware box is faster,
very competent, and much much more compatible with the rest of the video
apps from other parties than any Apple Quicktime-based solutions like FCP
and iMovie. My Vegas box gets used quite a bit and costs (literally) one
third (1/3) the price.
Finally, there are some truly excellent and extremely cheap solutions which,
for the rank amateur, are even better. Members of this and other newsgroups
have heard me talk effusively about Ulead Video Studio 10 Plus as a superb
HDV editing and HD DVD authoring tool since its' inception, and I have been
accused of being everything from a Ulead stock holder to a person who
flagrantly exaggerates. Despite this, I will suggest that you look at the
multiple awards this product has received, take note of the fact that a free
trial can be used to evaluate it fully before purchase (try that with Final
Cut Pro!!), and that it sells for a mere $80 or $90. It cuts through HDV
like nothing else I have used, and makes all other programs look weak in
comparison when it comes to speed. I have a Dell Dimension box with Ulead
VSP10 and the whole damn system cost me about $700 excluding the monitor but
including 2GB of RAM (very sufficient), a 3 GHz P4, a couple 250 GB SATA
drives, and a very cheap video card. This is the system I personally use
most often to do HDV work.
I suggest you consider these options. I am here to tell you that spending
five thousand dollars on an HDV editing system is neither essential nor
always beneficial. I've been doing it for over a year and the only other
similarly cost-effective option is iMovieHD on a MacMini, an approach I
first used on my wife's MacMini before any of the PC software could handle
HDV. It was slow, but functional. And it also was in the $700 price range.
Smarty
<mv@movingvision.co.uk> wrote in message
news:fFMOq9P8ITJFFwVn@movingvision.demon.co.uk...
>>> Oh dearie me. You are about to get a dozen conflicting answers to this
>>> one, maybe half will be backed by misdirection of the inept taking their
>>> own sorry cases for a generality.
>>>
>>LOL!
>>
>>Bloody 'ell John. Did you get out of the wrong side of the bed this
>>morning?
>>
>>:)
>
> It's the old 'codgers v callow youth' thing.
>
> Reminds me of the Cargo Cult people of New Guinea. Long before they ever
> even knew of the outside world and the white mans alternative reality
> these folks had seen aircraft. The Pilots had noted the remote communities
> deep in the jungle and started parachuting tools and utensils down to them
> as a means of opening up a dialogue. Unhelpfully though these gifts
> co-incided with the aborigines praying to the aircraft they thought were
> gods. So they then believed that the 'gods' were rewarding them for their
> prayers, hence the 'Cargo Cult' became a major religious belief for a
> while. The moral of the story is that from a better perspective, as
> opposed to a perspective provided by what seems to be a majority of ones
> peers at lower level, things are not necessarily what they seem to be.
>
> The old Avid and nothing but an Avid days are long gone. Indeed it's got
> to the point where only those raised on the exceeding awkwardness of Avid
> really believe in its assertions. If I need to open a door I prefer to
> grab the handle and open it, as opposed to walking to another room,
> turning the lights on and off then going into the kitchen, making a bacon
> sandwich and only then being able to open the door. Clearly only the most
> sycophantic follower could ever really believe that the latter method was
> somehow better. It would be foolish these days to rely on a presumption
> whose currency is based merely on the fact that the dinosaurs of the
> increasingly pass establishment prefer one type of system over another.
> It's becoming more evident that the old guard and their cap doffing
> retainers talk a lot of bollocks, though with the astonishing and
> confident aplomb of the door to door encyclopaedia salesman who in an age
> of limitless on-line data can also sell fridges to igloo dwelling Eskimos.
>
> These media moguls are losing the plot big time and only maintain way
> today by virtue of the inertia of their gargantuism. Some of them are
> haemorrhaging money so fast that it's only that same gargantuism that's
> kept them from bleeding to death already. Imagine an enormously fat
> oversized pig with it's bowels cut open, parading around with its nose in
> the air wearing unintentionally transparent and frilly knickers, whilst
> debating with others on how to look cool and keep fit.
>
> In terms of PC Mac debates, I'm more impressed with the opinions of those
> who currently use both platforms rather than those who have already signed
> up and delivered their souls to one camp only.
> --
> John Lubran
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