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G4 Dual 1GHZ ok for DVCPROHD footage?
Will a Dual G4 1GHz with 1.5 Gig RAM and Firewire 400 drive handle DVCPROHD FCP5.1.1?
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12 Replies
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[James Mulryan] “Will a Dual G4 1GHz with 1.5 Gig RAM and Firewire 400 drive handle DVCPROHD FCP5.1.1?”
I………..think……….that………would………be……….veeeeerrrry…………..slow………. 🙁
Actually Just to run FCP 5.1 you are below the recommended amount of Ram so you would need to up that a couple more gb. I also doubt the FW400 would be fast enough to handle that codec. I would put a PCI SATA card in the G4 and buy a G-SATA raid from G-Tech. Then you should be good to go. -
Firewire 400 is more than adequate for DVCPRO HD, not as sure about the Apple specs though, my 1.67 G4 laptop does pretty well with full frame playback on 720, chokes occasionally on 1080i.
Best,
Jan
Jan Crittenden Livingston
Product Manager, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50, AG-DVX100
Panasonic Broadcast & TV Systems -
Jan, I have never gotten a firewire 400 drive to play back DVCPRO HD footage. Always dropping frames. I highly recommend G-RAIDS and wil go on record as saying that you need at least a firewire 800 connection for DVCPRO HD.
Shane
Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net -
Hi Shane,
I don’t doubt what you say but then I have not edited as much as you. There should be plenty of room on 400 to do the task.
Best,
Jan
Jan Crittenden Livingston
Product Manager, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50, AG-DVX100
Panasonic Broadcast & TV Systems -
Hey, if people can get it to work, more power to them. I had no such luck.
Shane
Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net -
With most brands of FW400 drives you can start to see dropped frames after a few DVCPROHD streams are going in FCP. A FW800 or something like a G-RAID will be more reliable especially on a slower machine.
Noah
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[Shane Ross] “I have never gotten a firewire 400 drive to play back DVCPRO HD footage. Always dropping frames. I highly recommend G-RAIDS and wil go on record as saying that you need at least a firewire 800 connection for DVCPRO HD.”
Shane,
I agree with you when using any 1080 footage, but like Jan I have no problems with 720 24pn footage.gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows
Chicago, IL -
I have a quicksilver 2002 with dual 1GHz and 1.5GB Ram. DVCPRO HD coming from P2 will ingest OK, but editing HD – 720 or 1080 – on this machine with FCP 5.0.4 is a no go – it works (no crashes or other nonsense), but runs so slowly as to be unusable. There’s also no way to monitor it – I’m using firewire video out, and the footage won’t play in realtime there. It will play, though, on a second computer monitor when configured to do so. Which does no good.
The footage is on a local drive on the IDE channel, so external Firewire is not at play here. Note also that this machine will also not run Motion (GFX card not on the list).
Simply put, it seems the computer is just too slow to work with HD footage. If anyone can tell me I’m wrong and how to reconfigure to make it work, I’ll be happy to hear it!
DV and DVCPRO 50 from an HVX200 via P2 look awesome, however. Very chroma keyable with dvMattePro and nice, smooth fleshtones.
I don’t know if a new graphics card will help the situation, but for my money I’d rather put it towards a new G5 or intellomac when the come out, and be sure that it works.
HarryD
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[HarryD] “There’s also no way to monitor it – I’m using firewire video out, and the footage won’t play in realtime there”
Firewire out to what? If you had the AJ-1200HD deck or 1400HD deck (both DVCPRO HD decks) then you would be able to monitor fine. But thru a DV camera or deck…no. They aren’t designed for the DVCPRO HD signal. You need an HD deck or HD capture card and HD monitor.
Graphics cards don’t come into play at all for FCP.
As for the computer, it does fall within the minimum specs, so I’d look at things like how the drive is formatted (must be MacOS Extended)…might look into more RAM. But really, a newer machine will do you a world of good. Wait a week or two…intel G5s might be announced.
Shane
Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net -
Hi, Shane.
Jan seems to share your opinion that the system should work with DVCPRO HD, but it really doesn’t. as i said, it works, but it’s slow and stutterey and really feels like it’s not up to the task. the system is maxed at 1.5 GB RAM.
I’m not complaining – I’ve gotten good service out of this thing, and we’re talking a new format here with tons more data to process. But it’s too bad i can’t use it, it kills me to lose that 2 minutes recording time on a 4GB P2 card, when using a lower format like DVCPRO50 vs HD 720p24pn.
However, as for the rest of the system i was set up to work in DV, so i have a JVC DV3000 deck that I’m using as a bridge to my glass monitor. works very well for that format, actually, and works well when i have to tape really long things, and can use the large shell cassettes.
but you’re right – if working in HD, then it has to be HD all the way through. And because I’m going tapeless these days, i have no plans to get an HD deck. so on the horizon for the new machine will probably be a Kona or Decklink card. not sure which one, though; i like bang for the buck, and i have no need for SDI.
and I agree with your assessment to wait a few days or a couple of weeks. i want to see what apple will announce for towers at the Dev show.
thanks again,
hd
HarryD
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