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Should Editing Computer Be Used Only for Editing?
I have heard very different answers to this question.
I started trying to keep my G5 clear of everything except editing-related applications and documents. Gradually, I grew tired of having my laptop, with its little screen, open on my desk and started using the desktop for email, then web browsing, then word-processing, then audio recording … now I use it for everything.
Is this a bad thing? If so, why exactly is it bad? And are some applications worse than others to use on one’s editing machine?
Thanks.
Giraut
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25 Replies
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Yes, especially if you are earning money off these systems. Anything you install, anything you run can cause conflicts with applications and hardware on your editing system.
We have three editing systems and all they run are video related applications. They do have web browsing enabled as we use stock video / graphics services for projects.
But no mail, no general web browsing and absolutely no unnecessary applications installed on these three machines. We have a MacBook Pro, Mac Mini and iMac in the suites to allow for Mail, web browsing and anything else.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR
The new Color Training DVD now available from the Creative Cow! -
Sound advice for sure, but I’ve been running everyting from office to games on my systems, and since OS X arrived, I’ve never seen a problem.
Jerry
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No disrespect to Walter, but I’ve heard him say this same thing a lot over the past couple of years and I don’t necessarily agree. I mean, of course it would be an ideal situation to have editing-only computers, but let’s face it: it isn’t necessarily the most practical thing for everyone. I freelance all over and travel to different facilities and am constantly on a different computer and I don’t think I’ve ever been on one that strictly had editing related software (in fact, most of them have way more programs on them than I have on my personal computers) and I can’t think of a time that I’ve run into an issue that was related to Final Cut not jiving with some other software on my computer. I’m not saying that this isn’t a possibility, but my experience has led me to believe that it isn’t all that common. But that is just my two cents…but Walter has been doing this a lot longer than I have.
Best,
Eli -
I agree that Walter has cited a “perfect world” situation, and he mentioned the key words …”Yes, especially if you are earning money off these systems”.
It all comes down to your risk tolerance. I assume that Walter has been bagged before, so he chooses to be safe, a smart move if you have more than one computer.
I have worked on many different systems in many different locations, and I can’t think of one that did NOTHING else but edit. At the very least there is web surfing, photoshoping etc.
So don’t let this scare you too much, but Walter is a wise man, and if you can keep an edit only system, by all means, do it. It may save you A LOT of headaches if anything ever causes conflicts.
I say this all as I’m importing DVCPro HD 720p60 footage fro P2 cards as I check email and post on the cow.
Wait!!!….What just happened to my final cu……..
……end of line 😉
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Walter is, of course, right. But put me down as yet another example of someone who does it “wrong” and has never had a problem.
Well, of course I’ve had computer problems, but they’ve always been traced down to something other than application conflicts. The one big thing I follow is to make sure anything I instal is something that can be totally shut off when I want it to be. So, no programs that are always running in the background. And it’s likewise smart to shut down everything else while you’re actually using Final Cut.
By following that advice I’ve always been fine. BUT I do want to point out that I don’t deliver content for broadcast AND I have a 2nd Final Cut system. So I have more flexible deadlines + a functional backup system. If my deadlines were super-strict and I only had one system I’d probably be talking more like Walter.
It’s all about “what if?” What if something goes wrong, what will you do? I have my answer, make sure you have one. As long as you can answer that question, you shouldn’t be too afraid of things like this.
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The easy fix to this is to have two partitions to boot from or two separate drives to boot from. One solely for editing, and the other for all your other stuff.
CHL
Chi-Ho Lee
Film & Video Editor
Apple Certified Final Cut Pro Trainer
http://www.chiholee.com -
Hi
If you are not sure about what answer you are getting, cinduct a speed test 🙂
aja has a system test on their website that checks the read write speed of your system, and I am sure it uses the cpu as well as drives.
take everything off your fcp box, run the test like 10 times and write down the average write and read speds,then re install it all and run the test another ten times and see if there is a difference (probably not but you never know)
I know that AVID codecs will conflict with FCP, so avoid those)
and macs may be immune to viruses now, but not for long, so email apps are dangerous in that regard.
I keep fcp, some adobe apps, safari, ms office, a few video utilities, and have not seen any out of the ordinary issues.
hope this helps
“I like video because its so fast!”
Bob Flood
Greer & Associates, Inc. -
There’s also the option of using fast user switching, and doing email as a different user.
Even if you get a virus, you are only vulnerable up to the level of that user’s authority.
So set up an email user account without admin, restrict it’s disc access, and even if a virus hits, you’re logged on as a different user and nothing important will be impacted.
Most people cruise the internet as admin level of security, and that’s asking for trouble.
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To be honest If you are running a facility I’m all for using deepfreeze from faronics. It allows you to ‘freeze’ certain or all disks so you could do anything you wanted to the computer, but the second you log out/restart it sets it back to the way you froze it. And I mean you could run an rm-rf command that deleted your entire drive, restart and your good to go, though you may want to repair permissions.
It allows the creation of a stable drive (which you should immediately clone the second it’s ‘perfect’and than freeze it so that no odd prefs can be altered and it’s the ultimate virus protection.
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If you keep a current clone of your system drive handy at all times there is no reason to have any fear. Anything that could go wrong can be fixed in minutes if you have a handy dandy system clone ready at all times.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY™
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