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Avid Refugee Searches for a Reasonable Alternative
Hi Friends:
I am an Avid Xpress Pro editor who has spent allot of time and money for a setup which just isn’t meeting our needs in serving our clients. I find myself being forced to walk away as a “refugee” in search of a more intuitive and comprehensive solution which is much faster and more efficient than what we currently have.
I am seeking your advice as to what would be the least expensive way I could run Apple Final Cut Studio 2 on a MAC based laptop or desktop. I am unsure of exactly the bottom line on tech specs for FCS2, but we are so cleaned out financially by Avid that we don’t have much extra cash to spend. We have been making money with our Avid system, but at the price of constant technical glitches and workflow stoppages, which has really dragged yours truly down ! I have never used a MAC before, so there are going to be allot of firsts. Can FCS2 be run on a MAC mini ?
There are three main tasks we do for our own productions and for our clients. They are as follows…….1. Batch Capture VHS,BetaCam SP(Via RS-422),and HDV to edit.
2. Output to SD DVD.
3. Output to web formats (Flash 8 & WMV)40% of our work is HD.
60% is SD from mostly analogue sources.*Sometimes it’s both on the same timeline, but out to SD DVD usually. No Blue Ray DVD Authoring yet.
We are getting into more and more format conversion and transcoding as we slowly move from tape based to file based workflows in HD. Please help us. We are totally messed up with our Avid system, and we are really starting to regret our decision to invest so heavily in AXP I’m sad to say.
So folks, what’s the next step ?
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13 Replies
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Sorry to hear about your Avid experience…
Just go to Apple.com, sign up for the credit card and finance it.. A Mac Pro, and Final Cut Pro 2 is under $4k… Buy ram and Hard drives at your trusted discounter.. use your old Avid monitor, until the money starts to pile up…. Digitizing Betacam you will need the Kona card of choice.. But if you can export quicktimes with the Avid use it to digitize and lay to tape for awhile..
Search this forum, you will find you answers.
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[Mark Job] ” Can FCS2 be run on a MAC mini ? “
No. not any more, although I still use mine occasionally for the odd encode in DVDSP.
[Mark Job] “There are three main tasks we do for our own productions and for our clients. They are as follows…….
1. Batch Capture VHS,BetaCam SP(Via RS-422),and HDV to edit. “
Then you need a MacPro with a decent capture card. I have spent the last few years using Kona gear – it’s excellent but pricey. I now use a Decklink Multibridge, which is excellent value (half the price of the AJA IO HD) and supports everything from Uncompressed 4:4:4 HD to HDV. It even has an HDMI output, so you can use a cheaper monitor until you can spend out on a pricier model.
Get 4 gig of RAM for it to start – OWC (www.macsales.com) can sell you it for a couple of hundred dollars. I have 8 gb in mine, but 4 will do you. Fit 3 extra SATA drives inside the Mac Pro for a rapid and reliable video array (3x500Gb drives is CHEAP, and quick, look on OWC). You will love how easy it is to fit the RAM and drives in the machine, and the card for the multibridge – you don’t even need a screwdriver. The whole thing will cost you a few thousand dollars, and will be a very powerful system. Get the lower specced Mac Pro, 2.8 Ghz – it’s still a screamer for your work.
[Mark Job] “2. Output to SD DVD. “
DVD Studio Pro is excellent for SD DVD work – quick and powerful – and Motion let’s you create great menus. If you prefer to run after effects or CS3, go ahead and use that, but it’s mostly all there in FCS2.
[Mark Job] “3. Output to web formats (Flash 8 & WMV) “
Well – that’s not FCS’s forte, for sure. I would recommend Flip4Mac pro for wmv exports, and the Adobe Flash exporter, but there are more experienced people than me who can help you with this. It’s doable, for sure.
Can you do all this for $1000-1500? Not really, but you can do it for cheap. Get a basic capture card (say the basic decklink card), an internal array, some RAM and FCS2. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Ben
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[Mark Job] “Can FCS2 be run on a MAC mini ?”
Technically yes, but you don’t want to. Not beefy enough. MacBook Pro is the minimum you want.
[Mark Job] “1. Batch Capture VHS,BetaCam SP(Via RS-422),and HDV to edit.”
If you go with the laptop, pick up the AJA Io LA. The Io LA is an external box that connects via FW 400 but allows you to capture Uncompressed SD.
Or get a Mac Pro and either the AJA Io LA or an AJA Kona board. AJA is a top notch broadcast company and they flat out make the best video cards and external boxes for FCP.
Pick up at least a FW800 RAID unit like the LaCie 2TB model for around $700 or less, or better yet, go with a SATA unit. the guys at maxxdigital.com can set you up with a good array to meet your needs.
[Mark Job] “3. Output to web formats (Flash 8 & WMV)”
You can output WMV’s through the Flip For Mac converter. For Flash, you’ll have to find another alternative.
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! -
Theres a book called Final Cut Pro for Avid Editors. I haven’t read it, but that might help.
On the Mac, activate the finder (click the desktop) and under the help menu, select Mac help. You should see the “Switching from Windows” topic, if not search for it. That should give you a start in understanding the User Interface.
If you have a trustworty Mac savvy person to help, you could save money with used equipment. Especially if you don’t need motion and color, you have a choice of pretty cheap desktops you could start with until you make some money, depending on your capture card choice (certain capture cards require certain types of bus slots, so that limits your machine choices).
Here’s the tech specs for Final Cut Studio 2: https://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/specs.html
Here’s a place to look at specs for older macs (including card slot types); http://www.everymac.com
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Hi Nate:
Thanks. I think I may do just that and finance it. As for 422 cap from tape, using my Avid to batch cap only works for VHS tapes with non-drop frame timecode. As soon as I feed it Drop Frame TC it doesn’t work. Even if I rename or make a new tape it won’t cap a drop frame VHS tape. As you can imagine, this is an important complication for us and we need a reasonable alternative to compliment what we already have. We also need a more intuitive DVD authoring app.Is it possible to capture via RS 422 interface if I use the AJA box with a Mac Book Pro laptop ? What is the Street price of the external AJA box ?
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Hi Ben:
Thank you for the advice. I really prefer a laptop configuration, because sometimes I have to edit on ther go, but I also like the increased options afforded by a dektop MAC configuration. The Mac Book Pro is a little more affordable, if I go with the entry level model. -
For making Flash and WMV files get Sorenson Squeeze and flip4mac. Squeeze comes with all the settings for compressing both formats. I would go with a desktop unless you really need to edit remotely. If you go with a laptop and the AJA LA you will need an express card external hard drive setup because the AJA LA (firewire products) use all the firewire bandwidth and don’t like to share with any other firewire devices.
Dajen Productions
Santa Barbara, CA
G5 Quad – AJA Kona LHe
Huge 1.2 Raid
FCP 6.0.2-OS X 10.4.11-QT 7.3 -
You will want an ioHD if you are going to be working in HD on an MBP.
It’s more expensive, but will do everything you need it to.
Jeremy
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Although I don’t know if Adobe Production Premium can run on a Mac Mini you should give it a try. The integration between Premiere and After Effects, the standard in Motion Graphics, is a big plus and the Adobe Dynamic Link means that you don’t have to render anything. Even just importing a Premiere project into After Effects, without dynamic link, takes a few seconds and because you are using the project you refer directly to the media files cut using Premiere. This means that you don’t get into any transcoding nonsense. From Premier or After Effects you can set markers and other elements to create menus for Encore. Encore can output directly to DVD, Blueray and create a Flash version of the same menu with a few clicks. So the same DVD layout becomes your Web-ready application.
You can get the try-out versions from Adobe and judge for yourself. -
[Paolo Ciccone] “After Effects, the standard in Motion Graphics,”
After Effects is still a standard for motion graphics, but if you have never used it and are just starting in motion graphics, Motion is actually easier to learn.
[Paolo Ciccone] “Encore can output directly to DVD, Blueray”
But as of right now, you cannot burn a BluRay disc through Encore on a Mac. It fails every time, even with the latest updates.
DVD Studio Pro is definitely easier to learn too. If you already know DVDSP, it’s easy to pick up Encore, but DVDSP is definitely simpler.
But definitely the integration of the Adobe package is far superior than the Apple integration. We’re just not able to play with Premiere yet because we have the AJA Kona boards and there are no drivers yet on the Mac for those boards.
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!
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