• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  Decision FCP or FCE?

  Posted by Ned Cordery on June 30, 2006 at 7:49 pm

  I am presently using FCP3 on a dual 800 Mac G4 to edit SD DV commercially (I work in the undergrowth of production) and now need to accomadate HDV. My funds are limited so my plan is to buy an iMac with a second 20 inch screen, up the RAM to max and use FCE, I use Granite external HDDs to archive by project, use an HDV camera as a deck and a commercial LCD TV as a monitor. Is this commercially feasible or do I have to go the whole hog to a new desktop intel mac (when avaialabe)? I started editing in the days when we could hold the pictures up to the light and have been through everything in between, just one more, please!

  Ned C.

  Tom Wolsky replied 19 years, 10 months ago 4 Members · 6 Replies
• 6 Replies

• 

  Jim Martin

  June 30, 2006 at 9:32 pm

  Not sure of the cost of FCE, but you could upgrade from FCP 3 to FCP 5.1 for $699 and receive the full studio package. Worth thinking about.

  Jim
• 

  Ned Cordery

  July 1, 2006 at 4:31 am

  Thanks for the suggestion but it also needs a new computer and this route requires a dual G5 at least. Anyone using FCE on an Intel iMac for regular editing of HDV?

  Ned C
• 

  Ned Cordery

  July 3, 2006 at 9:01 pm

  Hmmmm, is anyone actually regularly editing HDV on an iMac using FCE? Is there another forum I should go to find an answer?

  Ned C
• 

  Tom Wolsky

  July 3, 2006 at 11:55 pm

  The short answer is yes. You need to make sure you have a separate hard drive that is fast enough to support it.

  All the best,

  Tom

  Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 2 Editing Workshop” Class on Demand “Complete Training for FCP5” DVD
• 

  Richard Harrington

  July 10, 2006 at 2:36 pm

  HDV is VERY processor intensive….

  That and a second monitor into an iMac is not a solution except on the newest mchines…

  By the time you pimp out an imac with high end graphics… add teh second mnitor…

  I’d choose a tower
• 

  Tom Wolsky

  July 10, 2006 at 3:49 pm

  FCE captures HDV in Apple Intermediate Codec, and does not edit natively, so it isn’t as processor intensive as FCP’s editing system. It is however more hard drive intensive as the data rate is about three times that of DV and native HDV.

  All the best,

  Tom

  Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 2 Editing Workshop” Class on Demand “Complete Training for FCP5” DVD

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