• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  Upgrading Comp. for HD?

  Posted by Steve Woronko on May 7, 2008 at 8:38 pm

  So I’m starting to do more HD and want to know what I can do, if any to make working with HD more efficient.
  First off, I’m running a dual 2.3G G5, 2G RAM, ATI9650 Video Card and 1.5TB Hard Drive storage. I’m running FCP 5.0.4 now, hopefully soon I will be upgrading, but for the time being I’m stuck.
  Is more RAM or video card going to make a difference. I know that multicam take up a lot of processor. When I edited my first multicam and put it in the timeline I got the peach unlimited RT line. Or will things go a little smoother if I upgrade.
  I know I’m kind of rambling, but I’m kind of lost a little about getting into HD and noone that I’ve talked to really has much better advice.
  Any advice on the best codec to use would be helpful too. I know that 1 of my clients is going to be using their clips for the web.
  I’m just trying to get a grasp of getting into HD, so any help/advice will be greatly appreciated.
  thanks,
  Stussey
  http://www.masscontrolmedia.com

  Stussey
  http://www.masscontrolmedia.com
  FCP5,DVD Studio4,Motion,PhotoshopCS,
  Dual 2.3G G5,2G RAM,1.5TB Storage

  Steve Woronko replied 18 years ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  David Roth weiss

  May 8, 2008 at 1:14 am

  Your dual 2.3Gb machine is perfectly capable of handling compressed video such as HDV, DCCProHD, etc., as long as you and your clients aren’t pressed for time. But, here’s what will help…

  1) 2Gb of RAM is the minimal for FCP, so at least doubling your RAM will help overall performance, especially if you have anything else running.

  2) A SATA hard drive array will also help by greatly increasing realtime performance.

  3) A Kona I/O card wouldn’t hurt either, as it will give you a way to display your HD to an HD monitor, plus onboard hardware scaling of DVCProHD and HDV will take some of the burden of your processors too, also speeding things up.

  Hope this helps…

  David

  David Roth Weiss
  Director/Editor
  David Weiss Productions, Inc.
  Los Angeles

  POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

  A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
• 

  Steve Woronko

  May 8, 2008 at 2:08 pm

  I’ve already got the SATA array. I heard/read somewhere about RAIDing drives works better for HD, is this true?

  Stussey
  http://www.masscontrolmedia.com
  FCP5,DVD Studio4,Motion,PhotoshopCS,
  Dual 2.3G G5,2G RAM,1.5TB Storage

Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up