Buying Mac Pro – what specs for editing hd video?

[Rob Fourchalk]

Thanks Jerry. I’m filming with a 720p (1080i) canon xh-a1s. Just hdv – so would have that tape as my backup. Hard to say at this point how many hours of footage would be needed for hard drive space.

Sounds like by what your saying is that the 6 TB capacity in the 3 hard drive bays would do the trick eh? Given the specs above would you concur?

Thanks again…

PS – anything else that would be crucial (in your opinion) at this point to include in the building of this particular pro?

[Jerry Hofmann]

Well, if you run out of space, you can always buy FireWire drives. They’ll play HDV OK.

Jerry

Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann

DVD:https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup

8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX Cinema Displays

[Mohamed Safwat]

Hi Jerry,
what’s the least expansive way to hook a broadcast monitor to the new 3.4 iMacs, is connecting T-bold to an LED monitor using adapter will do the job or do I need something in the middle?
Thanks
Moe

[Jerry Hofmann]

AJA and Matrox both make thunderbolt adapter boxes for the real deal here… you’ll spend about $1000-1500 for a proper setup.

Jerry

Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann

Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup

8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.

[Mohamed Safwat]

Wow, thanks for the info Jerry. I have a budget of $3000, I am thinking of buying the mid 2011 Imac 27″ i7, w/ 3.4ghz, max it to 32GB Ram & 2GB of Vram, 2TB of storage. I don’t think i’ll have enough for a thunderbolt adapter box. I do work a lot with After Effects, C4D, apple motion & FCP(mostly HD clips).
Please advise if this machine is good enough for my budget.and if there is a “poorman” solution to monitor the video quality?

thanks a bunch
Moe

[Jerry Hofmann]

If you add a second display to your setup, you could use it as a full screen monitor, however the color won’t be really accurate (the boxes take care of this problem)… reason is the gamma’s that result on a TV set or projector aren’t the same as those on a computer display.

HD comes in many flavors. If you use HDV or ProRes, you’ll have enough computer. 2TB of storage isn’t a lot of storage, but likely just enough for short projects.

Jerry

Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann

Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup

8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.

[David Eaks]

[Mohamed Safwat] “I don’t think I’ll have enough for a thunderbolt adapter box”

You could probably save a few hundred dollars if you buy and install the RAM yourself. With the money saved you might be able to squeeze a $550 Matrox MXO2 Mini (or maybe find a used one cheaper) into the budget and monitor with any HDMI TV. If you deliver h.264 frequently, the extra $500 for the MAX version is worth it. If you need SDI I/O the MXO2 LE is great, I couldn’t live without mine, but that is yet another $500 increase.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/820944-REG/Matrox_MXO2MINI_T_MXO_2_MINI_f_LAPTOP_THUNDERBOLT.html

[Mohamed Safwat]

Thanks I think MXO2 LE is gonna be my choice, what’s the SDI I/O mostly used for. Also is it better to install 2T & 250GB SSD first or MXO2 LE?!!I have about $3000 budget to configure my first Imac.