Considering FC Studio Purchase & Need Some Info

[Mark Job]

Hey Kevin. No, I don’t think Apple will give me a demo either. I was planning on getting proper VAR direction from sales at head office. I think your suggestion to take the Final Cut Pro classes is an excellent idea as well.

Regarding the iMAC, you have to remember I’m totally new to MAC computers as well as FCP, and I simply don’t have the cash in this current economy to put into a decked out MAC Pro if I get into FC Studio. I can always upgrade later. Don’t forget, I already have the Avid as my main editing computer, and it is an Avid certified spec PC with excellent performance. I also have the possible option of running Avid on a MAC or a Mac Book Pro laptop and go that way. I’m not making any firm decisions at this point.

Your point is well taken about using a professional build to run a professional app.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Mark Job] “Hi Walter. Yes, we will be checking out who’s reselling, but the Apple head office in Canada might be able to direct me to the right one here in the greater Montreal area. Many folks are reselling Macs in town, but I think they don’t specialize in FC Studio suite demos. Ill make some calls this week and see what I can find out.”

Good luck with that. Quite honestly, Apple has a small business division and they will most likely try to sell you the suite themselves. They keep trying to get my business at the local Apple Stores here and call me about every three months, but they don’t know diddly about a professional editing situation. They just know their own hardware and software.

Your better bet is to ask FCP users in your area who they purchase from and for a VAR recommendation.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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[Dave Hardy]

Hi Mark,

Moving to Mac a new NLE is a big decision if cash flow is tight. I think you are on the right track initially getting an iMac to run final cut. It’s going to be awhile before you’ve adjusted to the new OS & FCP, never mind the other half dozen apps in the package. The souped up Mac Pro purchase is probably at least a year down the road. The iMac Final Cut Studio is your learner system & you’re going to be working primarily with your Avid while you get acquainted with this new gear. Therefore you want to spend as little as possible up front. Who knows it may not be the system for you.

The cheapest way I can suggest is to buy a training DVD. Go to Ripple Training’s website & pick up a copy of Steve Martin’s Final Cut Pro 6 for $99 or go to lynda.com & spend $25 for a month’s worth of online training on all the pro apps from Larry Jordan. Watching these movies should give you a fairly decent idea of whether these apps work in a manner that you would feel comfortable with.

The iMac works just fine with all the apps in the box if you are just working with HDV/DV/AVCHD. Aside from not having an express 34 slot, which the Macbook Pro has (& is nice because it gives you access to an eSata setup) . New Macbook Pros coming out tomorrow of course might be attractive. Buying a souped up machine for a learner system doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense IMO. I’d suggest going to Apple Canada’s online Store & picking up a refurbished unit not bottom but not top of the line. The mid range 20″ 2.4 will set you back $1,049 CDN with the hundreds of dollars you are going to save you can pick up a copy of Final Cut Express for $199 & still be ahead several hundred dollars. After all this is only a learning system which you will be selling at the end of the year when the warrantee expires.

Dave

Dave Hardy

[Mark Job]

Hi Dave:
You have come pretty close to my own plan of action. I think I will be getting an iMAC. I may go for a cheaper refurbished unit, or I may simply go for the maxed out iMAC which will run FC Studio 2 fast enough that my rendering will not be an ultimate issue. I already have to render some stuff down in Avid before I export to DVD or web encode anyway, so these times of rendering can be built into my schedual of working. Like you already suggested, I have my Avid Media Composer 3.0 as my main machine for deadline projects, and I will learn FCP in my spare time. 90 % of my work is on HDV, with the rest coming in on DVC Pro 100 HD and BetaCam SP SD. I think I’ve been on the US Apple site, so I’ll head over to the Canadian site to see what the prices are like. BTW, I have no interest in trying FC Express.

[Dave Hardy]

Disregard what I said about the 20′ 2.4 iMac that unit only has an ATI 2400 graphics card with 128 meg of Ram. Surprisingly the Nividia card with 512 meg of ram was less powerful than the ATI 2600 Pro. Apple later updated the Nividia drivers but that only brought them up to the same speed as the 2600 Pro.

Apple overcharges for hard drives & memory, but if you don’t mind paying extra that’s fine.
For a starter iMac system I would consider either a 20′ 2.66 for $1399 CDN or a 24″ 2.4 gig for $1399 CDN. Of course you could get the 24″ 3.6 gig for $1999 CDN but why bother when the quad core iMacs are only a few months away.

Dave

Dave Hardy

[Mark Job]

Hey Dave:
Quad core iMACs ? ! Do tell !
Mark

[Arnie Schlissel]

[Mark Job] “I may go for a cheaper refurbished unit”

FWIW, I think that Apple’s factory refurbs are a great value. They back them with the same 1 year warranty as the new ones, and give you a pretty good discount at the same time.

Arnie
Post production is not an afterthought!
https://www.arniepix.com/

[Mark Job]

Arnie, have you heard anything about the 4 core Super iMAC computers about to be released ?

[Arnie Schlissel]

[Mark Job] “Arnie, have you heard anything about the 4 core Super iMAC computers about to be released ?”

First I’ve heard about them. But I don’t keep track of iMacs, & I don’t look at rumor sites.

Arnie
Post production is not an afterthought!
https://www.arniepix.com/

[Mark Job]

Hi Arnie. No, no, this came from this thread and not from any rumour site. Someone here posted last night about the great deals to be had at the Canadian Apple site for refurbished units.
Mark