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FCP and Apple
For the past six months I have been pondering switching to Mac and FCP from our Avid XPress 6.0 Meridian based system which keeps getting slower and slower. Of course I am looking at the quad G5 but realize that the new Intel systems might be better down the road. Now my question is do I buy now with the “old” Macs or wait until the bugs are worked out with the new Intel chips? I hear that pro apps won’t be available until the summer or so. Any insight and thought would help
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11 Replies
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Me personaly? I wouldnt buy a Macintel for about a year and a half. Its a lot of changes to happen at once. I’d pick up a good dual 2Ghz or so and use it productively until all the new stuff gets up and running. But; that me. At this point for me if it works stick with it.
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[Chris] “Of course I am looking at the quad G5 but realize that the new Intel systems might be better down the road. Now my question is do I buy now with the “old” Macs or wait until the bugs are worked out with the new Intel chips? I hear that pro apps won’t be available until the summer or so.”
First off, there’s no Intel workstation available for FCP yet. The iMac is good for DV work, but if you’re looking for uncompressed, there’s nothing out there.
The current Dual Core Quad is the last of the IBM PowerPC chips and all the current pro apps run on that just fine today.
The Pro Apps are currently scheduled to start working on the Intel chip machines this March when the Universal versions start shipping.
As for what to buy, do you need it today or 6 months from now? If you need it today, purchase the most you can afford right now. If you can wait 6 months, wait 6 months.
I’m still running two G5 Dual 2.0 and will replace those when the first Intel boxes come out, probably by the fourth quarter of this year.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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If you want to ease into the transition, you will probably be better off picking up a G5 and getting comfortable with it while still doing your money work on your Meridian. The G5 is a known platform for FCP and is very stable. Then when your ready to switch over, you could pick up a second system(G5 or Mactel) or use the existing G5 with full confidence from your experiences. I don’t think the G5s will be deemed unproductive anytime soon as I doubt that FCP6 or 7 will bring anything to the table tha a dual G5 couldn’t handle.
-gl
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Computers are like cars… you know there’s gonna be a new model out next year. So, do you buy that new Lexus today, knowing that there’s going to be a new model out next year? Only you can decide.
I applaud your decision to switch to FCP… that’s the brave call. Deciding on which CPU is really insignificant. If you need it today, buy what’s available. Don’t worry about what’s coming next year. There will always be upgrade paths available to you.
FYI, we left AVID over two years ago and haven’t looked back since.
Mark
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Editors and prod houses each have there own experiences with different editing systems, some good and some bad. My own experience with the “king” of editing is not a particulary good one as our system can crash hardcore at any given time. According to some friends who own there own prod house in LA Avids are notorious for being stable to a point but when they crash they crash bad. I have also notices job offers for Avid techs, NOT editors but people who just maintain Avids, I don’t see this with other editing systems. So I hope it will be soon as dealing with avid is a constant headache.
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18 months & 2 motherboards later and our Adrenaline is still buggy. We took the plunge a few months ago. We now have 2 FCPs & I’m getting a few more. I could not justify the cost with buying a third Adrenaline & Unity especially with the stability issues.
Good move Chris.
-dMR
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3 years 2 mother boards, 3 replacement Avid Ultra 160 drives and the Avid cards have now been replaced twice each. If it wasn’t under warranty it would have cost us a fortune. Speaking of fortune Avid’s warrenty costs a fortune for one year where as to get everything covered for three years including the Xserve drives is reletively inexpensive.
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Hi:
Personally, I would steer clear of the first Wintel Macs. If you have any history with Macs, you know that historically the first generation hardware (remember the first B&W G3s? The first Sawtooth G4s?) is problematic.
I just bought a new dual 2.3 and I am loving it, it behaves very well with FCP 5.04 and I am prepping to purchase the Kona 3 with it to begin editing in Hi-Def with the new HVX-200s. I would buy something right now and get to work.
BTW, this is my personal FCP system, I work at a production company that is all AVID, we just bought a new Nitris Symphony two days ago. I won’t lie, AVIDs, in my producing and editing experience through hundreds of shows, are more stable than FCP. FCP crashes more often but the differences are narrowing, FCP is getting more stable with each release. IMHO, the AVID is a slightly better machine and system but at anywhere from 2 to 10 times the price of an FCP system, AVID’s future is limited while FCP’s looks to be unlimited. I love FCP but from an objective viewpoint, the AVID is better for some situations while FCP is better for others.
Both are great tools in the right hands. But FWIW, avoid the first generation Intel Macs, at least if you are a pro and cannot afford problems with hardware and software issues. Pros with paying clients and insane deadlines cannot afford to be on the bleeding edge as beta testers for Apple.
Best,
Dan
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Hi Dan,
First off, I agree with you regarding the new Mac/Intel hardware…. It scares me a bit, although here at our production house we may jump on board, at least by the 2nd gen boxes. We decided against upgrading to the Quad G5 because of the Intel version coming this summer (not to mention the lack of fibre card support on a PCIe bus at the time, rendering our XRAID useless on that box).
Some benchmarks are out now on the Intel iMac and I find them somewhat interesting:
https://www.macworld.com/2006/01/features/imaclabtest1/index.php
I am really assuming that they are currently ensuring that their Pro apps will be completely optimized for the new Intel chip, and that is probably what FCP6 is going to be about…. Here’s hoping anyways.
So you guys took the plunge on the Symphony Nitris? Was this primarily because of the Avid workflow at your facility, or was there something specific that attracted you to a product at that price point? I bet it’s nice anyways!
-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios -
[Todd Beabout] “I am really assuming that they are currently ensuring that their Pro apps will be completely optimized for the new Intel chip, and that is probably what FCP6 is going to be about…. Here’s hoping anyways.”
Actually, they are not ensuring optimization but simply that they will run natively. There is a major difference between optimized for a platform and running native on a platform.
In other words, I don’t expect huge performance improvements with the first universal pro apps. If they simply work as advertised I will be pleased.
-gl
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