-
imac 7 vs mac pro for semi pro video editing
I am so confused. imac 7 vs mac pro for working with final cut pro studio. I have read so many forums on how the imac 7 would be on par with an entry level mac pro. How fast they are, how much cheaper they are – just overall how much of a better deal they are. Now I know that mac pro is about to come out (most likely) with an upgrade (6 cores) etc…
I have a Canon Xh-A1s (hdv)and want to get into semi pro film making (using motion etc…).
If I configured a new imac 7 with external hard drives (drobo or something), would firewire 800 leave me wishing I’d gone with the mac pro? How fast would firewire 800 be for rendering. As you can see I really don’t know enough to make a decision and hoping someone could really set me straight.
I just don’t want to get the imac 7 and find out that fundamentally there was something just not efficient in which the mac pro would have been a better choice.
I also understand that the 27″ screen is perhaps too resoluted for video editing.
Help me!!!!! Walter Biscardi – are you out there???
Al
-
19 Replies
-
[Al Balison] “Help me!!!!! Walter Biscardi – are you out there???”
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/8/1076136
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” now in Post.
Creative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital. -
Thanks Walter for this starting point to your thread. I did indeed read the whole thread prior to posting my question. I hate to bring these forums down with my lack of knowledge and experience. When you speak of ethernet connectivity (and the lack thereof re: iMac 5 and 7), would this be a connection that I would need or desire if I wasn’t sharing anything over a network? I probably shoud save my money for film school to learn the basics…
Al
-
Think of it this way: you will never regret your decision if you get a Mac Pro. You might regret your decision if you get an iMac. You run a far greater risk of outgrowing an iMac than a Mac Pro. If you’re building a business around your system, go with the Mac Pro.
The Mac Pro has far superior expandability and supports far more options for external monitoring and storage than any iMac. Make sure you choose the ATI Radeon HD 4870 GPU for best performance in Motion and Color.
Storage
Skip Firewire 800. Instead, consider these options:
– Software RAID-0 using two or three additional internal drives. Drive 1 should be a dedicated system drive. If you go this route, make sure you back up the contents of your RAID volume regularly, as RAID-0 has no redundancy and loss of one drive will result in total data loss.
– External RAID of some sort (eSATA, E-PCIe, SAS) – there are many great options out there. Check out the CalDigit HDElement for a good low-cost RAID-5 solution.
Video Monitoring
Invest in a video I/O card and a video monitor (or a consumer TV at the least) for proper monitoring. You can’t depend on a computer display for an accurate representation of how your video will look. An entry level option would be the Blackmagic Intensity Pro. A better (but pricier) option would be the AJA Kona LHi.
-
Playing Devil’s advocate to Walter’s post. While what he talks about is extremely important if you plan to use Ethernet drive, if is not important if you don’t plan to. If you can live within the speed constraints of FW800. Which rules out any real multicam editing.
But the value of an iMac is only if you can live within all the limitation of the box.
1) External Monitoring – have to go with the MXO (which is not a bad product at all)
2) One FW bus (the 400 and 800 ports are on a single bus) so use a deck and hard drive, may work but it is problematic. (this is really the most limiting feature IMO)
3) Zero expansion for extra FW, eSata, or Video cards
4) Compressor like as many cores as you got.Now you can do real editing, even HD editing with an iMac but you have to go into it with your eyes open.
-
What is your definition of semi-pro? And how long would you want this system to last?
If you’re getting your feet wet and this system is for 2-3 years and you’ll just be working in HDV for that time, the imac would be fine.
But if you’re looking to do broadcast and major festival & theatrical aspirations or if this system is to last you for 3-5-years, the a mac pro would be the safer buy.
Hope this help.
CHL
Chi-Ho Lee
Film & Television Editor
Apple Certified Final Cut Pro Trainer
http://www.chiholee.com -
[Al Balison] “When you speak of ethernet connectivity (and the lack thereof re: iMac 5 and 7), would this be a connection that I would need or desire if I wasn’t sharing anything over a network? I”
The advances in ethernet connectivity means it is now possible to run a very high speed and very large media array to iMacs and MacBook Pros. In our case, we have a 32TB SAN connected to 12 computers to share media, but I could just as easily have a 16TB local media array connected directly to this one iMac if I wanted to.
What this does is open up the iMac to work on very large projects, like the documentaries we do here, which you really can’t do with FW800 drives because you get into daisy chaining.
If FW800 does what you need to do in terms of speed for editing your material, the ethernet issue is irrelevant.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” now in Post.
Creative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital. -
Wow!! Thanks for all your responses. Being a newbie in all this, I really just need to get my feet much wetter in order to understand my needs better. The bottom line is I don’t want any regrets (as Alan mentioned) in my initial purchase of a mac. I now understand what Walter speaks of with the ethernet connectivity and how, at this point, I would not require it, but at what point in the future might I need it.
My definition of semi-pro (Chi-Ho) is: to create film projects (documentaries, shorts, full-length) which will have enough of a professional look for broadcasting, film festivals and sale.
The dilemma that I’ll have to answer myself (dang it all) is as Michael mentioned, to identify the limitations of the imac and can I live with them. External hard drive, raid, firewire 800 etc..
So here is what I need to make a decision on:
Option 1) iMac 7: 2.8 ghz (quad core), 8gb ram, ATI Radeon HD 4850 (512 mb) with something like a Promise Smartstar DS4600 extenal hard drive raid system https://store.apple.com/us_smb_78313/product/TX711VC/A?fnode=MTY1NDA0Nw&mco=MTMzNzkyMTc&s=topSellers
Total: 2,399.00 plus 799.99 for Promise (comes with 4×1 tb drives)
***as Walter mentioned (no ethernet connectivity)
Option 2) iMac 27″ 3.33 ghz (dual core), 8 gb ram, ATI Radeon HD 4850 (512 mb) ***which supports high speed ethernet transport
plus again something like the above mentioned external hard driveTotal 2,249.00 plus 799.99 = 3048.00
Or….which I’m kinda leaning toward…
Option 3) The Big Daddy Mac Pro (2) 2.26 ghz Quad core, 8 gb ram, 2×1 TB Hard drives, ATI Radeon HD 4870 (512 mb)
24″ Apple Cinema Display
Total: 4898.00
Any further feedback would still be very much appreciated….
Thanks,
Al
-
don’t waste your money on the 24″ ACD… just get any decent lcd for the computer screen (Dell, Samsung, etc).
-Bryan
-
[Bryan Banks] “don’t waste your money on the 24″ ACD… just get any decent lcd for the computer screen (Dell, Samsung, etc).”
I used to agree with this. But after playing with the 27″ iMac with the LED backlight. There is simply nothing better. Our Dells look completely blurry after looking at these screens.
I’m going to start switching over our shop, slowly, to all Apple cinema displays.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” now in Post.
Creative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital. -
For Option 3) buy your memory from a place like macsales.com as well as the extra drives. You can get 1TB drives for about $100. Also always check the refurb section in the Apple store, you can save several hundred bucks on systems. I think you could get a system close to $4K if you wanted to go for a MacPro.
MacPro are due for an update, so unless you have to get something right away it may be worth waiting, most likely new systems come out March/April but nothing is for sure.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up