iMac i7

[Zane Barker]

No disrespect, but many if not all your questions have been asked quite a lot since the release of the new iMacs.

While I do not run FCP on an i7 I can still answer some of your questions. If you have additional questions please do a search on the cow first.

[Marc Ward] “1. fast enough for you”

The processor is plenty fast, however the speed of connections is limited.

[Marc Ward] “2. how much RAM do you have? “

I would recommend at least 8GB

[Marc Ward] “3. what video card are you using? “

Both the i5 and the i7 do not have any options for changing the graphics card, so I dont really understand why you are asking.

[Marc Ward] “4. how are you connecting your external harddrives”

As had been discussed over and over here on the cow this is biggest and more important shortcoming when wanting to use the new iMac for video editing.

You are limited to 3 type of data connections on the iMac USB, FireWire 800 and Ethernet. Here is the rundown on each of the connections in regards to video production.

USB – USB works is bursts of data and therefore is absolutely no good for video as it cannot sustain the constant data rates that video editing requires.

FireWire 800 – FireWire can sustain data rates so it can work for video editing as long as the format you are editing is not to high. The problem with FireWire is that if you plan on connecting a camera or deck at the same time you connecting your media drive you will likely to get dropped frames on capture or on laying back to tape. The iMac has only one FireWire Buss so daisy chaining or adding a hub makes no difference. Think of it like a highway the adding more onramps does not change how much traffic can go down the road.

Ethernet – using the gigabit ethernet connection is another option for a fast connection on the iMac. But you do need to know that to get a gigabit ethernet enclosure that will acutely put out the speeds you want for video you are going to spend quite a bit more then you will for a esata enclosure. You can get a 2 drive esata enclosure for less then a $150 but to get close to the same speeds that you can get with that esata enclosure you are going to have to speed around $800. Yes there are cheeper gigabit ethernet enclosures but they will not provide the speed needed for video.

And just incase you are wondering yes it is a bad idea to capture or edit from your system drive, it should be reserved so that it can run the OS and applications as fast as they can.

In my personal opinion I will go with media drive speed over the latest fastest processer any day. Back when I switched to an esata raid for my media drive my render times cut nearly in half. Drive speed is extremely important when it comes to video production, and for that reason I an mot planing on getting one of the new iMacs.

Hindsight is always 1080p

[Ben Holmes]

All of what Zane says is of course correct and well documented here. I look forward to the day when someone will develop affordable stand-alone gig-E solutions for iMacs. I’d love to hear of some. As gig-E is excellent for shared storage, I know companies like Small Tree have blazed a trail for larger setups, where iMacs are excellent editorial setups.

However, more and more people are using tapeless formats and delivery. If you fall into this catagory, the newer Imacs with FW800 storage will handle most of your needs – I’m editing EX-CAM 422 off a G-raid right now, as well as ProRes material, both at 1080p. I’m using a Mac Pro, which would obviously be quicker for some rendering – although with the new I7’s, I’m not sure how much difference you’d see in FCP.

One more note – when this topic has come up before, the odd mention has been made of the V4HD allowing through connection of FW devices and working with iMacs for capture – I believe they mention this capability as one of it’s USPs. I could be wrong. I’m not interested in purchasing one just to find out however. Search for iMac on here for many other opinions.

Edit Out Ltd
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EVS/VT Supervisor for live broadcast
RED camera transfer/post
Independent Director/Producer

https://www.blackmagic-design.com/casestudies/detail.asp?case=therydercup

[Marc Ward]

sorry about the question on the video card- my mistake
thank you for your time

Filmdog Media: video unlimited

[Rob Mclain]

I too was in need of an upgrade and was very seriously looking into the iMAC. The thing about it that scared me the most was the need to upgrade again and being stuck in a dead end box. I am not sure what your budget is, but after a lot of thought and searching I decided to go with a MAC PRO refurb unit from apple’s site. Quad core units come up a least once a week, and they sell them for $2149, just $150 more than the iMAC. Now, I know the iMAC is a faster machine, but how much time are you really going to save? Also, the pro is a unit that you can always upgrade. The refub units come with 3 gigs of RAM stock, but cheap enough to upgrade through non apple sites. You can pick up hard drives from new egg at very low prices. If you are running off a G5 you more than likely already have a monitor.

I am now running a 2.66 quad core, 6 gigs of RAM, 2 TB internal striped raid, with Final Cut 7. I paid $3661 for the setup. It more than fast enough for running HD compressed and uncompressed. I am getting 325/335 mbs speed on my internal raid. The fastest I would be able to get over firewire 800 raid would have been 75/80 mbs. Even if you were using ethernet raids you will be pressed to get speeds over 110mbs. Not to mention, once you start really looking at a decent ethernet raids, the costs go way up.

I think you will find once you get all of your add ons to the iMAC, and spend money on the external firewire raid, the costs are really only a matter of a couple hundred dollars. As much as I wanted that amazing 27′ monitor just did not think it would be worth it in the end.

Hope that is of some help.

[Paul Terry]

Well, I dunno if you still are looking for answers …

But, I am one who picked up a new iMac specifically for production use even after reading all the doom re: io on the iMac.

Whether you’d be happy i think depends …

So far I’m very happy, especially when it comes to looking at my wallet. I’m in the middle of posting a project shot on 1080i hdv and transcoded to 24p Pro Res. No hitches so far.

The rendering speed is great. The screen is great. The keyboard’s a little funky (the small one) but I’m getting used to it. The magic mouse is much better than I expected and I’m actually using it.

I ordered it with 8gig ram in the 2gb chip config, bc I figured it was insane to pay Apple what they wanted for 4gb modules. 8 seems fine, though the plan is to pickup 16gb shortly.

The trick I think is to know what you need for your workflow. I’m sure that a tricked out MacPro with cards and raids and tigers and bears would be a faster rendering machine. Like so many have pointed out.

But, I don’t cut with a stopwatch-wielding-charged-by-the-hour-producer on my shoulder.

Least not anymore. If it’s not my own work I’m cutting, then I’m working on a project basis. So the occasional short render wait is no problem.

Also, while I’ve seen mention of the ethernet ext. hd solutions, and which I’m on the lookout for, as of right now, everything’s humming along with an ext. fw drive.

The reality is, it’s a great machine. But, since it’s also got a high “toy value”, for some, it’s hard to take seriously. I used to be of a similar mind regarding gear. And way back when, the attitude made sense. That absolutely there was a huge difference in quality of video produced per dollar spent. Back when a cheap time base corrector meant your were really just getting a half resolution frame-synch that chewed the video together and spit it out in glorious red smeared mud.

But now? Not so. You can create whatever you can concept. And within some reasonable limits, no one could tell that you posted on a toy. Certainly no one is going to be able to tell that it was cut on an iMac instead of a Mac Pro. And, while a tricked out Mac Pro might’ve rendered it faster, as Albert E said time is relative. And the iMac is relatively fast enough for the differences to not matter.

If you have control of your own projects and workflow.

Reasonably, I’m not sure if I’d want to be editing by the hour with it. But, on the other hand, any of the desktop systems tend to eventually run into issues with “real-time”. That’s what keeps Aja making cards.

Truly, I think many of the naysayers re: the iMac are overly-inflating what are valid but not necessarily fatal “flaws” about the machine.

In my world, I’m working above the line as well as below. I take the project from the start, and mostly post it myself except for specialized tasks such as graphics that require a real artist.

So, to spend the extra thousands of dollars just so the machine can finish a bit faster doesn’t make sense to me. The iMac is plenty fast.

Orders of magnitude faster than my g5’s that’ve been kicking out b’cast spots for the last 5 years.

And a tricked out Mac Pro is dog-slow next to a CMX 1″.

Of course the speed all evaporates anyway once you start choking the new machine by cranking up the res and framerate. But what’s a new machine for if not to see how much it can eat before it chokes, eh?

Not sure if this ramble helps or not. But I’ve read a lot of posts from non-owners. So I thought I’d chime in as one who’s actually earning a living with one.

Also it keeps me from slogging, er logging all the footage I’m supposed to be doing. And, btw, that job is definitely no faster on a Mac Pro. Who cares about rendering, I want to log faster!!!

cheers,

pt

[Walter Biscardi]

There is a major issue with the i5 and i7 iMac 27″ machines that we have discovered as it pertains to the Ethernet connectivity. In the past I’ve been a big advocate in this forum of using the iMacs with a high speed Ethernet SAN like the Final Share SAN system we run here. This allows us to edit ProRes 720 and 1080 HD files all day long on any machine, including iMacs.

I purchased a 27″ i7 iMac with 8GB RAM and we have discovered that Apple has a different Ethernet controller in the i5 and i7 iMacs that precludes this machine from working properly with high speed ethernet devices. We’re doing a final test this afternoon, but for reasons unknown, Apple put a slow Ethernet Controller in this series of machines. Yes, it’s gigabit, but the speeds are restricted in the Network Preferences.

We’re pretty certain the Core Duo 2 machines WILL work just fine and after our testing this afternoon I will most likely be sending back the i7 Machine and picking up the 3.33 Ghz Core Duo 2 version.

I’ve already reported some of this in my blog and will be giving a full report tonight after our final testing.

https://www.biscardicreative.com/blog/?p=655

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media

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[Tom Alexander]

I’m using an i7 imac with Final Cut Pro 7 and Sony xdcam ex. I need to burn blue ray discs so I’m considering buying a Lacie d2 blue ray drive and will be limited to connecting it with high speed usb 2.0 since the only firewire port is connected to my g-raid

Will this work?

[Tom Alexander]

I’m using an i7 imac with Final Cut Pro 7 and Sony xdcam ex. I need to burn blue ray discs so I’m considering buying a Lacie d2 blue ray drive and will be limited to connecting it with high speed usb 2.0 since the only firewire port is connected to my g-raid

Will this work?