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Machine recommendations
Hi, hoping that someone will be able to recommend me a machine/package. We are a London-based video facilities company until now have always used Adobe Premiere Pro with Blackmagic SDI for minor compliance edits, adding clocks and laying back to tape, usually digibeta.
Our clients are providing more and more of their footage for mastering to tape as files, and these are occasionally throwing up codec problems on a Windows system, especially as PC cannot handle Apple HDV and Final Cut Pro QuickTime files/projects, of which we are receiving an increasing number.
We are after a machine and software which will be suitable for importing all manner of files/FCP projects to be mastered to tape. We have been pleased with our Blackmagic card and are happy to use one of these in an Apple. As someone who has always been PC, I’m not sure what sort of spec we will need. As I say, any edits we do are minor, and footage we master is almost exclusively under 10 minutes, so we will not be rendering hour long HD projects.
Software wise, is FCP needed or is Final Cut Express adequate?
Thank you in advance,
Ray
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1 Reply
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I’d suggest an 8-core Mac Pro. Any of them will work. I’d go with 8-cores because there should be updates with Snow Leopard (10.6 shipping in September) that will make things faster. Also, the Mac Pro is the easiest way to put something like a Decklink card in.
Final Cut Express won’t work for you. It’s quite limited. For example, it doesn’t support 23.98 formats.
-Russ
Russell Lasson
Colorist/Digital Cinema Specialist
Color Mill
Salt Lake City, UT
http://www.colormill.net
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