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making the move
Okay
After much thought I have decided to hang up CS4. Been using Adobe products for many years now. Even with a brand new system, windows 7( tried Vista business, not!) new cards,tons of storage and ram, etc….she still lag’s and crashes. With my current work load I can not take these crashes anymore. So I have talked with the people at Apple and they say I need a Mac Pro. 8 GBram, a 640GB boot drive, then three internal 1.5 TB dives. ( why not 16 GB ram?)
I will be selling my entire system to a friend so that means new monitors as well. So heres my questions to the real world as it were.
a. Should I just get a monster Mac laptop?
b. Laptop vs tower besides the obvious
c. for sure after market monitors- I will need two and I like them big. Plasma, CRT, LCD….any thoughts here. Mostly they will be in a studio setting with clients viewing behind me. Screens are elevated slightly. I would prefer three screens but Apple says FCP works best with two, so I am thinking two around 40inchs. Brand ? Source? ( HDMI hook up for sure)d. As far as plug-ins it seems FCP7 will do it all? yes?
and last but certainty not least is the ol leaning curve. Many have told me it will be a long and painful road. I wonder. Edit is all I do and I do it well, so from what I have seen so far…a bike is a bike is a bike. So, any ideas, thoughts or suggestions in this matter will be greatly appreciated. I plan on a budget of about 8k for the transition… think that will be enough?Signed, bring-on-the-RED
David Masterson
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4 Replies
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a) do you need to be mobile, if not always go with a desktop, a lot more speed, a lot plus it is expandable with drive options. (sounds like you are planning on edit RED footage, get a MacPro.
b) seems like the same question to me.
c) totally the wrong thinking here, you need computer monitors, don’t use TVs, Dells (higher end) are great non-apple monitors for less money. Then you can a video card from AJA, Blackmagic or Matrox and then you use a Broadcast monitor to video a true video signal out of FCP.
Also get the Apple Pro Training books by PeachPit Press, they are about $35-40 on Amazon and it will get you comfortable with software.
– Our software is idiot-proof, if you bought it it proves you are an idiot. – Dilbert
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Just to reiterate and expand on what Michael said. A professional FCP edit bay is typically configured with two computer displays (or one big 30″ display) and a video monitor that’s fed a true video signal by a video I/O (input/output) card or device, such as those manufactured by AJA, Blackmagic, or Matrox.
You must absolutely develop an understanding of the difference between computer displays and video monitors. The so-called “video cards” that come in all computers and display text and images to computer monitors, are misnamed, they are more accurately referred computer display cards, and they are not interchangeable with devices that input and output true video signals to TVs and video monitors.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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Using a TV for a computer monitor falls under, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”
– Our software is idiot-proof, if you bought it it proves you are an idiot. – Dilbert
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If you use Motion in your workflow, get one giant monitor. 2 monitors will hinder performance.
Kevin Monahan
60 Blu-ray Templates for Final Cut Studio 2009
http://www.fcpworld.com
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro
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