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Optimizing my Rig
Hello there. I have a Power Mac g5 quad and I was curious some some relatively inexpensive steps I could take to make my machine a potent HD (420p – 1080i) editing rig. I have 4.5 gigs of ram, Final Cut and a whole mess of harddrives. Is it as simple as getting my hands on a raid array? Do I need a card of any sort? Would that be just for preview and outputting purposes? I apologize for the noob-ness of my question. It is totally new territory to me and I don’t feel like shelling out for a Mac Pro yet.
Thanks in advance
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2 Replies
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#1 – 420p is not an HD format. Other than on the internet with movie trailers I have not seen this as a format. 720p, 1080i, 1080p….those are HD formats. And 2K, 4K…
#2 – The machine you have is fine, enough RAM and everything. You just need a good reliable RAID system…Caldigit, Sonnet, Maxx Digital, Dulce Systems all make good RAID systems. YOu need a minimum 4 drive RAID 0, but better to get a 5 to 12 drive RAID 5 solution. 230MB/s and faster is a good benchmark.
#3 – HD capture card. Black-Magic and AJA make good cards. Look at their sites to see what they offer and see if they fit your needs. All cards have different capabilities.
#4 – HD monitor. Yes, you need this. Yes, it is expensive. $3500 – $35,000. But I highly recommend the JVC 24″ HD LCD…then the TV Logic (only because they are expensive are they lower on the list. These are GREAT monitors…the best, but they are spendy), Pansonic, Sony.
If you capture your HD via firewire or import, like HDV, DVCPRO HD, P2 (DVCPRO HD), XDCAM…then you don’t need a capture card per se, but a good option for monitoring would be the Matrox MXO and Appe 23″ cinema display. I have a review on this. Click on my head and you’ll see a list of my article.
HIRE A CONSULTANT. If you are REALLY new to all of this, go talk to experts about options and workflows. HD is a far more complex world that SD ever was.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD now for sale!
http://www.LFHD.net
Read my blog! -
As Shane has indicated, one of the pieces of the HD editing “pie” is the storage subsystem. I represent one of his suggested manufacturers – Dulce Systems. I’d be happy to discuss our HD storage solutions with you offline. In the meantime I invite you to look over our website – http://www.dulcesystems.com.
Alan H. Novitz
Dulce Systems
818-435-6011
alan@dulcesystems.com
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