Question on MacBook Pro & FCP Universal

[Jeremy Garchow]

What other software do you use and is ti universal? Photoshop, After Effects, Illustrator? Do you have any essential plug ins that are universal yet? You will be on the bleeding edge. Sometimes it’s fun, but only if you don’t get cut.

Jeremy

[Joe Langenfeld]

I have a Macbook Pro dual 2G with 2G of ram, and I just installed and have been using FCP Universal 5.1 on OS 10.4.6 . I would not reccomend this setup yet…several filters, esp. DFT, do not work, and Boris 3D text is not stable. There is only firewire 400, USB or ethernet for external storage at this point. Also, I have had problems using a second monitor. The playback began flashing, so I disconnected it. I use several layers of effects, and I have not seen G5 type performance yet. Making an Mpeg 4 QT takes longer than a G5. Mpg 2 is missing from the QT export options, I had to use Compressor.
The DVD-R is slow, (4x).
Previously (yesterday!) I was running FCP with Rosetta, which is not officially supported, but seemed to have less bugs. However, Compressor did not work under Rosetta, but now works with Universal.

When a FW800 or sata express/34 card comes out, and a few software upgrades stabilize, plus new versions of filters, this may a nice setup.

[Mitchji]

Hi,

An iMac (G5 or Intel) could be a good choice. A friend got an iMac G5 for location editing. This is what he had to say:
“I just got my iMac today – infinitely faster than any powerbook I could have bought at three times the cost. I got the cheapest I could find: a new 1.6gHz 17″ with a CDRW/DVD and 256 RAM on eBay. I upgraded to 1GB RAM and got the iLugger bag.”

and:
Can you capture DV with the G5 iMac to a drive other than the boot drive (one firewire bus)? If so are there any problems or tricks?
“Absolutely no problems. I upgraded the imac’s drive to a 320gb and could capture to that drive but I have a firewire drive workflow. I capture to a FWHD on the iMac. I use a Buslink 6 port FW hub on the imac. I really like the imac G5.

This is the bag he got for location use:
https://luggerbags.com/G5.htm

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Peter Wiggins]

I’ve been running 5.1 on my MBP and G5 without any problems. Can’t say I’ve printed anything to tape off the MBP yet though as most of my work is for broadcast. OK you lose the ability to use AE filters but that’s the only wrinkle I’ve found so far.

I would NOT buy any PPC based Macs from now on unless

a) You really, really need a Quad now
b) You get a stupid deal off Ebay or the refurb store

If you can, try to wait until NAB where the intel/FCP roadmap might become a bit clearer.

Peter

ps Today might be bootcamp day 😉

Free Motion Templates

https://www.peterwiggins.com

[Kevin Monahan]

I would not recommend a FireWire Hub at all, though.

Kevin Monahan
Take My FCP Master’s Workshop!
fcpworld.com

[Peter Litwinowicz]

Keep in mind that FCP runnning natively on the Intel boxes does not support an After Effects-compatible plugins. If you rely on any plugins that are of the After Effects-compatible type (like all our RE:Vision Effects plugins), then you can’t use them on Intel machines.

This is not because we can’t update our plugins to run on Intel Macs… it’s because FCP doesn’t support them.

If you are worried about the fact that FCP doesn not support AE plugins on Intel platforms (at least not yet), please report your concern here: https://www.apple.com/feedback/finalcutpro.html

Pete

[L Dee johnson]

Hi Peter,
Thank you for your response.
Would you jump to a MacBook Pro, and Universal FCP if I don’t need any plugins at this point?

I need a basic system that I can take to China, edit my DV footage I shoot there and present a DVD of that footage a few days later in Hong Kong to a group.

Any hardware suggestions, drives, etc. I have a small portable DV deck and I was planning on picking up an LCD monitor, 13-17″, for client to look at during shooting and for use during the edit.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,
LDJ

[Peter Wiggins]

A MacBookPro should do fine. As I said, I haven’t tested the firewire port with FCP, but I’m sure it works as there would have been many posts here & on other forums. Do a search for how to connect an external drive & camera together as the MBP only has one firewire 400 port.

You can plug another display in, just make sure it has a DVI conector. I had no problems plugging one of my 23inch cinemas in to the MBP.

Peter

Free Motion Templates

https://www.peterwiggins.com