Should I upgrade?

[Russell Lasson]

I’m not sure that there are drivers for the IO in FCP6 yet. Check out the AJA IO forum.

If there are no drivers, I guess that answers your question.

-Russ

[Mike Weber]

I just asked AJA about IoLA & FCP 6 compatibility. The response was:

“The IoLa should work fine with FCP 6. You will need to use Io driver V3
located on our website under support>software downloads.”

[Rich Rubasch]

One tip is to add the version number after the application file for all the Studio Apps. Final Cut Pro becomes Final Cut Pro 5.1.2, etc. This way the Studio 2 install will simply create a new app file, rather than blow away the old one. Now you can still use the older version with all your plugins and move into the new version when it suits you. Also lets you do a thorough troubleshoot before moving up. Be sure to clone your hard drive right before install. We run FCStudio 2 on Dual 2.7 G5s and all is well. Rockin actually.

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media

[Butcher]

Thanks guys. Been travelling, hence the delayed response.

I’m not so worried about the IO — I need to figure out the basic question — should I upgrade my hardware now or wait for a more opportune moment?

Are things going to get any better in terms of upgrades and price or am I just falling for Apples marketing hype?

Butchers Block
– You shoot `em
We chop `em.

[Butcher]

Thanks guys. Been travelling, hence the delayed response.

I’m not so worried about the IO — I need to figure out the basic question — should I upgrade my hardware now or wait for a more opportune moment?

Are things going to get any better in terms of upgrades and price or am I just falling for Apples marketing hype?

Butchers Block
– You shoot `em
We chop `em.

[Walter Biscardi]

[butcher] “1. Can I upgrade to Studio 2 immediately or will I have teething problems? In the middle of completion of two major jobs. Upgrading will give me tools that I can use on those jobs, which is why I would prefer to move nows.”

Do not upgrade mid project, especially if these are HD projects. I am seeing issues, especially Field order issues, with any project upgraded from FCP 5.1.4 to FCP 6. I let Studio 2 sit on my shelf for a month to ensure all projects were completed and I’m really glad I did.

[butcher] ”
2. Can my system work well with Studio 2 or should I upgrade to the new 8 Core 2.66?”

It will work fine, you simply won’t be able to use the ProRes features in HD and possibly not in SD. But Pro Res is not the end all codec, what you’re doing now should work just fine. Color may or may not work depending on your graphics card, but there are hiccups there too.

[butcher] “3. Or should I wait and upgrade later?”

My suggestion is purchase Studio 2, run it on your system and see how you like the performance. If you really feel it is not running as fast as you would like, then upgrade your computer.

We have Studio 2 running on a G5 Dual 2.0 with 4GB RAM, nVidia 6800 graphics card and SATA arrays. FCP cuts no slower than 5.1.4 did or any slower than our Mac Pro or G5 Quad. Only renders are obviously slower. Color runs really well because we have that upgraded graphics card in there. Studio 2 is solid on the machine.

But I can’t stress enough, I would NOT suggest you upgrade in the middle of a project no matter how tempting it is.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.

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