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spec thoughts for DVCAM FCP edit system?
The famous mythical “friend” (truly!) is looking to set up her first edit system with FCP, to edit initially a trickle of DVCAM-originated short films (maybe up to 30 minutes) of her own producing. I’d like to think she might want to look at HDV in the future.
I’ve never had more than a demo on FCP and don’t know what’s necessary and what’s a luxury.
Any thoughts on a decent, economical minimum spec to get started? What screen space would she need to edit on? What sort of hard disc space / type would be necessary? Does she need a RAID to get started, or will a couple of decent large SATA discs get her under way ..?
Thanks !
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3 Replies
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DVCAM…HDV…don’t require much. Lowest end G5 and either a secondary internal drive, or external firewire drives. Monitor? 17″ will seem VERY small, get a 19″ or larger CRT for economics. LCDs are nicer, and the AGP or DVI connection greatly improves the image, but if you are going for economics, then the CRT monitors are cheaper.
And while you can get away with a camera for capture, but really nothing beats capturing from a Deck. The DSR-11 is the lowest end model I’d recommend, and is a workhorse.
-G5
-Monitor
-Secondary internal SATA or external firewire drive
-Camera capable of DVCAM or better yet, a DSR-11 DVCAM deck.
-FCP 5 or FCP Studio. -
Thanks Shane.
Needless to say, her local dealer is recommending on the pricey side : a Power Mac G5 Quad 2.5GHz – I don’t know whather that is delivered here in UK yet – two 23″ Apple Cinema display screens, and an external terabyte Raid5 (for more than a decent base system). It would be a shame if over-speccing were to drive her out of the FCP camp, where she wants to be.
My own guess / feeling is that a decent system drive, a second internal drive (300Gb SATA? 500Gb SATA?), 2 gig of RAM should make the system work. On the monitoring side – is one 19″ enough? Or one 20″ or 23″ Apple Cinema display? Would two 20″ displays be easier to work with than one 23″ … Are 2 23″ monitors really necessary ..? And the DSR 11 seems like a decent deck to me ..
But I could do with expert / experienced input. Any other thoughts much appreciated !
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Yes, that’s nice, but overkill. I’d just get the cheapest G5 desktop, a single 23″ screen, a DSR-11 or DSR-25, A nice PAL monitor. 2GB RAM is enough. A second internal SATA drive 500GB will be more than enough to get you going.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
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