• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  System Configuration Recommendations and Questions

  Posted by Jeff Orig on January 3, 2009 at 11:30 pm

  Hi All,

  I have read this FAQ https://forums.creativecow.net/faq/applefinalcutpro#56

  and I am currently researching on manufacturers websites and talking to a vendor on the best way to either reconfigure my system or change my workflow. But I wanted to ask you folks what you thought since you are very knowledgeable, have a ton of field experience, and are very helpful.

  I have tried to make this post as detailed as possible so bear with me on this long message.

  Here are some details on my system and workflow.

  Currently have:
  Final Cut Studio 2
  FCP 6.0.5
  Sony HVR-A1U (HDV material and audio)
  2 Panasonic PV-GS500’s (SD material at 16:9)
  1 Aiptek Go-HD+ (720P material)

  We have a new project. It is 13 episodes of an exercise show for local cable that was shot on HDV 1080i60 (to miniDV tapes), 720P (direct to SD card), and standard DV (to tape). All cameras are synched using a simple production slate with clapper sticks.

  Ideally, we want to take advantage of FCP’s multicam feature, but that requires all video be the same format, frame size, and frame rate.

  The local cable station will eventually need output via harddrive in Quicktime (.MOV) format wrapper, or Material eXchange format (.MXF). Long GOP or I-Frame structure is acceptable.

  CODECs Accepted by the cable company

  * XDCAM HD @ 35Mb/s VBR 1440×1080, Chroma Sampling 4:2:0
  * HDV @ 25Mb/s 1440×1080, Chroma Sampling 4:2:0
  * XDCAM EX @ 35Mb/s VBR 1920×1080, Chroma Sampling 4:2:2
  * DVCPROHD 1080i60, Chroma Sampling 4:2:2

  But currently they want shows delivered SD on miniDV tapes.

  After this round of 13 episodes is done, the next shoot may get all cameras that shoot the same format to avoid differing format issues. But it will most likely be HDV1080i60 based or H.264 1080P 30 based. Both are GOP which take long to render. At least in my experience HDV takes long to render. So render times will still be an issue if we get cameras that shoot the same format.

  What hardware or software setup do you recommend for Final Cut Pro 6 that can capture/convert DV to HDV and also work with HDV in real time?
  OR convert to some format that will be HD and render quickly with not outrageously huge files sizes (I-Frame based that is 1080i perhaps)? ProRes 422 Maybe?
  Also, increase the outputting to an HDV quicktime in an accelerated manner?

  Should we be looking at capturing at offline resolution and doing an online?

  In addition, are you familiar with the Matrox MXO2? Is this worth looking at?

  The focus of our workflow is speed and low budget. It is becoming clear to me that in HD, speed and low budget do not necessarily go hand in hand.

  Here are more current system specs. Let me know if you need more information.

  System HD = 232 GB
  Media HD = 930 GB

  Model Name: Mac Pro
  Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
  Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
  Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
  Number Of Processors: 2
  Total Number Of Cores: 4
  L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
  Memory: 5 GB
  Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
  Boot ROM Version: MP11.005C.B08
  SMC Version: 1.7f10

  ATI Radeon X1900 XT:

  Chipset Model: ATY,RadeonX1900
  Type: Display
  Bus: PCIe
  Slot: Slot-1
  PCIe Lane Width: x16
  VRAM (Total): 512 MB
  Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
  Device ID: 0x7249
  Revision ID: 0x0000
  ROM Revision: 113-A52027-140
  EFI Driver Version: 01.00.140
  Displays:
  Cinema:
  Display Type: LCD
  Resolution: 1344 x 840
  Depth: 32-bit Color
  Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
  Main Display: Yes
  Mirror: Off
  Online: Yes
  Quartz Extreme: Supported
  Rotation: Supported
  CMC 17″ AD:
  Resolution: 1024 x 768 @ 75 Hz
  Depth: 32-bit Color
  Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
  Mirror: Off
  Online: Yes
  Quartz Extreme: Supported
  Rotation: Supported

  Thank you all for your help. It is appreciated.

  -Jeff

  Jeff Orig replied 17 years, 4 months ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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