Understanding FCPX under the hood.

[Bill Davis]

I have infinite respect for the hardware obsessed.

But just don’t forget that hardware is only in the mix to enable content creation.

I kinda feel that unless you’re already very successful, the hardware won’t actually make much difference in terms of whether you’ll be successful or not in the video production industry at the level of a sole practitioner – unless you stumble into a system that is failure prone. And above the sole practitioner level, there are typically company-wide tech issues in place that take those decisions out of the mix for any individual editor.

For the individual editor, we have SUPERB content creations tools today from all the modern vendors.

They all work incredibly well and can output excellent work. IF the user has the skills to use them.

I’ve always felt that too much hardware obsession is a bit like the folks who go to restaurants where they serve huge portions. It gives you the impression you’re getting a lot for your money, but if you find yourself constantly taking home leftovers and throwing them away two days later – whats the point?

And if a screaming fast system loaded with every option is cranking out just one project a month and sitting idle for three weeks beyond surfing the net and general business stuff – then its fair to at least consider if the strategy has been to over-purchase capacity while focusing, perhaps, too little attention on other things that can drive more success for you – more quickly.

I just think that the “appliance” model can have major advantages over the “bespoke” model – for those who feel that more effort devoted to the content creation side can provide superior return to more effort spent on focus on a perhaps too obsessive hardware vetting process.

But to each their own.

The term “gear po*rn” exists for a reason. And I certainly understand the draw. But there is often a huge distinction between what we WANT in order to make our content – and what we actually NEED.

Just sayin’.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Brett Sherman]

If you say a year or two, it might be worth a wait to see if Apple puts out a new Mac Pro and revised pro computer. Tim Cook has said something is coming out in 2013 sometime. A lot of people think they know how to read the tea leaves. They don’t. Neither do I.

[Marcus Moore]

Outside of the MacPro, which is VERY overpriced for the components your getting right now- I don’t buy it.

A comparable PC might end up a couple hundred less on a several thousand dollar machine, but I think the term “massive” is overstating it to say the least.

And if you’re going to go down the road of saying you can build a box on your own out of the raw parts, then that’s a different story entirely- and a judgement call on your part to take on all the compatibility and upgrade issues that come with it. I could probably build a wooden chair cheaper than I can buy one, but it would be more hassle than it’s worth. I just want to sit down!

I look for stability and absolute minimum of time spent working “on” my machine so that I can just worry about working “with” my machine. Macs have provided me with worry-free experience for over a decade- and THAT has a real dollar and cent value to me.

Buying a new machine every 2-3 years is just a cost of doing business, and considering the high value on the resale of Macs, money I used towards the next purchase, I’d be surprised if you come out that far ahead in the long run.

Just my take.

[Craig Seeman]

[Bernard Newnham] “I haven’t edited seriously on a laptop since FCP1”

I often have to get up out of my seat to travel. That includes shooting and editing on location hundreds of miles from my workstation. It’s easy to bring my Video I/O and storage with me. Some people even like to take their work home with them… and/or work from home at times.

I recently consulted with one client who needed to be ultra portable and they used a Blackmagic Mini Recorder HD-SDI into a MacBookAir and hard drive. That didn’t even fill a child’s school bag.

[Bernard Newnham] “‘ve just read two current PC magazines and only found one mention of Thunderbolt – it’s in some new GigaByte motherboard – means that the wider market aren’t too interested in it.”

Those interested are buying Macs. It just one reason why Mac computer sales are climbing while PC sales aren’t for the most part.

[Walter Soyka]

[Bernard Newnham] “You can buy a near impossible to upgrade computer which is massively expensive for what you get and runs an editing system which is off on its own – or almost any other system, all much cheaper, all of which are infinitely upgradable, endlessly flexible, with a huge range of editing and associated software.”

It’s nice to have the option for self-builds, but I won’t do them myself (although I could), and I don’t generally recommend it to others. I don’t want to spend the time doing the research I’d have to do before building a monster PC, I don’t want to be my own support, and I don’t want to provide myself my own warranty.

I like PCs for flexibility and greater choice on performance options, but they way I’m using them, they’re just not cheaper. A nice “Tier 1” PC workstation will set you back a pretty penny.

I have done exactly the same sorts of upgrades on my HP as I have on my Mac Pros — RAM, GPU, video I/O, H.264 accelerator, USB3.0 card, SSD on PCIe, RAID, tape drive, internal hard drives. I will not be touching the “hard” stuff like motherboards and CPUs on my HP any more than I would on my Macs. When it gets too old, I’ll buy a whole new workstation and repurpose this one.

While my PCs can run Premiere Pro and Avid MC very nicely, they cannot run FCP7, FCPX, or Smoke 2013 at all.

It’s great to have these choices.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Jeremy Garchow]

Because it’s Friday afternoon, I decided to take a break.

I just built an HP “envy” (I don’t know if that’s any good or what, it just seemed to be the i7 HP) as close as I could to a maxed out iMac with similar options.

The Hp was 2800 bucks
The iMac was 3600 bucks.

The Hp only allowed to upgrade to 16GBs of RAM so when I drop the iMac down to 16, the price goes to 3200 bucks.

The Hp was 2800 bucks
The iMac was 3200 bucks.

So now, we are within $400.

A copy of Microsoft Office and whatever other software I need to repurchase to the PC side, I am now spending more on a PC.

Can someone else run a real world cost analysis and show me something that is much cheaper? I am truly wondering if this is adding to the Legend. It grows greater every day.

Jeremy

lolz

[Walter Soyka]

[Jeremy Garchow] “Can someone else run a real world cost analysis and show me something that is much cheaper? I am truly wondering if this is adding to the Legend. It grows greater every day.”

It’s part of the Legend, unless you build your own PC. Apple has been price-competitive and often price-superior to top-tier PCs vendors for years.

The real advantages I see on the PC side are the performance and support options not available from Apple.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

[Craig Seeman] “With Thunderbolt I can use the same RAID or Video I/O on all my Macs (‘cept the overpriced MacPro). Just plug and play mostly. It’s a lot cheaper than buying a separate thing for each system. “

And this is a cool advantage for those of us with more computers than bodies.

But when you have only one set of storage and one set of video I/O, you have only one edit system, no matter how many computers you have. Having dedicated storage and I/O for each system is sometimes worthwhile, and in this case, you’re just spending more for less performance and some flexibility that you don’t need.

I really do like Thunderbolt, but it’s not the answer to every problem in computing.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Walter Soyka] “It’s part of the Legend, unless you build your own PC.”

So then, I guess, if you build a hackintosh you reap the same financial benefits?

[Walter Soyka]

[Jeremy Garchow] “So then, I guess, if you build a hackintosh you reap the same financial benefits?”

Same financial benefits, even more risk of something not working.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events