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Understanding FCPX under the hood.
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Craig –
I lost interest in which boxes manufacturers tested and approved their gear on years ago. I discovered that generally by the time I looked I couldn’t buy the stuff any more.
I think – though I’ve only just passed my eyes over your list – that almost all the gear on the list is out of date. The whole HP Z400 range appears to be long gone. The Asus P8P67 PRO has been superceded by the Asus P8Z77-V PRO whixch is in my (quickly produced) list above. In three months, things will have moved on again. That’s the way it is outside the world of Apple – always something new.
Blackmagic can test on a motherboard/memory/processor system, but it’ll probably be out of date before it’s published, so they have to build to the general standard. Everyone else builds to the standard too, including Apple, and mostly that standard works, over a huge range of gear and manufacturers. Everything works with everything else because it has to, otherwise companies don’t make money.
Bernie
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Well, here in ATL there are a lot of PC users, and I assume none of them drink Pepsi. I’m pretty sure it’s illegal here actually. Oh there may be a few in underground speakeasys, but they probably go to Lowe’s too. 🙂
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“PC hard drives spin just like Mac hard drives spin, no?”
Jeremy –
Of course they do, they’re from the same place (or places). Hard drives are commodities used by PC makers and Apple alike. So is memory.
It’s true that I don’t have to keep the show on the road any more, but experience in these things doesn’t go away when you leave the BBC. If I was asked to spec a small editing house now – just a few machines and no common files needing shared editing, I’d do the same as when I did exactly that in our low cost unit at the BBC.
What do I need to do?
Edit from various formats, add graphics created nearby, and export in some format or other (DigiBeta in those days) – a 30 minute show each week.What shall I use?
Stuff that people can work and fits the budget.In those days we ran 2 Eidos Optimas for off-line, an Avid on-line and a graphics pc workstation running Photoshop and After Effects with DigiSuite to get the video in and out.
Now – 15 years on, with the same low budget requirement –
Three, maybe four, PCs running Windows, and probably the whole Adobe Production Bundle. Not because I’m a loyal Adobe customer, but because currently that’s the right choice for that job. I’d have someone build the PCs to my spec, because as producer I’m too busy to do it myself. When the PCs get old, I’ll just update all or parts of them, and I too will move my drives to the new machine if they work ok, though I’d rather buy a new boot drive, preferably an SSD.
I shall have vastly more flexibility than if I’d gone Mac, and it’ll cost much less to set up and maintain. A few years ago I would have spent the extra dosh on a couple of G4s running FCP, but that time has passed now
Bernie
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It’s an interesting and ongoing argument I have with a lot of editors and friends who aren’t Apple users. In my experience of both working freelance and at the Beeb, I’ve had more trouble with PC based systems than Mac ones. My own suite is a venerable MacPro 1.1 (the earliest Intel) that I’ve had since new – crashes I can count on one hand, and downtime due to hardware or software problems would be a few hours at most. I’ve lost days before when using PC based systems – even with full tech support, I’ve had whole mornings where clever people have been ‘under the hood’ (this on HP 800 workstations so not cheap stuff) and I’ve been unable to edit. So in terms of billable time the Macs I’ve worked on have been, as a rule, ultra-reliable. Were it not for support for X and some of the new hardware coming out I’d not be considering changing my Mac, but I can’t complain as it’s provided sterling service for 5 years now. Worth every penny IMHO.
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Before you criticise a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
Then when you do criticise him, you’ll be a mile away. And have his shoes. -
[Bernard Newnham] “I think – though I’ve only just passed my eyes over your list – that almost all the gear on the list is out of date.”
Yes it is. Even Blackmagic seems to have stopped posting verified motherboards.
[Bernard Newnham] “Everything works with everything else because it has to, otherwise companies don’t make money.”
Given all the people I deal with who are building their own systems, that doesn’t seem to be the case. The trouble shooting and swapping out of components relative to the savings seems small.
The advantage of DIY is you get exactly what you need without compromise rather than any component cost savings once you factor in time and troubleshooting. The advantage is that, over time, you can swap out older components for newer components as your needs change. That can be important when some bits of technology make major changes in short order.
For many though, it actually makes more cost sense to replace their computer every year or two.
The only big problem with Apple is that since 2010 that hasn’t been possible at all with the MacPro.
If anything Apple’s likely going to want to move people from working with the same MacPro for 3-6 years(!!!) to replacing that every year or two as well.To restate succinctly, IMHO
DIY allows the ideal machine for your current needs.
DIY allows interim updates as hardware needs change.
I don’t think there’s a big cost savings when you factor in time and trouble shooting. -
With all due respect–Coca Cola is Cr@p. Pepsi, specifically diet Pepsi, is the real thing.
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[Chris Harlan] “Pepsi, specifically diet Pepsi, is the real thing.”
Next you’ll be telling me you drink decaffeinated coffee with skim milk!
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[Craig Seeman] “I have a hunch that actually many such people are moving to Tablets, hence the decline in PC sales overall.
Also the margins for the manufacturers of computers at the lower end of the market is so low that there’s no business reason for Apple to go there.
“Yes and no, and yes. Certainly a lot of people are getting tablets, but Excel, Word, Quicken, and Quickbooks really aren’t really tablet fare. The decline in computer sales is, I think, much more because everyone already has one, and not because they are moving to tablets. For everyone I know, and most people I can imagine, tablets are a secondary device. They are quite successful at consuming media, but not really in demand as a meat-and-potatoes device. At least not yet. PC sales are down only from a historic high.
And of course Apple’s not going to go after the low end of the market. I don’t think anyone suggested that, but maybe I missed that part of the thread.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “Is it really that easy? I always read about mother board conflicts and when you are talking about a professional video setup with capture cards, storage cards, etc, its not as easy as “just changing it”.
“Actually, while conflicts can occur, they are rare and getting rarer. It generally is “that easy.” It was a huge shock for me when I moved over to Apple products, years back, how few customization options were available. And, how expensive they were in comparison. GPUs would be a prime example of this.
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No, no, no. Caffeine is king. And, with coffee I paint it black.
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