Video Cards Question

[Jim Kanter]

x800 is the best value if you don’t intend to run a 30″ Cinema Display. Also, ATI was offering a $50 rebate to North American users who upgrade to an x800 and turn in their old video card.

If you want to get a 30″ CD then get the nVidia.

If you’re planning on using Motion a lot, stay away from the Radeon 9800–not enough horsepower.

You should also look into a firewire DV to analog converter box to run the monitor.

Jim Kanter,
Digital Film Institute
http://www.dfilminst.com

[Walter Biscardi]

[thirtysevenclick] “I’m looking at the 9800 b/c of the S-VHS out. I run a monitor through a camera right now, but I’d like to find another solution. Unfortunately, I can’t spring for a deck or an AJA device.”

You can’t run full quality video through the 9800 to a video monitor and use that for your NTSC monitoring. You need a video card or an AJA Io type of device.

If you’re looking for very fast performance on the Mac with Motion, look at the ATI x800XT if it fits into your Mac. Faster than the x800 and doesn’t take up two slots like the nVidia 6800. I run both the 6800 and the x800XT here and speeds are basically identical.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Director, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

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[Doyle Rockwell]

Heya,

All other things being equal, don’t forget that ATI cards are limited to 2048×2048, so larger images can get cropped. Nvidia cards allow for 4096×4096, which gives you more breathing room.

And believe me, it’s easy to hit that 2K limit on even standard def work.

Good luck with your purchase!

[Winston Cely]

So I just got an X800XT to replace the 9800 Pro. I see very little difference. Maybe I’m expecting too much? I’ve got 2 20″ displays both running at 1680×1050. Plus, 4.5 Gigs of RAM under the hood (which we’ll be maxing out to 8 gigs in the coming months). I think the one thing I do notice is that if I run the flurry screensaver, I don’t see the screen being painted as much.

[Mark Spencer]

Running two displays with Motion splits the VRAM on the graphics card in half and impacts performance – try disabling one of the displays.

—
Mark Spencer
Freelance Editor/Producer
Apple-certified instructor, FCP, DVDSP and Motion
Author, Motion Visual Quickstart Guide from Peachpit Press
https://www.applemotion.net

[Brian Pitt]

I guess that Explains why Motion runs quite slow on my machine, even though I have the x800xt. I am running 2 24″ Dell LCDs. I’m going to try disabling one of them. Is there an easy way to do this without climbing under my desk and unplugging one?

[Winston Cely]

I had tried that with the last card, and didn’t see any change. I am, however, going to try that again this weekend. Would lowering my monitors resolution have any noticeable effect on performance?

[Mark Spencer]

Unplugging the monitor won’t stop the VRAM split – you need to disable it with the card’s interface, usually available in system prefs.

—
Mark Spencer
Freelance Editor/Producer
Apple-certified instructor, FCP, DVDSP and Motion
Author, Motion Visual Quickstart Guide from Peachpit Press
https://www.applemotion.net

[Anne Pascal]

Dear Tobin,
I am about to buy a X800XT to replace a 9600 (64MB):I have one new 20 inch display and one old ADC as the 2nd display.So from you experience, does it make Motion 2 go quicker in realtime playback or not???

Thanks

Anne