[Andrew Kimery]

Images don’t need to be any bigger than your sequence settings unless you are doing pans and zooms. And in that case just resize the image to only be as big as you need it to be. A 16 megapixel image in your timeline is massive resource hog. Not too long ago another editor I work w/was complaining about his machine because rendering a specific logo was taking forever. I looked at the logo in the Browser and it was around 4k size and we are working in DVCPro HD timelines. I was like, no wonder it’s taking so long!

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[Andrew Kimery]

[jack bibbo] “But will an AGP video work with a PCI slot. And if so which card should I get with this computer.”
No, an AGP video card will not work in a PCI slot (I don’t even think it would fit in one).

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[Andrew Kimery]

[Dave LaRonde] “Technically, you’re probably right.

Now let me ask you this: in the standard-definition world, if you needed a good-quality image, would you prefer Digibeta or DV?

I maintain that in terms of picture quality, HDV would be the absolute LAST what you call the HD world, barely even worthy of being referred to as HD.”
In terms of image quality DV and HDV are towards the bottom of their respective barrels but saying DV isn’t an SD format or HDV isn’t an HD format is just plain inaccurate.

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[Andrew Kimery]

[Dave LaRonde] “Well, not quite.

HDV resolution is 1440×1080, and HD resolution is as high as 1920×1080.

HDV’s color resolution stinks on ice, and since the object is to chroma key the footage in question, it’s a bad choice.
HD’s color resolution is at least 4-2-2, and on the pricier cameras it’s 4-4-4, which is an absolute dream to key… that’s as long as do your due diligence to ensure a good key in the first place.”
Not to derail the thread but HDV, Blu-Ray, HDCAM SR, DVCPro HD, XDCAM EX, etc., are all HD just like VHS, DV, DVD, 3/4″, DigiBeta, etc., are all SD. HDCAM’s codec is 1440×1080 w/3:1:1 color sampling but I don’t think anyone is going to say HDCAM is not HD. 😉

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[Andrew Kimery]

First off, HDV *is* HD. HD is standard, HDV is a format. Secondly, using an EX1 and the XDCAM EX codec should yield a better result than a comparable HDV camera.

[Alex Elkins] “You can shoot HDV on EX1’s? I didn’t know that”
SP quality on the EX1 is HDV.

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[Andrew Kimery]

[Jeremy Garchow] “So if you need firewire on a MacBook, it sounds like they just made it cheaper for you. And seriously, the Macbook shouldn’t be used as an editor anyway (in my opinion). You can get the new 15” macbook Pro for $600 or $800 more and have a computer that really works instead of one that limps along. In the Pro market, I would call this the cost of doing business and also a smart thing to do if your business depends on owning the right tools to get the job done. “
Like I’ve said before, the lack of FW hampers the new MacBooks for everyone, not just Pros budget on-the-go machine. Jobs’ statement of, “Actually, all of the new HD camcorders of the past few years use USB 2” is just flat out wrong. In fact, the most popular consumer HD camera over the past few years have either been Sony or Canon HDV cameras. If someone wants to cut together their vacation videos should their only laptop option be a MacBook Pro? Would you recommend editing a 100Mbit codec on a laptop’s interal 5400 RPM drive or via a USB 2.0 HDD? The iMacs and iBooks/MacBooks have been a capable consumer editing machines for years and this revision is a major step backwards.

Given the amount of disappointment on this board, and others like it, that the new MacBooks don’t have FW I think there were a number of people who used MacBooks ‘beyond’ what Apple intended and they felt it was cutting into their MacBook Pro sales too much. As long as you have fast enough storage (i.e. FW based) and a way to connect the camera there is no reason why a MacBook can’t easily handle DV, HDV, AIC, or DVCPro HD. CPU speeds have increased so much that consumer laptops today are faster than pro towers of just a few years ago so there is plenty of ‘muscle’ in the MacBook and that’s the ‘problem’ Apple faced. Overall system speed didn’t put enough distance between the MB and the MBP in their minds so they pulled FW (which have been on their consumer laptops since ’01).

I don’t own a laptop nor am I planning on buying a laptop in the near future so I don’t have a horse in this race I just think it’s unfortunate that Apple crippled the new MB in this fashion.

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[Andrew Kimery]

[Jeremy Garchow] “What does this have to do with anything? If I made a BluRay disc in DVDSP (if it was possible) or Encore, what does that have to do with Apple’s download service from iTunes?”

Nothing. Which is why, IMO, it’s unfortunate that Apple is limiting its offerings to try and ‘protect’ the iTMS and AppleTV from Blu-Ray. When DVD SP 4 was released Apple was touting it’s ability to author an HD-DVD. Even though it was very basic and limited they were still like, “Hey look what we can do first.” That was in 2005. What’s changed? Why is Apple backing away from being a leader in desktop authoring?

I know Apple is booming in the consumer electronics sector and that’s good for them and I’m not saying I want to them turn their back on that big money maker. It’s just kinda irritating that over the past couple of years there have been consumer-centric decisions that have effected Apple’s professional base and Apple doesn’t seem to mind. The delays due to the iPhone, the QT 7.4 fiasco, etc.,. The early partnership w/Red looked exciting but that seemed to fizzle into nothing. I look at Adobe and Avid comin’ out swinging and I wonder what happened to the full head of steam Apple’s ProApps used to have.

But who knows… If Apple sticks to the 2 year update cycle a new FC suite will be shown at NAB and maybe we’ll all be happy campers again.

I’m not a fanboy nor a hater but I do think I should be able to give criticism every now and then w/o being told love it or leave it.

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[Andrew Kimery]

Rennie,
I was just using Roxio as an example. There are other companies that offer BR capabilities on some level (playback movies, author movies, or just burn files onto BR discs) and if they can do it so can Apple. I wouldn’t be surprised though if Apple did wait until a BR software company was ripe for the picking as Apples MO leans more towards acquisition than in-house development.

Walter,
I’m very aware of your struggles w/Encore (although I can’t remember if the PC version is as problematic as the Mac version) and I’m glad you’ve found a better solution. The more trails you blaze the easier you make it on the rest of us. 🙂

My point w/the Blu-Ray rant was that Apple refusing to support BR on any level (playback, authoring, data storage, etc.,) isn’t because they can’t it’s because they don’t want to. And, IMO, a big reason they don’t want to is to protect their net-based media distribution efforts.

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[Andrew Kimery]

[Winston A. Cely] “Apple’s spent a lot of time and money creating iApps that don’t need the bandwidth that their (and others) pro apps need. Using an external drive for your video with iApps is really not necessary so there’s really no need for FW in that respect. “
The iApps, and Final Cut Express, actually need as much or more storage bandwidth when dealing w/consumer camera formats than the ProApps. iMovie has no native support for any HD camera format (unlike FCP which supports HDV natively) so it converts both AVCHD and HDV into AIC. While this makes life easier on the CPU during editing it balloons the file size to around 50gigs an hour for 1080i60. How many people would recommend editing a 100Mbit codec on a laptop’s internal 5400 RPM system drive? I think it’s fairly clear that Apple removed a ubiquitous feature from it’s low-end laptops to protect it’s high-end laptops to the detriment of all potential users. So long Target Disk Mode, so long easy to use Migration Assistant, so long convenient bus-powered HDDs.

Speaking of protecting itself, now that Apple is gone grown more into consumer electronics and media distribution they are starting to ‘pull a Sony’ and hamstringing one aspect of their business to project another. For example, Apple’s stance on Blu-ray. Back in the day Apple was one of the first to make DVD burners available and a leader in desktop DVD authoring. But when asked about Blu-ray Steve jobs recently said, “It’s great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we’re waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace.” Which of course means Apple wants you to use the iTMS to get your entertainment even if that drives Pro users away from the Mac platform. If Roxio can figure out the ‘complex’ licensing issues I’m sure Apple can too. Apple is willing to live on the bleeding edge of consumer camera technology by only supporting USB based cameras on it’s low-end laptops but when it comes to Blu-ray they are taking a wait and see approach? Please…

/rant

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[Andrew Kimery]

[Rich Wells] “although the scene was adequately lighted at the time and looked fine on the NLE (Final Cut). “

What you see on the FCP monitor, or on any computer monitor being fed directly from your GFX card, is not an accurate representation of what your video looks like.

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