[Arthur Schlenger]

Hello, I’m also looking for a monitor, something that will give me a decent image for Final Cut Pro, but it doesn’t have to be a gazillion dollar color correction monitor – I’m basically looking for something that will compete with the Apple LED 24″ display.

My friend who is a professional editor says many people use the Dells and are real happy with them, and they are comparatively cheaper than the Apples, and he says they look better.

Can people give me some recommendations on Dell (I checked out the link above and see they have a UltraSharp line) or other brands, that Dell site has NEC and a few other brands.

Thanks,
Arthur

[Arthur Schlenger]

Thanks. Actually, I don’t even have FCP yet, I’m in pre-production and budgeting. But downloading the FCP manual is a great idea.

That AJA calculator is great, but I still don’t know what NTSC rate, frame size or compression I should use. Any suggestions on the best way to determine this?

Thanks,
Arthur

[Arthur Schlenger]

Thanks for all your input.

I have a few more questions:

1. Will internal SATA drives work as well as external FireWire drives? I can save $$ by buying internal drives and fill up those extra three internal bays on a Mac Pro.

2. Yes, the project will be combining Hi8, VHS and Mini DV. From what I’ve gathered so far, the way to go is transfer all the Hi8/VHS etc to Mini DV which will give me time code and a back-up. Then digitize at a lower rate. When I finish the edits, I can re-digitize at a higher rate only the footage I need….Does this sound practical. (Most of the final films will be shorts – 3 to 5 mins) Any thoughts on how to technically combine this Mini DV footage with the Hi8/VHS so that things go smoothly? I’m not so concerned with the visual difference between the resolutions, I’m really at this point trying to foresee technical headaches.

Thanks,
Arthur

[Arthur Schlenger]

Ahh, it appears I am mistaken and uneducated about how much hard drive space video takes up. I was under the impression that video is 300 GB per hour, so 50 Hrs would be 15 TB, plus backup, etc….

The footage is not HD, and we don’t need HD quality, but we want it to look decent.

Where can I learn about the different video formats you guys are referring to (DVCPRO HD? ProRes 1080i? SD? What the difference is and how much space the take up, so that I can learn and make informed decisions?

…buying 2 TB of storage sounds a lot better than buying 40.

Thanks,
Arthur