[Bj Ahlen]

[Erik Lindahl] “First off, how did you configure a Boxx 7400 system for 3100 dollars?”

Or $85/month? See this Boxxtech configuration.

I was surprised myself, because I had previously only seen the $5K Boxxes that Ron is talking about.

[Erik Lindahl] “Premiere Pro doesn’t today even have full format support (DV25, DV50, DV100, HDV, DVCPRO, UC 8-bit SD, 720P, 1080i etc). What have I been missing all these years? :)”

I don’t use PP (never liked it), but my understanding is that PP 2.0 at least supports all those formats. (Btw, DVCPRO isn’t a data format, it’s a tape format with 50% wider tracks that uses either DV25 or DV50 for data.) PP 2.0 also supports 10-bit UC SD (720×486) and 10-bit UC HD (1920×1080), with deck control for high end decks.

PP 2.0 no longer edits HDV natively, but that is something that should only be done by amateurs for home videos anyway IMHO. You may feel differently, but as soon as you start doing any compositing, transitions, or effects work, you are virtually assured to get nasty rendering artifacts in the output.

HDV is an MPEG-2 transport stream, it was never meant to be edited. Straight cuts are OK, and this is used successfully in newscutting Sony’s XDCAM footage, as long as you have an NLE that knows how to handle the frames for minimal injury.

This quality analysis shows the difference between native HDV editing vs. using an intermediate wavelet codec. You can see side-by-side what happens in each case. There are also additional comparisons, see the “Quality Analysis” link on the left side (and be patient with the 1MB page).

[Erik Lindahl] “The way applications are handled in Windows for starters is very “1995, we have smallscreens how do we fix this””

I’m not sure what you are referring to? Do you mean the small/large system font selector? That has certainly been an irritation for some people, but it hasn’t been a factor in any pro app I have ever used. (Btw, Windows Vista will have a user selected constant point size for system text regardless of screen size, so if this is what you are referring to, help is at least on the way.)

In 1995, Windows was still using preference files like Mac is today. They were called .ini files, but the functionality was just the same.

Which is worse, having to trash the preference file for your app on a regular basis, or tinker with the registry on rare occasions?

Don’t get me wrong, I have cursed the registry many times, but it seems to me that it’s six of one vs. half a dozen of the other.

Vegas is an unusual NLE. It started as a professional multi-track studio app many many years ago, for music production only. When “multi-media” happened, then-Sonic Foundry was pressured to add a feature where you could record and post music against a video window, and a mechanism for editing source video together with the soundtracks.

Within a year some people started thinking, “this is a pretty darn nice way to edit video, it is so fast.” Since it was never meant for film, nobody thought to mimic how linear film editors worked, with film strips, trimmers, etc. It was just a new way, editing video like you you’re working on a DAW.

Today Vegas is still used for audio-only productions by some top artists, but it is also used by people who appreciate not having to treat video and audio separately. No roundtripping to Soundtrack or Audition, you can do it all, with VST effects etc. on unlimited tracks.

It has built-in medium-strong compositing support, so at least a chunk of what many use AE or Combustion for can be handled right on the timeline, with 3D planes and more. Oh BTW, the video antialiasing makes the output of DVEs etc. look much better than what you’d get from PP 1.5.

There was a meeting at LAFCPUG last year, when a commercial editor demonstrated how he worked in Vegas. Many jaws dropped over how fast he could work, much of it because he didn’t have to leave the app, some of it because the different approach to editing is more efficient for some common tasks. [Still I recognize what somebody else suggested here that reeducation takes time too. Status quo is always the easiest :O) and I certainly approve of using what I’m proficient in rather than something esoteric that could do the job in half the time if I actually knew it well.]

You can also drop just about any kind of still or moving image or any of 18 audio formats on the Vegas timeline, and just have it work properly, regardless of frame size or frame rate. Everything is automatically conformed to the Project Properties when rendering.

Unlike FCP, Vegas has no support for film matchback, etc.

OTOH, does anybody use matchback anymore now that 2K DI has come so far?

I have seen a lot of 2K DI films recently, and as picky as I am, I totally approve of the end result.

Who’d have thought that it would be so good so soon?

[Bj Ahlen]

Boxxtech makes very high quality professional PC workstations. I just configured a 7400 system with Double Dual-core Opterons, a mid-range nVidia Quadro workstation card, a couple of hard drives, etc., and landed at $3,163. This machine more than matches a Quad Mac. They have a configurator at their site, they make them to order, and their customer support seems to be very good so far. It is possible to load it with options to the point you feel like it is like buying an American car in the good old days (I kinda miss the V-8s, although the electrical motor in my Prius has more torque than my old Chevy 350 engine, 395 lb.ft. to be exact). Don’t buy any software bundles there, it’s all full price except Maya.

HP/Compaq workstations are also very good, they also have Opterons. Local vendor support is best, otherwise there are lots of vendors on eBay, some of those are actually serious vendors.

For a smaller budget, you could do really well with an AMD X2 dual-core processor. I even saw a Gateway PC at Best Buy a few days ago for $1,099.00 that had an AMD X2 4400+, 2GB RAM, and decent hard disks.

Even this would match a Quad Mac in some benchmarks. I don’t like consumer computers much though, they cut corners everywhere.

Avoid Dell like the plague. Their workstation support is much better than their infamous consumer support, but the machines are restricted in various ways that make it more difficult to upgrade them, and they don’t have Opterons yet.

You probably have a fair investment in professional software at this point. This software is abviously worthless on a Mactel computer, even if there were pro Mactel computers available now. Some vendors have exchange programs though, where you can transfer your Mac license to a PC license.

For programs that are not available on the PC platform, like say FCP, you obviously can’t benefit from this. OTH, you can do a lot of things twice or even four times as fast in say Sony Vegas 6 as you can in FCP. Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 is most like FCP though, mean people call it an FCP clone (I never liked earlier versions of Premiere, but the latest V2 package has impressive integration and a vastly improved user interface, you can even shuffle video between PP and After Effects through Dynamic Linking, with no rendering needed, and you can create Photoshop documents from inside PP for example). Neither one of these NLEs destroys entire disks like FCP has had a tendency to do recently.

As for switching from OS X to Windows XP, there isn’t much difference frankly. OS X is more elegant to be sure, but the rest is 98% the same. The widgets have free equivalents, such as the excellent Google Desktop instead of Searchlight, etc.

You’ll need a good virus checker, I recommend Trend Micro Anti-Virus as being best overall (don’t get their security suite though, it isn’t good). This is totally install-and-forget, and the only other thing I do in software is to turn on the Windows firewall (and I have a standard $50 Linksys hardware firewall/router too).

Norton’s anti-virus, etc., was great in the past, but for the 2006 version you can read the reviews on Amazon…, although you may need to buy a bottle of hair coloring afterwards. Don’t go there!

Working in Windows XP vs. OS X overall, well, unless you have an emotional tie to one of them, it really doesn’t matter if you are a video/film professional. There are good tools on both, and anybody can learn to become proficient in either one or both (I did support on both for many years).

Oh, get a good 7-button mouse, if you didn’t get one already for your Mac. One-button mouse = obsolete T-Ford way to work. I use 5 of the 7 buttons for nearly everything I do, the time saved is enough to go home at least half an hour earlier everyday :O).

My favorite keyboard and mouse today is the Logitech MX700 combo that sells for $40-$99 (yes, that’s the spread), you can even see it at Staples. Excellent keyboard feel, great extra special keys, no cables (it’s wireless), superb high resolution mouse with a longlife battery (and charger/holder). All for $40-$99. Many compositors in Hollywood’s leeding FX houses prefer this type of mouse over Wacom tablets even (for heavy 600-layer compositing and related paint).

For a screen you can use any of the recent Apple screens, or if you buy new, the Dell 24″ widescreen for about $900 is outstanding (better than the 23″ Cinema Display that costs more), and the Gateway FPD2185W 21″ 1680×1050 is a very very good choice for $499-$599. The latter has HD & SD component, composite, S-video, and DVI inputs, and there is even a Faroudja DCDi chip inside that gives a great picture.

Dell also has a 30″ screen for abt $1500 I think, but it is too early to buy this I think. There were complaints that it was too bright even at the minimum brightness setting, others were happy. My thought is that Apple’s 30″ is better at this point (I have used it and thought it was 10/10).

If you need performance, PCs will have a significant advantage this year, and everything in my crystal ball indicates that this gap will even widen a bit next year (Intel may catch up with AMD in 2008, but my most trusted high level CPU expert friend says it is now looking like 2009).

[Bj Ahlen]

The Art Center is great. I’d hire a grad from there anytime. Very very high class.

Their work is a joy to behold.

[Bj Ahlen]

[thewanggao] “I’d look at intel power macs when they come out.”

…but not buy until Adobe releases an IntelMac version of After Effects, which I just saw is currently scheduled for “next major AE release”, i.e. most likely Spring 2007.

For PC vs. Mac you need to look at the overall picture. If you are doing a lot of collaboration with Mac users, it is slightly to significantly easier if you are on a Mac also. Ditto if you’re mostly collaborating with PC users, it’s easier to be on the same platform.

If you want to run an application that is only available on either platform, you got your choice made.

If you are doing a lot of CPU intensive work, you have to consider that even a $1,000 Gateway PC with an AMD 4400 X2 dual-core CPU, bought at Best Buy, blows the doors off most Macs.

A Dual-Opteron PC costs more, but has a performance for heavy compositing, 3D work, etc. that even the top Mac can only dream about. In other words, you can get more work done in less time.

Plese don’t get me wrong, I like Macs a lot and I have worn out 3 Macs so far, but right now I need performance (and I also don’t care for FCP).

I will look at getting a Mac again next year (because I like OS X), but right now is a funny in-between time because of the changeover to Intel CPUs, and pro application support will be lagging for quite some time.

And for the first releases that come out for IntelMac, well let’s just say I’m happy to have somebody else send in the trouble tickets until the revised apps work smoothly with optimized performance.

[Bj Ahlen]

Chris mentioned some of his concerns.

For me it was simply a case of the software slowing me down rather than speeding me up.

[Bj Ahlen]

I’ll really second that on FrameForge. Wonderful, and a pain in the rear.

I found that the software was getting in the way of putting my vision on paper. Pencil and paper won’t give you as nice looking boards unless you’re an artist, but they are quick to create.

If you’re not using the boards to sell a production or get financing, it’s no problem if you draw real ugly as long as you can see the intent, which is all this is about anyway.

I can create very nice things with of a camera or a handful of clay, but I couldn’t draw nicely if my life depended on it.

Still, my stick drawings communicate what is needed, and that’s what counts.

[Bj Ahlen]

They also have phone activation, see Adobe Activation.

Yes, I still have concerns that will need clarification. I just had to rebuild my uncompressed workstation for the second time, if it croaks seriously, will I have to buy a new license?

[Bj Ahlen]

Yup, I

[Bj Ahlen]

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m not buying any Intel machines until early 2007 based on their current schedule.

AMD X2s are significantly quicker than Pentium Ds for video work. Just makes sure you get a good motherboard with good a chipset.

AMD Opterons run in circles around even the latest generation of Intel Xeons, and generate a lot less heat.

A mobo with the latest generation of Dual Xeons uses abt 400 Watts, without any drives. That is nearly half a kilowatt of heat from just the motherboard, which is impressive and very useful for people in Alaska and Northern Canada.

Early 2007 is when Intel says they will have new CPUs with a more efficient way to communicate between processors, something to match what AMD offers today with HyperTransport.

I was at Digital Domain in “Hollywood” this week (really Venice, CA), where feature film artists work on Cineon files with 600 layers and 3500 paint strokes per operator, of course using Opterons to get anything done.

Even conservative BOXX has great turnkey Opteron systems that are built specifically for serious video work, with decent prices actually.

[Bj Ahlen]

[CharlieX] “all the outputs will be full D1 quality”

…or hopefully D5 quality, since D1 is 8-bit.