[Dominic Deacon]

[Craig Seeman] ” Once you put together a powerful professional PC workstation it’s not going to be that much cheaper than some Macs. Look at what a decked out HPZ400 or Z800 workstation costs. Consider why the cost what they do compared to other PCs”

I’m not really a computer person- I’m a screenwriter primarily- and don’t really grasp the difference between a “professional PC workstation” and what I’ve purchased. The parts I would assume are the most important- like the Intel processors and nVidia cards- are the same so what is it that sets these Professional PC workstations apart? Whatever the case, what I got for $AUD1,300 runs even complex processes in AE and AVID without pausing for breath and I suppose that’s all I can ask of it.

[Craig Seeman] “I suspect Apple is banking on that most people moving to Premiere or Avid in the short term are not going through the major expense to move to Windows”

It might have been a good idea to wait and see what Apple has coming but that wasn’t an option for me. I’m going to be editing a feature for the next 8 months or so and didn’t want to go through that again with FCP 7 and an old iMac. Buying a new iMac at this moment felt like a serious gamble.

[Dominic Deacon]

I think the worst thing about this for Apple is that it’s got Final Cut users looking round at the competition. When I got my first editing kit I was told by every single person I asked- including a bunch of industry pros- that it had to be Apple and it had to be Final Cut. AVID was apparently a mess, the rest were just toys and only a fool would consider doing serious graphics work on a PC. Since then I just assumed I was using the best gear and didn’t look elsewhere.

Since the release of FCPX I’ve played with a bunch of the others and found that they’re not just competitive with Final Cut 7 but they make it look archaic in many ways. That video is a great example of the advantages on some of the other platforms. On top of which they are just so much faster. In the end I went with Edius- I just need a pure video editor and don’t need the gadgets- but was almost equally impressed with Avid and Premiere.

And PC hardware is seriously cheap. I got an i7 3.4ghz, 16gb RAM and nVidia graphics that runs all these programs lightning fast for significantly cheaper than the smallest iMac. The computers been as much of a revelation as the programs. Never crashes and no spinning beach balls. I hate the beach ball. It’s very hard to justify the $2k plus (AUD) that Apple charges for the larger models.

[Dominic Deacon]

I just jumped to PC and I couldn’t be happier. Got a PC that has more punch than the most expensive iMac for less than the cost of the cheapest. Loaded it up with Edius and I’m having fun editing for the first time in ages. It is so much faster and friendlier than Final Cut there are no words.

[Dominic Deacon]

I agree on the Edius recommendation. I’ve been playing with Premiere and it seems like a straight upgrade from Final Cut. Edius is something else. It’s super fast, no waiting to render and just downright fun to play with.

[Dominic Deacon]

I can’t help but if you find a solution let me know. This is exactly the results I get following the same procedure. Got an end of financial year deadline just coming up and 2×20 minute video that need to be burnt to DVD so getting desperate for a solution at the moment.

[Dominic Deacon]

Thanks guys. I don’t appear to have that codec or at least I cannot find it. My copy of final cut is a little old. Version 5.0. Could that be why? Is there anyway to get hold of the codec if it is missing?