[Jeff Carpenter]

It sounds like there’s a problem with the monitors. Whether that means the monitor, the video cable, the cable connectors, or the video card I don’t know.

But I’d start by borrowing a totally different monitor. Don’t do anything untill you turn on the computer, hear the chime, but get no image. Leave the computer alone at that point and switch the monitor. See if you get anything. It mith just be a bad connection in a cable end. Hopefully you can figure out which part is the problem if that solution does work.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I don’t really know how much money you want to spend, but here’s my average “really nice machine” specs. You could spend a lot more than this (or a lot less), but this might be just what you need.

1) $2,499
Powermac from APPLE
Dual-core 2.3GHz PowerPC G5 processor
512MB of 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-4200) (256 x2)
250GB Serial ATA hard drive
16x SuperDrive (double-layer)
Three open PCI-Express expansion slots
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 with 256MB GDDR SDRAM

2) $540
RAM from CRUCIAL.com
Four 1 GB chips (they come in packs of 2) ~ This will give you 4.5 GB of RAM, total.
(Install yourself. Follow directions in Powermac manual EXACTLY, it matters which slots it goes in.)

3) Second SATA hard drive – Any size, buy from anywhere
(Install yourself. This is for non-video files. Things like Word files, DVD projects, and media you save forever, like logos and animations.)

4) Some kind of external storage for video. What you’re using now with your PC might work. If not I suggest the Firewire800 G-Raid drives.
https://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-RAID.cfm

and finally…

5) IF you’re actually going to get into HDV you’ll need some kind of video capture card to monitor it on an exteranal HD monitor. If you’re going to use DV you don’t need this for now. You CAN capture HDV with firewire and play arond with it without this, but you’ll need one of these when you decide to really use HDV for real projects. Please search the archives in the Final Cut Pro and HDV rooms. Look for posts on “Kona 2” and “Decklink.” I only edit DV so I can’t suggest what to do here, only that it’s been talked about a lot around here so you should be able to find more info on that by searching old posts.

[Jeff Carpenter]

https://www.apple.com/support/imac/

I think you’ll find everything you need to know there.

(The answer is ‘yes’ and that page will help you do it.)

[Jeff Carpenter]

What happens is that the computer is looking for information from the OS and information from Final Cut Pro. It’s not a good idea to try to read and write video and audio to the same drive while all that stuff is happening. It generally leads to dropped frames and other little problems. It’s best for the computer to be asking one hard drive for application and OS information and a different hard drive for video and audio. It’s one of those things that’s almost certain to jump up and bite you when you’re on a deadline so it’s best to avoid the whole thing and keep everything seperate.

Yes, I too would love to have Apple put 3 drives in the Powermac so that you could still use an internal RAID as a scratch disc, but that’s not the way things worked out.

I think your external drive plans are all good idea. External SATA and Firewire 800 drives (like those from G-tech) are all excellent solutions that aren’t nearly as expensive as esternal drives have been in the past.

[Jeff Carpenter]

You COULD do this using the OS X CD. Restart holding the “C” key and then find “Disc Utility” in the CD’s menus.

BUT you should never capture video to the same drive that your OS and Final Cut are running off of. That’s just asking for trouble.

Use google to look up 3rd party companies that sell products that let you put more hard drives into your G5 case. Apple does not support this AT ALL and I’ve never been brave enough to try it, but it might be something you’d want to read more about.

If you find a way to do it, use that method to put your old 160 drive back in and make that one your system drive. Then you can use Disc Utility right in the OS to RAID together your two newer drives.

Just to be totally clear, adding a 3rd drive is not something I would do to MY powermac but there are people who do it and I’m just suggesting that you spend some time on google learning more about it. You’ll have to make up your own mind on whether or not that’s something you’d want to do.

If it’s not something you want, use one 250 GB as the system drive, one 250 GB as a video drive, and continue to use your external drive as a second video drive. (You can set more than 1 scratch disc in Final Cut Pro.)

[Jeff Carpenter]

Forgot…

Stay away from USB2. Not at all good for video work.

I really don’t know if the FW800 and 400 ports share the same bus but I would suspect they do.

[Jeff Carpenter]

The best solution is to get a firewire card to put in your laptop’s PC card slot if it has one. Belkin makes one called the “FireWire CardBus Adapter.” It’s on the Apple store’s web page.

In the past I had luck plugging a FW400 hard drive into a Powerbook and plugging a DV deck into the second port on the hard drive. It worked for me but others will tell you that you’re risking dropped frames. (Some people get firewire hubs which should pretty much be the same thing as what I did with the hard drive.)

[Jeff Carpenter]

Well, I did use “than” correctly in the second paragraph. I’d like a reward cookie for that, please.

Although I also spelled “that” wrong in that same paragraph. So it can be a bad cookie…coconut or something…

[Jeff Carpenter]

The new machines have faster RAM and can hold twice as much as before. They’re also offering larger hard drives and better video cards.

In addition to thaat, the first reports from people who’ve tested them seem to indicate that a dual-core chip is slightly faster than two single-core chips of the same speed.

So…good enough to replace a recently purchased G5? Not at all. But if you’re someone who still owns a G4 then upgrading is now an even better idea this week then it was the last. It’s a mild progression, yes, but that’s how it usually works, isn’t it?

[Jeff Carpenter]

Or better yet, wait for the Panasonic DVCPro HD camera due out shortly for under $10k. Record DVCPro to tape or HD to hard drive.
=======

If you mean the HVX200 then it’s DVCPRO or DVCPROHD to memory cards and only DV to tape. So if one is not willing to invest in memory chips yet they’d be better off with a cheaper DV camera for now. I don’t know what skychase wants to do, but if they are looking at DVD cameras I’m guessing that HD isn’t a priority for them and they should instead look at things like the DVX-100A.