one of the new features of FCP6 is that you can set your external video preview to a different format than your timeline … in your case you could monitor a downconverted DV version of your HDV timeline, via the camera, whilst editing. not HD, but nonetheless a workflow that leverages the power of FCP6 and doesn’t require the MXO. (but the MXO is a much nicer and full HD solution)
Is this feature available in Final cut studio 2?
If you want to use FCP and have it work well, you really need either a MacPro tower, or MacBook Pro. iMacs, Mac Minis, MacBooks are all consumer computers that are very limited in what they can do. The only expandibilty they have is RAM…period. A MacPro can have a capture card or eSATA card or additional firewire cards added. And a MacBook Pro can also have an eSATA card or additional firewire card added via the PCIexpress 34 slot. All macs have ONE firewire bus, and typically trying to hook up a camera and drive to the comptuer with one bus causes dropped frames and other issues. Not all the time, but often enough.
I am waiting for thew new imacs, is this likely to change?
2GB RAM is the minimum needed for FCS2…4 would be better. And never ever EVER store media on your main hard drive. That is for apps and files only. Capture your media to a separate hard drive. Secondary internal (MacPro only) or external firewire or eSATA drives are recommended.
I did intend on editing to an external drive but using the mac’s drive as backup. I will definitely be upgrading ram, probably a couple of months after the switch, as long as I can run FCS2 (even if it’s a little slow) i don’t mind for those initial couple of months. How easy is it to upgrade the ram in any mac?
One more thing, presuming i DID go with a macbook pro, can I output the signal to an external monitor instead of using the laptops screen, OR hook it up to a monitor and use both screens?