[Mark Dobson]

[Gary Huff] “Which isn’t exactly “this spring”. I would assume the are basing this off the same Tim Cook email as everyone else.”

I had a look at the links and, drawing on advanced Schoolboy french, can see that as you have assumed this prediction is based on the same Tim Cook email.

I picked up a 27″ iMac last week and the Applestore said someone had just bought a Mac Pro with two 3.06GHz 6-Core Intel Xeons (12 cores) and other bits adding up to $9,000 worth.

Guess they needed it bad.

[Mark Dobson]

[Mike Fernanandes] “So on my two primary edit rigs I have three hard drives.

(1) Macintosh HD + (2) A Internal Media Drive + (3) External Storage ( 42TB San on Tower, SATA drive on Laptop )

(1) I don’t usually put any events or projects on the drive as I like those to be SSD’s so there isn’t much room but you can.

(2) Has all my events

(3) Has all my media”

Thanks Mike.

[Mark Dobson]

Hi Mike,

Could you just clarify how many separate hard drives you are talking about here.

[Mike Fernanandes] “We this is on out xsan and it was a night and day difference but I also still do it even when I’m working on a project at home simply with a external drive being my main storage and the Event database saving on a internal hard disk.”

By default I normally create my events / projects on the same external drive that my core files are stored on. ( I might well reference other files on other drives also)

But what I understand you to be saying is that having the events / project folders on the same drive as your media is what can cause problems?

This is contrary to the way I’ve been working with FCPX.

[Mark Dobson]

[Dave Gage] ” but it be nice if there was a way to “Favorite” an Event clip while in the timeline view.”

This isn’t directly answering your question, which I don’t think is possible, but when I am working with long interview clips which I want to organise using Favourites I create a project and open the file within it and then use the blade tool to create in and outs. Once I have finished working through the clip I then individually highlight the selections, select reveal in event browser (shift F) and then hit F to create a favourite.

This method enables me to work through clips really quickly with the ability to be able to view the clip in great detail within the project using the adjust timeline view options.

[Mark Dobson]

I work in filmstrip and list view depending on what task I’m doing.

My mind responds to visual information better than long lists and with skimming on its possible to find things very quickly.

I’ve got a 2008 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with 22 GBs of RAM and a ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB Graphics card . I find scrolling in filmstrip view jerky bit not unusable. (1080p native Canon C300 files)

I’ve devoted a 27″ monitor to the Event viewer and keep the view at minimum with no waveforms.

Tomorrow I’m starting to migrate to a new 27″ iMac and I’m looking forward to finding out what improvements in performance / stability I’m going to get for my investment or whether I’d of been just as well to stick with what I’ve got and gone on a holiday.

[Mark Dobson]

[Clint Wardlow] “What I am seeing in the Cow forum is that here a lot of the pros have adopted FCPX as their go to NLE, but wonder if it is kind of a insular bubble outside the real world.

Most of the editors I deal with still view FCPX with the same disdain that they did when it was first released and steer clear of it. My friend who works in LA says there is no move towards X, that most still edit in AVID or FCP7, though some are looking at PPRO6 as a future option.”

Because every activity in FCPX requires a different approach to the way that one has been working (in my case FCP7) it has to be approached with a positive attitude. It is a programme that requires a fresh mindset and a fair amount of time to unlearn / relearn very familiar NLE activities. And it’s certainly more suited to smaller production houses and shooter / editors.

Whilst I can understand people viewing it with disdain when it was bought out it has since changed so fundamentally in terms of stability and new features that hopefully some editors would form a different opinion were they to reappraise it.

John Davidson’s recent series of films published over on the FCPX Techniques forum provides a really good example of how one company has embraced FCPX and is now reaping the benefits of developing new workflows to transform the organisation of media and files through every stage of the post production cycle.

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/344/16634

[Mark Dobson]

Hi Kyler,

I really sympathise with your dilemma. Seems Apple have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

I’m still using DVD Studio Pro and, together with the very large number of editors and production houses that still use FCP7, would hope to continue using this software for many years to come.

So it’s a shame you sold your copy of Final Cut Studio. However it is possible to get copies of it on eBay.

Although you don’t want to use unsupported, by that I take it you mean that it is no longer being developed, software it is possible to get sealed copies of iLife11, including iDVD for about $20 on eBay.

Maybe you have a colleague that has an unused copy of DVDStudio Pro.

[Mark Dobson]

[Jeremy Garchow] “rder the fully maxed iMac and wait.

If you start using fcpx to its full potential, you’ll need every ounce (gram?) of CPU/GPU/RAM Apple can muster. “

Thanks – sounds like the right thing to do.

[Gary Bettan] “If you want the best configuration for a new iMac for video editing, Videoguys recommends the 27 inch iMac with:

• Intel Core i7 processor
• 32GB RAM
• 1TB Fusion Drive
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX GPU”

Gary thanks for that info – look forward to reading your updated thunderbolt drive test results- I’d read Larrys article/Blog. He’s gone for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX 1GB GDDR5 and hasn’t as yet topped out the ram.

As with all these things the price does start to creep up very quickly and with a directq conversion from pounds to dollars the iMac 27″ with this configuration + Applecare comes to £2,317.99 inc tax or $3,670.424

I asked one of the Guys in the Applestore to show me how to change the Ram and whilst a tiny bit fiddly it seems a simple task.

and Gary – how about opening a UK Videoguys branch?

[Craig Alan] “Since it requires surgery to replace the hard drive, I think the sweet spot is 1TB fusion. Under warranty Apple will replace it. After that, you can elect surgery or just go external. We’re most likely looking at about three years from now and fusion and SSD will be a lot cheaper and thunderbolt will have a lot more options.

Not sure if the Mac will boot with a dead internal drive. Hopefully by then the repair shops will be good at cracking open sealed Imacs and the new Mac pro will somehow blow these Imacs out of the best option for pro apps advice blogs.”

That is an interesting question as to hether the machine will boot from an external drive. With no home repair/replacement possible I would definitely get Applecare and buy a 1TB Fusion drive and A 2TB Time Capsule – although some people have given older models pretty bad reviews.

[Mark Dobson]

[Paul Jay] “It works great but there are also cheaper usb 3 to Sata adapters.”

Well that’s another thing to consider, thanks.

And certainly a very cost effective solution for connecting a eSata drive to a new generation, USB3/Thunderbolt equipped Mac.

Do you think this would provide a robust and fast enough solution for editing?

[Mark Dobson]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for that info – looks like a no-brainer to me and as you say eSata drives have dropped in price.