[Mitchji]

[Walter Biscardi] “I’m looking forward to seeing what Apple will have in April at NAB. Hopefully a working Intel box running all the apps so we can really see where Apple’s speeds will be. The machines announced yesterday are essentially “crowd pleasers” so folks will stop whining about Dual Core.”

Hi Walter,

It might take longer to optimize most of the major applications for Intel than to deliver the hardware.

Quad machines should be a LOT faster (twice as many CPU’s) so they are probably much more than merely “crowd pleasers”.

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

[Shane Ross] “And for getting VHS into FCP, look at the ADVC-110 by Canopus. Converts a composite signal to a DV one.”

Hi,

Don’t even think about using composite. Use an SVHS deck for capture (the JVC HR-S9911U which costs about $400 at Adorama is excellent) and use the S-Video signal.

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

[Francois Stark] “The single dualcore 2GHz will be slower than the dual 2GHz G5, and the single dualcore 2.3GHz will be slower than the current dual 2.3GHz – because they share one bus to the CPU. “

Hi,

That contradicts this test:
https://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/index/details_benchmarks_on_the_new_power_macs
“The Swedish Mac site, 99mac reportedly put the dual-core Power Mac G5 2.3GHz through its paces and found that it was only a bit faster than a liquid-cooled dual-2.5GHz Power Mac.”

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

[Scott Dennis] “Why can’t Avid Xpress Pro be used for the cross platform NLE?”

Hi,

This would NOT be ” cross platform NLE” test. It would be a cross platform Avid Express Pro test.

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

[Francois Stark] “I don’t expect any more updates on the G5 line”

Hi,

Apple might bump the midrange to a Quad at some point.

I think the intial announcement was Intel Powermac’s by the end of 06. If the Intel Powermac’s are 10 to 12 month’s out there will probably be a speed bump to the whole line.

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

[George Loch] “Now, I can’t say how closely these perform to one another as I suspect the quad G5 may be faster than the quad 265s but, this gives you a solid idea how truly comparable workstation-class options are.”

Hi George,

This is almost impossible to determine because the systems don’t run identical software (even if the program is the same the actual code is different). So if AE is slower on a G5 is it due to the G5 or did Adobe do a better job of optimizing for Intel? That said check these Algolith benchmarks:
https://www.algolith.com/index.php?id=algotools_benchmarks

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

Hi,

The “Drive Bracket” is quite a bit cheaper and allows three additional drives which would allow you to use a four drive internal RAID array plus an internal boot drive:
https://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/g5bracket/
The G5 Drive Bracket
A third option for adding up to three additional drives to a PowerMac G5 is the G5 Drive Bracket… The cost for the G5 Drive Bracket is $109 shipped.

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

Hi,

If you are comfortable with the terminal or can get some help you could use the Lame encoder. I’m sure it could easily do what you want. The quality is supposed to be much better than iTunes. More information here:
https://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20010221002602222

https://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20011030023450799

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

[George Loch] “This system should be a real screamer “

Hi George,

Apple has posted some benchmarks here (of course their benchmarks are notoriously biased):

https://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/71606/wo/Gs5W1GEE3C5E3IR6DvB1gUppUkE/0.SLID?nclm=PowerMac&mco=3C9AFF2C

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

Hi,

You need a graphics card that supports dual monitors (I don’t know if the DP533 comes with that or not) or you need to add a second graphics card. The forums at Dealmac.com would be a good place to post that question.

Best Wishes,

Mitch