[Ned Miller]

Thanks everyone for your tips. So the consensus is: With a new graphics card, start up drive and perhaps more RAM (all told approx $1000) it will run almost as well as a new iMac? If so, if I get a pro freelance installer and buy the hardware, I will save $2000! Had I pimped up an iMac and had Apple Care that would be around $3K with tax.

Thanks,

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Post Script: I just figured out I would need a new card. Seems around the $700 range. That plus a new OS I think I might as well buy the iMac, ugh!

Need a favor. Could you please look at these specs from my tower and tell me if this card is capable? I’m not that technical, basically a DP who produces now and then. Apple says on their website: OpenCL-capable graphics card or Intel HD Graphics 3000 or later. What is CL?

Here’s what I have on my Mac:

ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT:

Chipset Model: ATI Radeon HD 2600
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x9588
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-B1480A-252
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.252
Displays:
Cinema:
Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Depth: 32-Bit Color
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Rotation: Supported
Cinema HD:
Resolution: 1920 x 1200
Depth: 32-Bit Color
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Rotation: Supported

Memory Slots:

ECC: Enabled

DIMM Riser B/DIMM 1:

Size: 2 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 800 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x0000
Part Number: 0x000000463732353642363145353830304600
Serial Number: 0x00000000

DIMM Riser B/DIMM 2:

Size: 2 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 800 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x0000
Part Number: 0x000000463732353642363145353830304600
Serial Number: 0x00000000

DIMM Riser A/DIMM 1:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 800 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x830B
Part Number: 0x4E543147543732553850423942442D324320
Serial Number: 0x35313441

DIMM Riser A/DIMM 2:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 800 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x830B
Part Number: 0x4E543147543732553850423942442D324320
Serial Number: 0x85303441

DIMM Riser B/DIMM 3:

Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty

DIMM Riser B/DIMM 4:

Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty

DIMM Riser A/DIMM 3:

Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty

DIMM Riser A/DIMM 4:

Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty

Thanks!

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Thanks for the advice. It says I need to upgrade my OS so I must wait until I am done with some of the editing projects I am in the middle of. After that I can download the trial version.

If I can get this tower to run X fairly well then I don’t need to buy the 27″ iMac. I presently have two large Cinema Display monitors so it would be great if I don’t need a new computer.

Thanks

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Hi Steve,

Should i bring it into he store and have them do it or is it a DIY project?

Thanks,

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Hi Geoff,

I’m thinking of doing what you did, get the new iMac. Were there any specs you requested? Can you please let me know what you got under the hood?

Thanks,

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

My experience is the opposite of Tim’s, I would now run from residential real estate videos. Divide it BC and AC: Before The Crash and After The Crash. BC I did a lot of real estate vids but they were usually for the builders/construction companies of high end homes and condo towers and what they called “spec houses” because over the years I found residential realtors very cheap. Most established companies already have a “kid” doing it for $20 a shot, or the realtor was DIY. Now with Craigslist and DSLRs the competition is enormous.

In 2006 I shot as a one-man-band, 56 days for a real estate infomercial series (sorry for the poor compression):

https://vimeo.com/23007362

that was on Sunday mornings on FOX called MetroScene where I followed a gorgeous hostess walking through Chicago’s condo explosion. When a developer spends $200 million on a tower they don’t mind shelling out $20K for a video. These guys are used to looking at figures with a lot of zeroes so when us video pros present an estimate to them it’s chump change. So after the series ended I decided to target the commercial market. They often are selling to out-of-towners so video is a help to get the prospects to fly in or sometimes buy from afar.

All clients can be broken into one of two categories: Those that are spending their own money and those that are spending the company’s money. With the commercial real estate clients they aren’t spending their own money so they tend to not be as cheap as individual realtors.

I even had QTVR (QuickTime Virtual Reality) and iPix where I could take a 360 degree view of a room and the viewer can pan it with their mouse. I did what Tim suggested but networking with realtors, who are natural born salespeople, was exhausting. They want to sell YOU.

In sum, I would say have real estate be a sub-niche specialty of your company and not the whole enchilada. I have several niches (such as litigation support) and when I am slow I will market to those areas, but I don’t see real estate as having enough biz/cash flow, unless you want to make it on quantity but then you’re working like a dog. Some day when I have time I will start a thread about “how does one make the most money with the least amount of time in video production?”. That has been of interest to me. I have been filming small business seminars for DEX and that is the mantra of their panels of experts: Go for the business where you maximize your revenue with the least amount of time spent, monies outlaid and physical effort. And making it up with having a zillion small real estate videos doesn’t seem like the way to go. Tremendous time suck. Just a hamster wheel that requires running faster, like consumer videos.

Just my two cents.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Timely thread. Yesterday I visited a client/friend in his early seventies, he is 90% editor (brought the first Avid to Chicago) and his 10% producing I do the shooting for him. He now only produces and edits fundraising videos for mainly large non-profits, usually with a religious bent.

His wife wants him to give up the office and move it home so he has to get rid of a LOT of stuff, very retro: racks and racks of gear with a zillion cables in back. Many tape decks of all flavors. I tried giving him some advice as to what to sell on CL and Ebay and the point he made, and the reason I am writing this, is that since he has all these old tape decks he is able to use “legacy footage” that the usual modern editor can’t deal with. The clients who are now half his age grew up with digital editing, yet they see boxes and boxes of old tapes in their organization’s storage that they’d like to view and use but can’t.

I noticed a set of rewinds and a Moviescope (know what those are?) and he told me that some clients want him to tell them what’s in the 16mm cans!

So I’d say if you have the room you can use your legacy tape decks as a marketing tool by approaching large organizations to work their cool old imagery into their modern videos. The older the exec is and the longer they have been with the large company, the more they will appreciate their history and tradition. That’s what I learned from visiting him.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Dave,

Is it possible for me to “host” it on my Vimeo site yet visitors to my site won’t actually see it? In that case I’m OK with it.

Thank you,

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Thanks Harrison. But I don’t want his videos on my site. Wouldn’t they appear on my site if I do the embedding there? Should I have him start his own Vimeo site?

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

That looks interesting although I am not concerned with keeping track of billable hours.

Does anyone know if a use a business card scanner with any of their CRM software? I have little stacks of cards with rubber bands around them that I procrastinate entering because it is so laborious. This would be a very important part of the process in terms of deciding which software to go with.

Thanks

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com