[Rob Fourchalk]

Thanks Todd – just priced an HV20 on ebay (starting bid 300.00). Can you find out how many hours have been shot on these used units?

[Rob Fourchalk]

Thanks Joe – just priced an HV20 on ebay (starting bid at 300.00). Do you know if there is any indication on the camera that states how many hours clocked on unit?

[Rob Fourchalk]

Thanks Stephan. Works like a charm.

[Rob Fourchalk]

Thanks Jerry. I’m filming with a 720p (1080i) canon xh-a1s. Just hdv – so would have that tape as my backup. Hard to say at this point how many hours of footage would be needed for hard drive space.

Sounds like by what your saying is that the 6 TB capacity in the 3 hard drive bays would do the trick eh? Given the specs above would you concur?

Thanks again…

PS – anything else that would be crucial (in your opinion) at this point to include in the building of this particular pro?

[Rob Fourchalk]

Thank you gentlemen, thank you. Well now that I’m confused beyond belief. Just kidding…sorta. I really picked a helluva time to go from actor to film maker (with my limited editing experience).

Here’s the deal: I know I need a Pro for future expandability (amongst all the hundreds of other reasons). I am presently a novice (having only put together little 15 min projects in Magix Movie Pro (PC), still needing to go through the learning curves in FCP, Motion, etc…

We are presently shooting a trailer, as well as the feature length as we speak. I’m investing my money into the mac for these projects and of course to continue making films and possibly documentaries.

Do I need these Matrox’s and Kona’s etc…to start off with. It sounds like for you experts that without an array system it’s like eating macaroni without cheese. But without the cheese will the macaroni still make it out my bowels successfully?

Initially, could I get by with a basic 8 core Pro, 8g memory, FCS – with no array system – in order to edit a 90 m feature which will have next to no special fx. Pretty bare balls.

I have approx. cdn 7,000 g’s to dispense of and not a penny more.

Thanks everyone for putting your 2 cents in.

[Rob Fourchalk]

Thanks, I went to the B&H site only to find out that they only ship to the US. It’s times like these that it’s frustrating being Canadian. Oh well, thanks for the heads up anyway.

[Rob Fourchalk]

Thanks for the responses thus far fellas. Much appreciated. I was sorta leaning toward the iMac (cost being a slight factor but ultimately not the determining one – if the iMac can get the job done with the only issue being slower render times then why not?). Jeff you provided some really good insight, just a little concerned about what you said re: overheating issues with extended periods of rendering time (sounds kinda scary). Rafael, thanks for weighing in -I’d like to know where your coming from a little in detail, but thanks anyway. Walter, I know from the different threads that you have tons of experience on both machines. Is it just a matter of speed in your opinion when you side with Pro (fastest that can be afforded)? Would the Mac Pro 3.2 quad (albeit not the fastest pro around) be a much wiser investment than the iMac 7?