[Tom Daigon]

Shane I am entirely open to any suggestions you might have for alternative reseach sites. I currectly check out all the
Creative Cow forums, Final Cut Pro – L, Your site, Ken Stone, LAFCPUG, Apple, MacFixit, Bare Feats, Ars Technica, Xlr8yourmac and HD for Indies. Where else should I go to get the info I seek about the Mac Pro I want to purchase?
Update…Its posts like this (Xlr8yourmac) that make me a little nervous…

(added 2/11/2008)
“Horrible experience… Mac Pro, Dual CPU (8-core) 3.0GHz, 500GB drive, 2GB RAM, ATI HD2600XT
Freezing and screen artifacting right out of the box within 5 minutes. Nothing extra plugged in — not even a application opened. Figured it was a one-time anomaly but it continued twice randomly over a few days. Figured it was time to call Apple. Attached is a pic of it happening again AFTER I installed apps. (screenshot clip showing display artifacts/vertical dashed lines…)
Have dealt with AppleCare for a few weeks and I seemed to have gotten a tech fresh out of school. Bad customer service. Had to bump it up to the next level which she did not want to do. Once I got serious with her about her repeated mistakes on the phone (and not getting back to me) and wanting to talk to her supervisor, she started working for me. There is so much more but I don’t want to get into it nor do you need to hear the drama.

They are going to replace my machine — at least we are in the process of it happening. It got so bad that it would not even boot up. I wanted to upgrade to a better board (graphics card?) but they were telling me it has to be an even swap. We were still negotiating this point and they came through with the upgrade at my cost which is fine.

I’ve never had these many issues dealing with Apple and am so disappointed. I had to re-set up my old system which is barely cutting it for me. At least I can still do some work.-MMcK.”

[Tom Daigon]

Thanks Walter. Thats good to know. It helps put things in a different perspective for me.

[Tom Daigon]

Shane, do a search at the Apple Mac Pro site and you will find
what I did….Many posts about screen artifacts and lockups with the new 2600 graphics card ( even the older 1700 which some attribute to heat) as well as many posts regarding the computer rebooting after waking from sleep. Again I dont mean
to upset anyone, I just want to avoid any buyers remorse after spending $8,000, thats all.

[Tom Daigon]

Moderator, please remove my post.

[Tom Daigon]

Im sorry. If this post is offensive, that is not my intention.
Just venting my frustration. If the moderator wants to remove it, I will understand.

[Tom Daigon]

Yes, you speak alot of truth about DS which I have used for 13
years. They DO continue to develop it, but at a bare minimum.
I always felt they bought it from Softimage because it represented a big threat…and proceeded to kill it softly with bare bones developments.

[Tom Daigon]

Most edit programs (maybe Premiere) have an effect called
Strobe Motion or Step Freeze. You could apply the affect to your video clips then export into AE for any additional work (sorry, I use Avid DS not Premiere so this is just a helpfull hint).

[Tom Daigon]

Jon…I wouldnt get your hopes up to much. I asked Alan about this plugin almost 2 years ago and was told basically
“soon”. I realize that AE7 threw them a curve and other platforms demanded attention as well. I have tried to forget
about it, since the I dont want to be frustrated or disappointed again. What will be…will be.
Tom

[Tom Daigon]

Nevermind. I ended up building a good one in Particular that was 3D.

[Tom Daigon]

And yet, for all the faults it may have…I find that I can relie on my DS to perform the simple and the many layered complicated tasks with more confidence and reliability then my FCP system. I think Avid needs to start worrying when Apple steps up to the plate and addresses the myriad of issues FCP2 has . In certain situations FCP is golden, but in the realm of many production facilities its still quirky, slow and unreliable enough not to endanger clients with. Yes, great for theatrical films, documentaries and rooms where clients dont sit with you and check the clock. I look forward to the day when I can switch from the DS to FCP without batting an eyelash…but that day still hasnt come.