Video Editing MAC vs PC

[somereseller]

I know somebody who wants to get rid of his badly designed G3/OS9 to get a new machine for video editing /creation.

I've found this interesting article :
http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/2...macvspciii.htm

Does anybody have other arguments?

[Theoddity]

Hardware is one thing, but you've got to take into consideration Final Cut Pro, then nothing else matters. A most beautiful piece of software. As a professional video editor, that is the reason I moved from NT to Mac. Not to mention Pinnacle's Cinewave card! Full on Mac for me! (but only G4)

[somereseller]

There are many alternatives to the Cinewave card in the PC world, but I guess Final Cut Pro could be hard to match (I don't know really). That's up to him. I wonder if he shouldn't go for a Sony MediaVision station instead then.

[Theoddity]

I agree that there are many good cards out there for NT, but the reason I would choose Cinewave over them is it's affordable HD editing, but that may be an over-requirement.

[kenanderson56]

Been using a Canopus DVStormSE on a Dual P3 for about 6 months. Awesome! I strongly recommend it on the PC side.

No arguement about Final Cut Pro, but it is Mac

If you're like me, with an investment in PC hardware, I can't just buy a whole system.

http://www.justedit.com/

Good Luck

Ken

[somereseller]

So Final Cut Pro seems to be THE killer app...

You'd rather work with FCP and wait 40% more time for rendering rather than work with the best PC app at full speed?

Is FCP that productive?

[Theoddity]

I did use Premiere 5 on a Pinnacle Reeltime board before I moved over to Mac. (Only because there was DV problems on the board that were Pinnacle's fault. If not, I'd probably still be on it.) At that point Final Cut Pro 1 had just recently come out. After reading lots of reviews I decided to go back to Mac (I started on the Mac with AVIDs). I bought the first Dual G4 they had and loved it from the minute I plugged my deck in. I fought 2 Windows machines many times trying to get the cards to work right (even on an Intellistation built solely for the Pinnacle card!) I may sound like the current Apple commercials, but when I switched over I didn't have a single hardware problem. I plugged my Sony DVCAM deck into the firewire port and everything went smoothly until I upgraded to FCP 2 and had some old configuration glitches that I worked out.

I did miss the realtime rendering, but with the faster Macs now, and Mac OSX, they claim the rendering speed is super (I'm still running on the G4 dual 500 OS 9) I am fine with still rendering things out because it really doesn't take too long for me. The whole interface is great. That was the thing I most fell in love with. The blend between video editing, compositing, filters, and effects worked great for me in terms of workflow (instead of moving between After Effects and Premiere which took much longer rendering and importing for me). I really like working on the timeline. I'm planning on getting the CineWave card which does real time rendering for much of standard definition video but also allows for HD editing and connections. The newer advancements made in the software provide for some amazing high-end ability (HD, film, color correction, film-cut lists, etc.)

It's clear to me that Apple is making a play for being a major video/film platform. They just recently bought Shake which is important in the film world. The reason I like this so much is that I want to move toward film and HD while doing professional SD, and the tools that they're building suits the whole gammit well. That being said, there are far cheaper alternatives in PC if you're staying Standard Definition. I have a friend who does some pretty creative composited videos on a Pinnacle DV500 board with Premier and loves it. His machine was custom built for the DV500 board. The whole thing cost him far less that what I paid, but I like knowing that I'm building up the tools to bid on higher priced jobs and higher quality jobs than he (of course your product is only good as you are!).

[somereseller]

Thx for sharing your experience!

My friend is a movie director. He wants to build stories from rough footage in order to have an idea of what the final movie would look like. So I guess after effects is not what he would be interested in right now, but since Apple also recently bought Emagic (a shame fro PC users...) I guess they will try to build the ultimate A/V machine just like the Amiga and its Toaster was and that could help people invest on their platform. The decision is his and I guess the best thing for him would be to see some kind of demonstration.

[Theoddity]

Funny you say that, I started out on Amiga. (A shame they couldn't hold up. I would probably still be with them.) I do have a feeling that Apple is trying to make Macs the ultimate AV machine based on their recent acquisitions and their desire to make "desktop video editing" as common a phrase and experience as "destop publishing" is. Apple typically hasn't been too gung-ho with creating their own software products other than their OS but they really are building up quite an impressive video software portfolio (as well as all the "i" titles). Time will tell.

I know this is an old topic, but I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents worth.

Pinnacle will screw you over. Their drivers stink, and their support is AWFUL.
They promise some fix in a driver, and you don't get it for 2 years.

Now I am not as much into video production as you all are, but Pinnacle would be a company to avoid, even if that means moving to a Mac for me at some point.

One man's opinion, some persons fact.

[somereseller]

Thanks for the feedback

The more I work with PCs owned by other people, the more I think the Mac would be the best option.

I need to work on one of those to make up my mind.