Final Cut Studio 3 may have price me out of using it.

Well with the release of Final Cut Studio 3 which is for Intel Macs only I made have to switch to a different editing systems. I own a MAC G5 duel 2.3MHz system and after Studio 2 came out wanted to wait until I purchase a HD camera before upgrading. Now that FCS 3 is out and can now do Blu-Ray and AVCHD but it is for Intel base Mac's only. I would like know how everyone else feels who owns an older Mac about being force to purchase new Mac? I am just average guy editing family events some work training stuff and special events.

I have your same G5. Not a big surprise, we went through this with the B&W G3 when the G4s came out and I had to trade up from my wind tunnel G4 to my G5. It is just a fact of life. If you want to be current with Apple software, you need reasonably current Apple hardware. Make sense to me.

If you are doing home videos, training videos and event videos, I can't see why you could not be happy with your G5 and FCP 6.04. I don't know of anything in FCS 3 that you MUST have to do work of that level.

I am waiting for one my clients to book me on a project. As soon as they do, Apple will get my order while the client pays for my new Mac Pro. In the meantime, I have FCS 3 already and am running it on my 15" MBP. I just hate editing on laptops and my Kona 3 doesn't have a home in a laptop. FCS 3 is nice but definitely optional unless you work at the very highest levels of production. I can still cut uncompressed HD on my G5 and Kona, I just like the new features but they aren't essential.

Dan

I don't mean this in a patronizing way, but if you're "just an average guy," then you don't need the new Final Cut Studio. Yes, the new FCS has some neat features that professional editors love ? markers that ripple, for starters ? but there's absolutely nothing in it that you require to keep doing what you've been doing all along.

It's been more than four years since Apple announced the Intel transition, three and a half since they started shipping Intel systems, and by pure coincidence, three years to the day tomorrow since they stopped shipping any PowerPC-based systems. It's pretty ludicrous to expect a software company to continue shipping software for an architecture that's been dead for three years, and describing the new Final Cut Studio release as "forcing" you to upgrade ? when, again without intentional offense, you describe yourself as a non-professional ? strikes me as kinda silly.

Yeah what Jeff said. It really doesn't sound like you need FCS 3. Just because it now requires Intel- not a big surprise since Power PCs have been off the market for years now- doesn't mean your FCS 2 is suddenly going to stop working. But yeah if you want the latest update, you need to update your hardware to stick with the times.

Noah

Final Cut Studio Training, featuring the HVX200, EX1, EX3, DVX100, DVDSP and Color at [www.callboxlive.com]!
Author, RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera available now at: [www.amazon.com].
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If you need to upgrade every time (as I do) then you will have to budget this into your yearly expenditure.

It is, and has been a fact of almost every industry (especially technology) that in order to progress and make better and faster products, some things will become obsolete.

If you are new to this fact, learn it well as it won't ever stop as long as there is a market "need".

If you want to know where is all started, read a book called: The Waste Makers

Published in 1960 you can still obtain a copy from Amazon: [www.amazon.com]

Well worth a read.



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

Do you guys remember that not-quite-a-year when Avid didn't have an Intel version of Media Composer available, but Apple wasn't selling Power Macs any more? Given the choice, I'd much prefer to have to buy a new system to run new software, versus being unable to add or replace a system because the software that's currently available won't run on the hardware that's currently available.

Until we all live in some kind of utopia where all software will run on all computers regardless of operating system or other components, there will inevitably be situations where you can't do this without upgrading or replacing that. It's just a fact of life. As such scenarios go, the one we're in right now regarding Final Cut Studio and Intel-based Macs (or as I've been calling 'em for a couple years, "Macs" is remarkably benign. We got one major release of Final Cut that was still PowerPC-compatible despite Apple no longer manufacturing or shipping PowerPC-based systems. That's one more major release than Apple was really obligated to provide. And as Noah points out, that last-major-release that was PowerPC compatible was a really good one, and it still works just fine, so what's to complain about, really?

I guess I'm kind of sanguine about the whole business because I was a Mac operator in a professional capacity back when Apple transitioned from the Motorola 68000-series microchips to PowerPC. This is all old news to me. And yes, people complained then about being "forced" to buy new PowerPC-based systems, but at least they had a leg to stand on, as the major applications made the migration much more slowly, and support for 68000-series applications on PowerPC-based systems was pretty meager. Today, there's really no reason not to replace your Power Mac with a Mac Pro ? apart from dollars-in-yo-pocket, which is a valid concern, but one nobody can do anything about. Unless Congress passes a "cash-for-clunker-computers" program. Seeing how well that turned out, I'm not gonna hold my breath.

Ben is spot on...you must budget for a new machine (IMHO...every 3 years). Usually when my Applecare is up, I get another. I delayed that this year as I had to use that part of the budget for something else...and it bit me HARD. My PPC Quad blew up just 6 months past the 3 Year Applecare coverage and I am left with no tower - just my MBP.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

>Usually when my Applecare is up, I get another.

I didn't know you can renew Applecare. Is that possible?



www.strypesinpost.com

No, he means he gets an new computer when his Apple Care is up.

Dan

Quote : from someone there is no reason I need FCS-3.
I still on FCS one and was about to upgrade to two but was still waiting for some type of editing solution AVCHD. I would like to do Blu-ray. Now I already own PC with a Intel i7 quad core inside with all the high end video cards 6gigs of ram price without monitor $1000 new mac with the same amount of memory at least $2500. And I purchase my G5 6 months before the Intel Mac's came out. Let me do the math that is oh my god! a $1500 dollar difference not including the lost I would have to take on the G5.

Oh do work with a friend from time to time to shoot weddings and help edit.

>Now I already own PC with a Intel i7 quad core

He meant a Dell... I certainly won't be in the market for their laptops. I had a friend who bought a Dell and switched over to a MB within months- when he had to join in the customer service queue to fix a battery issue, then a motherboard issue... He hasn't been happier since.

>Oh do work with a friend from time to time to shoot weddings

Can you make up your mind? On one forum you claim you're in the broadcast industry, here, you do weddings, family events, etc... Frankly, I won't advice shooting AvcHD to meet broadcast deadlines or broadcast standards. However, since you're so keen on Premiere, Premiere CS4 does have native AvcHD support, but CS4 is not supported on PPC. I'm not sure how fast or reliable Premiere is with AvcHD as I don't work with that format.



www.strypesinpost.com

AVCHD requires an Intel....always has. So why you thought that FCS 3 would come out with AVCHD support and NOT require an Intel...well...that's short sighted.

Avid is Intel only.

Adobe is Intel only.

What will you switch to that will work on your G5?


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
[itunes.apple.com]

>AVCHD requires an Intel

This converts AvcHD to something you can work with on a G5.
[www.shedworx.com]



www.strypesinpost.com

You can still edit SVCHD files on a G5. You need Toast 9 or 10 to convert to PRORES first and you're back in business. You should edit AVCHD after conversion even if you had a top of the line MAC.

God Bless,

Douglas Villalba
director/cinematographer/editor
Miami, Florida

[www.DouglasVillalba.info]
[www.youtube.com]
[vimeo.com]

...or skip transcoding and record straight to ProRes no matter what format your camera is using this:

[www.aja.com]

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

To install on PPC with the original installer!

Open the file "FinalCutStudio.dist" located on the Install DVD: (Installer/FinalCutStudio.mpkg/Contents/)
Edit this file with Xcode.app (you'll need Apple Developer Tools installed)
Remove the 2 lines where it says Intel
Save and Burn a new Install DVD or DMG.

or

Use Pacifist ($20)

Everything works except AVC Intra as it's truly Intel Only.

REMEMBER:
UnSupported means NOT suggested, NOT tested, and do NOT call us for support if you're having problems.

Do not do this. Final Cut Studio (the 2009 edition) is not supported on PowerPC systems, and betting your business on an unsupported configuration is insane.

Despite the fact that I mentioned that a workaround exists to run FCS 09 on a PPC, I do not recommend doing it. It's cool for experiments, but as Jeff mentioned, you don't want to bet your business and delivery deadlines on an unsupported machine.



www.strypesinpost.com

I do not recommend Sync2Rhythm's hack.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.