Ideal setup for freelance editing?

Hi all, just a quick question regarding the ideal setup for freelance editing at home:

I run FCP 7.0 on a MacBook Pro i7 with 4Gb RAM. Currently editing 1280x720 HD footage (converted to ProRes) and set scratch discs to external Gtech drive connected by FW800. Normally everything runs smoothly but sometimes my video freezes while the audio continues to play - both in Canvas and Viewer. Any solution to this problem or advice on how to upgrade system? Is FW800 connection fast enough to handle ProRes footage?

Thanks, Scott

Depends on the drive and how full it is. But you should be able to playback 1 stream of ProRes HD without too much issue on a single disk setup - but I don't recommend it.

Time to think about a small RAID array for the media drive. Basic 2 drive RAID 0 would work but you might want to look at the newer hardware RAID 5 boxes out there with 4 or more HDDs.

Alternatively an SSD or SSD RAID (if you have the money).

Quote

...the ideal setup for freelance editing at home

What are your requirements? What do you deliver? How often are you doing it? What turn-around do you expect?



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Hey Ben, have you been messing with the solid state drives?
I just became aware of these a few weeks ago when looking at a new mac.
It sound interesting but not sure if its better long term or if its good for the edit. I know you are a charge forward guy on the new toys.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

I bet it's the G-Tech drive. They have a reputation for losing performance from half full and above. I use a CalDigit VR for my work drive and have it Time Machined to a 6TB RAID 1 NewerTech Guardian Maximus (OWC).

I am with Ben...moving up to SSD on my new MBP Quad

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.