Is iMAC ok to use with FCS-2

I was thinking about purchasing the new IMAC 24 inch but is it powerful enough to use with Final Cut Studio 2?

Yes. Get the 3.06 GHz model with the 512 MB graphics card. Also, get 4 GB of RAM (better for FCS2).

Put your Operating System (it's already there) and FCS2 on the internal drive (the OS uses about 9 gigs, and FCS2 uses about 114 gigs of space on the drive), and all your captured footage and edited footage on an external Firewire 800 drive).

You can find Firewire 800 drives at:

www.caldigit.com

www.dulcesystems.com

And get a nice set of "powered speakers".

Jack Lindauer

Final Cut Studio 2 with what? DV? Certainly use the FireWire 800. With SD uncompressed or HD flavors? I think not; you'd be looking at a RAID solution. And the best of those are driven by a PCI Express card, which you can't install in an iMac. Not a serious solution for SD-HD work, IMHO.

- Loren
Today's FCP keytip:

Apply your default audio transition instantly
with Command-Option - T !

Final Cut Studio 2 KeyGuide? Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

Loren is correct.

The iMac cannot edit uncompressed Standard Def (NTSC) or High Def, and cannot support an external RAID set of drives as it only has a Firewire 800 port.

When I was looking to buy an Apple computer for FCS2, I researched all three models; MacBook Pro, iMac and the MacPro tower.

The iMac is a good computer, and gives you the most bang for the buck, but cannot support three external drives in RAID 5 as it only has a Firewire 800 port. This explains why most "Hollywood" editors use either a MacBook Pro or MacPro tower.

Both the MacBook Pro and MacPro tower can support an external RAID set of drives, the MacBook Pro needing a PCI Express card to make the connection.

One more thing about the iMac; the iMac only comes with a glossy display. When I went to the Apple Store and looked at the glossy iMac display, I could see the reflection of myself sitting in front of the display, the people behind me, and the lights on the ceiling, especially in dark scenes.

If you have a tight budget, go with the MacBook Pro, the 17-inch model with the High Resolution 1080 (extra $100) display.

If you can afford it, go with the MacPro tower and 23-inch Cinema Display.

Best --

Jack Lindauer
Northridge, California

it depends on the type of HD of course.
DVCProHD can run just fine off a FW800 drive.

i'm cutting my second feature on an iMac right now, cutting DV.


i did a bit of compositing on a recent short.
that was Full-on HD 1920 x 1080,
but i did my renders and exports as ProRes to the internal drive.
they played back just fine, too.
(this was only a few shots, maybe i generated about 60Gigs of media)

good point about the glossy screen.
i really don't like it, and wish you could get a non-glossy version.

but i love the iMac, and what it can do.


nick

Nick --

1. What brand and model of Firewire 800 drive did you use for your feature?

2. How large were the drives, and was it RAID 0 or RAID 1?

Jack Lindauer

>and cannot support an external RAID set of drives as it only has a Firewire 800 port.

unless the RAID is attached via Firewire port of course.

[www.drobo.com]
[www.caldigit.com]

etc

Hi, Jack.

1. LaCie!

i haven't had problems with them.
there was a dire 18 month patch a while back where they were dropping left right & center.
lucky me i never bought any of those.

this is the 4th feature length project im cutting in FCP
on all of them i use the same basic method of having the media duplicated across 2 (or more) sets of drives.
i work on one set, my assistant works on the other.
all the figures bellow are for ONE set.

all films are cut at DV res


1st film. film-drama (back in 2004)
1 x 500 LaCie D2 drive. (2 x 250G drives raided inside)

2nd film. DV/HDV doco

3 x LaCie 1TB Big Disk Extreme (4 x 250G drives raided)
1 x 500G D2 (2 x 250G drives raided)

3rd film. HDV doco

3 x Lacie 1TB D2Quadra (1x1TB drive inside)
1x WD MyBook (oh, i'm really giving away my dirty secrets here.. but it was the only drive i could get in a hurry at the time)

4th film. Film drama
1 x LaCie 1TB Big Disk Extreme (4 x 250G drives raided)


between films 2 & 3 there was the Hollywood picture.
i wasn't the editor.

that was a film drama.
i don't remember exactly how much media there was, but there was a lot!
cutting DVCProHD 720p
14TB XSan serving up to seven machines when i was on it.


nick

With ProRes and FW 800, you can edit almost anything.

Kevin Monahan
Social Support Lead, DV Products
Adobe
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro Community Blog
Follow Me on Twitter!