advice on editing intraframe AVC

Can I use FW400 wit an external 7200 rpm drive to edit intraframe AVC 100 mbps video?
My computer is a MacBook Pro.

Thanks,

Cris

Yes. AVC Intra can stream off a FW400 drive, but only in FCP 7. In FCP 6, you'll need to convert it to ProRes before you can edit, playback should be fine, although you may drop a few frames here and there as ProRes takes up a bit more space than AVC Intra.



www.strypesinpost.com

Probably. A few years back I had to cut an uncompressed 8-bit SD job off a Firewire 400 drive (long story) and it was fine. That's a higher data rate than what you're dealing with. The way to be more confident, of course, is to download something like HD Speed Test and benchmark your drive.

I assume you're working with Final Cut 7? Cause otherwise you'll have to transcode to ProRes at a higher data rate.

Thanks.

I figured the costs would just escalate going to HD --$300 according to the ad I see for FCS upgrade. I really hate interlacing, and that's part of what is driving me in this direction.

I need to purchase a PC2 card for my camera.
AJ-P2E032XG

There were some good prices a few weeks ago, but now everything seems to be back up to $600 +, save for one offer from Full Compass. Anyone know where there is a better deal?

Are saying is that I really need to upgrade to FCP7 because ProRes is uncompressed?

>Are saying is that I really need to upgrade to FCP7 because ProRes is uncompressed?

No. (Point 1) Jeff edited 8 bit SD Uncompressed on a solitary FW 400 hard drive. 8 bit uncompressed takes slightly less bandwidth than ProRes @ 1080.

(Point 2) You should upgrade to FCP 7, because it allows you to edit AVC Intra without transcoding all your footage to ProRes. Avc Intra is read-only in FCP 7, which means you will still have to render, but only the parts you used in the edit.



www.strypesinpost.com

ProRes is not uncompressed. ProRes averages around 130-140 megabits per second for 1080i.

I think before you make any kind of leap, you should do a little research into AVC Intra workflow in the version of Final Cut you have, versus the latest version available. It's similar to but sufficiently different from the normal P2 workflow to warrant some look-before-you-leapism.