Editing on a Mac Book Pro

Howdy- Can a person honestly edit a 1 hour HD Video on a Mac Book Pro?
Without going nuts? Would you recommend it? Hmmm- - - -
Thank you for your opinion.

Sure. I did it just a few months ago. Firewire 800 drives and a Mighty Mouse (though I was often too lazy to get up and get the mouse).

This was obviously just an offline, of course. But I've heard fairly good things about using an Express Card-based interface for either I/O or monitoring.

Thanks, Mr Harrell.
Oh no-it's Friday the thirteenth.!
Happy day to you!

It depends on your format. FW800 and a MBP is fine for most compressed formats.

To monitor you can look at the MXO2 range. Scaleable price depending on what you need.



www.strypesinpost.com

Thanks for the info-
I am a little slow on the uptake here (it is Friday the 13 th, after all).

A little more explaination please of this line- "To monitor you can look at the MXO2 range. Scaleable price depending on what you need."

I always enjoy what youse folks have to say!

He means [www.matrox.com]

Ok Excellent!

[www.matrox.com]

Yes. You have the rack, le and mini... Depending on whether you need to monitor surround sound, etc...



www.strypesinpost.com

i cant believe i once cut a feature length concert video with up to 23 tracks of vision on my laptop.
but i did, AND i did it without a second monitor.
what was i thinking!?

after than i got a nice 23" cinema display,
(and kept using that same laptop to cut a feature film)

i couldn't go back to just the laptop screen,
and i'd strongly recommend getting a nice 23-24 inch monitor,

i'd also suggest you use a separate keyboard & mouse,
and raise the laptop up so you are not bending over to look at the screen.
that might not drive you nuts, but it WILL damage your health.



nick

I thank you all very much! Good stuff.!

To be honest, I got used to working on 1 screen after weeks of working in a suite that had only one 30" ACD and a broadcast mon. Takes some getting used to and you have to keep the bins neatly in the browser tab.

As for the processing power, a laptop is pretty much as fast if not faster than most of the dual G5s of a few years ago. In fact, it is slightly faster when it comes to encoding ProRes, which was optimized for Intel chips.

As Nick and Jeff mentioned, it's not a problem at all. A few months ago, I actually took a telemovie home to cut on a laptop, as my producers were getting jumpy during the shoot, and they were coming into the suite everyday to have a look at the rushes. And I gotta say that editing on a laptop, off a couch, with occasionally a beer in one hand, or cutting at Macdonalds munching on calories and watching girls go by, are some of the simple pleasures in life... aside from wine and good food. And no, I won't cut at a restaurant or a bar, not when I'm having wine and good food...



www.strypesinpost.com

I cut and designed every freelance gig I have done in the last 19 months on my 17" Macbook Pro and a CalDigit VR 2 TB external RAID or a G-RAID. They have all been HD ProRes with absolutely no negative issues at all. Pleasantly surprised at the power really. That includes editing in FCP, designing and rendering in After Effects and Cinema 4D as well.

I am starting to honestly think I don't need to buy a new tower anymore...just get the newest greatest MBP every 3 years when Applecare expires...I may just wait until the new high-powered MBPs come out in 2010 (new multi-core processors coming, so I hear). The tower really isn't necessary anymore unless you are doing mass renderings and time is super-crucial (well...that's always the case, but...).

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Like Nick, the ergonomics would be the biggest issue for me, but a big monitor and separate keyboard and mouse solves that. I've been spoiled by 2x23" monitors plus a 24" b'cast monitor plus a 15" monitor for my scopes so the idea of working only on a 15" or 17" laptop monitor makes me cringe.


-Andrew

btw...I don't work on the 17" monitor by itself...I have a 24" Dell on the right for the main apps so I have 41" of screen real estate. I would go nuts working off a 17" monitor by itself.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

My G-5 Tower is collecting dust - have the latest greatest MBP -- use caldigit VR 1 TB SATA connection - super fast -- edit every and anywhere - hook up to HD Monitor when I get to color correct stage -- deliver final in ProRES or Avid DNxHD codec to clients (a lot of them have AVID - makes them happier)

I edit on planes trains picnic tables -- ingest XDCAM and P2 on the road and I'm editing in hotel - you name it -- just a great work horse -- I only use the G-4 Tower now to ingest analog tape (Beta SP through an AJA IO La box --

You guys are convincing me to NOT update my G5 tower. Perhaps a 17" MBP would be a better way to go? Could keep the G5 with the Kona just for outputs but actually do the work on the MBP?

Dan

can you capture / output Prores on your G5?

if you are thinking along these lines, then think about an iMac.
less i/o options then a laptop,
but more bang for your buck.


nick

Well, I used to think that you'd need a tower if you want to grade, as IO for laptops are expensive, but not so anymore with that Matrox range. Very cool.

IMO, Mac Pros are still required for their number crunching power. Depending on what format you are working with- Canon 5D/7D, RED, Uncompressed HD, or in cases of XDCAM and HDV, where you need to transcode to ProRes and get started on editing quickly... On a 17" MBP, you are limited to 1 eSATA/Express Card slot.

Also, I'm not too sure how fast the MBPs encode to BluRay, or if the Matrox MXO2 devices do much to speed that up. But encoding long form programmes from HD to DVDs still take quite a while.



www.strypesinpost.com

Hmmm - - I am not getting that from all these responses, Dan.
Obviously it appears that it can be done, but with a bit of extra equip and a lot of effort.
I think I would prefer my Giant screens, big keyboard, and peace and quiet of my edit room.
Kinda of a - what- do- you- prefer choice, I daresay!

I sure do appreciate all the great responses to my request!

>can you capture / output Prores on your G5?

Yes, depending on your capture card and if you are on a quad G5.

[support.apple.com]



www.strypesinpost.com

If you're used to desktop tower work, by all means, get a tower. I love my new Mac Pro 8-core, and yes, I did get it for its faster encoding power and it's more fun with Motion.

But I've also done some work on a MacBook Pro and I recommend a Logitech V220 mouse to go with it if you've become accustomed to mouse as well as keyboard work. Just plugin the wireless transmitter and it works.

- Loren

Today's FCP keytip:
Invoke your Opacity/Audio Levels Adjust dialog with
Command-Option-L !

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

I would never buy a MacBook Pro to use as a full-time, no-holds-barred edit system. That's what Mac Pros are made for, in my opinion. Up yonder I was just saying that I have used my personal laptop for offlining, and it's worked fine. I wouldn't dream of trying to finish on it, though.

Quote

I would never buy a MacBook Pro to use as a full-time, no-holds-barred edit system. I wouldn't dream of trying to finish on it, though.

I dreamed it...and did it...and it has changed my antiquated way of thinking that a tower is the answer.

I used to have that old-school way of thinking...until my G5 Quad blew up and I wasn't financially ready for a Mac Pro. I got a substantial freelance gig and just sucked it up and did it completely on my Macbook Pro 2.6 Ghz C2D with 4 GB RAM, a Griffin riser, an extra Dell 24" monitor, a Caldigit VR 2TB RAID, a full sized external Apple Keyboard, a Logitech VX Nano wireless mouse and a Wacom Tablet. The project was "no holds barred" with massive After Effects compositing / animating / rendering and Cinema 4D modeling / animating / rendering as well as FCP finishing.

I was astounded that I created such a high end computation-heavy project from start to finish on a machine I am carrying around in my backpack along with all it's accessories (except the 24" Dell )

It all depends on your confidence level with your gear...and mine is very high with this machine now and I am considering NOT getting a tower in 2010 and just waiting for the next (rumored) super-powered MBPs early next year. For my type of work (short form - 5 minutes or less - 1920 x 1080 max), the MBP is a tank.

Very exciting times...and I am loving it.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Yeah, Joey's right; I too had to change my thinking on the subject. It just makes so much more varied kinds of assignments possible to have the mobility, and today the power is there.

- Loren

Today's FCP keytip:
Invoke your Opacity/Audio Levels Adjust dialog with
Command-Option-L !

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

What blew my mind, was I was cutting of a Firewire drives off my couch for a TV show.

However, there are cases where you need that extra firepower in a Mac Pro- eg. when you shoot to XDCAM/HDV/R3D/AVCHD/AVC-Intra and have to transcode everything to ProRes before you start cutting, or if you're working on a documentary with all sorts of footage and you want to prep them up before you start cutting, and we're talking about running standards conversion, or up conversion, etc... As well as if you're running certain processor intensive plug-ins (Magic Bullet, Furnace, etc), you will benefit from having a zippier machine.



www.strypesinpost.com

Quote

However, there are cases where you need that extra firepower in a Mac Pro

I will disagree about Magic Bullet...which I run all the time...but your statement is true with TODAY'S CURRENT POWER TECHNOLOGY...but from what I am hearing that will be changing in 2010 and going forward. Us short-form guys will not need towers anymore. Who knows...I may get a tower to keep in a corner of my room as a render farm...but working off of it daily?? That is currently gone from my personal Studio.

ONWARD & UPWARD!!

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

And besides, the bigger the project, the simpler the editing. Extra firepower applies more to people who do graphics and effects. My current show (reality, DVCPro HD 24p) could conceivably be cut on laptops if not for the necessity of networked storage, because we're mostly doing cuts, dissolves, simple split-screens, and audio editing. Nothing fancy.


www.derekmok.com

>if not for the necessity of networked storage

You may be able to float networked storage on GigE on an EditShare, which means you can actually do it on a laptop.

Matrox did that amazing thing- make the price on portable IOs scaleable. And with that, you can do quite a bit of finishing on a laptop without having to get a pricey IO that does everything. You just get what you need. You don't need to pay for a Mercedes when all you need is a Mazda.



www.strypesinpost.com

R U comparing a MBP to a...Mazda?? If a tower is a Mercedez, then a MBP is a BMW.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Nono.. I actually meant that you don't need an IO that does everything when all you need is monitoring so you can finish.

AJA also has the IO Express. I'm quite surprised BMD hasn't jumped into this, as there should be quite a market for this. I bet there are lots of guys on laptops doing some simple road warrior finishing (yea, i know, the lighting is wrong).

BMD had a really good idea with the Decklink Studio, where they took out the analog cables, so all you get is HD/SD SDI in/outputs. Basically stripped down features at a lower price for the guys who just want to monitor, and don't need all the connectivity.



www.strypesinpost.com