just ordered a mac

[Alo1 0]

For the last 6 yrs I've been doing all my editing with a cd player,vcr and cheap audio mixer. Up untill the end of last season all my stills were film.
I've just ordered a 15" powerbook with all the bells and whistles.
But...I opted to downgrade the superdrive to just a regular combo drive and plan on using an external dvd burner that does all formats. I also plan on getting an external harddrive that spins @ 7200.
(the fastest power book is 5400 i believe.
most of my video edits will still be linear cause you just can't beat it time wise.)
I have been leaning towrds Lacie external components and I'm hoping someone out there has or is using said hardware. I'm also not sure what is more desirable,Firewire 800 or USB 2.0.

And....I'm wondering if it makes sense to use the iLife software for the video and stills or get final cut express 2.0 right away.
I'm not planning on burning dvds for a month or so and it is not a huge priority.
Any thoughts and comments are appreciated.
Peace,
Al O

[quade 4]

Hmmm, I don't think I would have downgraded the SuperDrive. you might regret that later.

Th external hard drive is nice, but not really a requirement. All of the PowerBook drives are capable and buffered to deal with the digital video requirements of Final Cut Express or Pro.

99.9% of most "school" type videos and DVDs could be done on the bundled iMovie and iDVD software, but there would be draw backs as far as speed when it comes to burning the DVDs. It also doesn't sound like that's you're application anyway.

For really bitchin' video production you'll want to start collecting software. Final Cut Express is a good start and has an upgrade path to Final Cut Pro if you ever need that (but you probably won't, unless you need to edit Digital BetaCam or HDTV).

The iDVD software makes -stunningly- cool DVDs, but the tradeoff is how slow it is to make them. For really fast turn arounds, you might also consider buying a real-time stand alone DVD burner with FireWire input.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[freeflydrew 0]

I just bought the 17 inch Powerbook (1.5 ghz) last week, and boy am i impressed... I can't see anyone being dissappointed with anything about that laptop! It has the superdrive built in, and I also have an external cd burner, so I can use toast and the built in burn application to burn 2 discs at one... Very cool. And the isight works great also...

[skymedic 0]

If I was buying a powerbook right now I'd get the 12" with the super drive....just cause from everything I've read in the mag's is there are some problems with external's at the moment...and the built in would smooth that out big time....plus I dvd is a pretty damn cool program

Marc
otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman....

[freeflydrew 0]

the 12's got the slower processor, different ports, and doesn't have the back lit keyboard nor wi-fi by default... You're better off buying a refurbished 15 with the backlit keyboard, for the same price... Or spending the extra cash on the new 15... def worth it.
(just my opinion)

[skymedic 0]

the new 12"s have wifi and bluetooth standard....and also have the same 1.33 processors as the 15's...I dont want the back lit stuff...and all I'd miss out port was is some of the monitor out and a firewire800 port. I can get done what I need with the Mini-DVI...I like the 12's for the portability most. 15's are nice...just not worth the extra cash by the time you add apple care onto it.

Marc
otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman....

[skydance1954 0]

Welcome to the dark side, my friend. You will like your Mac.
I agree with Quade that most of the student videos can be done with iMovie and iDVD. Even with the limited range of graphics and special effects, they are two excellent tools that can produce a professional video. If you become an iDisk member, you'll also have access to music you can use legally with the videos.
For the more involved videos, such as professional projects, or year end DZ productions, Final Cut Express or Pro are superb. With practice you'll be turning out stuff that'll blow your mind.

Mike Ashley
D-18460
Canadian A-666

[freeflydrew 0]

Quote

the new 12"s have wifi and bluetooth standard....and also have the same 1.33 processors as the 15's...I dont want the back lit stuff...and all I'd miss out port was is some of the monitor out and a firewire800 port. I can get done what I need with the Mini-DVI...I like the 12's for the portability most. 15's are nice...just not worth the extra cash by the time you add apple care onto it.

My mistake on the specs... I was doing them from my head and confused them with the pre-update specs... I def agree with you about portability with the 12.. I just think the apple powerbooks are such great computers.

[slayer21016 2]

Quote

For the last 6 yrs I've been doing all my editing with a cd player,vcr and cheap audio mixer

That sounds like my first 6 years of editing except I was using 2 Mini-DV cameras as the play and record decks. And I would jump to FCE, But you'll want the ilife package as others have stated due to getting iDVD which is very easy to use. And I use lacie external stuff (FireWire Drives) and have had no problems.

Enjoy the Mac
Scott

[DavidKing 0]

Enjoy it man it's the only way to fly. You will soon get tired of the iMovie
effects and transitions you might look into some of the geethree add ons.
Fairly cheap and good quality see http://www.geethree.com/
I could be mistakin, I think some people are having problems using external DVD burners with iDVD.Without the superdrive I think the stand alone recorder with firewire is the best route, and much faster than the iDVD encoding. Have Fun and lets see some finished product.
David

[JayhawkJumper 0]

As far as drives go, Lacie's are nice drives, so are Maxtor's. Whatever you get though, get something that spins at 7200 min. and has a nice large buffer like 8 megs. Don't let the computer store guy tell you that you should use USB2.0 b/c its faster. Firewire was built for video, and since it was designed for it, it works better. Firewire 900 would be even better, but its still pretty pricey and not really necessary.

[skymedic 0]

Quote

Firewire 900 would be even better

do you mean 800??? I have never head of firewire 900...I know all bout 800 though...good stuff...but pricey!!!!

Marc
otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman....

[JayhawkJumper 0]

Ya sorry, firewire 800 is what I meant, but 400 will works just as well for video.

[AndyMan 7]

Put me on the list as one who just doesn't "get" the need for firewire 800.

For me, firewire 400 is more then fast enough to do a full DV25 video capture to a really fast external disk with both the camera and the disk on the same channel, and never see any bandwidth performance issues.

DV25 is exactly that - 25 mb/sec, and firewire 400 is 400 mb/sec. Even allowing for a REALLy inneficient rendering app, I don't see how working with digital video would ever take us over 200 mb/sec.

Anyone know what the bitrate of HDTV DV is?

Anyone see the point of investing in firewire 800?

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[murrays 0]

Quade posted the bit rate a long time ago and 400 is more than fast enough.....a hard drive will only write, what 8-10 mb sec to disk so 800 mb/sec would give it way more than it could handle.

I'm with you, I don't see the need as long as hard drives seem to be the limiting factor when transferring data.

--
Murray

"No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey