[MacDV] What to buy?

[Neil Poese]

> 1. We are considering the Sony camcorders, either TRV-22 or TRV-250.
Neither
> of which will play Hi-8 tapes. How do we get our former Hi-8 footage into
> the Mac?

I believe that the TRV350 will play 8mm tapes. No headphone jack, but it
does have a mic jack. It will also pass analog through from another camera
or VHS VCR.

> 2. What level of Mac and operating system do we need to handle these
cameras
> and Final Cut Pro 4.0? Will a G-4 suffice?

I've used Macs from the original iMac w/ 64 megs at 300 mhz on up to very
beefy G4 towers. Currently I'm using eMacs (I just ordered another one
today.) Unless you need separate monitors or expansion capabilities inside
the CPU, the eMac is a great way to go. It used to be that you could get
them as dual-boot OS9 and 10 but I don't think so any more. Just the same,
with all of the goodies of the free apps w/OS10 (iMovie, iTunes, etc.) I
don't use 9 at all any more. I have three eMacs of different speeds, and can
say that I do notice the speed increase of the 1ghz, but any one will work
very well. Be aware that if you get the least expensive eMac, it doesn't
come with a DVD player; which can make a difference with some software that
comes on DVD (Soundtrack) and training materials that have a DVD disk.

You have to get a lot of ram. I always get 512, and if I had the money, I'd
get 1gig, but 512 seems to work.

Get the biggest hard drive you can. I use external FireWire drives.

> 3. If we don't go with Final Cut Pro (due to money), will iMovie handle
the
> Sony camcorders OK?

Yes, iMovie is great and works with the Sony's seamlessly.

Hope this helps.

Neil Poese
Digital Media Studies
Palmer High School
Colorado Springs