question about which G4 to buy for digital vido

[Charles Martin]

> From: gail weisman <gweisman2 at attbi.com>
> Message-ID: <BAFE4229.13FF%gweisman2 at attbi.com>
>
> i'm hoping someone can give me some good solid advice reagarding 
> buying a
> new G4 digital video and audio editing and Midi work. i've been a 
> graphic
> designer for about 12 years so i'm familiar with designing for print 
> and web
> and what i need to do that on my Macs, but i'm CLUELESS about the 
> digital
> video thing!
>
Then my first advice would be to start small and take big steps 
forward, ie start with iMovie in order to grasp the fundamental 
concepts of video editing, then once you're good at that dig in with 
Final Cut Express (for video), Logic Audio for audio. (There are other 
programs equally good at video and audio, these are just my personal 
faves.) There are many EXCELLENT manuals on Final Cut Express/Pro at 
the moment that will be a great help to you.

> 1. different graphics cards, i.e., Nividia vs. Radeon, etc., also video
> in/out options... what exactly do i need or what is best  for digital 
> video
> and audio editing?
>
Two different things. The stock card in the G4 towers should be 
adequate (I like the Radeons myself, but for non-gamers I suspect any 
64MB card is going to do just fine), but many video editors add a 
Matrox card so they can have additional input/output. If you're working 
primarily with DV this may not be so much a concern, but if you're 
working in film/hi-def/uncompressed video it's a must.

You'll get better recommendations from sites like 2-pop.com, and 
Apple's own "Creative" section of their website, where the pros tell 
you in detail what they use and why.

For audio, video cards really don't matter except in that running two 
monitors is much easier on the eyes! :)

> 2. should i get one of the dual boot systems so i can keep using OS 9 
> which
> i'm fairly familiar with (and i've been told is less buggy than OS x) 
> or
> should i just get the new system with jaguar and deal with it? is 
> jaguar
> better for video?
>
Jag.

> 3. will i need to upgrade anything (besides maybe buying more hard 
> drive
> space and RAM) to handle video and audio editing, like sound or video 
> cards
> or specific hardware (besides camera)?
>
Depends on the level of the work you do. Most of my musician friends 
keep at least one firewire external hard drive around -- they are 
usually faster than the internal drives, and portable.

Max out the RAM. Thank me later.

Again, for DV the G4 towers should be good to go as-is, but again this 
is dependent on what you're doing. See the afore-mentioned sites and 
MacDesign magazine (great for print junkies as well as video people) 
for a lot more info.

> 4. finally, what's the difference between the lower end G4 and the 
> higher
> end ones ... in other words, what exactly do i get for the $500 price
> difference between the $1495 model to the $1995 to $2495 models?
>
Dual processors, which = a LOT more processing power, among other 
things. The $1499 model has neither a 2nd processor or a Superdrive, 
and thus should be eliminated from anything but hobbyist video 
considerations.

You could probably get away with a dual 1.25 (the $1999 model) by 
adding a Superdrive (for $200) and maxing out the RAM and HDs yourself 
rather than have Apple do it (they charge too much). So that's $2199 
for what I would consider the VERY BOTTOM of the acceptable pro AV 
workstations.

That said, video/audio editing is an area where trying to go cheap is a 
*VERY* bad idea. If I may be so bold and do something I rarely do, I'd 
suggest that unless you need the equipment now that you wait a while 
(say three to six months). It's fairly obvious that Apple will be 
bringing out a revamped tower line later this year, which should be 
significantly faster than the current line (not that the current 
machines aren't perfectly adequate for pro video work -- they obviously 
are!). If the speculations prove to be even half-right, you'll get a 
significant amount more bang for your buck when those machines appear 
(but if you need something now, buy it now, don't wait -- it could be 
up to six months before these machines are even announced, let alone 
actually ship).

Here's another suggestion: locate a video-editing house that's NOT in 
your area and thus would never compete with you for business. Explain 
that you are a video-editing student and just entering the business and 
would like to know what they recommend. They may differ from me 
significantly on some things like preferred software, but remember 
this: if they recommend PCs, they're not really doing world-class pro 
video.

_Chas_

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