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Home: Video University Forums: Mac Video:
Sharing Editing

sean
User

Dec 1, 2005, 10:25 AM

Post #1 of 9 (1448 views)
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Sharing Editing	Can't Post

Hi guys,

At present we are a small operation but as you all know, if you work hard and are passionate about what you do, word spreads and the workload increases. I do this on my own at present but thankfully my wife has expressed a real interest in helping me edit weddings and other projects next year so we can take on more work. I use a Dual 1.8 G5 at present, but like a recent post, its pretty much tied up rendering, encoding, burning. Here's my question: if funds allow we were going to purchase a 15" PowerBook next year so that my wife can edit on that. Can we set it up in such a way that we can edit the same wedding, i.e. my wife could take a section and work on that while I work on another part? Obviously hard drive space is pretty limited on the PB so most of the capturing will be on the G5 (160G+200G+250GextLaCie). We also figure we can use the powerbook with all the other tasks like DVD cover creation, slideshows, photo montages and also can be used at receptions to run slideshow presentation and also SDEs (if I ever grow a big enough set ;-)).
Any and all advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks guys.
Sean.

bbalser
User

Dec 1, 2005, 11:51 AM

Post #2 of 9 (1442 views)
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Re: [sean] Sharing Editing [In reply to]	Can't Post

I edit like you propose. But anything less than the 17" 1.65GHz with the full 2GB of RAM and an external FW drive, will bomb on you.

Problem is you'll both need access to the captures of the footage you need. And it'll be different projects. You can't edit across a Ethernet network, it's too slow, I've tried, it bombs. AND if you have the same license number for FCP on both machines, they'll see each other over the network and only let you launch FCP on one machine at one time.

I have an editor who uses my PowerBook to work one wedding while I do a whole other wedding on my desktop. To cut it up, well, you could batch capture only the footage you need on each computer. On the laptop, once done, export to a QT movie (self-contained). Then you can plug the PowerBook's drive into you desktop, and import the QT files of the finished product from the PowerBook into the project on the G5.

Hope this helps. If you have any questions, I edit and teach on my PowerBook and would be happy to share my experiences and finding with you.

-Ben Balser
-Wolf Digital Media, LLC
-Apple Certified Instructor

sean
User

Dec 1, 2005, 2:56 PM

Post #3 of 9 (1434 views)
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Re: [bbalser] Sharing Editing [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hi Ben,

Thanks for the reply! I guess then we could use them as standalones and do as your editor does, do individual weddings on each. I guess then I would need an external HD for the PB as well to capture the footage (FW800). Would the 15" be OK in this instance, i.e. not sharing material as such. We could I suppose create QT files and transfer them across. ThePB gives us more flexibility.
I had heard recently that the 15" PB's were more reliable than the 17", plus they are pretty expensive. I thought the 15" would be good and then use the extra towards RAM, ext. HD etc.
Thanks.
Sean.
P.S. So, how long have you been an Apple Certified Instructor and where are you based. I'm in Ontario, Canada.

bbalser
User

Dec 1, 2005, 3:56 PM

Post #4 of 9 (1427 views)
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Re: [sean] Sharing Editing [In reply to]	Can't Post

You could go with the 15", but you'll not get the screen real estate that FCP eats up so much of. It'd work. After using the 17" screen, I'd never use anything smaller to edit with. I also use a Kensington Optical Elite mouse with all my computers. Just makes FCP a lot easier and faster to use.

I'm in Louisiana, cleaning up after my mom's passing and Katrina, back to back. But I will be at the 4EG convention in January doing a 2 hour FCP-5 seminar.

I also did a seminar on "Studio Artist for Videographers" at a WEVA Expo last year (and had written articles for WEV Magazine, even had a regular column, "The Apple Production Helper" ready to go, until the magazine fell apart, those articles are going into a book that I hope to have ready for the 4EG convention). It was a very bad experience, I don't think I'll go back to one of their Expos unless WEVA gets it's act together.

sean
User

Dec 1, 2005, 6:33 PM

Post #5 of 9 (1412 views)
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Re: [bbalser] Sharing Editing [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hi Ben,
Wow! You've had it pretty rough this last few months. Katrina was terrible and your Mom's passing as well. My sincerest apologies Ben for all your troubles. I hope you're getting things back together again after all that. So nice of you to take the time to answer my query-seems so insignificant now! I would love to get the PB but if its not going to help speed up the process without major investment then maybe I'll try something else. One things for sure, I'm staying with the MAC and Final Cut-they are awesome. Pretty step learning curve but I've learned a lot in the year I've been using it. It's only the Express HD version, but still enough in there to make my clients very happy. Hopefully the transition to Pro will be smooth.

Ben, take care my friend and thanks again.
Sean.

bbalser
User

Dec 1, 2005, 6:58 PM

Post #6 of 9 (1408 views)
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Re: [sean] Sharing Editing [In reply to]	Can't Post

Day by day, it's all coming back together, slowly, but surely.

One thing you could do is capture only the parts of the tape you need for each computer. Then when one is done, export it as a QuickTime (self contained) and send it via network over to the other machine. You could also use an external FW drive to put the project on and move it between machines.

If you need to speed things up, a PowerBook is awesome as a second computer. I have a mouse and full size keyboard on mine, I love it. The 15" will work. And if the screen is too small for you, buy a monitor to plug into it. It'd work! And it'd save you time!

Only problem is, PowerBooks are gateway drugs to iPods. I know, I just got the 5G iPod shortly after getting my PowerBook. iPods, damn they're so addictive!

I'd get the PowerBook, even if all you want to dish out for is the 17". Max out 2 Gigs of RAM, get a 250Gig external FW drive, you'll be set to go! The 17" is just standard for doing FCP training on. But the 15" will work just as well. And the NEW ones have better screen resolution, so the 15" I'm familiar with isn't as nice of a screen as the one selling now. Hell, go for it!

RatVega
Enthusiast

Dec 2, 2005, 2:15 PM

Post #7 of 9 (1350 views)
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Re: [bbalser] Sharing Editing [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

Ben, is this unique to PowerBook? We frequently cut different sequences of the same movie from the same source over our gigabit etherLAN. Maggi will be working on a rough cut using a local FW source on her G4 dualie and I'll mount the same drive on my G5 dualie and be doing effects and finishing on another sequence. We have separate FCP versions and serial numbers.

We've never had any problem with this approach except someone getting brain dead and shutting down a system. Even this is a recoverable error.

BTW, it's good to see you again. I hope all is well and improving in Louisiana.

______________________________________________________________
Currently on a loaded 2.5GHz G5 dualie/5GB/1TB internal RAID/dual 19" monitors. Final Cut Studio, Adobe Suite, Boris RED. Shooting with Canon.

VU California Crew, Inland Empire Sub-Chapter (paragraph?)

bbalser
User

Dec 2, 2005, 3:05 PM

Post #8 of 9 (1344 views)
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Re: [RatVega] Sharing Editing [In reply to]	Can't Post

I've not had total success with gigabit ethernet. Not to my satisfaction. Unless you're using a cross over cable to connect the computers directly over a short distance. I have a hub that introduces too much network latency. And I've worked with other set-ups that had problems with editing over LAN. If it works for you, more power to ya! But you're the exception from the actual systems I've evaluated. I'd never trust my income to that sort of set up. xSan, that's something totally different.

RatVega
Enthusiast

Dec 2, 2005, 3:19 PM

Post #9 of 9 (1341 views)
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Re: [bbalser] Sharing Editing [In reply to]	Can't Post

We are using switches (D-link) and have 5-6 systems and a network printer on the LAN. The best we've seen is RAID-to-RAID transfers of 60MB/sec sustained and this I think was all the slower RAID could pump out. I've looked at X-San and some NAS solutions, but for the $300 I have in the current LAN, it works pretty well.

______________________________________________________________
Currently on a loaded 2.5GHz G5 dualie/5GB/1TB internal RAID/dual 19" monitors. Final Cut Studio, Adobe Suite, Boris RED. Shooting with Canon.

VU California Crew, Inland Empire Sub-Chapter (paragraph?)