Apple, Mac, wtf

[Pappy]

So my new camcorder arrived, i bought Pinnacle titanium edition, and now everyone is telling me i need a mac or apple computer?

ya'll wanna fill me in before i start slinging lead at all this fancy stuff:grr:

[ShiftFMX]

Apples are alot more stable (coming from a PC user) than PCs. But If you have never used one, be prepared to feel like your blind when using it. I know quite a bit about PC's, but when my girlfriend got her apple notebook for christmas, I didnt know how the hell to use it or hardly navigate thru it. another good thing is that you cant get viruses on them. Knowing this...I will still stick to my PC because I know how to use it. If you get a good fast computer with a nice processor and other goddies, you will be just fine!

The best thing to do is just load up pinnicle and use it, if your computer runs it good, then use what you got!

[1fst400]

I probly know a little less than you. but my sister is into the camera stuff so I have overheard some stuff.


Having a nice camcorder and a windows computer is like Having a super nice powder coat gun with remote powder, agitator, high/low frequency, w/e. But baking the parts in a household oven.

Shure it will work, but its a pita.

[WhiteYFZ]

i have a mac.. it takes a dump on windows..

[WhiteYFZ]

pappy.. check out the macbook pro.. the 2500.00$ one.. it has 2 gigs of ram and 120 gig hard drive.. i know u have an external also....

[MOFO]

Pappy,

Don't toss everything out. What are the specs of your current PC. I"m sure if you just did a small upgrade on your current system, it would do everything you need.

[Pappy]

well, i found out a few of my problems were related to outdated drivers, as soon as I updated them I could actually get the video off the camera in HD.


also found out the pinnacle software doesnt like to share time with anything, ofcourse i like to have about umteen million things going at once because I am an impatient sob:o


storing, uploading and everything possible is done to the external drive now so windows doesnt compete with the editing software.

i have tons of room, but would like everything to move a tad faster.

[MOFO]

Ok, what are your current specs???

From what you described without details, double your RAM and I assume your using USB2.0 for your external drives? I would look into a SATA card and an external SATA hard drive... this would speed things up BIG TIME!

Your now working with HD video... these files are HUGE and take a strong PC to properly work with them. I dont care if its a PC or MAC.

[PhilMoore]

Save yourself a headache and stick with Windows XP.

I am using a Mac right now, and it is the biggest mistake I ever made. At least with windows, if you buy a device that says it will work with XP, it will work with XP. With a mac, if you buy say, a printer that works with OSX, you have to have the right VERSION of OSX. Meaning, if you have OSX version 10.2.8, and you buy a printer, it only comes with drivers for OSX 10.3 and higher, you are stuck with having to buy a $125 v10.3 or v10.4 operating system upgrade. Or, you have to spend HOURS trying to find open source drivers, like gutenprint, compiling debugging, etc.

Or, if you go to the supermarket and buy a Guitar magazine for $8 and get home. The instruction videos on the DVD require Quicktime version 7 to view them. You cannot upgrade your OSX v10.2.8 to Quicktime version 7 because Quicktime 7 will not run on OSX 10.2.8, it requires OSX 10.3 or higher. Again $125 upgrade, with the likelyhood that the $500 - $600 software you already own, will need to be upgraded to work with OSX v10.3 or v10.4. I solved the above problem by finding a different video player, called VLC, but again, it took several hours dinking around.

At least with windows XP most of your software you already own from your previous computer can be made to run without having to buy more upgrades. I am running windows 3.1 software on my windows XP computer at work (don't ask why :rolleyes: )

The only good thing about the Mac (if you can call it a good thing) is that most websites won't display properly and the evil-ware that comes with bad websites does not affect them.

Most windows XP problems like you describe can be solved with a free driver upgrade or a free Service Pack upgrade. Usually, I can solve a windows XP driver problem in about a half an hour (for free). On a Mac it takes much longer, and usually costs more money. In my opinion that is what makes windows XP the better choice for most people. I think Macintosh is designed for pretty people who want a pretty computer.

[Pappy]

Eric, I have no clue what the specs are, but I have been informed that the software I am dealing with along with the huge HD files just take time etc. (again, I am about as ancy as a hooker in church when it comes to waiting on something...lol)

I looked for a external yesterday that had a firewire port but no luck (this is WV afterall..lol)

No idea wth a sata anything is:p


Phil, I was informed that MAC does best with multimedia etc, if i do get one it will be used soley for that purpose etc, but I am kind of hoping i can make do with what I have. I did several driver updates last night and it is working better etc.

[MOFO]

Originally posted by Pappy
Eric, I have no clue what the specs are, but I have been informed that the software I am dealing with along with the huge HD files just take time etc. (again, I am about as ancy as a hooker in church when it comes to waiting on something...lol)

I looked for a external yesterday that had a firewire port but no luck (this is WV afterall..lol)

No idea wth a sata anything is:p


Phil, I was informed that MAC does best with multimedia etc, if i do get one it will be used soley for that purpose etc, but I am kind of hoping i can make do with what I have. I did several driver updates last night and it is working better etc.


SATA is the next interface (serial ATA). USB2.0, then firewire, now SATA (transfer rate is extremely fast)... I just picked up a couple SATA enclosures at work...now I just need the SATA card to try them out. I'm going to PM you my phone number incase you choose to upgrade a few items.

[nosliw]

get the best of both worlds like i did - mac that runs both OSX and windows XP.

at least that way WHEN windows crashes you have a stable OS to fall back on.

[mx428]

Originally posted by nosliw
get the best of both worlds like i did - mac that runs both OSX and windows XP.

at least that way WHEN windows crashes you have a stable OS to fall back on. Yeah! I have a Mac that I use for everything, Photography, Graphic Design, general web, IM, etc. I have 0 complaint's. People who say it's too complicated and they suck blah blah blah if you can't figure out a mac within 5 minutes you really need to just quit life. It's a much simpler and user friendly layout in my opinion and i would never go back to XP unless i really really wanted to play counterstrike or some other game that only works with XP.