Windows or Hackintosh for video editing

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I find myself interested more and more in photo an video these days. I recently bought a Canon HF S100. I also had the Panasonic LX3 P&S which I'm thinking about upgrading to the new Panasonic GH1 hybrid DSLR AVCHD camera. Now I see alot of people using Final Cut Pro which I don't think runs on Windows... What can I do and how can I do it!?

 

[akugami]

Final Cut is software produced by Apple so unless you're running OSX, you won't be able to run Final Cut. There are other solutions on the Windows side if you want to edit AVCHD but if you want to buy a Mac you can still keep your Windows apps by dual booting using Boot Camp.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Yes, hence my title Hackintosh which I've seen you can install OSX on a PC

What I'm asking is which is better to edit on Windows or OSX ala Premier or Final Cut Pro and if Final Cut Pro, then how do I do the hackintosh thing?

Thanks akugami for the reply

 

[Kaido]

My personal preference is Final Cut Pro. I like the stability, I like the fact that it runs on OS X, which is my preferred OS, and I like the integration between all of the apps that come with it - Compressor, Soundtrack, DVD Studio, and Motion. Premier is excellent, but it really all just comes down to what you personally prefer working with.

My other hobby is Hackintosh, so I can tell you the basics:

1. You need to choose very specific hardware. It won't run on "just anything". If you buy computer parts with Hackintosh compatibility in mind, you'll be much better off.

2. Updates are tricky. If you only want to run Final Cut Pro, then you can be just fine at the current OS X release (10.5.7) for years and years, since you rarely need to update a video editing machine.

That's really it...if you pick the right hardware and aren't stupid about updates, a Hackintosh works just fine. You can save a lot of money over a Mac, and if you decide you don't like OS X, you can just slap Windows on it no problemo.

Please read this before deciding on a Hackintosh:

http://leopardsoup.pbworks.com/survival

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Excellent, thank you Kiado

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Damn, why does Premier have to be sooo expensive. Hackintosh doesn't seem for me. I have almost the right parts already, 1900XTX and a UD3R ...

 

[gsellis]

On Mac, you can use Final Cut and Avid Media Center. On PC, you can use everything else including Avid. From free to $100000 editors work on PCs. And if you are chocking on Premiere, maybe you should price out FCP too.

But for an editor, pick the editor first, then the platform. Some editors work with specific hardware.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: gsellis
But for an editor, pick the editor first, then the platform. Some editors work with specific hardware.

^ this is the best advice you can get. Shop around online, see what features you like, how the usability is, what plugins are available, how it talks to other apps for special effects, outputting to DVD, and so on. Vegas is really good. Premier is great. Final Cut Pro is fabulous. Avid is awesome. There's a ton of options, so figure out what you want, and then go from there!

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

What does he mean by choking? as in my computer is choking/slow?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Well, I looked at Sony Vegas, and Premiere and they both look out of my league as far as experience... looks like the learning curve for those with me would be a very looong time...

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
What does he mean by choking? as in my computer is choking/slow?

no, pricewise. final cut pro ain't cheap either. both final cut and premiere have a "consumer" version though.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
What does he mean by choking? as in my computer is choking/slow?

no, pricewise. final cut pro ain't cheap either. both final cut and premiere have a "consumer" version though.

Can you help me with a question I have over in this thread?

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
What does he mean by choking? as in my computer is choking/slow?

no, pricewise. final cut pro ain't cheap either. both final cut and premiere have a "consumer" version though.

Thanks randomlinh, that is what I meant.

FC Express is $200, but FC Studio 2 is over $1k. All of the intro packages from Sony, Adobe, and Pinnacle are less that $100. Demos exist for most and the consumer packages are pretty easy to understand and use.

I use Avid (Pinnacle - Avid owns them) Liquid and it has 4-5 different editing views and styles. I use the timeline view, but I can even switch it to use a Pinnacle Studio editor layout. Unfortunately, Liquid has been in a holding pattern as they rewrite it (current working name is Next Gen as they decided that Liquid 8 (liquidate) was not a good name). 'When' it comes out, it will probably be 64bit and use the Windows 7 DirectX 10/11 calls. Pinnacle was the first to start using the GPU to process effects in real-time and render them. Adobe and Sony are now doing that using OpenGL.

 

[akugami]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD

Wikipedia link on AVCHD. It also has a link to various software that you can use to edit AVCHD. I can't really say which is better or anything, some of it comes down to personal preference and what level of power you need for your edits. Guess you just gotta do more research. But at least it's a place to start.

I need to be doing the same thing. I have a 1.5 TB HD full of baby videos that I really gotta start editing and putting onto DVD's to send out.