Any sailors out there?

Question

My wife and I are taking our sailboat into the South Pacific and need some advice on which Mac Pro we should upgrade to, and our needs are extremely specific.
First and foremost, I want to integrate it with our ship's systems - as in HAM radio email, chart plotter mapping, marina WiFi, etc. Our ICOM 735 HAM takes a DB9 connection as does our Garmin GPS.
Second, HD video editing and storage. We are currently buying an HD camera and need to know if we need a 2X quad or if a single quad 2.66Ghz will work. Our desire is to integrate our Mac with our 32" (or 37") HDTV so we can watch our movies as we publish them. I've been using an old version of Adobe Premiere on my tired old G4/400 (my first was an Apple IIC, then a FAT Mac back in 1989), and read that Final Cut does full HD. Which version do you recommend? Express? Pro? We'll be doing both land and underwater videos.
Also, which video card do you recommend?
Finally, I'm seeking a system we can connect some kind of on-board video security monitor to. Anyone know of one?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Cool.
More and more hopeful. Yes, I've been thinking about it and it seems to be only defining your needs and seeing what, on the mac side of things, is standing in your way.
Back to reliable OS Tiger, nothing wrong there.
Hmm, will latest versions of FCP and FCE work with 10.4? Yes, I think they should. And don't be tempted by Snow Leopard till you come back, or put it on another machine. There will be issues.
Well, you know the rule with computers and performance, the badder the better. Really, and I speak from personal experience, , as long as it's not a G5 you're ok. Lol.
No, any Intel Mac is going to do a decent job of it. They had a rep from the start as being better for video work. So the more cores the faster, the higher the processor speed, the faster the HDs, all make a difference. Used PowerMacs are making the rounds. The 2008s are very good MPs. But even though its a year old, it deserves aquatic protection (up to and including shark cage). If this MP is going to become part of the household (given a name?), consider a 4 or 8 core. The 8 cores are very powerful, the 4s nearly so, but without the room to grow like the 8.
As to FCP , and here,
and, FCE. One is a much slimmed down version of the other. FCP, I think, has four sub programs. Motion, for one, which I know is highly thought of.
I have FCE,... and maybe working with Adobe apps... I didn't think it was all that great. An only decent imitation of Adobe Premiere. But I think for a basic, shoot camera, put in mac, edit and make nice program, it probably does quite well.
if you like, I'll keep you posted.
Please do, at my email here too if you'd like. Sounds like an adventure is about to start... Bon Voyage.