New iMac 27 for Film/Video Post Production

Hi - I'm not sure if this is the proper place to ask this, but I'm looking for some advice. I edit with FCP7, migrating to FCPX, also using Adobe After Effects, Motion5 and DaVinci Resolve for color grading. Currently, as a secondary system in a home office, I have a MacPro 3.1(Early 2008) with 2x3GHz QuadCore, 26G RAM and Nvidia 120 and 285 to run DaVinci Resolve. I want to upgrade this system and, if possible shrink the foot print. Will a 27" iMac with i7 and enough RAM provide me with enough speed to edit/grade/composite/animate with 1920x1080 ProRes422HQ(and sometimes 2K) material? I'm more concerned with the ability to grade/composite higher resolution footage.
Thanks for any input/feedback.
Chris

Christopher,
Good idea to get a BluRay Burner. I have one. Some thing else to think about. The new 27" iMac has 2 Thunderboldt ports & 4 USB 3 ports. If the BlueRay burner is Firewire only, there is a firewire to thunderboldt
cable. You might like out and find one with a USB 3 port. Mine was FW 800 so that was not a problem.
Do research for the BluRay Burner, for what it, export outs with.
Good luck.

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I'd like Time Machine to backup my personal account's files separately from my guest account's files. Both have big files. What's the best way to do this? Should I connect 2 external HD to my new iMac, one for each account?

NeuroBrain wrote:
Since my new external hard drive is have a lot of space, I'm thinking of splitting it for Time Machine and external storage.
This is a common mistake and I highly advise against it.
1: TimeMachine saves states of changes and thus requires more room on the TM drive than the boot drive it's backing up.
2: Something happens to the TM drive, loss, theft, dropped, power surge, etc., you lose both backups.
3: The storage drive might become a portable need, with it being on the TM drive, now your increasing the risk to the TM backup that something could happen to it along with the storage drive, due to increased movement.
Seriously, have a read,
Most commonly used backup methods
it's ASC User Tip that saves us regulars all the trouble of having to repeat ourselves over and over again in the posts, because we tend to forget things too, or not here sometimes etc.
"Plan for the worst and the good will take care of itself" - Donald Trump

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You have it currently installed? Can you go to the System Profiler and click on Applications (will take a while to populate) - take a look at your FCP and check what it says on the right - Universal, Intel, or PPC? It'll look like this:
If it's Universal or Intel, it'll run in Lion. However, the installer may or may not be PPC - that you may not know until you try to install. If you have it currently installed, then you could do what I did - move over all the files manually. I have a list of files for FCE and would assume they'd be the same with FCP: copy them from the old Mac and insert them in the very same spots on the new one.
Here is the list for FCE:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA38198?viewlocale=en_US
(It was published for an uninstall, but worked like a charm).

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Mac book pro verses iMac (intel) for streaming video (skpying) which one would you recommend?

Neither one is particularly advantageous. Streaming video will take a considerable amount of power, meaning you'll probably want to keep a MBP's power adapter connected.

Soundtrack Pro or Pro Tools LE 7 w/DV Toolkit, for Post for Film/Video???

Hi all,
I've recently been getting some post production work in the pipeline and wanted to get your opinion on a few changes in software I'm making for these upcoming gigs.
Up until now, I've mainly been using Logic Pro for almost all my work, but Logic is much more geared as a music creation tool, that I'm looking at other options that are a bit more geared for post production. I mainly do sound editing, mixing and voice over or dialog recording for independent film, and video projects.
I've been looking at Pro Tools LE 7 and Soundtrack Pro. Both seem to have the more flexible editing architecture I'm looking for in post work. It appears though that I need to purchase the DV toolkit to accomplish proper post production functionality in Pro Tools LE, while Soundtrack Pro seems to have everything built in to it.
What do you guys think? How has your experience been between the two programs? You opinions would be greatly appreciated!!

As someone who just tried to use Soundtrack Pro to post a film, I'd say go with Pro Tools. Soundtrack Pro will eventually be a great alternative to Pro Tools. There's no extra hardware requirement, it integrates well with FCP, and so forth. I like the built-in noise reduction tools, and will probably keep using them. However, in my case STP was way too unstable. It kept crashing when I was trying to save files, and in some cases it corrupted the files. This led to lots of heartbreak for me, and now I'm having to rebuild my audio in Pro Tools.
That said, Pro Tools is expensive. If I didn't have the money, I'd settle for using Soundtrack Pro or something like it - Vegas; Bias Inc.'s Deck. If you have the money, Pro Tools is an absolute standard, and you can't really go wrong with it.
Dual 2.0 Ghz G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4) 2 Gigs of RAM

Comparing focus of new iMac's internal iSight video

I have a new iMac. When I view iSight's live feed in, say, Photo Booth or iMovie, it seems like the focus is not very sharp.
I've tried the suggestions in Apple's tech note on iSight.
Here are a few shots (posted to Picasa) I took. This is with artificial light, as it is late at night:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lagouyn/UntitledAlbum?feat=directlink
Daytime/natural light results are, to me, similarly blurry.
Maybe I'm expecting too much? Could I ask new iMac users to check out the photos above and compare with your iSight video quality.
Could you also post examples of your built-in iSight image quality? (To capture an image, I used utilities/Grab and did Capture>Selection, then saved to disk and uploaded to Picasa.
Thanks very much.
-Allan

One added thought, -Allan, if you do not already know about the following.
(If you are an imaging pro who could be teaching me about this, please excuse my attempt to help.)
I can see that image quality for your viewers is important to you.
For uploads of images whose quality is particularly important to you, you may want consider using PNG format, TIFF format, or some other low/no compression image file format rather than the JPEG image format that you chose for your upload in this topic.
You noted the "dithered/pixelated quality" of the gif format sample image I had uploaded in another thread. While highly compressed GIF images certainly suffer more quality loss than moderately compressed JPGs, PNG or TIFF can reduce compression loss even further.
JPEG can offer control over how much compression you apply when saving your image. However, other file formats like PNG or TIFF can further reduce quality loss by not applying as much compression for those image where you consider quality to be critical in your viewed images.
Jim
G5 DP 1.8GHz w/Mac OS X (10.5.6) PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11) iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9) External iSight

New iMac suitable for FCP and/or Avid?

Hi all,
I'm a digital filmmaking student currently using FCP on my MBP (whilst minding my Ps and Qs, OK? LOL).
Next month we'll be learning Avid - no idea if I'll end up buying a copy of that, but it's quite possible.
I'm planning on buying a 24" iMac to also use for video editing, and most likely some music production using Logic Express as well.
I know the iMacs aren't considered "Pro" machines, but I really don't want a Mac Pro (for reasons of space, $$$, etc.).
I don't mind having to wait a bit longer for rendering, etc., but are there any other drawbacks to getting an iMac for this purpose? i.e. issues with the video card or anything...
Also, considering how I'll be using it, would it be worth the extra $500 to get the 2.8 GHz processor? Will there be a very noticeable difference?
TIA for your opinions-
-Dennis

Any of the new iMacs would be fine for FCP or Avid. FCP ran fine on Core Duo machines with a lot less horsepower than the new iMac. Nobody knows how much more powerful the new Core2Extreme is than the 2.4GHz Core2Duo in the base 24" configuration, because Intel hasn't made it generally available yet. If I were you, I'd buy the regular 24" iMac and buy some third party RAM to upgrade to 4GB (should set you back under $200), and get a large external Firewire/USB2 hard drive or two.

New iMac-Questions for musicians/computer experts

Friends,
My primary reason for buying a new iMac has to do with home music recordings. (Especially w GarageBand, but other music programs as well.)
Spent the day trying to get things going with my brand new iMac. (Specs below).
Things went pretty well, except when I got to peripherals. So, for some of you musicians out there who might have encountered similar situations when upgrading computers/operating systems:
1) *Presonus Firebox* preamp. On my old iMac, all I would do was plug in the firewire to the computer and the preamp turned on. (Usually left the firewire plug into the preamp all the time.) Never used the AC adaptor. Apparently wasn't necessary. The cable was a 6-pin to 6-pin. (Meaning, I think, 400 to 400.)
a) Tried to get the preamp going on the "new" iMac. Used a new 6-pin, coming out of the PreSonus Firebox, to 9-pin, going into the new iMac firewire port, cable. Nothing happened. Firebox didn't turn on.
b) Thoughts? Why didn't it work? Do I need to go to the PreSonus Firebox web-page to download an updated driver that will work with +Snow Leopard+? (Been to that site and it said +Mac users do not need to do this+.)
c) This is critical for me. I don't want to by a new preamp to do my recordings.
2) *Yamaha DGX-305* keyboard/synthesizer. I've used this for many recording purposes...sole piano work, comping, effects, etc... bringing it in as either MIDI (via USB cable) or analog (headphone out to iMac audio line in). But...
a) when I tried to bring it into my new iMac (same way: USB cable for MIDI), nothing happened. Tried to record....settings were all the same as on the old Mac (i.e. to a MIDI track in GB, line in/out were correct after setting them on the computer)....pushed "record" button, played, marker/track moved, but nothing was recorded.
b) It would seem that I would have to go to the Yamaha web site to download the latest driver to make this work.
Following a visit to the HP site and a phone call, was told that HP stopped making the printer I have (about six years old) and, therefore, do not make drivers compatible with +Snow Leopard+. So, today, I purchased a brand new printer. Certainly did not think I would have to do that after buying a new computer. And wasn't particularly happy about it. Present printer works just fine.
I will be visiting the websites and calling +PreSonus Firebox+ and Yamaha tomorrow morning to inquire about workable updated drivers for +Snow Leopard+. My great fear is that either or both will say the same thing as HP: "Stopped making those models and do not have downloadable drivers" for my new computer/operating system.
If that would be the case, it would mean that the "critical" peripherals for my home music recordings would be obsolete. Effectively negating the usefulness of my brand new iMac.
*THE MAIN CONCERN:*
*I do not want to buy a new preamp, keyboard, or whatever to enable me to resume my recording efforts. I didn't sign up for that when I bought my new iMac.*
Anxiously awaiting your thoughts.
The only reason I bought a new iMac (the old one...which I will still keep, works perfectly fine, just pushed to capacity) was to make my home recording efforts easier. Meaning, less stress on the processor, more space available on the computer itself for those huge music files, and more speed with much more RAM.
But it never occurred to me that buying a new computer would require buying everything else to go with it: printer, preamp, keyboard, etc.
And, just a quick p.s. regarding GB: on the old version I have, GB2, when you double-clicked the "instrument" icon at the very left of the track, it brought up a window where you could adjust things, change instrument sound/audio font, turn monitor on/off etc. However, when I double-clicked the instrument icon on the new GB, nothing happened. It would seem this is a typical problem with updated programs. Nothing, or at least not enough, is where it used to be. A real problem for an old guy like me to re-learn everything. I'm sure I'll have to do a lot more exploring to find out how this new GarageBand works.
Thanks for any comments/suggestions. (If it weren't for the invaluable resource of Apple Discussion Forums, I wouldn't even have considered buying a new computer. At least I know you guys are here.)

• Firebox: There is a problem with the Firewire card in newer Macs - I have the same problem. It will not sync up with some interfaces (I have the Inspire) when they have no external power source. There's only two solutions: use the power adaptor, or chain it with an externally powered hard drive. After everything is up and running, it should be okay to unplug the power adaptor.
• Keyboard: The device that your computer is connected to is not the keyboard but the midi interface (which you call "cable"). You can plug any midi instrument into that, the Mac doesn't care. So you'll have to update your interface's driver, but you don't tell us what it is. If it's a yamaha intereface:
http://www.global.yamaha.com/download/usb_midi/
(And a note: Lengthy posts like yours, with a lot of talk about why you bought your computer etc., don't attract a lot of people to give you answers. A short but concise description of your problem - like what interface you are using - is a lot more helpful.)

New iMac owner - trouble viewing videos

Hi - I am a brand new iMac owner. Running OS 10.8.5 Mountain Lion I believe. What exact plug ins do I need to view videos? Nothing works through safari onn youtube or any other hosted video site that I've tried. Thanks

Well, as a matter of fact there is no need to have Adobe Flash Player installed to watch videos on YouTube.
Of course you can install it, but you can live without it and be able to watch YouTube videos altogether.
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SladeSS wrote:
So, I can interchange between the Mac OS and Windows at any time I want or did I understand that wrong? Is it a one or the other kind of deal?
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New iMac Retina for Premiere CC 2014

Hi everyone,
we're ready to upgrade a couple of PCs here at the studio and I think we are probably jump over to the Mac wagon. We love the idea of getting the new Retina iMacs (maxed out) with i7 4.0GHZ and 32 RAM, flash storage.... There are a few considerations on top of performance like compactness, portability and yes...design. There are however a couple of questions:
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- In terms of editing with external hard drives, is USB 3 a good idea until we can afford some Thunderbolt drives?
- I read the new iMacs will come with AMD graphic cards so I guess they wont be able to use the CUDA Mercury engine?
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Guille

The Mercury Engine can use OpenCL in Radeon cards. That being said, the R9 M290X is not in the list of currently supported cards, and therefore the Mercury Engine should default to Software Only.
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Until then, you may be better off with a maxed out 27" iMac which has the GeForce GTX 775M, which is supported. It will no doubt perform better, and yes it will be like a hot knife through butter.

New Mac Pro for film scoring....

Hi guys,
I'm ready to upgrade my Quad G5 to a brand new MacPro.....
I plan to use Logic 9 and NI Komplete, Spectrasonics libraries, VSL Orchestral Cube (+ eventually Appassionata Strings), Kirk Hunter and Gariitan Orchestral Strings, EW Steinway B and PMI Grandioso Bosendorfer 290, Sam Horns and many many other sample libraries converted from Giga format to exs24 and Kontakt format plus a bunch of virtual synths....
My actual template consist of 200 assigned tracks but I only can play simultaneously 30-35 with effects (6 Space Designer and 10-12 Sonnox plugs) at 48 Khz sample rate and low poliphony....
My actual G5 will become a slave (streaming part of my template samples to the new Mac Pro)..
So I'm oriented to the Xeon Quad core "Nehalem" 3.2 Ghz with 16 Giga Ram...
What can I expect in terms of sample streaming and V.I. performance from such a system?
Thank you

Hello,
Up until recently I had a similar setup. My main Mac is a 2008 8-core Xeon with 16 GB RAM, and my main slave machine was a 2005 dual 2.3 GHz G5 with 8 GB RAM. My scoring template for the last 2 years (running on those 2 Macs) contains 300 tracks/instruments and 12 reverb buses, mostly running Space Designer.
On the Mac Pro I host 228 of those instruments; 128 of them are Kontakt instruments, 16 are EastWest Play instruments, 8 are VSL instruments (matrices) and 76 are Logic EXS instruments. All of these stream samples in real time from 9 dedicated SATA drives.
On the G5 I ran 72 more Kontakt-based instruments (East West Platinum orchestra & Storm Drum 1 percussion), also streamed from SATA drives. MIDI was routed via ethernet and audio from the G5 was returned via ADAT litepipe.
That system worked flawlessly - I think you'll be thrilled! I've since replaced my G5 with a new iMac, which is now one of my 2 slave machines - and I've also moved everything (except Logic instruments) into Vienna's Ensemble Pro AU/VST host, which is utterly amazing, and solves a lot of problems.
All in all, you'll have a VERY capable system
Best,

Setup on new iMac, asking for a Keychain Password for com.apple.smig

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Does anyone know what this is? What is it looking for?

Has anyone else figured this out? I'm getting it on every machine I upgrade and I have about 18 more to go and would like to fix it.
These are brand new iMac's shipped with Mountain Lion. I turn them on and the third screen asks if you want to transfer items from a backup or another Mac. I choose another Mac. Then use Migration Assistant on the users old machine (running Snow Leopard 10.6.8) and then let it transfer all of their files.
At just about the end of the transfer the new Mac pops up this error and waits until an action is taken. I've tried every password it could have been on the previous users machine to no avial. The only option appears to be hitting cancel and movi ng on but I'd like to know what is breaking when this happens becase the machines exhibit a strange spinning wheel hang when logging in afterwards?
Here's a screen shot of the new iMac and the problem:
Thanks!

New iMac looks for old Mac tower

I purchased a new iMac recently and used Migration Assistant to move my Documents folder over from my old G5 Tower. To the best of my memory, I did not use Migration Assistant to move system files or applications over to the iMac.
Once I thought I had everything configured just right, 3 things occured where the new iMac was looking for the old G5 Tower:
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I have recently brought a new imac g5 and want to set it up by wireless internet.
My dad lives 2 doors down from me and has a pc with broadband and i was wondering if i could use his broadband by setting up my mac with wireless.
What would i need to do this and would it matter that he has a pc.
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I'm not too sure about the iMac but I know my laptops can pick up wifi signals that are a good 1/2 mile away, in the City of Baltimore for example, with my laptop, I can pickup 4 - 6 signals from my Studio, obviously most of them are protected (secured) signals, and I know for a fact there are not 6 people around me running independent wireless broad band within a few houses.
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New iMac 27 for Film/Video Post Production

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