Worth the effort? 8 bit AVCHD 1080p 4:2:0 versus 1080i 10 bit uncompressed

Hello,
I am i homing in on a final MacBook Pro versus Mac Pro decision to enable both real-time capture (argues for portable) and final cut - color - motion work flow.
i have a new sony HXR 5NU that provides me with 25 Mbps 1080p AVCHD 8 bit 4:2:0 from the camera or 10 bit uncompressed 1080i 4:2:2 via SDI or HDMI. The latter would involve a MacBook (not lugging a 45 pound Mac Pro around on the set) and an external MOTU HD Express HDMI or or a Matrox O2 LE.
The key question is if the extra information is significant in terms of final look, constructing quality masks, etc. I believe the answer is yes as it relates to simply comparing 8 bit 4:2:0 versus 10 bit uncompressed 4:2:2. Seems the answer is murkier with the trade-off of 1080i (the uncompressed signal) versus 1080p from AVCHD.
I do not know the internal workings of the camera, it is possible that it is 1080i off of the sensor electronics and a pull down is happening with the avchd encoder which means that it is not really a trade-off.
Any opinions?
Otherwise I just focus on getting the best out of my camcorder's avchd output using a waveform monitor and go for a Mac Pro in Post.
Any thoughts on this?
Wayne
Portland

Thoughts or opinions? Remember, you asked for it.
You haven't done the math.
You do seem to realize there might be some kind of quality difference between 4:2:0 AVC and 10 bit uncompressed, which is a good thing, but haven't dealt with the larger issues.
First off, while FCP might deal with AVC without too much fuss, it is not an approved codec for use with COLOR, and you will be dealing with a transcode at some point.
If you are dealing with some kind of sub-cinema format camera, which is producing AVC, then the practical reality is that its sensors are indulging in a serious amount of voodoo, and if your project is going to involve anything like a lot of greenscreen, then you are also buying yourself a certain amount of downstream pain, since the bandwidth that an actual 10-bit 4:4:4 camera produces is what you might really want. But that brings us to the real math.
Your first paragraph contains the phrase:
MacBook Pro versus Mac Pro decision to enable both real-time capture
Uh.... I guess you'd also be looking for some other kind of AJA/Io or whatever interface to work with the MacBook Pro, since it only supports USB and FireWire natively, neither of which will support 10-bit Uncompressed, or some other kind of slot34 device. I expect you really meant "on-set" capture, rather than real-time, since the only other way into a MacBook would be a P2-type card interface. In addition, real time Uncompressed 1920x1080 is very demanding no matter whether it is 24/30 frame, 8- or 10-bit. I'd be surprised if any Mac laptop could hack it. Its harder to do than HDV.
If you are recording on tape, then you can bet that the recorded format is segmented, which is a special, non-temporally related form of interlace, that allows a progressive frame to be recorded on a format that is maxed out at 1080i. Pull down is a term reserved for use with generating redundant frames to bridge a rate difference -- most notably "24" fps to "30" fps, which you don't mention. But which would be another significant hurdle.
I used to have this handy-dandy chart that listed all the bitrates and storage requirements for uncompressed formats SD, HD, 2K, etc., but it isn't in my field of view at the moment. 10-bit Uncompressed 1920x1080 at 29.97 takes up about a TeraByte per hour... do you have that much storage for field work? It isn't RED. It also requires a transfer rate in the Gigabit range, so in a practical sense it really requires a fibre-channel interface.
I'm kind of thinking you will eventually wind up with a ProRes workflow. You could get away with a laptop and AJA interface doing that.
jPo

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        That's a good question elinder21. There's plenty of customers who get by quite comfortably with the 8 GB iPhone using what you've described. Most iTunes games are around 100 MB, normal length songs (about 4 minutes long) are only about 3 MB each, and most pictures taken on the iPhones are around 2 MB each.  One gigabyte (GB) equals 1,024 megabyte (MB) of data, so 8 GB equals 8,192 MB of data. So the 8 GB iPhone can actually fit quite a bit onto it. Just remember, there is no way to increase the amount of memory available on the iPhones, but you can transfer files to your computer when you find yourself using more than expected. And if you frequently back up your information to your computer instead of leaving hundreds of pictures on your device at all times, there's a good chance the 8GB model will work well.
    Whatever you decide, enjoy your new phone!
    JenniferH_VZW
    Please follow us on Twitter @vzwsupport

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