Hi folks.. I just recently jumped into the Mac world with a 20" iMac 2.4 which I intend to use mostly for photo editing and video work. I currently use an XP machine with PS2 and Premiere 6.5 which works ok for what I do, however I decided to take the plunge and see what's what with the Mac world of things (offered a deal I couldn't pass up).

As far as photo editing (post processing with jpeg and RAW images) I would assume PhotoShop being the prog of choice?

What then would be the better video editing choice? Here's what I need to be able to do.

I shoot with a Panasonic DVC30, edit with Premiere 6.5 and export to uncompressed AVI from which I then convert to WMV with Windows Movie Maker in a format I use for my websites. The edited video in Premiere is then exported again to m2v format to author a DVD of the same video. I use TmpEng Author to do up my DVDs.

I bought the iMac in order to be able to do my video editing and processes while I'm still web working on the PC (meh, or gaming).

I don't know if the supplied software iLife is powerful enough to handle a basic editing job as I haven't yet tried it..

So in order to be able to do all of this for video work, what advice or suggestions might I have to:

(A) edit video and export final version, including titles, transitions and tags (web site url at bottom of whole length of video)

(B) Convert edited video to WMV format of choice (most of the world still uses Windows and WMV is the format of choice)

(C) What's best to use to author a DVD (taking final edited video and burn it to DVD)

(D) strangely enough, can DivX videos be created properly with a Mac?

In the past I would go through tons of reviews, forums and sites to read up on what works and what doesn't work, and then go through too many software to find out what doesn't work, even though someone suggested it in a website review. This time, I'm hoping the learned people could help narrow down the search on this subject.

thanks in advance.

Cheers

Go to www.squared5.com to get mpeg steamclip (free) for converting your video. Toss up between photo shop and aperture from apple. I don't edit photos so not much help there. Here is a site with open source software you might use: http://www.opensourcemac.org . I have used iMovie for quick editing. Works good. I am in the process of learning Final Cut Express which has alot more options. idvd works fine. Not sure on DivX. I started with my 24 inch iMac but moved on to a mac pro. You definately want a external scratch to speed things up. Being new to the mac, good forum to check out is www.macnn.com .
Hope this helps.
Randy

Many thanks for the input, much appreciated. I had been looking at FCE as it would fit my needs for the type of video I normally produce.

not sure what you meant by "external scratch" though, is this meaning an external HDD (which I have many)? I read that though on PC USB2 throughput is comparable to FireWire, it's not on a iMac, saying that Firewire is the way to go..

Been looking at Aperture and PS, I think cost is going to be more of the deciding factor..

Thanks again.

Cheers

The scratch disc would be an external drive. This speeds things up by reading from one disc and writing to the other instead of reading and writing from the same disc. Not sure if your iMac has FW800 but if it does, use that as its faster than USB2. FW400 is comparable to USB2. If your using multiple tracks for video and sound, you will need FCE or pro but if your only using single tracks, iMovie might work for you. Apple just upgraded FCE to 4.0 and heard they took stuff out so compair 3.5 to 4.0 before you buy. Apples support board shows folks talking about this. Glad to have help. Let us know if you have any other questions.
Randy

Thanks M8, I shall. I have a shoot coming up next tuesday and will try the edit on the iMac after I have it processed on the PC (it ain't dead yet but soon)..

Simple line editing, 1 sound track etc is all I do with titling.. iMovie should be good enough for my needs, hopefully.

Just checking my scrap pile and discovered an external HDD case with firewire (old version most likely) and a few never used 7200 rpm HHDs waiting for something to make them happy ; )

Checked the system info on this iMac ad it does show the firewire to be the 800 mb/s version.. so I would most likely be better off with a newer external HDD case that supports that format.

A little extra knowledge goes a long way..

Now to find out "fer sur" about memory upgrades on these newer iMacs.. Apple says 4G mx but every board I encountered say "yes you can install 2 X 2G sticks but won't access more than 3.1G of it.. so don't waste the coins.. go for a single 2G or 1G (3G max or 2G).. Might lean on just the 1G upgrade but again, no one can tell me which is the better module to get that will work best with the iMac etc.. sigh So much so little but fun.

Head over to http://macsales.com to check out there inclosures. You want one with the oxford chip set so your external can be bootable. Would suggest you get the multi port (usb, FW400,FW800). Then get a copy of CCC (carbon copy cloner)(shareware). Split your disk so one is the backup and the other is your scratch. Its nice to fire up to the backup when trouble arrives on the main drive. Also, create 2 accounts. Your main one you use, set as a regular user. The other one as system admin. This way, your more secure when on the net and such, and also when trouble starts happening, log into the admin account to see if the trouble is still there. Usually its a software problem on your main account acting up. If it happens in both, then its usually a hardware problem.
Randy

Well doesn't THAT suck?! I bought this iMac for video editing to replace my aging PC. After a couple of days of research as to why my Panasonic DVC30 isn't being seen on the iMac, I've discovered a lot of not fun information.

(A) This is a comon problem, sometimes resolveable with a PMR or SMC reset. Sometimes NOT..

(B) Doesn't seem like you would be able to connect a min-DV camera to the FW400 *AND* a scratch disk on FW800!! Wtf?

All I want to do is hook up my vid cam to the iMac, and use a fw800 drive as a video editing drive. I currently use a seperate internal HDD for video editing on my aging PC.

I haven't yet found anyone with an aluiMac 2.4ghz 20" Leopard set up the way I was told it could be set up (vid cam on fw400 and external hdd on fw800).

However, this setup and a multiple other combo setups can be easily achieved on a PC without effort.

Doesn't it want you to watch the spectacled PC guy beat the living hell out of that condensending wussie geek in those PC/Mac commercials?

I'm going to give this another week of troubleshooting and if it's not resolved by then, return the iMac for a refund (false advertising BS) and pickup a QuadCore on XP.. at least I know THOSE will work flawlessly. Frustrated yes, but mostly annoyed at being mislead by all the hype and misleading sales information that this iMac would be the do all be all of editing systems. Sigh..

Lets see what happens next.. still got a few other things to try before tossing it in..

thanks Randy.. a lot of the problems I had been discovering through other mac boards today relate the "Oxford" chip to cause some of the problems associated with the iMac not seeing the drives and causing problems. But I'm still trying to work out my niggly little problem with the video camera before looking at the fw800 drives.. just in case I decide to dump the mac altogether.. Shame I bought 4G's of mem before realizing this erhm.. problem.

Hopefully I'll find something that'll resolve the issues.

Cheers M8

I know this would stink but would suggest plug the camcorder in to upload, disconnect, then connect your scratch disk when your ready to edit. I edited on my iMac for about 4 months before buying a refurb macpro. The iMac is nice but when it comes to heavy editing, the macpro is alot faster. I love the 4 internal drive bays especially. Not sure what kind of pc your looking at to go back to but think you would be happy with a mac pro. If you do get rid of the iMac, the mac pros (older ones) will drop due to the newer ones coming out in January.
Randy

After a week of problems it has been determined that all ALuminum framed intel based iMacs have some degree of issues with the firewire bus, and none are compatible with a DVC30 video (and others we tried). This has been tested on floor model iMacs running either Tiger and Leopard OS. However, everything is awesome on any other product Mac makes, the camera shows up as per requirements. But not a newer intel based iMac. Go figure.

So based on some deeper research and advice from other video editors, I was able to return the iMac and bought a Mac Pro with 4G memory and 1Tb Raid10. Some extras tossed in to help the customer who almost swore off Macs for good made this a 'can't pass it up deal'.

So when the new Mac Pro comes in, I'll be back with "OK how do I do this and that" once again.. =)

Thanks to those who helped me out and offered advice and suggestions, it was much appreciated.

Cheers M8s


Its starting to look like the iMac I have has a dead FW400. It didn't occure to me until this morning over coffee that when looking at Profiler, it would show firewire on the left side and ONLY FW800 on the right side.. no mention at all to the FW400 which is what I'm unable to connect and make work.. Gonna be chatting with a tech supp guy today about getting it fixed.

Hmmm when looking at the "macs" I didn't know about the mac pros, egads 8 core?? Knowing that you can pick up memory, HDDs and graphic cards cheaper at other places than through Apple, I supposed you could get a base model MacPro and build it up as you go along?

When looking at my editing needs, I think an iMac will suffice since all I do is basic titling, sound adjustments, transitions and colour adjustments (white balance). However, should the iMac impress me enough (when I get it working) then I might see about moving along to something bigger better faster. A Quad PC I was looking to build up for editing was going to cost me roughly $2000 but a Mac Pro, basic configuration is starting at $2500. ouch. To get the fully kitted up verson with a 20" display, wow, you're up to $15,000 oomph. Where do you start looking for reliable 'refurbs'?

Interesting concept, however I need to resolve the iMac issues, and once working 100% will need to spend a lot of time getting used to it and then deciding if "mac" is the route for me.. I have to be honest, I did purchase it on a whim to see if Mac is suite for me needs, unfortunately it's not having a good kick off..

Once I start video editing with the iMac, then I have a steeeeeep learning curve to get everything sorted out and able to switch completely to iMac and put the ol' editing PC to rest.

I'm one of those unlucky souls that doesn't learn well from RTFM but learn quickly from hands on "show me" instructions. I don't know anyone locally who video edits with a mac so I'm in for a long road of fun and tribulations ; )

Mac pro huh? gah, you had to bring that up huh?