ISO - People that Make DVDs on Mac's

[wilson]

after my PC crashing yet again and countless errors and problems I am thinking off making the switch

what programs do you guys use

I was reading on that appple site that final cut pro hd lets you go from dv to hd with no quality loss that sounds cool :cool:


right now I use adobe premiere and tmpgenc dvd authour 1.5....I am hoping i can make an easy transition over I have alot of projects to finish and I am never going to get anywhere with all the pc crashes and program errors :lol

[willndmb]

i have a mac and i have/worked with iMovie 2 -- had 3 and 4 but for dubbing they suck
iMovie HD which i hate and wish i hadn't trashed iMovie 4 for it -- because it will not open a older project without converting it and screwing it up
FC Express
FC Pro 3 and 4
DVD Studio Pro 1 and 2
iDVD 5

iMovie 2 is the best iMovie for dubbing because it lets you move frame by frame
FC express is a low scale version of Pro--for the most part Pro is over kill
Pro comes with Shake though, never used it
DVDSP 1 is cool but 2 killlls it, 2 has menus built in, the rest is basically the same i think
iDVD 5 has new menus and allows you to do chapters but it usually hasa fixed bit rate

FCE/P HD i never worked with but based on iMovie HD its the same as thenormal version just tweaked to work with HD video too

so all in all
if you want to do dubbing right now the best bet would be to get FCE/P
depending on what youuse to burn iDVD will work
or DVDSP will--and thats wayyy better
if you don't do dubbing that has to be exact like concerts then iMovie is fine and FCE/P you would prob only use for mixing angles

EDIT-- FCE/P isa lot like premiere

[wilson]

yeah I spent over 30 hours in front of my computer cropping and editing the ben harper i shot at acl and lost everything do to my PC :eek:

I think I am going to head by an apple store when I am down in dallas this weekend.....

I just need something that can sync as good as premiere and make decent text menus

[h_vargas]

wilson, just out of curiosity, was your PC that died a pre-built machine you bought (like from one of those big name computer corporations)? just curious, as i read about several people who have "small businesses" using PCs/Premiere for video editing having their PCs die on them this past year... and curiously enough, they were all made by the same big computer corp. that has its headquarters in Texas, i believe, it is.

as for final cut pro hd letting users go from DV to HD with no quality loss, that's interesting... i may be way off base here, but i don't see any advantage of upsampling standard DV (720x480) to HD resolution. i mean, it's like if you take a typical Redbook WAV file at 16/44.1 and upsample it to 24/48, it's not going to sound "better" because the source material was captured at the lower bit-depth/resolution. i would think the same holds true for upsampling video resolution - it may not "lose" quality, but it won't really gain quality either... just boost the file size.

but if i'm off base on this, someone please point me to the light!

[AAR.oner]

wilson...

just a few notes:

1. as a former PC user who switched to Mac [but still use my pc for file storage], let me tell you--SWITCH TO MAC!!! far less errors, crashes, security problems, hack attempts, spam, adware, etc...

2. as a film student & former audio recording junkie, mac is the way to go in both worlds...final cut is very similar to premiere [which i have used in the past], but i find it a bit more "professional" [mainly its filters, effects, etc]...

3. re: converting DV to HiDef---h_vargas is right...in order to truly make something HD, the footage would've had to have been shot on a HD Camera [which few people have the $10,000 for]...however, i still use Final Cut Pro HD for the footage i import [XL2 down to regular DV Cam footage]...i simply import it in whatever format it is, and not as HD...

i would note that if you are merely going to import footage [such as live shows] and do little in regards to filters/effects/etc. i would just buy Final Cut Express [just looked in MacMall and its $294 right now]...

4. Apple's online store offers student discounts, so if yer a student [or know a student who would purchase something in their name for you] you can get the Final Cut Production Suite [Final Cut Pro HD, DVD Studio Pro (professional-level menu authoring), Motion, & Peak(audio) + more] for only $499!!! thats about a 60% discount...i'm sure Final Cut Express would be even less than $300 with the student discount as well...

hope that helps a bit...if you do decide to get the Production Suite, look online and note the minimum system req for each program so you are sure you can run them...

good luck...slainte!
aar.onerrrrrrrrrrrrr

[dirtfloorcracker]

On this subject, is it generally frowned upon to use imovie/idvd to create/synch concert DVDs? Is there any loss of quality compared to using more advanced programs like final cut, or Vegas on a PC?