Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors

Richard Harrington
RHED Pixel
Washington District of Columbia USA

©2011 CreativeCOW.net. All rights reserved.

Richard Harrington describes how he reached the decision to switch from Final Cut Pro to Adobe Premiere Pro and why part of his post-production department is running on Windows.

The past few years has forced me to rethink a lot of my business decisions. What I'm going to lay out for you is how I reached the decision to switch from Final Cut Pro to Adobe Premiere Pro, as well as why part of my postproduction department is running on Windows.

A MAC GUY, TO SAY THE LEAST
To say the least, I'm a Mac guy. I learned on an Apple II in grade school. Got my first Mac at Drake University, which required each student to have one. I ran a publishing company, a web company, worked for other companies, and then myself, all using Macintosh workstations and Apple-centered workflows.

Along the way, I was certified as one of the First Final Cut Pro instructors. I've written more than 10 books specifically about the Mac OS and Mac-only applications. I've spoken at Macworld, Mac Live, and numerous other conferences about the Mac. In fact I'm writing this story on a MacBook Pro using Apple Pages, which is by far my favorite word processor.

So what happened? I guess you could say "I lost my religion." I have not abandoned the Mac platform -- it's still the majority in our shop -- but I have become much more open-minded about where Windows fits in and how PC manufacturers offer a wider range of machines with a lot more potential processing power.

Running parallel systems. Please click image above for larger view.

MOMENTS OF CLARITY
I was pulling together footage and selects to show a client. I had about 45 minutes of interviews that I needed posted to the web for their review that night. Everything was complete in Final Cut, and I chose to export, first, directly to Compressor, then with reference movies. In both cases the compression time was well over 2 hours for simple iPod-formatted movies. Two hours of my life about to be wasted, and one more meal I missed with the wife and kids.

Then the lightbulb went off. Because I had the Adobe Creative Suite installed for Photoshop and After Effects as much as anything else, I already had the Adobe Media Encoder installed too. It is wicked fast, 64-bit and uses every core to its fullest.

Adobe Premiere Pro can import an XML file from Final Cut Pro, so I quickly saved out an XML from my FCP project, and imported it into Premiere Pro. Since I wasn't moving any media -- Premiere and FCP were on the same Mac, and like all of the computers in our shop, connected to the SAN -- my FCP project imported into Premiere in about two minutes. A quick menu pick in Premiere of File > Export > Media, and the files were off to Adobe Media Encoder.

RHED Pixel's HP DreamColor monitor works alongside their Apple Cinema Display. Please click image for a larger view.

The 45 minutes of footage that was going to take FCP/Compressor two hours to render was only going to need 30 minute to compress on the same Mac using Adobe Media Encoder. I clicked "Go," and walked down the hall.

Out of curiosity, I opened the same FCP project in Premiere Pro on the PC tower. Our network drives can be seen by Mac or PC, so the footage was already in place. With Apple QuickTime and the ProRes decoder on Windows loaded, the project opened in a snap.

For giggles I chose to export the project again, to compare it to the similarly-configured Mac --17 minutes on the PC, and it was done.

From two hours on Mac, down to 30 minutes on the same Mac, to 17 minutes on a PC.

I was hooked.

Then Apple made the decision pretty easy for even those on my staff who were most resistant to change. After a few days with FCPX, even the most stubborn were ready to switch to Premiere. It was all the motivation we needed to embrace a new path.

WHERE WE ARE NOW

Once you launch Adobe Creative Suite, there is no real difference between Mac and PC from an aesthetic point of view. The apps look the same on both platforms and behave the same. Where they deviate is speed.

You can build a Mac Pro with up to 12 cores. You can go to a 1 GB graphics card, and 64 GB of RAM. Need card slots? You get three. Memory? There are eight slots to fill.

On the other hand, we recently got an HP Z800 workstation. Just as easy to open up as a Mac Pro, and once inside, no tools needed to access slots, change drives or even power supplies. Instead of topping out at 2.93 GHz, I can go up to 3.6 GHz (with several more choices for processor speed).

Twelve slots of RAM can go up to 192 GB of RAM, and up to 6GB of GPU power. For a Mac user, such choices, and such speed, are simply not available.

WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

Moving forward, we're mixing Macs and PCs. We just converted one of our edit suites over to PC, building it around the Z800. The speed of the Z800 combined with Premiere Pro's ability to work with native camera media is quite compelling, but we have found that we can still run parallel systems. We left our Mac Pro in the room on a KVM switch which allows the PC and Mac to share the same keyboard and mouse, so that if an editor needs to jump over to the Mac, it's just a push of a button.

As we move new projects over to a PC-oriented workflow, we can still go back to the old Mac systems for Final Cut Pro 7. If we want to, we can port old projects and most of their organization into Adobe Premiere Pro. If it's just a quick fix, we go back in time, but moving forward on new projects we don't look back. The old assets and old project files serve as great starts to new projects.

I think our state of mind can best be summarized by one of my musical heroes (who I've had the pleasure of talking to in person). The great George Clinton said "Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow." So will increased profits, faster workflows, and greater flexibility.

You don't have to choose. Use both for the tasks they are best suited, and for us, that means the HP Z800 for heavy lifting.

For more stories like these, take a look at the Creative COW Magazine Special Edition, "Free Your Mind: How Mac Users are Using the HPZ800 For Power & Profit."

This article brought to you by HP Workstations.
For more information, visit www.hp.com/workstations.

Comments

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Trent Cox

Good read. We've had the HP z800 for 7 months and been very happy with it. Zero issues. We edit on Avid and do a lot of After Effects work. Running multiple applications, like having AE rendering in the background while editing in Avid, has never been smoother.

http://www.corpcommgroup.blogspot.com
http://www.corpcommgroup.com

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Michael Kalin

Something is seriously screwed up on that machine!

Upggrade it to Windows 7. I have a 4gb laptop, plus a few older single core Intel, 2gb machines that run Windows 7 fast and with no problems.

They obviously aren't robust editing machines, but I am running Photoshop 5.5 and Lightroom 4.0 on them with no problem.

Start with a fresh, clean stage. That machine has a lot of useful life as a second tier box.

With a Photography degree, and an IT digital imaging background going back to 1991, I have used so many types of OS's and boxes - Dec Alpha servers, Sun workstations and servers, IBM mainframes, etc. - that I don't get just using one kind of box.

All of my NAS/SAN boxes are Unix/Linux. Linux is like an embedded OS in a car - small and light footprint, it can load from a 256K flash drive. Always a use for older CPU's somewhere - storage boxes, streaming servers, etc.

Good luck.

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Mike Cohen

Interesting reading experiences of so many people going from FCP to PPRO, and from MAC to PC. We are now evaluating the best PC to PC on steroids solution, or MAC solution for continued PPRO work. Choices seem to be Z800 (self-configured on HP website), custom-built from system integrator such as ADK, or Mac Pro. There are pros and cons to each.

Mike Cohen

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by mike propper

What a moment of clarity... I'll have to think hard about Adobe, but saving time is pretty compelling. Thanks!

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@Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Tom Daigon

Finally, I look upon the info provided in an "Advertorial Supplement" a little bit different than a regular article. Most folks (at least the smart ones) do!
I realize this supplement represents lots of income for the COW, and Im glad you made it clear that its was bought and paid for by a client. It up to us readers to take that into consideration when reading its contents.

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

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@Tom Daigon
by Tim Wilson

Tom: It up to us readers to take that into consideration when reading its contents.

Thanks for taking my reply in its intended spirit: not defensive, or suggesting that you shouldn't be skeptical. We encourage that around here. :-) I just wanted to underscore that as much as we'll disclose the source of stories, we'll also not run them t all if they don't pass our own sniff test. I honestly think that this one stands up to scrutiny.

Knowing that this isn't your first rodeo when it comes to looking for alternatives to a potential dead end, I hope you'll take me up on my invitation to drop a line when you come to some conclusions....

Thanks again,
Tim

Tim Wilson
Associate Publisher, Editor-in-Chief
Creative COW Magazine

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@Tim Wilson
by Tom Daigon

Tim, I will gladly let you know my choice to replace my Mac Pro. Right now the finalists are ADK, Boxx and HP.The web has really provided a great source of info when researching such an important investment as this. And the COW continues to play a major role in that process.

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Tom Daigon

Thank you Tim for an even handed response. I am also in the same boat as many folks are, looking into alternatives. I look at skepticism as a virtue not a character flaw. :D
In a thread elsewhere I had a short dialog with Richard who was upset with what he felt was an attack on his credibility. I explained my feelings about articles mentioning products that were sponsored by the manufacturer.I was genuine when I responded to Ronalds comment, that I really appreciate the COWs approach to truth in journalism. Information is vital in this business and at times its important to know whos buttering the bread. I dont worry about that here....

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Tom Daigon

Its very important to see who sponsored this infomercial. Look for the BIG HP logo at the bottom of the page.

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

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@Tom Daigon
by Ronald Lindeboom

HP sponsored this? :o)

We clearly labeled it and even put ON EVERY PAGE that it was sponsored by HP. And in case you missed it, we even put a GREAT BIG HP LOGO on the cover.

Glad you noticed.

Best regards,

Ronald Lindeboom
CEO, Creative COW LLC
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine
A 2011 FOLIO: 40 honoree as one of the 40 most influential publishers in America
http://www.creativecow.net

Creativity is a process wherein the student and the teacher are located in the same individual.

"Incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm." - Woody Allen

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@Ronald Lindeboom
by Tom Daigon

Yes you certainly did. And we all appreciate the transparency. Its good to know the difference between regular reviews and sponsored ones. And before you protest this observation, Im sure if Richard had some issues with HP (as many users have), HP most likely wouldnt have sponsored the article. I like to know who is buttering the bread when I read informative articles that mentions specific products. Keep up the good work!

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

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Editorial integrity
by Tim Wilson

Sorry for the late reply. You're right to be skeptical about editorial integrity, Tom, given its dire absence outside the COW.

You have it backwards, though. It's not that HP wouldn't have sponsored the article if Richard had mentioned problems. It's that Richard wouldn't have DONE the article if he found issues. Like most of the people in the COW, he doesn't have time to write about what DOESN'T work. He'd spend the time finding something that DOES.

Here's how I know that: I asked him to write the article before he had any relationship with HP whatsoever. He told me this story, and my jaw dropped. Only after this did I suggest that he and HP might want to talk to each other. By that time, Rich had already started construction on a new room to house his new PC system, and was going ahead with it without regard to HP or anyone else.

As he also mentions, there may be not be a more hard-core Mac guy in the COW. There's nothing that could have persuaded Richard to do this if it didn't work. And as he ALSO also mentions, he's not getting rid of any Macs, nor ruling out buying more Macs in the future. FCP is still his editing environment of choice. It's just that, as he organically finds room for Windows in his workflow, he's going to run it on HP workstations.

So if you ask which came first with the story and HP's sponsorship, the chicken or the egg, the answer is, THE APPLE. All of these expanded workflow stories, or conversion to Media Composer or Premiere, whether on Mac or Windows -- that isn't being driven by any dark corporate conspiracies. Apple is the only company that could ever have made them possible.

I should also note that we've done bunches of these stories for other companies, including a recent run of them for Blackmagic, Sony and Assimilate. Always clearly marked. Neither we nor those vendors would have it any other way. They do this to protect their own integrity too.

So I'm not sure what the problem is. Richard's story 100% checks out, and is echoed by people in every walk of life across the COW. We very clearly marked that the specific presentation of it here is sponsored. This is how it's SUPPOSED to work.

The last thing I'll add is that this story originally appeared in a print supplement to Creative COW Magazine. We have posted it as a standalone download, which you can download here. It couldn't possibly be more clearly marked...

...and it's one of the most popular downloads in the history of Creative COW Magazine. Tens of thousands already, and it's been up just a few weeks, over the holidays no less, and, other than this article, no publicity whatsoever. People are finding their way to it on their own, and downloading it because they know that more information leads to more options.

Again, we understand anybody's concerns about editorial integrity, and believe that our diligence has been one reason Creative COW Magazine is still growing, while others are out of print. But we're proud to stand alongside vendors who take their own integrity every bit as seriously, and always happy to talk to COWs who have questions about any of this.

So, Tom, when you get a chance, download that thing. :-) Drop me a line any time to tell me what you think, tim@ you know who dot net.

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Trent Watts

The one thing that still concerns me about PC's is their tendency to break down so much more. Especially any HP computers...

-1

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@Trent Watts
by Trent Watts

Nevermind, I checked out the z800. Anything that's $8,500 has to be reliable

-1

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Albert OConnor

Richard, thanks for the article about your OS/platform-epiphany.

I'll second the previously stated "welcome to the dark side" comment, I also want to add Bruce Willis' quote: "Welcome to the party pal!"

The PC-waters are fine and have been fine since the early 1990's.

Utilize any and all OS/platforms' strengths to get the job done, free your mind, the rest will follow, is my professional motto.

I hope now you'll get to spend more time with your family and less time at the office.

Bert O'Connor

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Chris Conlee

If you're new to the PC world, you should check out TMPGEnc. It's hand-down one of the best encoders out there, and fast. Particularly if you have a CUDA card. All the flexibility you could ever ask for, too. It's the reason I keep a Bootcamp partition on my MacPro.

Speaking of which, when I use up my current MacPro, I'm thinking I'll probably go back to PCs. The only reason I switched this last time was so I could have FCP on my machine if somebody walked in the door and wanted it. Not so much of a problem anymore. Avid and Adobe for me all the way.

Chris

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Ryan Sommer

Most of the people holding strong onto a Mac only workflow are doing it based on antiquated information and marketing. Windows 7 is very stable and so was XP (Vista not so much). But, I have probably seen 2 Apple kernel panics for every 1 Windows blue screen in the past 5 years. And there are also viruses, trojans etc being written specifically for Macs these days. I have seen people on Macs that have had to do full erase and installs of OSX due to malware they downloaded from installing free software from the internet.

As far as PP 5.5 goes: Coming from a 75% Avid, 25% FCP background I always considered PP a throw away app that just came free with CS but 5.5 version is truly better than FCP in my opinion and rivals Avid in a lot of ways. The 64 bit and CUDA acceleration really can make it a force to be reckoned with now.

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@Ryan Sommer
by Bernd Schäffer

This is a nice article.

I think one reason why people still hold on to Macs is that you can mess up a PC way faster and more easily. You have to be more cautious about crap- and bloatware. Than again... if you truely use your PC for working only, than this is no problem. Also I think the default settings of Windows have enough room for some tweaks and adjustments.

I'm a starter in business and I think that PCs are the way to go for beginners, because you can get the same hardware power with less money. As a beginner you probably don't need the unique features of a Mac anyway. I film (most of the time) with a Canon EOS 7D and just love the Adobe Creative suite. This was the right choice for me! (oh and the new i7 3930k is a beast of a 6xCore CPU :) )

The PowerPC days are over (when buying a new system...). The cpu architectures are the same today on PC and Mac.

There is also the big myth that a Mac makes you a better designer or artists. This is so wrong in many ways.

***
Digital Film and Animation student @ SAE Vienna

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Native AVCHD edit?
by Richard Jacana

Thanks for a most interesting article.

I'm still curious as to what codec you edit with in PP5.5 on a Mac. I have time to transcode and with transcoding you can use a much cheaper machine. I never could figure out what to transcode my footage into when I was giving PP a spin? Looked at cineform but it never seemed to work well.

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Re: Native AVCHD edit?
by Tero Ahlfors

If you have a CUDA supported card you don't have to transcode anything.

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Owen Wexler

I cut 32 episodes of a popular satellite TV show using the Adobe suite on a Windows workstation since that was what the station I worked at had... not all that different from the Mac now that (almost) all of the software is cross-platform and now that they both use Intel architecture. Windows 7 is almost as fast and stable as Mac OSX (almost, getting there but not quite).

The one thing to keep in mind when editing on Windows PCs is that they are much more susceptible to viruses and malware. Making sure a stout anti-virus/anti-malware package is installed and really riding herd on those who want to go to sketchy websites, download toolbars, etc. on the edit suites is more of the essence than ever with Windows machines.

Cinematographer - Editor - Motion Graphics Artist - Colorist

http://www.owenbwexler.com

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Rich Rubasch

We are an all Mac shop but I am intrigued by a faster workflow on PCs. We have all of our Macs networked on a gigabit network. I can edit off video files on another Mac without issues. We all have internal RAID drives and we share these amongst all the edit stations as needed....so no centralized storage really...just our internal RAIDS and a Gigabit network. We also have external JBOD enclosures with SATA connections to any computer we choose.

In other words networking on the Macs is a breeze and I am afraid to lose that easy connectivity.

I also feel that Premier likes to create new files and the structure of the scratch disc is still a bit bewildering.

So sharing media files across the network seamlessly and reliably without a massive (and expensive) SAN is key.

Doable on a PC based facility with 5-6 edit seats?

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production, Post, Studio Sound Stage
Founder/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
http://www.tiltmedia.com

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Al Bergstein

Well, I've been all over the map on this. I have done work on FCP 7 on Mac, Adobe Premiere 5.5 on both Mac and Windows 7 64 bit, and Vegas Pro 9, 10 and 11. My particular issue is with Multicamera productions. I usually shoot three or four camera. I've not yet found a great video that teaches the 'right' workflow for Adobe...need one the encompasses the audio soundtrack, which is critical to my multi camera edits, by the way. Everyone doing a video just uses three video camera tracks, which is only about 1/2 of the edit!

Vegas is hands down the easiest to use for this function, but is struggling with crashes frequently, since I'm continuing to use it until I master Premiere. Something between the graphics cards and the program I would venture. FCP does a great job and is stable, but requires transcoding, which IMHO is just wasted time. Adobe is really odd. I don't like the workflow at all, but it's stable as heck (is that a clue?? Grin). But I agree that the integration is fabulous. I wish that Adobe would at least be able to teach those of us doing music videos how to actually edit quickly for this function. The example I'm describing in that you start with three cameras and a master track, put it all together and create a multi cam track to edit it all. I am sure it's 'simple' but I have yet to see a video actually describing that scenario.

So yes, moving from FCP to Adobe is great, but it's not a no brainer. The workflow is distinctly different, and not always intuitive. But faster? Absolutely when you learn it. And Windows 7 does rock, compared to most Mac platforms people may have. I love having 8 cores just totally pegged. My MacPro does not get there.

Al

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Paul Neumann

Load and sync your video layers in a sequence. You can load audio tracks with them but you only want to have one active to cut to. Have all your video layers turned on.

Open a new new sequence and place the sequence with your synced layers into it.

Highlight the nested sequence on the timeline and go to "Clip/Multicam/Enable". Then go to "Window/Multicam Monitor".

Hit the record button and then the play button and switch cameras by tapping on whichever one you want. You can stop and pick up again with no problems.

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Al Bergstein

Thanks, I was under the impression that I had done that very thing, but it kept changing audio tracks as I cut between the video. Also, when I was done, I could not see my waveforms any more. It appeared that I should be able to expand and see them, but I was unable to.

My guess is that I needed to have all the audio tracks off, after syncing them and prior to creating the nested track, but I was under the impression that I had done that (I'm not currently in front of the computer project). It was the audio following the cuts that threw me. I couldn't seem to find a way to stop that from happening.

I'm sure that this is possible to do, but it didn't seem intuitive and I couldn't find help that explained what I needed to do to get that done right. It's probably just a workflow issue for me. My point was that while I can easily find a video that shows how to do a multi cam, I couldn't that could help solve what seems like a small issue related to it.

There's a lot to like about Premiere. I'll have time next week to rework on this without a deadline facing me. I'll give it a try. Thanks for your feedback.

Al

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@Al Bergstein
by Warren Morningstar

Audio in the multi-camera feature of Premiere is a little bewildering. Once you have nested the multi-camera sequence in a new sequence, the audio is going to come from Audio 1, or from the specific camera if you checked "Audio follows video." This may not be the best workflow, but here's my workaround: I mixdown the audio in the initial multi-camera sequence, export the master track, then reimport it and lay it down as Audio 1 in the multi-camera sequence. Then nest that sequence in a new sequence and select multi-camera monitor in the window menu. You can now cut to all of your cameras without messing up your audio.

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Paul Neumann

OK so I ran CS1 through CS5 on an HP workstation (went to a 64-bit OS as soon as Adobe supported it) and could never understand the popularity of FCP given its limitations and I totally appreciate the epiphany you've had. Once I got my first CUDA card and loaded up 32 gig of RAM I just dug my heels in further and could only think that Apple better do something pretty amazing to top the performance I'm getting out of this set up.

I've run a Henry, Fire, Smoke & Avid and the way CS5 just flat out works together is amazing and I can't believe people overlook it whether for sake of platform or branding or whatever. I'm running CS5.5 on a Macbook Pro now (changed jobs) and really miss all that CUDA goodness. I'm using FCPX too whenever I can just to better my personal toolset as well. Good but not as useful to be sure.

I mention all this only to say that I'm truly in your corner on this one and completely dig what you're doing. My problem is that you're comparing 32-bit and all its memory constraints to 64-bit and who knows how many gigs of RAM. Not really fair. An eye-opening comparison for somebody still using FCP7 to be sure, but not a really apples to apples (pun intended) comparison, eh?

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Ben Oliver

Build a hackintosh like I did....BEST OF BOTH WORLDS...in one.

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@Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Brandon Fenty

Good read. Don't think I'm ready to drop my Mac just yet - there are still too many features about it I like - but I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of CS5 over FCP. It's fast, intuitive, and just all around better than FCP.

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Andy Field

Actually people will chose -- and Apple alienated so many pros that they will do what you've done Richard - chose a PC SAD

Andy Field
FieldVision Productions
N. Bethesda, Maryland 20852

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Re: Article: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Frank Gothmann

Good read indeed. The z800 is a fantastic workhorse and so flexible. Combined with CS5 and MC6 it totally rocks. However, I am also discovering a lot of truly great tools and workflows on the windows side that are less known to Mac users and it would be great if someone wrote a piece on that from a Mac/FCP user perspective. Avisynth alone makes a windows workstation worthwile.

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Randall Munsters

Wow, I love my 27" iMac and wouldn't trade it out for anything. Last night I was cursing out my AMD quad core PC for being way too slow. Just booting it up from hibernation and loading one application (mind you it has 4 GB RAM and still using XP, not the elite by any means, but respectable as far as specs) it took 12 minutes to do this. Other than an Antivirus, nothing else seems to be running on this computer. I hardly use it and with last night I see why.

I guess it all comes down to what it is used for and what you can put in it. If I would put a 64 bit Windows 7 OS in it and boost memory, that machine might give some good results and of course a large screen to view all the work. I just don't think it's worth the extra to do it though. For my computer programming, database work and troubleshooting, I think I'll just stick with my iMac.

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by James Mortner

i think the clue is XP and 4gb of RAM. Your PC is really old mate !

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Randall Munsters

Not so much old (quad processors aren't all that old), just got when Windows 7 was coming out. With the track record of Vista, it was much better to stay with XP. However, really, that long to start up with one program (accounting program, not supposed to be a memory hog)....

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by Richard Harrington

Thanks John-Michael. These days its paying to be open minded

Richard M. Harrington, PMP

Author: From Still to Motion, Video Made on a Mac, Photoshop for Video, Understanding Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Studio On the Spot and Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by John-Michael Seng-Wheeler

Welcome to the dark side Richard, we're glad to have you...

We always get funny looks when we say we edit on Windows, but then all we have to do is go home and render something, and everything feels better.

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Re: Opening My Mind Has Opened Doors
by James Mortner

Very interesting read, particularly the bit about getting to eat dinner with bigger, better cpu's.

Illustrates perfectly how we're still going to need these big workstations in years to come.

Shooting more, delivering more in shorter time = workstation NOT ipad !