I'm an Avid Editor, and I'm thinking of buying Final Cut pro. I want real time editing, and a play back monitor... basically I'm looking for advice on setting up a good edit station. I'll be spending my own money, so I'm interested in ways to cut cost as much as possible, but I don't want to wait for rendering, or be forced to work on one monitor. I can use my camera as a deck... I'll wear the heads out, but that's fine for now. My big concerns are what do I need to purchase other than a fast new G-4, Final Cut Pro 3, and an additional monitor? Will I need a video card for an additional monitor if I'm working on a desktop computer? What about external drives & drive speed. What is the minimum speed to see real time playback? Also I'm looking for good vendors to buy this stuff from. Any information would be appreciate

-- Yon Van Kline (yonv@earthlink.net), March 26, 2002

Answers

You need to buy a G4 that is 500 Megs or higher. The real time editing effects will not work on anything slower. A dual processor is also nice. You can get a good used dual 500 cheap because of all the new G4's that just came out. A cheap way out for FCP 3 is buying version 1 and the upgrade on EBAY. You could end up with FCP 3 for under $400. I am fairly new to editing so this is about all the advice I can offer. Also, the real time editing effects in FCP3 are not truly real time. You can view any effect you want in real time, but the effect still has to render which is faster in the new program, but not real time.

-- Frederick Gauthier (yahboy13@hotmail.com), March 28, 2002.