Building a Mac for editing HD Video

[Step1Mark]

I am looking into getting a Mac for Christmas. Was looking into the more expensive Mac Mini and noticed you're not getting much for the 800 dollar price tag. I know I could build one with a 2.4ghz cpu, 4GB of ram, high end video card and a high end motherboard for under 800. Any suggestions on what would work best? I know I will need fire wire working because the only use for this Mac is to edit high definition video. Please help if you can.

 

Thanks ahead,

Mark

[zeamp]

Check out other people's signatures and just buy what they successfully run.

 

It's pretty simple.

[Nitramusa]

I am looking into getting a Mac for Christmas. Was looking into the more expensive Mac Mini and noticed you're not getting much for the 800 dollar price tag. I know I could build one with a 2.4ghz cpu, 4GB of ram, high end video card and a high end motherboard for under 800. Any suggestions on what would work best? I know I will need fire wire working because the only use for this Mac is to edit high definition video. Please help if you can.

 

Thanks ahead,

Mark

Hi, i can help you!

 

I strongly recommend:

 

-Gigabyte P35-DS4 motherboard (as good as everything working with some small tweaking like patches) Not sure of sleep, stable and recent P35 chipset compatible with the Intel Penryn processors. I tought that it had firewire, im 80% sure, but if it doesn't, a PCI FireWire card isn't expensive at all! VERY good chipset cooling for this motherboard with heatpipes and heatsinks. People maybe will suggest the Intel Bad Axe 2, good motherboard, but the chipset is a little bit outdated, the Gigabyte DS4 is best bang for buck imo

- nVidia 7800GT, good card imo, is fully supported by OS X86 , it´s powerfull enough for video imo

-Processor: For HD video, i would get a Quad Core processor (Intel Q6600 with G0 stepping for nice overclocking even on air), if you can wait, wait till the Q9450 Penryn comes out in januari NOTE: IF you decide to buy a Intel Bad Axe 2 under influence of others, u CAN'T use the Q9450 processor that will come out. Powerfull processor, and with some easy overclocking, it will be best bang for buck too

- 2GB X2 Corsair memory (PC6400) would be very good, DDR2 is VERY cheap at the moment!

- Most SATA DVD drives will work with OS x86

- Harddrive: i strongly recommend a Western Digital SE16 500GB, works pretty fast under OS x86

-PSU: I don't know much about PSU's, just get a decent one, between 500 and 550W is enough!

-Case, make sure you take a case you like, be sure it's not too much cheap plastic, and be sure it haves good airflow!

 

 

Now my turn to ask a few small questions:

 

I never did Video Editing before but i am interested too, you are talking about HD video, but I was wondering the following:

A widescreen computer monitor (let us say a 22" with a native resolution of 1680X1050) has other kind of pixels than a TV. If the pixels of a TV arent squares, then how do u proper edit HD(TV) content on a computer monitor with square pixels? (16:10 vs 16:9)

 

I was also wondering: Wich minimum resolution is needed to edit HD video on a computer monitor on a widescreen LCD?

Is a 22" widescreen with a resolution of 1680X1050 enough? And what about FULL HD? What kind of computer monitor resolution you need for that?

 

I hope I helped you and I hope you help me

-Nitra

[Synaesthesia]

A widescreen computer monitor (let us say a 22" with a native resolution of 1680X1050) has other kind of pixels than a TV. If the pixels of a TV arent squares, then how do u proper edit HD(TV) content on a computer monitor with square pixels? (16:10 vs 16:9)

There would be some black space above and below the video when watching in full screen.

 

I was also wondering: Wich minimum resolution is needed to edit HD video on a computer monitor on a widescreen LCD?

Is a 22" widescreen with a resolution of 1680X1050 enough? And what about FULL HD? What kind of computer monitor resolution you need for that?

There are two types of HD (4 actually), well 720p, 720i, 1080p and 1080i.

, "full HD" is 1080p, which is 1920x1080 resolution. This is only achieved by 24" LCD screens and above, and high end 17" notebook screens. 720p is 1280x720.

 

"p" means progressive scan, while "i" is interlaced.

[electric dragon]

For digital video editing, you want a screen that can produce at least the maximum amount of pixels you intend to output with the footage. So, if doing HD editing, the screen needs to be able to show 1920x1080 pixels or better. In reality, if you are doing broadcast level editing or creating a DVD or something, you'd want to invest in an actual HD reference monitor whose sole purpose is checking color and resolution of your HD footage signal quality, but as long as your computer can show the actual pixels you'll be fine.

 

The bigger issues are actually storing and accessing the large amounts of data involved with HD footage. You will need a computer with lots of RAM, decent processing ability, a video card that can deal with the HD signal natively off the chip, and very fast and big hard drive(s).

 

I would recommend searching some HD editing forums and seeing what sort of systems other people are using to get an idea of what specs to look for....

[Kane Adams]

Build a Hackintosh Mac for Under $800

 

 

If the high price tag for Apple hardware has kept you from buying a Mac but you're willing to roll up your sleeves and get adventurous, you can build your own "Hackintosh"—a PC that runs a patched version of OS X Leopard. What?!, you say. Apple's move to Intel processors in 2006 meant that running OS X on non-Apple hardware is possible, and a community hacking project called OSx86 launched with that goal in mind. Since then, OSx86 has covered major ground, making it possible for civilians—like you and me!—to put together their own Hackintosh running Mac OS 10.5. Today, I'll show you how to build your own high end computer running Leopard from start to finish for under $800.

 

http://lifehacker.com/software/hack-attack...-800-321913.php

[Newear2006]

hi

 

I have built a hackintosh around the S975xbx2 motherboard with 4 gb ddr2 800 ram and the q6600 processor. I also have a decklink hd extreme card installed into this machine and its running fcs 6.0.1.

 

Please understand that most of the other motherboards dont come with 3 pci-e slots which is essential if you want to run a video editing rig. Any video card geforce 7 series with 256mb will do perfectly, try not to get 512 cards as its just extra work getting them to work.

 

I have this machine doing regular editing in a fully running editing studio. most of my work does not require HD editing but i use sdi input to grab digibeta material regularly and it works great.

 

I also have 2 western digital 500gb sata 16 mb buffer drives in raid 0 configuration(software via os x) to help things along and this gives a tremendous speed boost to the whole rig.

 

I use two 19'' widescreen displays and an external crt monitor as well.

 

Oh I almost forgot I am running TOH RC2 10.5.0 no efi yet as I havent got the time to, my machine is booked all the time!

Xbench score of 196.5 puts it a shade faster than the mac pro(2.66x4 5 gb sodimm identical raid as the above machine) I have in the other room.

 

Please feel free to ask many questions, its time i give back to the community that has taught me so much and is now helping feed 5 mouths in my family.

[Fasy]

Hi, i can help you!

 

I strongly recommend:

 

- 2GB X2 Corsair memory (PC6400) would be very good, DDR2 is VERY cheap at the moment!

 

Newegg.com lists the P35-DS4 as having 4x240pin memory slots, but that the memory standard is DDR2 1066 (PC28500). Does this not matter? Can any 240pin memory be used? Are there considerable performance differences between the two?

[Nitramusa]

There would be some black space above and below the video when watching in full screen.

 

There are two types of HD (4 actually), well 720p, 720i, 1080p and 1080i. , "full HD" is 1080p, which is 1920x1080 resolution. This is only achieved by 24" LCD screens and above, and high end 17" notebook screens. 720p is 1280x720.

 

"p" means progressive scan, while "i" is interlaced.

 

Thx for the info! electrical... thx too

 

I know what Full HD is etc and difference between 'i' and 'p'

[Stellair]

I would build a Hackintosh with 2x 500GB in Raid0 (software) in dual boot with Windows XP and maybe Linux, but will it interfere with my OSX install (raid0)???

 

Thanks

[Rizmaster]

Newegg.com lists the P35-DS4 as having 4x240pin memory slots, but that the memory standard is DDR2 1066 (PC28500). Does this not matter? Can any 240pin memory be used? Are there considerable performance differences between the two?

DDR2 and DDR3 are both 240 pin memory DIMMs.

 

That DS4 supports a maximum speed of DDR2 1066, but it will work just fine with DDR2 800.

 

 

There's absolutely no reason to spring for 1066. The performance boost is certainly there, but not considering the price. I sell BYOS parts at a Micro Center and 800 is so cheap I talk people out of 1066 all the time.

[sagiw]

I am looking into getting a Mac for Christmas. Was looking into the more expensive Mac Mini and noticed you're not getting much for the 800 dollar price tag. I know I could build one with a 2.4ghz cpu, 4GB of ram, high end video card and a high end motherboard for under 800. Any suggestions on what would work best? I know I will need fire wire working because the only use for this Mac is to edit high definition video. Please help if you can.

 

Thanks ahead,

Mark