Running Final Cut Pro on a PC with Windows
Though Final Cut Pro will not run on a PC, it isn't as expensive as you might think.
Now, the first question you must ask yourself, should you purchase a Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, or iMac? A fully loaded iMac system can be less than $2500, and with a student discount, it's even less. You certainly can spend over $12,000 on a MacPro, and then add displays, an IO box, & a deck. The total price could then easily be over $30,000, and if there is a HDCAM deck in the package that price could easily get close to $100,000. So our range is between $2000 and $100,000.
The majority of us can get away with a system in the $2500 to $3500 price range. At the risk of sounding bias, it will be the best money you ever spend.
A suped up MacBook Pro might
be all the system you need. Increasing the RAM to 4gb is the only
improvement that you may want to make. Personally I provide freelance
editing to one of the biggest entertainment companies in America with a
MacBook Pro with only 2gb of Ram. When considering what system to
purchase, consider a MacBook Pro, or an iMac. These machines can be more than enough to accomplish most video production. Certainly if you are going to be doing heavy compositing, you will want a decked out Mac Pro, but that isn't the case for most of us. The MacBook line can be used to run Final Cut Studio, but the lack of Firewire ports can be a setback.
For
a camera, I recommend a tapeless format that is much eaiser and
efficient to work with than a tradional tape based format. Tape based
formats have to deal with mechanisms, and tape heads. It is always a
good idea to use a tape deck instead of a tape based camera, because it
will extend the life of the camera.
With the tapeless formats we can use the camera to ingest our media,
and thus reduce the overall price of our editing system by the price of
the tape deck. The workflow associated with the use of the Sony EX1
is extremely exciting, and it does not require anything more than a
camera and a laptop to produce great video. With any Final Cut Pro
editing system the only additional hardware that you truly need is an
External Harddrive. This will allow you to keep your media/project
folder on a separate drive from the one running the OS & Final Cut,
which will improve both system responsiveness & versatility.
GeniusDV specializes in training a contemporary Final Cut Studio workflow. From training network producers to training emerging video production divisions at every level of American business. Click here if you are interested in receiving Final Cut Studio training.
For those who are bound and determined to install Final Cut Pro on a PC running windows you can install an Mac OS X emulator, which will allow you to install a Mac OS, and then Final Cut Pro. To my knowledge no emulator has run any OS later than Panther, so Final Cut Pro 5 is the latest version that would be possible.
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