Editing HD Feature Film in FCP on macbookpro

Hi All,

I will be editing an HD feature length film this summer on my macbookpro (purchased august 2006). I am looking to upgrade my ram to its maximum capacity-- 2gb. Any brand suggestions? Should I just pay a little more and stick with Apple's so I know it's reliable?

Also, because of the large file size, I will be keeping the capture scratch on external harddrives and editing off this ( I am thinking a 1 TB 'my book'
-- any other suggestions?) .

In case of a crash, I will be mirroring one external harddrive to another external harddrive just in case. To keep it light for the computer I will be editing the film in 10 eight minute segments and nesting these individual timelines into the master timeline.

I am also about to update FCP 5 to Final Cut Pro Studio 6-- will I be able to open up FCP 5 files in FCP 6?

I did a test run, editing a twelve minute timeline in FCP 5 with my original RAM which amounts to 1 gb. It went very smoothly editing off an external HD and never gave me any problems, so I am hoping this luck follows me into the summer.

Last thing: I am always worried about how hot my laptop gets-- it can't be good for the computer-- so I will have a giant external household fan blowing on it while I edit with headphones, and only edit for about an hour, hour and a half at a time. I have looked into some base fans for the laptop, but I think my way might prove to cool the laptop better, even if it is noiser. Does anyone know how to prevent the computer from overheating?

If any one has any reccomendations about the above or general suggestions before I begin they would be very much appreciated. Sorry for the long post.

Hope to hear from many of you soon, Thanks very much,
Kevin

mac6666 said:

I am also about to update FCP 5 to Final Cut Pro Studio 6-- will I be able to open up FCP 5 files in FCP 6?

Click to expand...

Yes Final Cut Pro 6 can open Final Cut Pro 5 files, but not the other way around.

mac6666 said:

Hi All,

I will be editing an HD feature length film this summer on my macbookpro (purchased august 2006). I am looking to upgrade my ram to its maximum capacity-- 2gb. Any brand suggestions? Should I just pay a little more and stick with Apple's so I know it's reliable?

Click to expand...

By no means do you need to get your RAM from Apple. They don't use anything special... you can get the same Samsung modules they use elsewhere for much less. Or modules made by others with identical specs that work just as well. I got mine from Mac RAM Direct. Their site is very helpful in picking out the right modules.
Mac RAM Direct - Discount Premium Certified Apple iMac PowerBook iBook PowerMac RAM Memory Sales

Also, because of the large file size, I will be keeping the capture scratch on external harddrives and editing off this ( I am thinking a 1 TB 'my book'
-- any other suggestions?) .

Click to expand...

Well there are faster devices, like an external RAID array using multiple drives in a stripe, but that can get pricey. I imagine a MyBook will suffice. Make sure you stick to one that uses Firewire 400 and a 7200 rpm drive.

Last thing: I am always worried about how hot my laptop gets-- it can't be good for the computer-- so I will have a giant external household fan blowing on it while I edit with headphones, and only edit for about an hour, hour and a half at a time. I have looked into some base fans for the laptop, but I think my way might prove to cool the laptop better, even if it is noiser. Does anyone know how to prevent the computer from overheating?

Click to expand...

I'm not convinced that your solution is the best solution. The bottom of your laptop will still be in direct contact with the desk surface and thus transferring heat downwards, where the fan you plan to use will be least effective on. I'd consider a cooling stand composed of a couple small fans and perhaps a heat sink for optimal effectiveness. Here's a few:
Welcome to BYTECC
Notebook Cooling - Cooler Master

Is this going to be true HD footage? Cause if you're editing with less than 4GB of RAM, good luck. It'll really bog down rendering time among other things.

As far as a hard drive go, regardless of the capacity try to shoot for the highest RPM and data transfer rate possible (i.e. 7,200+ RPM, Firewire 800)...

Sexy Patrol said:

Is this going to be true HD footage? Cause if you're editing with less than 4GB of RAM, good luck. It'll really bog down rendering time among other things.

As far as a hard drive go, regardless of the capacity try to shoot for the highest RPM and data transfer rate possible (i.e. 7,200+ RPM, Firewire 800)...

Click to expand...

Ah yes... you are absolutely right. I had it in my head that FW 800 wouldn't have been on his model of MacBooks yet, but a quick look at EveryMac squashed that. As for the RAM, assuming it's this model, Apple supports up to 3 GB of RAM, but you *can* use up to 4 GB. It's just that part of that extra GB goes to waste. See this article.

That article actually is somewhat misleading. My MBP actually access all 4, not sure what they're talking about "overlap", and this from a 20+ year IT engineer. If you install one 2GB card, and one 1GB card, you'll have degraded performance. And FCP needs all the horspower it can get. And read the red print at the top! This "claim" is only for the very first batch of MBP's that came out.

If you're editing HD, you have to go with FW800, and this will bog down even with low overhead HD formats like DVCPRO-HD. If it's HDV, you'll really want eSATA RAID 0 or 1 system. Other World Computing has about the best RAM and Drives for this at the best prices I've found. Customer service is top notch. But FW800 will bog down really bad for any flavor of HDV.

1TB RAID 0 eSATA 7200rpm drive is your best bet. HD will push a MBP to it's limits, too. But it can be done. Don't plan on having a lot of success with Multiclips on a MBP with HDV, either. HDV is power hungry due to it's Long GOP nature.

And get a laptop stand, and don't worry about the heat, really. I use this set up a lot in the field for HD work.

Also, you are on the right track to cut things up into small Sequences. Remember feature films are editing in small chunks. Normally, each "scene" is an individual Sequence, regardless of how long or short. But a feature film scene is rarely more than a few minutes long. Then drop them all into a Master Output Sequence for final renders and export.