Power Mac G4 versus Dual AMD 1800+ MP

[savingtime]

I'm going to either get an Apple Power Mac G4 or a Dual AMD 1800 MP machine.

what i want to do is take video from DV camcorder and encode that to either an SVCD or DVD.

I don't want this to get into a Mac's rule/Windows sucks Windows rule's/Mac Sucks discussion. i'm looking for hard facts and numbers... now having said that...

what experiences have you had with these machines? Encode times to encode from DV to SVCD or DVD? end quality of encodes? what type of software are you using? etc. and any other quality issues.

again, pls stick with hard facts and not "i heard once" or "i think this may be the way it works". i'm looking for real numbers and figures.

[tgpo]

As for converting from DV to DVD the apple can't be beat. Simply open the DV stream in IDVD and burn. It's just that easy. Encode times are faster on the MAC as well. I'd go with the Apple!

-TGPO

[kinneera]

I have a hard time believing a single G4 could beat dual XP 1800s, especially given that at least one of the Windows encoders I can think of has optimizations for dual-processors.

Also, like it or not, a majority of the tools (especially the freeware ones)are for Windows. Your overall experience with user support and flexibility will probably be better in Windows, especially for SVCD.

[tgpo]

Go for the Dual ghz G4 Apple. It'll destroy any PC you put in front of it.

[lrama1]

Here's some numbers based on my experience.
BTW, my setup is
TYAN S2460
DUAL 1800XP
768 MB RAM
40 Gig HD for OS
60 Gig HD for DATA

I encode mostly XVCD quality and burn them to DVDRs.
The encoding time is slightly faster than the length of the input video.
Eg. for a 2hr movie, it usually takes 1hr and 45 mins to encode
at (352x240 w/2500 max bitrate using VBR)

[movienut2002]

I have two dual AMD 1700 systems and each encodes to vcd at about 83% of real time.

I can build about 4 of these systems for the price of a dual G4 1Ghz.


Don't know how it compares to AMD but the dual G4 supposedly can encode 300% faster than a P4 2Ghz. (i assume single)


I'm not pro AMD, G4 or Intel so it would be cool to see comparisons.

[Shabubu]

Unfortunately I can't afford a G4 so it's going to be kind of a "what I know from my friend that sells them".

Apple has very poor support games wise, are expensive and have very few freeware tools.

But!!!! they are very fast, stable and the choice platform for most professionals in audio and video fields (just look at adobes and macromedias software, all comes out for mac then ported to PC).

If you can afford it and don't play games then mac, if you can't and do then PC.

[dbaker6165]

I have two dual AMD 1700 systems and each encodes to vcd at about 83% of real time.

I can build about 4 of these systems for the price of a dual G4 1Ghz.

Dude! Will ya build me just one.... I'd pay ya

[vitualis]

If you want to be authoring DVDs, the Mac option may be better -- as long as you are happy using the default programs.

If you want to do other things like VCD or SVCD authoring, the PC scene is much more mature with a much greater variety of programs and tools.

Regards.