What's better? PC or Mac?

[stu907]

I'm about to start converting VHS video tapes and DV to DVD, as well as creating digital audio. What's beter to do these on? A PC or a Mac (G4)?
I'm not really a newbie when it comes to VCDs (already done heaps of VCD encoding with TMPGEnc), but for me, DVD is new.

[Innershield]

It is estimated that there are 10% mac and 90% pc, that might tell you something.

[vitualis]

Digital video in terms of firewire and DVD authoring, I believe that the Mac scene has had the advantage over the PC for a while now.

Digital video in terms of VCD/SVCD authoring, analogue capturing, software choice, the PC is probably still way ahead.

Regards.

[d4n13l]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
It is estimated that there are 10% mac and 90% pc, that might tell you something.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>
LOL, BMWs share of the car market is way less than that, what does that tell you about how good they are as cars?
It doesnt tell you anything (Apple have about a 5% share of the market BTW). Macs are far more integrated, less likely to crash due to the hardware, more secure, easier to use and well designed (by that I mean there is also functionality behind the wacky designs).
Dont listen to the PC people who run Apple down, odds are that they have never even used one.
The best thing to do, is to go down to your local Apple dealer and find out what they are like for *yourself*. The opinion of your average PCer is bound to have a bias towards PC, so dont listen to them - All I can say is try one for yourself.
The only bad thing I would say about Apple computers is the price tag they carry.

[dvbr]

Hi,

I think that is a question of que relation budget/usability and if the use will be professional or casual (hobby, home). The reliability of the Macs is the great point, but you will need to buy almost all software. On the PCs there's a lot of freeware and cheap hardware, but a lot of compatibility issues.
For professional use, Macs, for home use, PCs, it's my opinion.

[kmadel]

I just wanted to comment on encoding times. I was using the Ligos Encoder (VBR), and a 1.8 GHz Pent. 4, 512MB ram and it took 40 minutes to encode a 3 minute clip. It took over an hour with Media Cleaner 5 for the same 3 minute clip. On top of the lengthy encodes, the computer was extremely sluggish while encoding, to the point of unuseable. I heard that the Mac's with G4 processors did it alot faster. Not only does the Mac encode alot faster (the 867MHz G4 encodes at about 1.5x, so a 3 minute clip takes 4.5 minutes; granted you have no control over bit rates and such), but you can actually do other stuff while the iDVD2 encodes in the background. The Mac was quite a bit more expensive, but it was so easy to make a DVD that I took the 1.8 GHz Sony back. Now Apple has a new iMac with a G4 processor, DVD-RW drive, 15" monitor and good software (iDVD2, iMovie2, etc.); all for $1799. That was the same price as the Sony without a monitor or as nice of software. Granted iDVD2 is somewhat limited (you can't make chapters, for that you DVD Studio Pro), but it makes a beautiful DVD. I made a wedding DVD for some friends and they thought the tv was on the wrong channel because iDVD2's wedding menu is so awesome looking. When I said "no, no, this is it", they were like "Wow!"

If you buy an Apple, you will have a DVD the same day you buy it (Apple even gives you blank DVD-R's, no PC manufacturer does that).

If you buy a PC, it will take most of the day just to encode to MPEG-2, and you will get frustrated.

I would love to hear which way you decide to go, and your reaction to it.

PS: Don't let anyone tell you that the Mac's don't come with software. iDVD and iMovie come with every Mac that has a DVD burner and absolutely rock, though may seem limited in terms of professional feature if you have used Adobe Premier or expensive DVD creation software.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: kmadel on 2002-01-17 14:20:16 ]</font>

[fbenitez]

Short question:

Is there a way I can capture one hour of analog audio and video, directly to "some format", then edit it down to 40-45 minutes (taking out commercials) and have the file fit under 700 Megs on the MAC at a quality slightly better than VCD?



Long question:

I am also thinking of getting a new system and wondering if I should get another PC or switch over to a MAC. Right now I'm archiving video by capturing with Dazzle VC (Movie Quality) to MPEG. Once the comercials are edited out I have about a 695Meg file that fits nicely on a 700Meg disc. BTW I'm not attempting to do VCDs or XVCDs, just archiving to later watch on the computer.

I am leaning towards the MAC because of their speed, their software and operating system is a lot more polished (iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, etc...), and seem to burn nice DVDs, although the later is not a priority right now. The downside is I don't think I can do what I am doing now as easily on the MAC (without spending time encoding and going through formats back and forth) I don't see MPEG mentioned so much when looking at video products on the MAC, mostly Quicktime, DV, and MJPEG. So the question is: Is there a way I can capture one hour of analog audio and video, directly to some format, then edit it down to 40-45 minutes (taking out commercials) and have the file fit under 700 Megs on the MAC at a quality slightly better than VCD like I'm doing now?

Or even going to the extreme (this is how bad I'd like a MAC), has anyone used the Dazzle USB (or Win-TV, WinVCR, etc.) on a MAC through Virtual-PC?

Maybe there is someplace I am not looking (I hope so..) but capturing MPEG without re-encoding doesn't seem posible on the MAC.

Thanx for your help.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: fbenitez on 2002-01-17 16:06:33 ]</font>

[d4n13l]

Have you aked this in the Mac section? I think the majority (probably 99%) of people that will be reading this are PC users.

[sommersby]

well, if you have the budjet and your not doing games then any magazine will tell you the mac is better for video, I personally have no experience with the mac, but am an avid reader of pc magazines....lol