ok ok... I give in... i'm buying an HD rig

[georgia]

So i'm purchasing an HD2 Accel PCIe upgrade from my MIX+ system.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to:
1. the best MAC to purchase for stability of use?
2. a video output card for the MAC
3. version of protools to run?
4. version of MAC os to run?

cheers
geo

[smsjr]

Cool, welcome to the party. We run our HD3 system on a PC, but I run an LE system on a Mac.

There's definitely a transition period going on right now going from PowerPC to Intel based macs.

1. I have the last of the PowerPCs, a Quad 2.5ghz machine with 3GB RAM and it runs Pro Tools very nicely. But, the future is clearly with the Intel chips. There will be a whole new generation of the Mac Pros heading to an Apple store near you in the next few months with some serious horsepower. On the video side, there is a big push towards 2K/4K video and the computers are going to need that horsepower to keep up with it. I would lean towards getting an Intel based machine.

2. We use the AV10 which is great, but it's PC only. I used one of the first AV options Digi put out and it has always been pretty stable. On the Mac, MOJO SDI is an option. There have been posts floating around about it lately. Might want to take a look at those. There are things like the Bonzai, Doremi, VirtualVTR, etc. Might depend on your workflow when handling video. Also, with NAB not too far away, might want to see what comes out of that.

3. The new features in PT 7.2 and now 7.3 look great for post. We are still on 7.1, but will move up once we are not in the middle of projects and have some time to make sure the upgrade goes smoothly. There have been some bugs, but honestly, what software doesn't have bugs these days. We're all beta testers.

4. OS 10.4.8 is qualified by Digidesign, so go with that until they qualify a future OS.

Whatever you end up deciding to do, just make sure your plugins and anything else that needs to interact with Pro Tools are all qualified. For example, some plugins may still not be working 100% on Intel machines.

You'll enjoy the upgrade. If your system is tweaked properly, you should be very happy with the performance.

Steve

[Chief Technician]

I thought we were the last holdouts. Welcome to the dark side! We will teach you how to use the force.

1. We use Quad 2.5GHz G5s. Aside from a few startups with no display activity, they are fine. I don't even know who to pin that intermittent problem on.

2. We use the Canopus ADVC-110. I don't think MOJO or MOJO SDI work with Intel processors yet.

3. v7.2cs1 is solid. v7.3.1 seems solid as well.

4. 10.4.6 has been fine for us. We'll move to 10.4.8 eventually.

[Frank Kruse]

So i'm purchasing an HD2 Accel PCIe upgrade from my MIX+ system.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to:
1. the best MAC to purchase for stability of use?
2. a video output card for the MAC
3. version of protools to run?
4. version of MAC os to run?

cheers
geo

What ever you do...do not run 7.2 7.2csX or 7.3. They contain a nasty bug that corrupts your session and all the backups. Get 7.3.1 straight away.

You are risking data loss otherwise.

See here:

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?...4&itemid=24515

frank.

[garret]

Frank,
It doesn't say anything there about 7.2 being a problem. I've been running it for ages and have had no problems...

[Frank Kruse]

Frank,
It doesn't say anything there about 7.2 being a problem. I've been running it for ages and have had no problems...

Hm. You sure? I faintly remember from the threads that the bug also occurred in 7.2 and the cs-versions. But maybe you are right. Maybe geo should look for them threads.

Frank.

[garret]

Frank,
It seems its only a problem on any version of 7.3 and the CS updates. They say anyone running 7.3 should update to 7.3.1 immediately. They don't mention anything about 7.2. Anyway seeing as how its an upgrade to 7.3 from 7.2 they could hardly force you to pay out money because of a fatal flaw in the software. They would have to supply you with a CS update of 7.2. So I think I can sleep easier now. I got a fright there thinking of the 345 gigs of programming I have on my system!!!

[Frank Kruse]

I guess you are right them. But if you buy an upgrade now you´ll get 7.3.1 anyway I guess.

frank.

[garret]

I guess you are right them. But if you buy an upgrade now you´ll get 7.3.1 anyway I guess.

frank.

You'd hope so anyway!!

Garret

[DAPG]

I say go for the new Mac Pro. We just upgraded one of our rooms to an HD2 PCIe rig on a Mac Pro running 7.3.1. It has been running flawlwssly for 2 weeks. We use a Canopus 110 for video out. In addition, we are running Waves Gold (and a lot of other plug ins), Soundminer, and SanMp. Everything works great and the rig is super fast.

Take Care