We recently bought a HP XW8400 for editing a feature documentary in Avid xpress pro. It's been two months since, and we are having a ramdom issues with the workstation that is making us lose a lot of time. Also the HP technical suport is terrible, slow and bad.
Right now HP is offering us a New Workstation or a Refund.
We don't trust in HP anymore, so We are thinking maybe taking the refund and buying a MAC PRO Workstation for same price. $ 4500.
The dilemma is that we have 50 hours of DV material in three G-RAID Exernal hard drives in NTFS file system. So we need to know if we could work on a MAC PRO workstation with Avid in Windows OS via Bootcamp.
Is anyone using Avid (windows version) on a MAC PRO via bootcamp? Does it work smoothly?
Running: Avid Xpress Pro 5.7.5
This is the spec of the MAC PRO:
Thanx!!
Why don't you get a certified Dell system then? And not have to worry about the file system.
It does work well but you need to make sure you follow the Windows specs for video cards, etc.
Another option might be the Paragon software that allows you to use NTFS drives on a Mac.
In agreement, Unity. In Disagreement, Discussion. In all things, Charity.
BLKDOG:Another option might be the Paragon software that allows you to use NTFS drives on a Mac.
What do u mean by "follow the windows specs for video cards, etc" ?
The avid approved (tested) video cards? The NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB is not listed for windows niether for MAC.
That' s one of the reasons of my question.
Could you explain me your answer?
As for Paragon Software, I have never used it. As I'm in the middle of a project I don't want to risk anything. Just want to know if Avid will run on a MAC PRO with those specs using bootcamp
Thanx again.
Is your computer randomly shutting down? We had this problem with our 8400. They replaced the logic board (twice) and finally replaced the computer with another. Since then we haven't had any problems.
Also, I had to call HP a couple times before I got someone truly competent who could help.
50 hours of DV is what? 600Gig, roughly? You could get the MacPro, add one or two hard drives inside (there are 4 bays, allowing you to add 3 extra Sata drives) and copy all the media on those.Price wise, you'd still be under 4500$. And you'd have spare external hard drives.
It´s actually 1 tera and a half of disk space. The problem is the time that would take (not to mention that is not copy and paste to do that). Also Avid doesn´t work with leopard, so we should install Tiger, and so on.
Even if it doesn´t seem right I feel more comfortable at this point of the project to continue working with windows. saying this you could say ....So buy a PC... But I´m thinking that maybe with the new MAC PRO We can have both. Maybe I´m wrong. That´s why I want to know if someone have tried to work in windows but in a MAC PRO.
You can look at the "bootcamp thread challenge" I put on the PC board in terms of installation. I've actually returned to mainly using AXP on Leopard; I found AXP very finicky regarding settings in Windows XP/Bootcamp. On the Mac OS "it just works" though it does crash on me a couple times a week in Leopard. But the computer (MacBook Pro) is so fast I have the autosave set to 1 minute, so I never lose more than an edit or two (does that make me a slow editor?).
I agree with Pierreh, if you are used to PC, get a PC then just copy over the media. If you start it in the evening the media would be transferred by the morning. In fact you could just drag and drop...(though from PC to PC consolidating is better because of file ownership snafus).
I had an HP XP8200 previously, it was stellar and rock solid with great support from HP's Small Business support. After 3 years the video card died and we had a new card the next morning.
Still, Macs are great for editing!
zooedipo: Even if it doesn´t seem right I feel more comfortable at this point of the project to continue working with windows. saying this you could say ....So buy a PC... But I´m thinking that maybe with the new MAC PRO We can have both. Maybe I´m wrong. That´s why I want to know if someone have tried to work in windows but in a MAC PRO.
So then buy the Mac, partition the drive and install both windows and mac on the same computer; one in each partition.... when you boot you choose the OS you want to use. You could do the samething with a Dell/HP/ect. and install both windows and Mac on that. Although its easier to install windows on the mac pro then Mac on a PC; seeing as how Apple makes it a pain in the ass to do... because they don't want you doing it (cause they just want to suck more money out you by forcing you to buy a Mac to use the MacOS.).
Red Ochre: Is your computer randomly shutting down? We had this problem with our 8400. They replaced the logic board (twice) and finally replaced the computer with another. Since then we haven't had any problems. Also, I had to call HP a couple times before I got someone truly competent who could help.
Yes Red Ochre, exact the same problem and the same HP solution... Twice replaced the main board... the workstation still restarting.
So u think It's better to ask for a new one than triy running avid (Windows) on a MAC PRO?
Is your system runinng fine now, with the new machine?
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