[rescue] PowerMac recommendations?

[Tim H.]

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 13:40:42 -0400
Joshua Boyd <jdboyd at jdboyd.net> wrote:

--- 
 
> Well, I'm told off list by somewhat respectable people that Mac OS X no
> longer has the problems handling multiple simultaneous media streams
> that one may have feared being a problem.
> 
> I do strongly recommend finding a way to try your setup out before
> actually sinking the money into it.  In particular, you mention a dual
> 1.4ghz G4 and a G5, and I've heard a lot of reports of those two
> machines being quite noisy, but they may not actually be so bad in your
> sanctuary and with your processing load (keep in mind that a G5 varies
> it's fan speeds as the heat output, i.e. load, vary).
> 
> Are you sure your G4 800 can't do the task?

The G4 is a loaner, so it can't do it long term :-)  I have pretty musch
settled on Analog to DV/Firewire converter as my video input, now I have to
choose and acquire one for testing.  I intend to try it with the G4, which
will need to sprout another head for the testing.
  
> Have you looked at stand alone DVD recorders?  You mention $500 for
> getting video into the computer, but there are now stand alone DVD
> recorders that cost less than $500.

I hadn't considered that (didn't realize they were that cheap) but I like the
flexibility of using the computer.  It gives me options on aoutput media (DVD,
VCD) and is upgradeable to some extent with little, less expensive pieces.
  
> If it were me, getting the video capture out of the computer while
> trying to do the other things would make me far happier, even if
> reliable people say it can be done.  But then, for somewhat important
> things (say things that would be painfull or embarassing if they fail),
> I tend to be a one task, one device kinda guy. 

Yeah, me too generally.  That is one of the reasons I am not really looking at
PCs/Linux, I don't know enough about the pieces to be confident that something
I built would be reliable, especially with someone else pushing buttons
 
> There used to be a lot of decent cheap Svideo in cards for Macs.
> However, none of the ones I had any familiarity with at all were
> supported on OS X.  I know that there are still cards that support
> s-video in on the Mac under OS X.  I just don't know what is cheap and
> what is good.  The reviews I've seen of sub $500 s-video -> DV
> converters have tended to be fairly good.

There seems to be no modern equivalent to the AV Mac.  As far as I can tell
Apple has put all it's eggs in the firewire basket, and don't even bundle a
third party input box in their custom systems.

> Would it be possible to use a console extender and put something
> non-rack mounted in the amp closet?

That is an option, it would however require me to come up with another way to
play the occasional DVD that shows up, since that would be done with the
computer.  I could get a normal DVD player, but all the consumer DVD players I
have seen lately have absolutely horrible response times and annoying on
screen displays, and pretty much can't be used without the remote control, It
seems pretty strange to me that a single purpose device can't have a better
user interface than a general purpose one.

That is the same reason I acquired old CD players, I can stick in a disc, hit
a single track selection key and have music in about 2 seconds, as opposed to
modern units that take 20 seconds to figure out what kind of disc it is, and
who owns the copyright.

Tim
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