[rescue] PowerMac recommendations?

[Joshua Boyd]

On Mon, Apr 19, 2004 at 11:04:55PM -0400, Tim H. wrote:

> I am the sound/video guy at my church, and am in the process of
> upgrading capabilities. I want to:
> 
> Play Music (background tracks etc.) MP3,OGG, etc.
> Display Presentation graphics (power-pointish)
> Capture Audio and Video (Svideo and feed from the mixer)
> 
> All simultaneously.  On a budget. (I know, fast, cheap, good, pick two)
> 
> I could do this with a couple PCs, one for output and one for input, but
> I really would prefer to keep the space and noise to a minimum, I sit in
> the back of the sanctuary.

Frankly, it seems that multiple machines is certainly best, and you
should be able to get three quiet machines for less than the cost of one
G5. 

Barring multiple machines, I think dual processor is likely to help a
lot. 

But seriously, what's wrong with using linux of Intel here?  For the
sort of things you describe, a pair of notebooks computers and a cheap
rackmount machine sound best.  Any notebook with USB and a USB audio
device for the output, and any notebook that can run your presentation
software smoothly for the video output, and a modest rackmount machine
with a hardware MPEG or MJPEG encoder PCI card for the video capture.  I
agree a different platform would be nice, but if the budget is really
tight... 

Also, what are you planning on doing with the captured services?  Web
archive?  Burn DVDs?  If not those two tasks, then whats wrong with just
using video tapes?

And another also, would an audio appliance do the task instead of a
computer?

And how do you plan to control all of this with only one console anyway,
if you did go the single computer route?
 
> What is the best sub-$500 method of getting SVideo into a modern Mac?

Possibly a firewire converter.  There are quite a number for less than
$500.  

> I have done some googling, but haven't found much, anybody know about
> any web sites relating to computer video capture in live settings?

Since we don't know why you are capturing the video, it is hard to say
anything meaningful.
 
> And while I am on the topic, does anybody know a package that can take a
> simple presentation (currently powerpoint, with just song lyrics) and an
> audio track and give me back a mpeg movie?  I would like to get this
> stuff platform neutral, which powerpoint isn't.

I think CreativeMac.com may have covered that at one point.