sister wants a computer for making movies and...

[Willem]

Originally posted by Space05us
She likes to record people doing stupid stuff, much like jackass, but was doing it before jackass so shes not imitating tv, and wanted to make movies and burn them onto dvds (I was oblivious to the fact that thats possible, is it?).

is it more of a question of getting the computer for the software then?
(I dont want to unnecessarily turn her into a mac lover)

These days, it doesn't really matter what system you use. As someone mentioned, it's all in the software. And both platforms have good programs that will do the job. Her best bet is to look into what program she feels most comfortable using, and can afford, and go with that. It will have specs as to what the system requirements are.

[monolith94]

"wanted to make movies and burn them onto dvds (I was oblivious to the fact that thats possible, is it?). "

On macs, it is. On pcs, too, if you want a major pain.

[Zopperoni]

Originally posted by elijah
And XP is NOT the most stable OS on the planet skywalker, why does it seem to decide to reboot with no warning at inopportune moments

You can switch that off.

Control Panel > System > [tab]Advanced > Startup and Recovery > untick "Automatically Restart" under "System Failure.

[Space05us]

And XP is NOT the most stable OS on the planet skywalker, why does it seem to decide to reboot with no warning at inopportune moments, why does it only put 2 channel sound into my 6 point surround sound soundcard, and why does Linux work perfectly, except for running windows binaries which is improving anyway?

Windows is the Harely Davidson of OSs, Mac is the Honda imitation.

My sister says shes going to get the Imac, and that she wont become a mac lover....unfortunatly I know how that works, anyone who doesnt love computer games that gets a mac ends up falling in love with it.

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by Space05us
My sister says shes going to get the Imac, and that she wont become a mac lover....unfortunatly I know how that works, anyone who doesnt love computer games that gets a mac ends up falling in love with it.

Curse these people and their expression of free will!

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Space05us

Windows is the Harely Davidson of OSs, Mac is the Honda imitation.

It's been proved in court that Windows is largely an imitation of the Mac OS. The only reason they didn't have to pay a fortune is that John Sculley stupidly gave them the rights to do it.

My sister says shes going to get the Imac, and that she wont become a mac lover....unfortunatly I know how that works, anyone who doesnt love computer games that gets a mac ends up falling in love with it.

There's a reason for that. It's a pleasure to use.

Anyway, the new G5 specs were leaked today. If I was doing digital video and wasn't a poor grad student it's what I'd get.

[Q Classic]

depends on her camera and her budget.

if she has money to blow, i'd suggest waiting for a dualG5 when it comes out, or a dualG4 soon.

with the latest and greatest FinalCut Pro 4.

if she's more on a budget, a good winxp system with adobe premier 6.

[Asher]

Originally posted by elijah
Flat panel IMAC would probably be a good idea. My brothers is better than my 2.8GHz box running XP at vid stuff, and even better than the linux dual boot on the same box (although that is better for all else except games).

I call bull****!
"Bull****!"

How do you determine if it's running "better"?

It's 100% conclusive, by facts, that the 2.8GHz box is way faster (thereby, more productive) than the fastest dual PowerMacs, let alone a wussy iMac.

It doesnt empty your bank balance through your nose.

MS Licencing: Insert Wallet into drive $, and press return to empty.

XP Home (which comes w/ Windows Movie Maker) is cheaper than OS X. Hello!

And XP is NOT the most stable OS on the planet skywalker, why does it seem to decide to reboot with no warning at inopportune moments

Because that's what the preferences state for it to do. Don't like it? Change it! You can have it not force a reboot if something is detected as being ****ed up, and behave like OS X and Linux, but the reason why it forces a reboot by default is because the system is considered unstable at that point because something irregular happened. Linux zealots mistakenly translate this into meaning Linux is more "fault tolerant", but in reality Linux merely ignores those faults while Windows doesn't by default. And there is a reason why they're called faults.

why does it only put 2 channel sound into my 6 point surround sound soundcard

For the life of me, I'm struggling to see how you equate this to system stability.

The default sound model in Windows is stereo sound. Why? Because it doesn't know what kind of speakers you have set up. All it knows is your sound card.

But you have a 6 point surround sound soundcard, right? So why didn't it automatically default to 5.1???

Well, if we applied minimal thought to it, we would realize that'd be an incredibly stupid thing to do. Almost all integrated soundchips shipping now, for example, are 5.1 capable. Almost all soundcards are 5.1 capable, period. Very few (a small minority) of sound systems have 6 channels of sound. So why the hell would you default this to 6 channels when most people can only hear 2? Then you're sending data to 4 channels which simply go into the void of nothingness!

The reason it defaults to 2 is because that's the smart thing to do.

Mind you, Linux defaults to 0 sound channels by default.

If you've got a 5.1 system, the wise thing to do would be to go into the insanely-well-hidden sound preferences (Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio), under the Speaker Settings groupbox click "Advanced". Then select 5.1 surround speakers as the speaker type. It even shows a nice big, purty color picture for you since they know how hard it was to get there, and want to reward you!

and why does Linux work perfectly, except for running windows binaries which is improving anyway?

That is perhaps the most laughable thing I have heard you say yet. Do you even use Linux?

Linux certainly does not act perfectly. No OS acts perfectly.

Linux is overrated crap for the desktop. It doesn't do anything better than Windows as a desktop OS. The only thing it has on Windows is, it's free. And you get what you pay for.

[Asher]

Originally posted by monolith94
"wanted to make movies and burn them onto dvds (I was oblivious to the fact that thats possible, is it?). "

On macs, it is. On pcs, too, if you want a major pain.

Totally, it's a huge pain.

I have to edit it in Windows Movie Maker 2 (which does all that iMovie does, if you bothered to check), which comes free with Windows, and then burn it to the DVDROM by selecting "New Video DVD" and selecting the image file, then hitting burn.

I really wish it was less complicated! This is too much for my puny mind.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon


It's been proved in court that Windows is largely an imitation of the Mac OS.

Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.

Wrong.

The courts determined Windows' GUI was similar to Apple's GUI in that it was a consumer product that revolved around "Windows" that encapsulated visual representation of data. Apple, of course, stole this "idea" from Xerox PARC anyway, which the courts also decided.

Anyway, the new G5 specs were leaked today. If I was doing digital video and wasn't a poor grad student it's what I'd get.

Yeah, 1.8GHz sounds killer.

[Cruddy]

Asher, I'm surprised you'd recommend XP Home to anyone. Choosing an OS because of the bundled software has to be a mistake.

Anyway, the user isn't computer literate, and the Mac will handle it, why not go for the Mac?

This "Wintel does everything better" rant is just that - a rant.

Linux does one thing better than Windows - it lets you tinker around with Unix programs. The sort of mentality that wants this baffles me, but I never heard of Windows letting your mess with MS applications.

You find it easy to use a PC because you have years of experience. Pity the poor noob who doesn't give a sh1t how fast the processor is, so long as it does the job.

Giving a timeframe for burning DVD would be nice. How long does it take? How long does the AVI-MPEG translation take?

I don't see your posts as that helpful. And I thought Windows Movie Maker had a knackered codec that wouldn't let you encrypt/decrypt at full resolution? Pardon me if I've been misinformed here.

[Whaleboy]

I call bull****!

Seriously! In windows, its sluggish, in Linux its blisteringly quick. My brothers mac (dont ask me for specs) gives comparable performance to my linux box, noticeably faster than the same box running windows, which I can only put down to better archetecture than i86.

How do you determine if it's running "better"?

Speed/Stability/Usability (for those without commandline knowledge, windows has a considerable advantage there at this stage) and scalability.

XP Home (which comes w/ Windows Movie Maker) is cheaper than OS X. Hello!

XP Pro is the one that OS X is comparable to, in which case, XP is more expensive. Besides, I downloaded Slackware 9.0 for the cost of having my computer on for 6 hours.

OSS is far cheaper, and even on microsofts TCO thing, which is inherently flawed anyway, linux/BSD wins, except on that MS sponsored "study".

All it knows is your sound card.

Linux correctly modprobed it, and I got surround sound

Mind you, Linux defaults to 0 sound channels by default.

When did you last use linux? 8 months ago? It modprobes my man!

Linux certainly does not act perfectly. No OS acts perfectly

Well, for all intents and purposes. It does all I want it to and more with no bull, no costs, relatively easy (relative to manual reading ability). It allows me superior control of my system, but in control and ownership, as well as code.

Linux is overrated crap for the desktop. It doesn't do anything better than Windows as a desktop OS

Even when i got into linux few people were talking about it on the desktop, now a few months later its a serious contender, with as many people using linux desktop as mac desktop. It needs time to mature. Besides, I use it on the desktop partly because of one seriously major advantage over windows... the commandline.

And you get what you pay for.

Exactly what gates said.

For free, I can get a fully fledged desktop system that configures most of my hardware automatically (monitor needed a little tweaking), with all the productivity software I need, including 2 and a half office suites, one of which is at least as good as MS office (if not as fast, but theyll sort that out with OO.o 1.1).

[Asher]

Originally posted by Cruddy
Asher, I'm surprised you'd recommend XP Home to anyone. Choosing an OS because of the bundled software has to be a mistake.

Anyway, the user isn't computer literate, and the Mac will handle it, why not go for the Mac?

This "Wintel does everything better" rant is just that - a rant.

Because the Mac may be able to handle it, but it does so slower and for a far higher premium.

Just because she isn't computer literate doesn't mean she should waste her money...

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Asher

The courts determined Windows' GUI was similar to Apple's GUI in that it was a consumer product that revolved around "Windows" that encapsulated visual representation of data. Apple, of course, stole this "idea" from Xerox PARC anyway, which the courts also decided.

Not what happened. The court determined that MS had copied elements of the Macintosh interface but revoked Apple's patents on those elements.

Yeah, 1.8GHz sounds killer.

We'll see come Monday.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Asher

Because the Mac may be able to handle it, but it does so slower and for a far higher premium.

Just because she isn't computer literate doesn't mean she should waste her money...

Believe me, I've spent enough time fixing various computer illiterate people's computers running Windows to know that they'd be better off with OS X.