Dear mac people

I have a power mac G4 dual processor 1Ghz

Dual optical

 80gb hard disc

512 mb ram

I'm about to upgrade the ram to 2gb

 Will avid xpress pro preform well on this specs? is it necessary to have a 2.0 Ghz dual processor?

need it to edit proffessional video clips and short movies

Thank you very much

The highest version of software you will be qualified to run with that CU with 2 gigs of ram will be 4.8.4.

 Than you for your respond.

Is the 4.8.4 v of avid xpress pro is suitable for both pc and mac or is it a specific version for mac?

Do you know where can I find it?

Thank you

There are both Mac and PC versions of 4.8.4. These versions are SD only.  (If you want to use a newer release that handles HD you'll need a newer computer.)  Both versions are available on the Downloads page on the Avid site. To access the downloads page you'll need to register if you haven't done so already and your dongle needs to be authorized for that version of software or a higher version (dongles are downward compatible).  You can check the release notes or the FAQ at the top of the Forum page for the correct OSX and QuickTime versions that are compatible.  

 A higher version wont work? or will work slow?

THANK YOU!

If you go higher than 4.8.4 and 10.4.6, you will begin to notice performance issues.

And if your graphics card isn't qualified (128 MB of VRAM, supports Core Image, Quartz Extreme and Open GL) it won't display moving pictures (which makes it more or less useless).

Hi Choocha,

I thought I was the last person using a G4!  I use a G4 Quicksilver running XPRO 4.8.4 on OS 10.4.6 with QT 7.1.3.  Dual 1.6 gHz (a processor upgrade) with 1.5 GB of RAM (the max for my machine).  I use mostly internal SATA drives for capture (upgraded HD controller card), but I do capture to external FW drives too.  I've also got a second FW card in the machine so I can use the built-in FW bus for my mojo and the card for drives.  I connect fw cameras and decks through the mojo.

Here's my experience:

- Works great for doing SD stuff.  HD is not possible with this version of Xpro.  That being said, I use HDV footage all the time, but it's downconverted (using the camera) to SD on capture .

- Speed is ok.  I do mostly short form news and web stuff, cuts and dissolves work so it works for me.  Whenever I have to render a lot of effects (e.g. green screen stuff), you're looking at a long render.  For example, I'm rendering a 3 minute piece right with a lot of Ultimatte scenes, it takes about an hour to render one minute of that footage.  Fine for my little web vids, but if it was long form, I'd be in trouble.

- You're pretty much stuck with these software versions, if you try to go higher it's probably just not going to work or be painful slow.  Mostly because of the video card issues.  I have been contemplating trying an upgraded video card setup, but I'm too busy to cripple my system for a test, and once you upgrade your dongle, I don't think you can go back.  The biggest pain isn't being stuck on a low version of AVID, it's not being able to update the Mac itself, you have to always be careful not to update the OS or accidentally install a new version of QT of course, but it goes further than, since you're stuck on a low version of OSX, you'll find other apps won't work (e.g. iTunes, Adobe apps, etc.) with your system.

To be honest, I know my G4 system is on it's last legs.  I got a good 5+ years out of it and it made me a lot of money, but I know it's time to move on soon.  Especially since I'll need a newer box to get MediaComposer running.

Nah! bmedia,

Thats a fast machine. I have a Powerbook G4 867 1Gb Ram with Xpress Pro 5.8. But as the boys said, don't expect to much. I use my faithfull old Titanium to off load Panasonic P2 cards to a external FW HDD. But I am about to upgrade to MC so I guess the Dual Core is the needed hardware.

Steve