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General discussion

Some questions

Apr 5, 2007 12:26PM PDT

I have a few questions which I hope some experienced Mac user can answer.

Approximately how long does the Mac Pro (both 4 and 8 cores) take to burn a DVD?

What is the estimated time that it will take once Leopard is out and the whole OS is 64 bit.

Approximately how long does and Intel Core 2 Duo iMac with 2 GB take to burn a DVD?

I am not asking about data DVDs. I am asking about video DVDs that people burn after editing video.

Windows has a cool program called Advanced System Optimizer and it speeds up your PC by removing junk files, duplicates and optimizing the registry. Is an equivalent program available for Mac?

Which one would give me *noticeably* better performance, VGA or DVI when I hook up a Mac to an HDTV.

When I hook up a Macbook to a good 32" HDTV, is the visibilty alright or blurred and is it recommended to achieve a big screen size like an iMac?

How loud does an iMac sound in a room with pin drop silence with and without the HDD churning away.

If I get a Macbook and decide to edit HD video on it but I got the 80GB option then how can I edit video without enough disk space? The Macbook has only one firewire port so I cant add an external HDD.

In Windows, if I have an OEM version of an OS it will not install on a new HDD because it requires to see a previous installation of Windows to make sure that the PC is actually a genuine PC from the manufacturer. If my Macs HDD crashes and I am not under any warranty and I buy a new HDD, will Mac OS X install like a normal retail version of Windows without the requirement of a previous install?

Can I totally erase my HDD and install XP like on a PC? I know I can use bootcamp but say I dont want Mac at all (sounds dumb but I am asking from a technical point). How about Linux?

Discussion is locked

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Some answers
Apr 5, 2007 10:55PM PDT

1. Pass. Theoretically, 4 times faster but I doubt that the increase in speed is expontential. (Read the reviews. The 8 Core has only been around for a few days)
2. I believe the OS is already 64bit
3. How long is a piece of string? How much data is on the DVD, are there plenty of menus and chapters, is it Single or Dual layer? A lot of people I know just set it running and then go to bed.
4. Spring Clean(er)is an equivalent program but it is dangerous and, IMO, should be avoided. The Mac OS does not really get as bogged down as Windows seems to do.
There is no Registry to clean up in the Mac OS
5. DVI will give "noticeably" better performance
6. Visibility is dependent on the atmosphere in the room. Picture quality is another matter. I doubt you will get HD from the machine. The connectors, purchased separately, are S-Video and Composite video.
7. Completely silent. With no HD running and no Fans
8. Add the external HD to the Firewire port. Or, use a Firewire Hub to increase the number of Firewire ports available. What makes you think that you cannot connect an external HD to the Macbook with one Firewire Port?
9. Yes
10. No. How about that Linux!

P

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Mac OS X is not 64 bit
Apr 5, 2007 11:44PM PDT

Mac Os X Tiger has 4 layers in its architecture. The core UNIX IS 64 bit but the rest including graphics, Aqua etc are not 64 bit. When Leopard comes out the whole architecture will be 64 bit. UNIX is 64 bit but not the whole OS.

Can you tell me how many hours it would take generally for a Core 2 Duo 2 GB RAM Mac to burn a DVD?
Thank You for your other answers.

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I stand corrected
Apr 6, 2007 12:22AM PDT

However, will the move to total 64bit make much of a difference to the time that it takes to process video? After all, Aqua and Graphics do not play a large role in this process. In fact, you do not need any graphics output during this process. Aren't we just talking about raw number crunching when it comes to processing the video?

The time it takes to process video into a usable format for DVD must be directly related to the amount of data one is processing and to the power of the processor(s).

As previously answered, most people I know set the project running and go to bed. I have never timed the process.

P

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One hour.
Apr 6, 2007 2:28AM PDT

And this is by observation of someone making 1 DVD so it's margin of error is high. If you can get about 30 answers or "sample size" then the margin of error will be 5%.

Sorry but how long the next DVD takes to burn is similar to asking how long a piece of string is.

Bob

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Burning DVDs...
Apr 6, 2007 3:52AM PDT

There are so many variables to your question that it would help if you mentioned a specific task.

I recently burned a dvd using iDVD from a series of iMovies I had created. When told to burn the project, iDVD had to take all the menus along with content and author or render the information into a series of files a DVD player would recognize and play. The process of rendering took about 50 minutes... the process of burning the disc took less than 10. All this was on a G5 dual processor tower. If I burned additional discs of the same project while iDVD was still open, it still took less than 10 minutes per disc.

When I closed the program and came back the next day to burn more? The whole rendering process had to be redone from the starting blocks. So... I made a disc image of the project. It burns in just a few minutes as well because it has already been pre-rendered.

If you are taking a DVD movie and making a back up copy you will most likely have to rip it to your hard drive... this takes a while. Then you will want to burn it back to disc. Guess what? The movie will again have to be rendered by a program such as Toast or PopCorn in preparation to be burned... again, this will take some time due to the complexity of the menus, length of the movie, etc... once the movie is rendered (and usually compressed to fit on a one layer disc as well) it takes less than 10 minutes to actually burn the disc. I make multiple backups for movies I have bought for my 7 year old niece.... so if the movie has been pre-rendered then it is only minutes to burn multiple copies with a program like PopCorn.

So in short, average time for rendering and burning a DVD is about an hour for me (not counting ripping to create back ups). Obviously faster processors offer faster rendering but then the issue is how much is in the DVD content to be burned. With my iDVD projects, rendering the menus seemed to take the longest but that is probably because I had multiple menus and I put a lot of content to run continuously behind the menu buttons.

As an aside... it is amazing how fast a kid can destroy a movie but I guess I should not be surprised. I will often find lose discs that have fallen out of the car onto the driveway and been stepped on when I visit my sister. DVD players in cars seems to have become a necessity for parents.Still, I remember when I had kids in the house before DVD's and we would wear out multiple VCR tapes of such Disney "classics" as The Lion King! Considering how many tapes were worn out just by playing them, I bet Disney made a fortune from multiple purchases by desperate parents... desperate because they had already heard that damn movie 500 times before! Grin

grim