OK, so here is my pseudo dilemma. I will be getting married this summer. Rather than pay for some lame videographer I plan to borrow 2 or 3 DV cameras from my father-in-law's work and just leave them running at various angles, then plug them in and use iMovie to make an acceptable (and far cheaper) final movie.
The problem is in putting it on DVD. For what it would cost to pay someone to do this, I can put a fair amount into a new Mac. My question is what everyone thinks would be the most cost effective way to get DVD-R capability. As I see it I have 3 options:
1) Add an external DVD-R to my existing G4. There are concerns about reliability and compatibility here though. Cost: $1000 or so? Not too sure.
2) Get a new iMac. I would jump all over this if it weren't for the display. I currently use a 17" CRT, so a 15" LCD isn't a big reduction in real estate, but that max resolution of 1024x768 hurts. I like bigger resolutions. Cost: $1800 less whatever I can get for my current setup on eBay, plus cost of much more RAM.
3) Get a G4 tower. I bought my current G4 as my first Mac out of the Wintel darkness I was in, because I was used to upgrading my PC. In the years I've had it I have only added RAM to the guts of it, and a lot of USB stuff to the external. This could all be done on a new iMac. But buying a new G4 would allow me to not be spending $ on a monitor when I'm happy with the one I have. For a couple hundred more than an iMac I could get the benefits of faster bus and more cache. But there is the looming possibility of G5s. Cost: $2300 less whatever I can get for my current setup.
What seems to make the most sense here? Cost is a concern, as is longevity. Brilliant thoughts?
The problem is in putting it on DVD. For what it would cost to pay someone to do this, I can put a fair amount into a new Mac. My question is what everyone thinks would be the most cost effective way to get DVD-R capability. As I see it I have 3 options:
1) Add an external DVD-R to my existing G4. There are concerns about reliability and compatibility here though. Cost: $1000 or so? Not too sure.
2) Get a new iMac. I would jump all over this if it weren't for the display. I currently use a 17" CRT, so a 15" LCD isn't a big reduction in real estate, but that max resolution of 1024x768 hurts. I like bigger resolutions. Cost: $1800 less whatever I can get for my current setup on eBay, plus cost of much more RAM.
3) Get a G4 tower. I bought my current G4 as my first Mac out of the Wintel darkness I was in, because I was used to upgrading my PC. In the years I've had it I have only added RAM to the guts of it, and a lot of USB stuff to the external. This could all be done on a new iMac. But buying a new G4 would allow me to not be spending $ on a monitor when I'm happy with the one I have. For a couple hundred more than an iMac I could get the benefits of faster bus and more cache. But there is the looming possibility of G5s. Cost: $2300 less whatever I can get for my current setup.
What seems to make the most sense here? Cost is a concern, as is longevity. Brilliant thoughts?
