Steve wrote:
Hi all,
I have been given for almost free a beige Powermac G3 DT at 266 Mhz.
I just added an 80gig disk in it since the 20gig that it had was
defective. I also had the chance to have some SDRAM memory left from
an older computer that fitted in the G3 (the RAM was low profile) so
I upgraded the beast to 768meg of RAM. I've been able to upgrade the
computer to OS X 10.2 and also 9.2.2 on a dual partition/boot HD.
That make the computer not new, but I think it can still do some work
for me. It can at least be a good computer for Internet surfing in
case I have a problem with my PowerBook.
The main purpose I wanna use the G3 for would be to export some
iMovie I do with my actual PowerBook G4 1.33 to VHS tape. I know the
G3 is not an up-to-date computer for doing complex video editing on
it. But, maybe, it could be usable to export the DV file (maybe using
an older version of iMovie 2.0). What I use to do was to plug my
PowerBook to my Sony video camcorder via the firewire port and then
the camera was plugged to the VHS VCR. The camera was used in fact
only as a passthrough from the computer to the VHS VCR. This is
working well, but it prevent me from using my PB G4 as I would
normally used it. Sometimes, too much request on the CPU and the
video/sound sync was broken for a few seconds.
I know the beige G3 can be upgraded with a AV personality card. I
know this card works only in OS 8/9. Mine have the standard sound
board. Anyone uses this board to send video through the AV card to a
VHS? Is it feasible and if it is, what is the video and sound quality
that one could expect? And which software should be used in OS 9?
Another possibility I see would be to upgrade the computer with a PCI
combo Firewire/USB card and use it as I do actually with my PB G4
(using the camera as a passthrough). I'm wandering if the G3 266
would be capable of such effort? Maybe a CPU upgrade would be
preferable? Also, which PCI card is recommended for this G3 that will
work with either OS 9 and OS X?
I know, this maybe no simple question with a yes or no answer, so I
just hope someone can help make it clearer for me!
Thanks for any reply that can help.
Short answer, on my G3/333 with firewire, I'm limited only by the size
of my hard drive from editing video full time on it. If I could pick up
a 60 or 80 gig drive for cheap, I'd be on it doing transfers and editing
a lot more than on this Athlon 2500. You've got a 266 but a bit more
ram, I have 640 megs, so it might be kinda equal. When you say 'complex'
video editing, would that entail aftereffects and high rendering things?
For me, the only thing that takes a lot of time is the transcoding of
the video into mpeg2, which takes forever either in the capture or in
the final rendering and didn't seem nearly as long on the Mac.
Another part of the equation is the device used to capture the VHS to
digital. I use a Sony camcorder with a pass-through meaning I can
capture VHS more or less directly to digital. It worked really well on
my G3/333 and seemed pretty fast too. As far as USB/Firewire, I'd stick
with Firewire which for me was plug and play as opposed to USB which
never worked. The time spent figuring out the USB issues would be better
spent editing, in my opinion. Hope this helps, I'm sure others can add
more.
BM
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