Which Mac for Multiscreen ProPresenter

[crossroadsmedia]

Hi everyone,

We are currently looking into changing our one-screen with EasyWorship (on Windows PC) into a three-screen setup with ProPresenter (on Mac!)

We already have a Matrox Triple-Head-2-Go with DVI.

My question is -

Could we get away with using an iMac (which one, processor speed, ram, etc) or do we need to upgrade to a Mac Pro (again which one, processor speed, ram, etc)?

We are planning on using this for video elements as well.

Thanks for your help!

[cmchamp]

How extravagant are you looking at getting into video editing and video elements in the next few years. The more "creative" you're looking at being in the future, the more you should be leaning toward a MacPro.

[petereit]

We're using ProPresenter on one of our oldest iMacs for our triple screen. It's one of the old white first-generation Intel iMacs and it works flawlessly. I'd say that just about any Intel based iMac or Mac Mini should do.

[Gracetech]

We had an iMac running our PP for our main room but when i started to use PP to it's potential it started to crater the iMac. Luckily i had a Mac Pro laying around with dual dual cores and 2 7400 graphics cards. The sad thing is that even it has a hard time keeping up with what i can throw at it some times. It's for this reason that i'm migrating to the PC side since PP is sufficiently matured for that platform now. I've already installed one PC for our new room and it is running 3 different screens in HD+ resolutions and so far it's been great.

I would recommend a Mac with minimum of a 4 cores 4 gigs of ram and 1gig of dedicated vram on a newer graphics card(5730 or better). I would also upgrade the stock drives as i find the ones that come with Macs a bit on the slow side. I'm using mostly ssd these days but Raptors will do the job fine. With the type of HD media being used it is important to have high throughput drives. Oh and you might as well through in a BluRay player(if you get a PC that is, i don't know if Mac's PP will support it).

crt

[crossroadsmedia]

Hi,

Thanks for the responses. We aren't looking to do any video creation/editing. We have a separate Mac Pro for FC and AE.

We just need it to run well with ProPresenter multi-screen. What I meant by video elements was playing videos on the Mac.

I don't think we're leaning toward pc because we have used Windows for so many years, and we really like using Mac, so it's the time to upgrade.

Thanks again to the responses, and if anyone else has suggestions, please advise.

[Esoteric]

Be sure that the MAC you are using can actually output the required resolution.

Many older MACs (ie not the current generation) can not and the Matrox software does not play friendly with MAC OS. I have used ResX to get around it, but I hate southern engineering things like that.

Mike

[crossroadsmedia]

But the current iMac can support it? It seem like a really powerful computer, enough for PP and Advance Module.

Also, do you have to have the matrix triple head to go plugged in with USB to the Mac, or can you plug itinto a wall USB adapter?

Thanks.

[petereit]

Originally Posted by Gracetech

We had an iMac running our PP for our main room but when i started to use PP to it's potential it started to crater the iMac. Luckily i had a Mac Pro laying around with dual dual cores and 2 7400 graphics cards. The sad thing is that even it has a hard time keeping up with what i can throw at it some times. It's for this reason that i'm migrating to the PC side since PP is sufficiently matured for that platform now. I've already installed one PC for our new room and it is running 3 different screens in HD+ resolutions and so far it's been great.

I would recommend a Mac with minimum of a 4 cores 4 gigs of ram and 1gig of dedicated vram on a newer graphics card(5730 or better). I would also upgrade the stock drives as i find the ones that come with Macs a bit on the slow side. I'm using mostly ssd these days but Raptors will do the job fine. With the type of HD media being used it is important to have high throughput drives. Oh and you might as well through in a BluRay player(if you get a PC that is, i don't know if Mac's PP will support it).

crt

Wow. I don't even know what to say. So I'll just say, I'm glad that's working out for you.

[Esoteric]

I always plug the Matrox into the computer. But my wall adapter doesn't work very well (and it is the one Matrix sells).

I ran it on a current gen iMAC, Mini (yes, a Mini you just have to be careful of the graphics you use with it and you have to use the ResX work around), MAC Book Pro, and MAC Pro. The MAC Pro and MAC Book Pro I know handled it (it was the top of the line of each though), the Mini had to have the work around and can not handle large media files (I use it for environmental projection), and I just can't remember on the iMAC.

Just be sure to check that spec. It has bitten quite a few of my clients.

[[Admin] osborn4]

Originally Posted by Gracetech

We had an iMac running our PP for our main room but when i started to use PP to it's potential it started to crater the iMac. Luckily i had a Mac Pro laying around with dual dual cores and 2 7400 graphics cards. The sad thing is that even it has a hard time keeping up with what i can throw at it some times.

I'll bet if you get newer graphics cards, you'll get better performance.