Pc or Mac for anime converting?

[RiN!]

I'm one who really downloads ALOT of anime. Throughout highschool i've learned how to handle just about every format and how to get everything working fine and burned to dvd so i can watch them on tv. Now that im going to college i have to buy a new computer. I dont play that much games just stuff like ragnarok online once and a while and was wondering would a mac be better for anime burning and converting between .mkv,.mp4,.h264,avi's adding borders editing and whatnot? or should i just stick with a PC

[SeijiSensei]

It sounds to me like you have a lot invested in having learned how to use whatever software you're using to do conversions now. Unless you have a strong reason to switch, I'd suggest you continue down the path you've already trodden.

If your question concerns relative performance, I doubt there would be much difference between the two platforms now that they both use Intel hardware.

[GHDpro]

PC easily. Or a Mac running Windows, your choice. With Windows you have access to DirectShow filters (ffdshow) and frameservers like AviSynth, with which nearly any kind of file can be converted to anything else using countless combinations of software (your choice of codecs, frameserver, encoding software etc).

On Mac OS X, all convertion applications basically need their own implementation of various formats, which usually doesn't include support for open-source formats like MKV.

[RiN!]

yeah i kinda like my programs on pc but ....its just well i heard some really good things of macs and then i took that tour thing at the apple store and it looked sexy and started staring at me with its big mac face d:

*Whos that puppy in the window >_>* Except its a mac! D:

[Ledgem]

If you get a Mac, in general, it's more expensive, but you do have more versatility. Since you can run Windows on it and barely notice you're using a Mac system, you have the benefit of being able to dual-boot. You can learn the Mac OS and its programs at your leisure. The stuff that Parallels (program for dual-booting and dual-accessing both Windows and Mac) is doing is amazing; I've heard that in future versions, you'll be able to access Windows programs from the Mac OS, without having to boot into Windows or access Windows through a virtual PC session.

That, and you'd be doing all of that on a more secure (at the moment) operating system. If you can do it, I'd say go Mac. I'll be switching my laptop from a Toshiba to a Macbook Pro soon, and I'll try to tri-boot it with Mac, Windows, and Linux (Linux support is a bit flaky, or so I hear). Best of all worlds - the way computing should be, in my opinion. If money is a concern, though, definitely go for a reliable PC notebook.

[RiN!]

Dual booting sounds nice. Are there anybugs or compatibility issues while dual booting windows on mac? or has there been any problems with this? If i were to dual boot i guess i could get vista home pro and boot on mac.

So am i correct to assume that you would use windows to perform the conversions in anime and mac for just about everything else?

[Potatochobit]

PC is best for downloading and watching stuff. MAC is best if u are actually going to make a video or animation from scratch. keep in mind a MAC is expensive, more so than a similar equipped PC.

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by RiN!

Dual booting sounds nice. Are there anybugs or compatibility issues while dual booting windows on mac? or has there been any problems with this? If i were to dual boot i guess i could get vista home pro and boot on mac.

I believe that the support with Windows XP is essentially flawless, but I'm not so sure of the Vista support. I think that some things might not work with Vista, but they should soon.

So am i correct to assume that you would use windows to perform the conversions in anime and mac for just about everything else?

You could do the conversions anywhere, really. The point of this is that you'd have Windows so that you wouldn't be stuck. What if you don't want to take the time to learn to do it on a Mac, or, what if the process on a Mac is much more complex? Just boot to Windows and take care of it. It's just to make your life simpler. (And, as I mentioned, soon you won't even have to "dual boot" - you'll be able to run Windows programs in the Mac environment under a virtual host that only shows that window, as if it were natively on your system.)

Originally Posted by Potatochobit

PC is best for downloading and watching stuff. MAC is best if u are actually going to make a video or animation from scratch. keep in mind a MAC is expensive, more so than a similar equipped PC.

That Macs are just good for media production is an older stereotype that I don't believe is as truly restrictive today as it used to be. I think plenty of people download and watch things on Macs. For ex-Windows users, it takes some time to adjust to new programs and the way the operating system works, but that's to be expected.

On the subject of pricing, I know killmoms might jump into here and tell us that we're wrong as well, but generally Macs are more expensive than PCs. However, given that you can dual boot (and that the hardware it comes with is pretty slick), paying a bit extra for boosted functionality might be worth it.

[killmoms]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

On the subject of pricing, I know killmoms might jump into here and tell us that we're wrong as well, but generally Macs are more expensive than PCs. However, given that you can dual boot (and that the hardware it comes with is pretty slick), paying a bit extra for boosted functionality might be worth it.

They tend to be a little more expensive when comparably equipped, at least on the lower end. On the high end (Mac Pro) they are significantly cheaper than comparable competition.