RED ONE Question: R3D vs. PC

So we shot a music video on the RED One a couple of weekends ago. First time I've ever shot HD. Shoot was great; smoothest shoot I've ever been on. Footage looked fantastic. Only one problem: we've got a G5 at the office and the REDCODE files are only accessible on Intel-based Macs. That's fine, it's no problem. We're shooting a feature in the Fall, so we'll have to upgrade our computers. In the meantime, we can rent a Mac Pro so that I can get the video edited and coloured before the big release in August.

Now this is my here-and-now dilemma: I'd like to go through the footage, and potentially save myself some time (and rental fees) by picking out some of my favourite cuts. It doesn't help that we shot enough footage for a goddamn 10-minute short film, and the RED camera's filing system is ASS. I'd also like to pick out a few choice stills for our website, the artist's myspace, and yadda-yadda-yadda. Also, I'd like to do this on a PC.

Is there a codec or an equivalent of RED ALERT for a PC that I can just go through the footage with and potentially pick out stills? I don't even care about converting the footage, I just want to look at it. REDCINE wasn't able to open the R3D files, so I'm not sure if I wasn't using it properly or if it's not actually supposed to open them.

Anyone been through this before? Do I even have any options? Or do I have to wait until I get this stuff onto a Mac Pro? Any information at all would be fantastic.

Apparently, REDCINE does do the things that RED ALERT did. My computer is just too slow to process the high-res footage. If anyone's interested in seeing what the footage looks like, I'll scale down the TIFFs and post some images.

Okay, so I've finally gotten around to going through some of the footage, getting my online editor to apply some colour correction, and putting together a little HD demo for the artist to take a look at. I don't have the demo online, but I've taken some low-res screencaps for you guys to check out and comment on.

I'm not sold on a few of the effects (specifically with the microphone scene: it looks a little too overblown and the artist a little too pale,) but I've seen what CAN be done with the footage and it's blowing my mind. Will definitely be shooting on the RED again.

Enjoy:

http://www.landedentertainments.com/...mvtest_001.jpg
http://www.landedentertainments.com/...mvtest_004.jpg
http://www.landedentertainments.com/...mvtest_005.jpg
http://www.landedentertainments.com/...mvtest_006.jpg (not completely sold on this one)
http://www.landedentertainments.com/...mvtest_007.jpg

I'd love to hear what you guys think. Any feedback would be great.

Edit: I realize that the shots I posted are fairly simple close-ups. However, for the purpose of this test I requested we use only close-ups so that we could make sure the actors (and the artist) would look good before moving on to anything else.

Yeah, my computer kicked my ass when I tried to export those images in 4K.

Currently working on getting this thing through post. Post is where I'm always looking for help. I have a lot to learn when it comes to importing and exporting footage (especially the RED stuff,) and I'm pretty useless when it comes to online. Plus, my online editor just dropped out to pursue something else. I'm shopping around as we speak.

I don't think I have to mention this to you guys because you all seem to be on top of your game, but you wouldn't believe how many times people have said to me: "Well, I've used the RED and my footage didn't look like THAT."

I have a hard time believing that people literally jump into shooting projects without doing research in advance. "Oh, I have access to a RED; my movie's going to look incredible!" The camera isn't magic. It's not going to light your scene, or fill your frame, or give you the depth your looking for. Not on it's own! You need someone who knows how to handle it, you'll need some decent lenses, a guy who can light a scene properly, and for God's sake - get a focus puller that knows what they're doing if you're going to be moving the fucking camera. I'm always shocked when people show me their HD footage and shit is out of focus or completely flat because I figure if you're going to spend the dough on one of these things (they're not cheap, but rental prices are going down)... you may as well shoot it properly.

Otherwise, it's a fantastic camera. Heavy as fuck when it's fully loaded (so careful with those lengthy handheld shots, I almost destryoed my DP's shoulder,) but you get such great looking footage if everything else is in place. The compression is fantastic, but just make sure you've got access to an Intel Mac or PC when you're loading it into post. A fully loaded G5 just doesn't cut it. Fucking Intel.

Edit: Grammar.