Computer Suggestions For Editing?

[Ray & Paula]

Hi,
I am currently looking to purchase a new computer to run Vegas 8 and DVD Architect. I realize the importance of having a large hard drive as well as much RAM that one can get. My question to you experienced editors/users out there is; what are you using for a computer that's held up rock solid for you? Which System do you feel is better; Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista? Also, what would you suggest for a video card?I currently have Windows XP Pro SP2. It can be either a desk top or a laptop. I do use an external 500 GB hard drive other than the hard drive on my computer when editing.
I know it's a lot of questions, but your suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks, Ray

[Abbadon]

I am not a professional in this field, only a guy having fun. Anyway, I prefer to build my own machines and be able to upgrade, test equipment from time to time, this flexibility is better than having some company dictate what equipment is better for me, in addition I can save a few dollars here and there.

At present, I am using the following:

1. Dual Core Pentium D 3.2 Gigahertz

2. 2 gigabytes Ram DDR2

3. NVidia Geforce 8600GT 256 megabytes Ram DDR3 PCIE

4. 80 gigabytes SATA Hard drive with Windows XP Pro

5. 120 Gigabytes SATA Hard disk to store, edit movies, videos, etc.

6. Flat Panel Monitor 17 "

7. DVD Burner BenQ

8. MSI 945GCM5 V2 motherboard with onboard sound.

This is the basic equipment home assembled.

[daamon]

Hi Ray,

My system was custom built a couple of years ago (and tweaked along the way) and had the fastest / biggest I could afford at the time.

The general principles most would suggest are:

* Fastest CPU you can get - dual core is now readily available.

* At least 2Gb RAM.

* At least 2 hard drives - one for the Operating System (Windows), one (huge one) for storage of raw footage (especially if it's DV AVI at 13.5Gb per hour), edited footage (still in DV AVI), DVD assets (if you're going that way) being the MPGs, menu images etc, and finally the end DVD product of VOB files etc.

* The spin speed of the hard drive should be at least 7200rpm (can you get higher?). Laptop internal hard drives are typically 5400rpm.

* Get a video card that has onboard memory - that way it won't sap your PC memory.

* As for an OS - I've not edited on a PC that runs Vista so can't comment. However, Vista is resource hungry (especially RAM) so if you go Vista go with more than 2Gb RAM as video editing is RAM hungry too.

Good luck.

[lordsmurf]

XP SP2
Whatever CPU you can afford -- Intel preferable
1.5GB RAM minimum (3GB max)
7200rpm hard drives (5400rpm minimum on laptop)
main hard drive, 80GB min. (Western Digital or Seagte ONLY)
second hard drive, as big as you can afford, 320GB-1TB suggested
good video card with it's own RAM (nVidia or ATI)
decent case with adequate cooling that doesn't sound like a jet engine
Pioneer PATA or Samsung SATA/PATA DVD burners
19" monitor minimum (4:3, not widescreen) -- if widescreen, 24" (LG is my favorite)
your internal cables should be "airflow" type, not air-blocking ribbons

Be sure to uninstall or disable crap you don't need. Reduce # of startup programs, Windows services running 24/7, etc -- and avoid software from Norton or McAfee unless you want it to eat all your resources.

Try to not install Nero, Roxio or other consumer-grade software.

[edDV]

Vegas Pro 8 seems to work well with XP SP2 or Vista.

You didn't mention the video formats you intend to edit. Assuming DV/HDV formats,

Desktop is preferable to Laptop.
Go for dual or quad core CPU.
Intel Core2 over AMD (but AMD can work). Get fastest you can afford.
2MB memory is adequate

Internal video drives (PATA or SATA) are preferable to external. eSATA or extenal SDI RAID are exceptions.
Avoid internal RAID except for uncompressed capture/editing.
Good video card is NVidia 7600GT (8600GT has advantage for MPeg4 playback)

Save money (~$250) for Cineform Neo HDV for heavy duty special effects editing.
http://www.cineform.com/products/NeoHD.htm

[Ray & Paula]

Hi,
Thanks for the replies! Yes, I am video editing in both formats DV/HDV.
I'd like to add that I was at the Dell site looking at the Dell Precision T7400. I found in their configuration area that they offer two differant types of hard drives, one being SATA with the other being SAS. Here is their explanation of SAS;

SAS(Serial Attached SCSI) unifies compelling elements of the SCSI and SATA worlds in a single efficient design. SAS is an excellent standard for workstation environments requiring extremely high performance and reliability. It supports the traditional SCSI command structure so it can work with SCSI software tools. And like SATA 3.0Gb/s and SATA 10K, SAS’s raw data transfer rate is up to 3.0 Gbits/sec.
SAS, however, is a bi-directional bus, meaning data can be routed in both directions, yielding a higher number of simultaneous data transfers to and from multiple devices than SATA 3.0Gb/s or SATA 10K.

What's your opinion? Thanks, Ray

[edDV]

Hi,
Thanks for the replies! Yes, I am video editing in both formats DV/HDV.
I'd like to add that I was at the Dell site looking at the Dell Precision T7400. I found in their configuration area that they offer two differant types of hard drives, one being SATA with the other being SAS. Here is their explanation of SAS;

SAS(Serial Attached SCSI) unifies compelling elements of the SCSI and SATA worlds in a single efficient design. SAS is an excellent standard for workstation environments requiring extremely high performance and reliability. It supports the traditional SCSI command structure so it can work with SCSI software tools. And like SATA 3.0Gb/s and SATA 10K, SAS’s raw data transfer rate is up to 3.0 Gbits/sec.
SAS, however, is a bi-directional bus, meaning data can be routed in both directions, yielding a higher number of simultaneous data transfers to and from multiple devices than SATA 3.0Gb/s or SATA 10K.

What's your opinion? Thanks, Ray

SAS seems targeted as at an external Video Server. Pro environments used to use uncompressed SDI or Fibrechannel. If you need to hook up to someone's external Video Server (e.g. at a production house), ask their tech support for suggestions.

[redwudz]

Just personal opinion, but I like at least three hard drives. Boot, Edit, and Store. The boot can be ~100GB. Edit and Store can be as big as you can afford. SATA is my first choice. You can install a PCI slot SATA connector and add external SATA drives if needed. SATA optical drives are also a good deal as you can keep your drive cables small. Good for air circulation. Graphics cards are just for display, which one you use depends on the display you want to use. Really not much to do with editing.

Other notes: For memory, 32bit OSs can only use a bit less than 4GB RAM, so really useless to have more. SATA or PATA drives are plenty fast for editing. RAID is not really needed with newer drives, especially for editing.

Spend the extra cash on a two monitor setup. They don't have to be huge, but 19" monitors are nice. You can do your editing full screen on one and have the controls on the second. I would consider DVI input monitors for both. Your editing software may dictate some of the above. Spend some time trying out different programs for editing.

A fast CPU is also a good idea. Not so much for editing, but for the inevitable re-encoding you will need to do. The Quad core CPUs would be my choice, mostly Intel.

Again, JMO.

[Ray & Paula]

Thanks to all of you for the replies! I appreciate all the help! Ray

[JohnnyMalaria]

My main system is similar to Abbadon's and I have Vegas 8. It works very, very well.

It works on Vista as well as XP SP2 (I use Vista almost exclusively) but I would recommend XP if you have the option. Video applications not designed with Vista in mind can exhibit some odd audio-related behavior for reasons too geeky to mention(!)

Sony's licensing model allows you to install Vegas on as many systems as you like as long as you only use one at a time. Hence you can try it on different OSes to decide for yourself.