buying a new computer and ...

[nerie]

how much horsepower do I need to do some elementary dv editing? do I need a gig of memory, 512 kb, or 256? how much hard drive, 40 gig, 120 gig, or what? what about processor? I am leaning towards dell, since the dell I have now is like a tank and refuses to break.

[Capmaster]

Dell is OK for a general purpose machine. If you're going to do video editing, go with an Intel processor. They have longer pipelines and are better suited to video editing, as opposed to Athlon which are better suited to gaming Go with a CPU > 2.4 GHz. Get a huge HD >80GB and get a HD that has as high a spindle speed as possible. Stick with Serial ATA interface. Those are the important things.

[davideck]

My son has done quite a bit of MiniDV editing on a Pentium III 933 Mhz machine, 256 MB, 120 GB drive. So anything you buy today should work fine if properly configured. I've heard that TI makes the best 1394 interface chipset, and that is what we have (DLink board). But by now, most motherboards come with 1394. The absolute must is a large hard drive. He easily goes through 40 GB trying to author 20 minute videos. So my recommendation is a well built (Dell should be fine) system with a hard drive at least 120 GB.

[thor300]

The difference betwen P4 and AMD is very small, better to save some money and go for bigger harddrive, thats what video editing need. XP2600 with 512MB ram is most performance per $, it can encode DV to DVD Video+Audio at speeds close to 1.5x realtime at 8mbps CBR. Thats only a xp2600, the xp3200 will be just 10-12% below a P4 3.4Ghz in encoding speed, check the price for those two, its for sure not 10-12% difference in $$$.

[flaninacupboard]

for hard drive space, DV is 13gigs an hour. so if you want to make a DVD from 3 hours of footage and do some effects/transitions you'll need space for your source 3 hours and then maybe an hour of final disc, 52gigs. then you need to encode to MPEG, 4.37 gigs. then you need to author to DVD, 4.37gigs. so throw in 5 gigs for OS and programs and you will need a minimum of 65 gigs. i have a 120gig drive and still run out of space!

[lordsmurf]

how much horsepower do I need to do some elementary dv editing? do I need a gig of memory, 512 kb, or 256? how much hard drive, 40 gig, 120 gig, or what? what about processor? I am leaning towards dell, since the dell I have now is like a tank and refuses to break.

I would highly suggest the INTEL P4 for video encoding. AMD+ fans will cry "better value" but I'd rather spend the dollars on what I know to be a superior product, proven over and over again (personal tests). Especially at video. I've seen to many AMD+ choke or croak.

Get DDR or RDRAM, at least 256, preferably 512.

At least two 80GB drive, if not two 120GB drives. 7200 is fine, and SATA is not needed. The speed/advantages of SATA are really wasted on video, spending money on something you won't use.

A good dedicated firewire card for DV transfer too.

A Dell is an excellent decision for ready-made systems. (In fact, one of my good friends just moved there for a new job, could probably get him to contact you with a good system suggestion. FYI, I don't get a kickback, though I may make him buy me a beer if I get him some sales. :P )

[budz]

Have someone build a custom pc for you. I wouldn't purchase a DELL pc due to the fact they don't use industry standard components. Here take a look at this article: http://www.upgradingandrepairingpcs.com/articles/upgrade3_01_01.asp

DELL pc's are fine if you're just doing the simple emailing and surfing the web. That's just my opinion.

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[virtual133]

I wouldn't go with Dell...I've heard that they use cheap motherboads...and most of their PCs are overpriced.

I personally have a Gateway...with a Pentium 4 Hyperthreading, 3 GHz, 250 GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM. Works GREAT for video editing. The 250 GB HD is great considering 2 hr DV videos take up about 27 Gigs. My computer rarely ever crashes...the crashing was usually the result of Pinnacle Studio 8. (baaadddd program). Hyperthreading is great if you like to multitask. I have not yet had one coaster on the burner yet either (using Memorex DVD-Rs).

Good luck in your finds.

[ZippyP.]

512 MB of ram is enough for most people, unless you intend to run multiple applications all at once. Any more is overkill and less will slow your system.

[nerie]

what about mac? even worth looking at? remember, I am primarily interested in dv editing. a few games (half life 2), and the usual productivity software. thanks for the responses!

[LanEvo7]

Dell(or any retail manufacturer) is overpriced but if you don't much about computers they've got some decent options. Do some research though, because the systems they usually recommend you are underpowered. Plus they usually load a bunch of garbage software onto the pc that you don't need.

You go the custom route if you understand how to do it. It's much less expensive and you know exactly what you are getting. Intel's midline chips are probably a better choice for encoding right now. AMD's top line has a slight edge over Intel even for video encoding, but the chip alone costs $800.

I don't know much about Macs other than I saw some benchmarks that didn't favor it very much.

[galactica]

what about mac? even worth looking at? remember, I am primarily interested in dv editing. a few games (half life 2), and the usual productivity software. thanks for the responses!

Of coase this is always an option. One i would suggest.

Games: Most games are out for both platforms. Those that are new and on PC sometimes take a little longer to get over to OSX but they typically do eventually.

Software: Most "usual productivity" software is also avaliable for mac.

Compatibility problems. Say you have a particular PC only app. worse case senerio you can run VirtulalPC and run that app. but generally there is a mac equivalent.

Some suggestions:
Try one and see if you like it.
If you have an apple store in the nearby area go visit it and see the models and actually use them.

Most have the apps installed that most users want to use, even the Final Cuts, Dvd studio's etc and you can test them out.

Also one thing to consider is price. Macs do cost more and without going into the frenzy of blah blah blah which is better yack yack yack just see if you can afford the one that will meet your needs

I can say the new Dual G5 liquid cooled system is quite nice

[Brad31365]

I wouldn't purchase a DELL pc due to the fact they don't use industry standard components.

Thats a fact. I recommend a P4 with hyper threading, 800 mhz. bus but thats just me.

[nelson133]

I run 2 amd machines, a 2400+ and a 2800+ and have had no "choking" with either. You may get a slight real world preformance increase with an intel chip, but I think the money is better spent on storage, ram, and such. That being said, I recommend at least 200 gig in hard drive space, especially if you do much capture work, even 120 gig looks small in a hurry. 512 meg of ram is a minimum, I recommend at least 1 gig, and the fastest ram your motherboard will take. If you have any idea of what you are doing, home built will give you greater control over the quality of your components. Commercial builders always cut corners someplace, and video processing demands alot of the machine.
As mentioned above, SATA hard drives probably are not necessary.
Nyah Levi

[makntraks]

Personally I think recommending a "Search" would have saved numerous bits and bytes from wasting away on this post....

Just my $0.02
makntraks

p.s. Go ahead... flame away for the truly serious reply.....

Edit:
p.s.s Just check out some profiles of the more "serious" people here and you can figure out what you need to do what you desire...

[bbllc]

I would definately have someone build a custom PC. I have no dog in the AMD vs. Intel wars, since I am a shareholder of neither. I personally use an AMD 2800+ XP CPU, and I have never had any problems. I would go with a cheaper CPU in order to put more of your funds towards a larger hard drive and more RAM.

I currently use a 250GB WD hard drive exclusively for video, and I have 1.5 GB of DDR400 RAM. My burner, a Sony DRU530A, is slaved to the hard drive.