Computer Purchase (Video Editing) - Opinions

[Jenny]

Hi guys!

Been busy with my Show lately...

I need some help on determining what kind of Computer I need to purchase for my Video Editing/Capturing needs.


Here’s my situation (for those who don’t know me yet!):
- I host a Weekly Variety Show (in a bar) in my city (it’s not on TV or being Broadcasted Live over the net).
- I will be making short 2 – 10 minute Video Clips for my Audience to view.
- I need to save Video files for HIGH Quality, as a Live Audience will be viewing my Videos-Clips on a Projector Screen, through my Projector. At the same time, I don’t want SUPER high file sizes!
- The Videos, through the Projector will display at approximately 6 feet.
- I will also be Video Taping the actual Show, of which I will be editing down later and posting clips of on the internet.


Anyhow, I need to buy a computer that can edit/capture video damn good!


What do you guys recommend?


Here’s what I’m thinking:
- 200 GB Hard Drive
- 1 GB RAM


Ok, I’ll be honest, I’m not the most versed in this area. What do you recommend? I’m all ears


BUDGET: $2,000/US
That Budget is flexible. And at the same time, I don’t need the best-of-the-best for everything! Just need a darn solid Computer for this regular task!



Thanks for reading!
Jenny

[lenti_75]

160 or more hdd
1gb ram at 400Mhz speed
2.5G or more for processor
firewire for digital capture
I would recomend a Canopus for analog capture

another option is Ramburs platform, ramburs motherboard and memory, which runs at 1066Mhz (if you want real speed);

I use Ulead videostudio for minor editing, if you want, you can go for Adobe premiere, or Ulead media studio pro, or Sony Vegas.

[daamon]

I'll second lenti_75, adding only that a second hard drive dedicated solely for capture and holding your video assets is worth considering.

It means that only read / writes to do with the video will be done to that disk, and not get interrupted by read / writes to disk by your OS.

Also, it means that all the crap that gets written to your OS's hard drive (temp files, cookies, regular day-to-day opening and closing of files etc.) won't fragment your dedicated video hard drive.

Look into WinDV for DV video transfer - free, very reliable, small footprint on PC. Van be configured to capture one continuous file, or file-per-clip.

Good luck with your project and new PC!

[thinger62]

If you don't build your own, a good start would be the Dell 8400 for $650 through the Small Business Section, a p4 3.0 I think, with a 17" flat panel , 512 meg and a 40 gig sata included. Add (when orderering or after the fact) a second SATA hard drive, upgrade to a gig of memory and order a firewire card from Newegg. This price is only good for a day or two I believe.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=2d84h1b&s=bsd

[kisrum]

no input on specs except get the separate hard drive. Seems like if you're in a decent sized city, maybe you could find a local computer builder who could be relied upon for drop-in service rather than shipping. A local users group or information technology type friend might point you to some qualified people. That said, Dell is pretty good about getting broken things fixed.

[madvideos]

$2000.00 will buy a whole lotta PC!!! I mean an Alienware cost $2000.00, that would be the ultimate video machine aside from being a gaming machine. These things are beasts, so if you are going to spend 2 g's, go ahead and buy tomorrows technology today!! Alienware.

[madvideos]

make sure you look at the specs on Alienware systems
http://www.alienware.com/ I wish I had your budget right now. I spent all my budget on this system.. but it was well worth the money spent. Me and my family get soooo much use of our computers so I make sure they stay upgraded hardware wise.

[fmctm1sw]

$2000.00 will buy a whole lotta PC!!! I mean an Alienware cost $2000.00, that would be the ultimate video machine aside from being a gaming machine. These things are beasts, so if you are going to spend 2 g's, go ahead and buy tomorrows technology today!! Alienware.

I'm not all about Alienware but madvideos has a point. You could buy a hell of a lot of computer for $2000 (especially if all you want to use it for is making videos and playing back out to a digital projector). I'd find somone who could tailor it to exactly what you need and take that extra cash and use it elsewhere. Like investing it in Enron.. errr, maybe not

[normcar]

I would recommend 3 drives, an IDE drive for your operating system. 2 SATA drives 250GB or 300GB. This way you can get the best speed to edit videos from 1 drive to another. Also buy Corsair memory or another good memory, and do a memcheck on it to ensure that you do not have a problem with memory, which will crash your system. Also ensure that you have DMA enabled (do a forum search) for all drives if you are using IDE drives. You also need to have a good cooler for your CPU when doing video editing do not use the stock cooler.

[Jenny]

Wow! Awesome…so many responses!

A few things before I start asking more questions.


HOW I WILL PLAY VIDEO CLIPS I CREATE
I made a mistake…I forgot to mention that I will not be playing the Videos from this machine. I have a Dell Laptop (600m Inspiron) that I’ll be playing my video clips from for the audience.
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_600m?c=us&cs=19&l=e...pecstab#tabtop


HARD DRIVES
- I would like to have at least two Hard Drives on this PC
- I would like to have SATA Hard Drives


OTHER PURPOSES FOR THIS PC
- This PC will not access the internet
- It will do nothing except Video Edit/Capture


SOFTWARE I WILL USE
- I love Sony Vegas!!!


Just wanted to give you guys the extra information I thought might be helpful


And now for my questions…

[Jenny]

I’ll start here…


lenti_75 and daamon wrote:

another option is Ramburs platform, ramburs motherboard and memory, which runs at 1066Mhz (if you want real speed)

Why do you guys recommend Ramburs?



thinger62 wrote:

…order a firewire card from Newegg.

Is Newegg a company that makes Firewire cards?



madvideos wrote:

$2000.00 will buy a whole lotta PC!!! I mean an Alienware cost $2000.00

Alienware? Sorry guys for my inexpertise in some of the products…but why is Alienware so good? I never heard of them


fmctm1sw wrote:

You could buy a hell of a lot of computer for $2000 (especially if all you want to use it for is making videos and playing back out to a digital projector).

Made a mistake here…I’m using the PC for even less…I won’t be hauling it with me to the Bar to play the clips from on a Projector…got a laptop to do that!!


normcar wrote:

Also buy Corsair memory or another good memory, and do a memcheck on it to ensure that you do not have a problem with memory, which will crash your system.

Why Corsair memory?

I don’t understand…how can you do a memory check…why would there be a problem with memory?
Is this a task to do down-the-road? :P

Also ensure that you have DMA enabled (do a forum search) for all drives if you are using IDE drives.

Ok…I’ll check DMA up…as for the IDE drives…I plan on using SATA.

You also need to have a good cooler for your CPU when doing video editing do not use the stock cooler.

Really? Is this necessary?
How much is something like this normcar?



All right…I’m gonna do a little bit of researching.
Talk with you soon guys.
Jenny

[fox436]

I don't think i see anyone talking about macs yet. I edit on a home built vid editing pc right now but i would kill for a mac g5. I'm getting a powerbook soon and those alone can do a good jopb editing. Man if you're serious about vodeo editing go mac and find yourself a copy of final cut pro. PC's are great for gameing but macs with FCP are really the standard for editing right now. and for that you could move the vid files to your laptop over an ethernet connection or through a firewire hard drive. Just my thoughts but if you wanted to go the cheaper route go PC and build it yourself, if you don't know how i'm sure you have a friend who does. At all costs build your own you can get so much more out of your money. My comp cost me 2200 last summer with a 17" flatscreen, amd 3200 processor, 1gb ram, abit motherboard, dual 160gb hd''s, dvd burner, ati all in wonder (great for vid editing) 9800 pro, and a sick creative surround system. I figured a comperable system from dell would have been at least 3200. If you go pc use Adobe premier pro, the way i see it you can't get anything better for pc's.

[FSCfilm]

Im a fan of the HP Media Center

theres several different grades, the lowest contains everything you would need for basic quality video editing and producing at home. Including a
180GB hard drive
2 1394 card Inputs
DVD/CD burners
Composite Video/audio inputs
etc
check it out on the HP websites, I purchased a refurbished one for under 900, thatll give you 1100 to soop it up with extras.

[FSCfilm]

Of course macs are top of the line but then youre getting in way over your head, 2 grand wouldnt begin to buy you what you need especially as far as software goes.

[normcar]

Everyone should check every memory module you purchase. I even found both bad modules of Corsair value memory, and Corsair is considered one of the best manufactures. Bad memory can create problems like system or application crashing. There is a FAQ which explains the memory checking tools for new users on this site--someone help find the location.

As for the CPU cooling, I burned out 2 motherboards before purchasing a new cooler. The best cooler is the Thermalright XP-90 and is about $45. On some CPUs this can cut the temp by as much as 40F or more. I was getting about 155F with the stock HS, and now I max out at about 110F, and usually below 100F.

[normcar]

This is where to discover how to test memory and how to set DMA for IDE drives.

http://www.mrbass.org/dvdnewbie/

[SEALs1230]

madvideos wrote:

$2000.00 will buy a whole lotta PC!!! I mean an Alienware cost $2000.00

Alienware? Sorry guys for my inexpertise in some of the products…but why is Alienware so good? I never heard of them

I dont know too much about alienware, so Im not the best person to be answering this but I figure I'll give it a shot. My next purchase was going to be alienware b/c I hear great things about them. They are especially good with gaming systems. If you go to their website you will see alot about gaming. Since gaming is a very system intensive hobby, you need top of the line equipment and a solid computer. I assume that since gaming is their expertise, my inductive reasoning leads me to believe that they build solid fast computers; that dont only have to be used for gaming. I"m sure that anything good for gaming will be more then enough for video editing.

[fox436]

Yea alienware is good, but rediculously overpriced. Honestly build your own you could save a grand or more on a good system. Alienware is good stuff gut its real flashy and overpriced. Like i said before if you don't know how to build a computer i'm sure you have a friend who does. Home built stuff can be a little more prone to glitches but i'll put up with a few glitches for the amount of money you're gonna save. Also 2000 might buy you a bottom of the line alienware system, but it'll buy you one hell of a home built one. Gameing is very system intensive but when you get into complex vid editing it can make gameing look like a toy. Video editing is i'm pritty sure the most resource intensive computer function around.

[lenti_75]

I’ll start here…


lenti_75 and daamon wrote:

another option is Ramburs platform, ramburs motherboard and memory, which runs at 1066Mhz (if you want real speed)

Why do you guys recommend Ramburs?



thinger62 wrote:

…order a firewire card from Newegg.

Is Newegg a company that makes Firewire cards?



madvideos wrote:

$2000.00 will buy a whole lotta PC!!! I mean an Alienware cost $2000.00

Alienware? Sorry guys for my inexpertise in some of the products…but why is Alienware so good? I never heard of them


fmctm1sw wrote:

You could buy a hell of a lot of computer for $2000 (especially if all you want to use it for is making videos and playing back out to a digital projector).

Made a mistake here…I’m using the PC for even less…I won’t be hauling it with me to the Bar to play the clips from on a Projector…got a laptop to do that!!


normcar wrote:

Also buy Corsair memory or another good memory, and do a memcheck on it to ensure that you do not have a problem with memory, which will crash your system.

Why Corsair memory?

I don’t understand…how can you do a memory check…why would there be a problem with memory?
Is this a task to do down-the-road? :P

Also ensure that you have DMA enabled (do a forum search) for all drives if you are using IDE drives.

Ok…I’ll check DMA up…as for the IDE drives…I plan on using SATA.

You also need to have a good cooler for your CPU when doing video editing do not use the stock cooler.

Really? Is this necessary?
How much is something like this normcar?



All right…I’m gonna do a little bit of researching.
Talk with you soon guys.
Jenny

I would use ramburs but it's too expensive for me. WHY ? because it;s speed is more than double of the fastest ddr's, no ddr can be used above 400Mhz

WHEN ENCODING VIDEO CPU<->MEMORY SPEED IS THE most important, other things is just bs

NO, newegg is a online retailer, for pc components, and a good one

If you know how to biuld a system, then don't buy it.

[madvideos]

I seen the making of an Alienware system on TechTV some time ago, before comcast bought them out, but let me tell ya.. building that system may cost you more, they run DUAL Graphic Cards, one controls the top and the other the bottom screens, I can go on and on.. these systems can't be touched by a home made system. IMHO, that is based on what I seen on the show, now I have been building my computers for years.. But to build one like that.. no way dood.. it would cost you a fortune on the dual choip mobo alone. Well anyways.. enough of that... Just get what feels right to you, look at the following features before you pay, don't count on many people at the local computer store knowing what a agp slot is..lmao.
But here, a few suggestions on what to look for...

Graphics card, at least a 128, don't let your friends have you think a 256 Is better, well it is, but you don't really need that.

Memory , I use 768 now.. seems to be more than enough, a gig will take about $150.00 on the tag.

Hard drives, go all out here man, this is what you will need most.. SPACE.. we can never have enough in this hobby.. I use 260 all together, I can use about 500 or even a terabyte..lol.. seriously, get as much as you can afford, sacrifice on things like a silly floppy drive.. lol.. no one uses these anymore. Don't get a DVD writer and a CD Writer too, the DVD Writer does both, and yes there are a lot of folks that don't realize that.

Find a friend that knows a lot about computers and get him/her to help you on tweaking it once you get it, oh btw, look for 1.6 GHZ or higher, you can save a lot going with AMD, I use AMD and love it, been using AMD for about 6 years now. NO Complaints at all!!

Well good luck man, let us know if you need specific information that may help.

[Jenny]

Hey guys.

Just got home…thought I’d give this place a check-through

Jesus…thanks for all the help everyone…so much info in here!


normcar…thanks for the link…and posts…


lenti_75 wrote:

I would use ramburs but it's too expensive for me. WHY ? because it;s speed is more than double of the fastest ddr's, no ddr can be used above 400Mhz

I feel like a freak saying this…but what is DDR?

WHEN ENCODING VIDEO CPU<->MEMORY SPEED IS THE most important, other things is just bs

Memory can have different speeds?



I’m out.
Jenny

[thecoalman]

I seen the making of an Alienware system on TechTV some time ago, before comcast bought them out, but let me tell ya.. building that system may cost you more,

You can build a comparable system or even purchase the same pre built system for far less. Nothing against Alienware but they are way over priced.

If your going to buy a pre-built system take a look at some of these, my last pre built system was bought from them.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=list&SubCategory=10&manufactory=8...mpareItemList=

If you need to output to TV I'd suggest looking at something like the Canopus ADVC 110. You can export DV-AVI> analog video from it from either DV cam or computer, you also get the added benefit of one of the best analog capture devices on the market.

[daamon]

I feel like a freak saying this…but what is DDR?

DDR = Double Data Rate. I believe, someone please correct me if I'm wrong, it effectivley means the memory can send and receive data at the same time. Whereas SDR (the older stuff, SDR = Single Data Rate) can only send or receive at any one time, not both together.

Memory can have different speeds?

Yep.

Good luck on your new PC.

[Donny661]

I just wanted to let you know about another place to get this PC. Monarch Computers is a great place to have a custom system built, or to buy the components separately. I bought a motherboard/processor combo (usually the motherboard and proccessor are sold separately but the processor is a delicate part so i decided to have them install it for my first home built PC) through them and I was very happy with the workmanship and price.

Also, about memory, just like the processor can be faster or slower, so can memory. The faster your memory is, the faster the programs will be able to run because the programs run in the memory not just from the hard drive and because hard drive is too slow. When a program is loading or starting up it is transferring all the data it needs to run from the hard drive to the memory, which is why it takes a little time.

Memory speed is usually measured in MHz, just like porcessors. A few years ago almost all memory was either 100 or 133 MHz which were also called PC100 and PC133 SDR RAM (or SDRAM), respectively. Then, they developed the Double Data Rate (DDR) RAM which allowed imformation to move in both directions simultaneously and doubled the speed of the memory. The common speed was 266 MHz (133*2) and is called PC2100 DDRRAM. Now there are 333 MHz, 400 MHz, and 500 MHz versions called PC2700, PC3200, and PC4000, respectivy. The PC3200 is sometimes called DDR400 and PC4000, DDR500.

Some motherboards use something called "Dual-Channel" memory which speeds up memory even more when you use two sticks of it. You have to get two identical pieces of memory. It somehow uses both to increase the performance and is sounds like it helps a lot.

Ramburs is from what I thought, called Rambus (perhaps there was a typo there). Anyway, Rambus is just a really fast type of memory; although, it is very expensive. It is also called RDRAM. Most motherboards support DDR types of RAM and that is probably all you will need