HD Video Editing - New Computer Advice Please

[Heineken]

Hi Guys,

Well I'm looking to get a new computer before Christmas and would love some advice! I'd also be interested in the differences between the G5 apples and dual processor PCs.


- I want a system that will flawlessly and very easily edit High Definition video. I have a sony HC3 High Def camcorder. Would like it to be able to handle the load without any issues of slow down, and mabye even use the internet and other programs while the computer captures the video without any slow down at all.

- Would like the computer to be able to easily handle 64-bit programs, as well as Windows Vista with EASE ((if I go PC rather than mac))

- Don't normally play games, but wouldn't mind a system that can handle games flawlessly as well IN CASE i decided to buy one...however seeing as I am not a big gamer, I am not looking to spend 5000 for a system good for games but waste that money because I never play them.

- Would like to have ways to play/pause live tv. would be cool..but again, not a deal breaker as I probably wouldn't use it.

- Would like to have a DVD burners that use light scribe ((burns labels onto disc) Not a deal breaker either.

- Would like lots of memory, BIG hard drive (300-500gb), and anything else recommended for HDV editing.

- Would an Apple G5 do better for hd video editing and gaming than a PC with an intel core 2 duo 6700 or extreme x6800 processor?

- What if I ran Windows on an Apple G5, or a hack to allow me to run windows software on the Apple, would I lose performance rather than just purchasing a PC to run the software?

- Is Apple's mac pro processor better than a core 2 extreme 6800 processor seeing as it has a quad processor? Is the G5 the fastest thing around?

- If I decided to go the PC route and build my own PC, have one built for me, or purchase one at an online store could I get:

* x6800 core 2 duo
* High end video card to deal with the hd editing and games (any recommendations here? I hear there are dual video cards out now...is this necessary or recommended?)
* 300-500gig 7200rpm HD (btw..what is SATA)
* 2gb DDR2 - 800 Memory (best type you can get? - Overkill? - Any recommendations)
* DVD-RW (Possibly Lightscribe)
* DVD-Rom/CD Burner
* Whatever else you recommend as I have never built or puchased a high end unit before.

NOTE: If anyone knows of a reputable place online to buy a system as listed above, I'd love to hear it.

- Finally, are the G5s and the PC possibilities highly upgradeable, so I don't have to worry about not having the ability to add extra things like: lots of memory, future video card upgrade, etc.

Again, I'm sorry for being so 'noobish'. I hope to hear from some of you ((at your convenience))
Thanks!!

[greymalkin]

I'll chip away at some of these things.

- The desire to have "no slowdowns" simply isn't possible with affordable hardware . We're talking about HD here..and if you want to render it as quickly as possible, you want everything slammed to the max working on it.

- The play/pause live tv would be done by getting a capture card and software to do it, or by using windows xp media center edition with an approved capture card.

- For the memory/hard drive...you could get approx. 2gb. For the hard drives ideally I would have a medium sized system drive and 2 biiig scratch drives for the video. put the source video on one drive and render the video to the other. SATA II is the latest HD interface and it's just faster than the previous..so definitely go with SATA II.


- if HD editing is the same as SD video editing, you don't need a fancy video card for it since it's mainly CPU intensive. HOWEVER! since we are talking about HD you will need a good video card to play back the HD content as well as use the fancy features for windows vista. So a video card with 256mb+ of onboard video memory should be fine.

Thats my .02. I hope to hear some feedback on these quad core G5's as I've never had experience with them.

[Heineken77]

Please skip the previous post of mine.

I dived in and took a chance.

Found a great deal on the following:

AMD 64 x2 5000+
2gb DDR2 SDRam
320GB Hard-Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE

I decided to go this route because it was a lot cheaper than the prices that I have been seeing, and when talking it over with the Fiancee, I decided that the money I wanted to spend on a 'super computer' could do better in other areas in our lives until a year or two later lol

So the question is, will this more than suffice to edit HD that I capture with my HDR-HC3?

Thank you!

[guns1inger]

I would put a second HDD in the box. Perhaps an 80 or 120 GB drive. This should be the system drive where windows and your applications live. The 320MB drive can then be dedicated just to video.

[edDV]

Not the time to invest in that supercomputer.

Mac and PC are using the same hardware (Intel Core Duo top of the hill for now) so no difference there anymore. Figure 2-3x speed improvement (i.e. not quite as slow as before).

Intel's plans are for 4x core (Jan) followed by 8x, 16x, 32x ...

In a parallel path, hardware MPeg2 encoders will improve for computer PVR.

H.264/VC-1 hardware encoders will appear at reasonable prices and all will be realtime someday.