A spec for video editing?

[Balliol]

Its time to buy a new machine just to use for transfering family VHS tapes to the computer to edit them and to build slide shows from loads of photographs that I have.
I understand that Vista is not recomended for such work so I want XP and I also understand that I need an extra hard drive of about 500GB
I see Dual core 2 and Quad -core processors mentioned but I don't know which is the most effective.
Mesh recomend the Mesh Elite Prestige Duo
Dell recomend a Dell Dimension 920
Neither appear inclined to give me XP so I would welcome and idears.

[freebird73717]

If you want xp you are going to have to build your own as the major manufactures (dell, gateway, hp and otheres) only offer vista now.

[SCDVD]

Some feedback for whatever it's worth. I upgraded to Vista about three months ago. The process went smoothly without a hitch. (I did a clean install, not an upgrade install.) I do a lot of video work on my system including transfers, editing, authoring and conversions to XVID for example. I wouldn't jump on the "Vista is no good" bandwagon so quickly if I were you. There is a certain personality type that resists any type of change but that is often a social disorder, not a valid position. A lot of this self aggrandizing blowhard "advise" comes from people who just like the noise of their own bravado. I suppose if you look hard enough, you could find someone who would suggest that you stick with DOS - but now back to the real world.

It is worthwhile to have more memory with Vista. 2GB is a good number.

[Balliol]

Thanks for the reply. You may be right about jumping on the Bandwaggon but I suppose that my reasons are I had such a difficult time getting to grips with Pinnacle Studio that I don't want to rock the boat and I very much resent how much MS have costed Vista at.
However, my current quest is to seek a reasonable spec for a new computer.

[mats.hogberg]

I ungraded to Vista

! (Sorry - couldn't resist.)

/Mats

[SCDVD]

I ungraded to Vista

! (Sorry - couldn't resist.)

/Mats

That is funny. Since I didn't have a problem with the uPgrade, it isn't a Freudian slip. I'll have to remember that when I uPlock my car door to go home this evening.

[MysticE]

Well I did find this article interesting.

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

[redwudz]

I like Vista, myself. But to stay on topic, what I like to use for video editing. (And encoding.)

Vista or XP OS (Vista Home Premium minimum. XP SP2)

2GB DDR2-800 RAM, and that won't hurt for XP, either, though 1GB is fine for XP. 32bit OS's can only use a little less than 4GB.

3 hard drives. One for boot, one for edit and one for archive. SATA II preferred.

2 optical drives, DVD burners or one DVD ROM and one DVD-RW. SATA or PATA

Dual core CPU ~3GHz. This is mostly for encoding. Editing probably doesn't make much difference. Quad core? More effect for encoding than editing. Fast is always better, but get what you can afford.

Video card? Doesn't really matter for encoding or editing. Good for viewing, though.

[edDV]

For editing VHS tape source, the choice of capture device and software is the major concern. As for computer hardware, both a 2GHz P4 or QuadCore2 will work. The only difference is speed.

Choice of OS depends on the software and hardware. Many programs haven't optimized yet for Vista and drivers are widely lacking for capture devices. Research all this first.

As for Pinnacle Studio, just say no for XP or (horrors) Vista. They have yet to produce a stable version for XP and after 8 years of hype seem to lack interest in stability.

VHS transfer is a tricky business if you want to do it right. Most people will be best served buying a quality standalone DVD recorder.

[LOWTECH]

I have transfered 100s of hours of VHS using Ulead Videostudio and via Firewire to my computer.

I ditched Pinnacle studio after I month........

I have used Sony VEGAS for all film editing and slidshows which I create with music, and encode to DVD, I have used Vegas for many years and haven`t looked back, One of the best Progs available and so user friendly.

I have a 2.8 ghz DUAL Core Proccessor..2gb Ram.....2 x 200gb Hard Drives. The encode to DVD time is about 1.5 hours for a 1 hour of video.

I use Ulead Moviefactory disc creator to burn DVDs with chapters.....

With all the above I create excellent quality DVDs and Slidshows to a high standard.

I use XP.....and purchased my HP computer from PC WORLD .....