Celeron (R) 2.00Gh

[Ray Bentos]

A friend of mine recently gave me a pc which I would like to use for video capture / edit / write to dvd / output back to tape using Pinnacle Studio 8 & my Sony DCR TRV 60 Digital Camcorder without using the Internet.

The CPU is a Celeron (R) 2.00Gh
256 MB RAM (DDRAM)
40GB HDD
Windows XP Professional SP1

I have been down to my local shop & ordered a LiteOn DVD Writer & another 512 MB RAM which would then equal 768 MB RAM (I thought it had to be 256 or 512 or 1024 but he tells me that a 256 & 512 is OK)

I intend to get a 200 / 250 GB HDD for storing my movie files. I have a Western Digital on my other pc. Are these OK for video ?

Is the Celeron CPU Ok for what I require ?

I will NEED a firewire card (IEEE 1394). Is this correct ?

Basically, is what I have mentioned above sufficient for the job.

Thank you very much for reading and any answers/explainations are gratefully recieved.

RAY.

[unclebud]

Capture will be fine depening of what software you use to capture with. Keep it simple for capturing, Try WinDV , it's free.
Firewire card=Yes.
The speed of the processor will come into play when you render to Mpeg2. The slower the processor the longer it will take.

[Ray Bentos]

Thank you Uncle Bud for your reply. That's great.
You mention "windv". With my other pc I've used Studio 8 to capture & do everything. Isn't that good enough with this new pc I have acquired ?

RAY.

[xzarkad]

Hi there,

about 3 years ago every-one would tell you that 2 Gigaherz would be enough. It is a fact that the faster a CPU is, the faster the processing can be. (Although the memory is also important for the processes you are using)
It really depends of what you expect. If you don't care if a process takes 1 hour, or 45 minutes, then the processor capacity might not be a problem for you.
The memory however is a different story. To run win XP you need a minimum of 128MB. 256MB is recommended. Then you only have XP running without any additional programs/processes. If you have an onboard graphics card using (for example) 64 MB then you don't have 256MB to use, but only 192MB. If then again windows XP would use 128MB then you have only 64MB left for your other programs. That is not much. If you in addition have some background programs running like a virus scanner then you will have not much left for the programs you need to run. I would recommend at least 512MB when you want to process anything regarding Video editing.

At least...that is my humble opinion..

Regards,

[whitejremiah]

2ghz IS fine, it's more the fact that it's a celeron thats hurting......a 2ghz AMD processor (like in the 3000ish or higher series) would blow that thing into the sky.......ghz ratings dont really mean anywhere near as much as they used to, unfortunately for you, that's about the lowest flavor of cpu that you can get, so dont expect GREAT results, but if ya got it for free, then it should work decently, i suppose.......it's definately gonna be a little slower than what you could get if you spent a few hundred dollars to upgrade the motherboard and processor, but for what you paid, i'd say you got a pretty good deal since ya said you will have 768mb of ram in your computer, that's good enough for most purposes (unless your going to be using it for hardcore gaming or turning it into a server, either of which i'd advise other upgrades long before the ram....although the ram itself is still a pretty major part of the computer) as far as video related stuff is concerned, most of it has a lot more to do with the actual processor than anything else, as far as the harddrive, western digitals are pretty good drives, and i've yet to see one fail on me personally......as far as needing a firewire port....that's kinda dependant on the camcorder (i personally don't own one YET, but i've looked into them) if it has a USB port, that's ideally the way to go, if it only has firewire, you can invest into a firewire pci slot card, they should be pretty cheap, or even a lot of high end audio cards have them built in....this is completely up to you though, which way you want to go with it.....as for the burner, if you bought it brand new, it should be alright, you didn't mention an exact model number, but as long as it's relatively recent, it should suffice.......just as long as it's not REALLY old and only supports either +r OR -r..........pretty much every burner that's been made within the last say 2 years or so though, can accept both and burn dual layer discs as well......i'd say for what you paid, your pretty well set except the firewire port.....

[Ray Bentos]

Dutch,

Thanks for your advice.
Although as I've previously mentioned, I've already made quite a few small movies with Pinnacle Studio 8 (between 5mins & 1hr) using my present computer. This has P4 cpu with 512 RAM and with no problem put them on DVD & output back to tape.
These things have now,for some reason become a problem.
I.e. dropping frames when outputting back to tape and when making a movie & putting in menus the pc can't cope and Pinnacle shuts down even after disabling spyware/antivirus etc.

This is why I just want the new pc for video only.

Any advice on this is welcome.

Thanks very much.

RAY.

[Ray Bentos]

Whitejremiah

Thanks for your reply. I think you replied just before I did. Very grateful for your advice though not fully up on it.
I have just order a new DVD Writer (I think it's a "LiteOn" is that correct ?) So I havn't got it yet.

Yeah. Got it for free but it still needs a 200/250 GB HDD for storage, more RAM, firewire and DVD Writer so it's not all free !!

Is USB better than firewire ?


Appreciated.

RAY.

[whitejremiah]

if usb is available on the camcorder, it will directly copy the file over, firewire i believe is a lossless capture, which generally will make no differance, however from what i understand, if you have a rather heavy computer load going during the transfer, it can make some rather shifty files........choppy playback and such, lite on is a good brand of dvd burner, as a matter of fact thats what i use myself currently..................all in all, it sounds like it's a decent computer, it should suffice for your needs......

[unclebud]

Most DV camcorders use Firewire to transfer the video to the computer. The USB port on those DV cams is for transfering still pictures from the memory card or tape to your computer. I'd use Firewire for any DV capturing.

[Ray Bentos]

Thanks Unc for that reply. I'm glad you've said use Firewire. That is all I have used up to now. Due to advice in this thread I have tried to use USB but for some reason my pc isn't recognising it when my camcorder is coupled up so firewire it still is !

Appreciation to everyone who has responded and any extra advice is always welcome. Thanks again.

RAY.

[yoda313]

One note upgrade to windows xp service pack 2 right now! You don't want to be a target when you're online.

When I bought my pc the other year I had them preload service pack 2 on it so I didn't have to deal with it.

[Ray Bentos]

Thanks again to all who replied. An update to this.
I have upgraded my new pc now with 768 MB of RAM, a 250GB HDD, DVD Writer & firewire card. I have installed Pinnacle Studio 9. I like Pinnacle & have got used to it.

I have recorded some VHS footage onto Sony dv tape with my Sony DCR-TRV 60 which I have always done on my older pc & normally I capture with "MPEG full capture quality". I have done the same with my new pc & the footage is juddery/skips. Any clues ? Maybe the Celeron can't cope.
I have started capturing with "DV full capture quality" & that is OK. But as I recall the quality isn't as good as MPEG.

Please help a frustrated guy.

Appreciated.

RAY

[unclebud]

As I said earlier, transfering to the computer in DV is better then capturing on the fly to Mpeg. Don't know why your picture is jumpy but you could try one of the Ulead trial products (they will capture on the fly to Mpeg like Pinnacle) and see if it's just the Pinnacle software that is the problem.
I've heard that version's 8-10 are flawed and can crash alot.

[Ray Bentos]

Uncle,

Thanks for your reply. Sorry it's late but I have had a damaged HDD & have had it replaced so been offline foe a week or two.
What I have tried is to edit with Studio 9 then do menu & burn with Power Producer which does the job ( Well it has up to now on my other pc)
So yes, I guess you are right as it must be the Studio software at fault.

RAY

[lordsmurf]

For what you want to do (DV transfer work), that computer is plenty fine.