[Crocodile JD]

Hi Guys

I haven't done any video editing yet, but I have loads of material on Mini DVi Digital tape ready to transfer to DVD. My current PC is old and by all accounts not up to video editing. so I'm in the market to buy a new one. Problem is I'm overwhelmed by the choices. I have a budget of upto 1k to include Flat screen monitor. Can anyone help me with regard to a good spec for video editing (as well as general PC use). Also is it better to have a digital monitor or is analogue ok too?

Thanks in advance

Croc

[redsox_mark]

You might want to take a look at this thread
New PC For Video Editing: Are these Specs ok...?

I'll let others more expert in PC selection comment further... but any PC you buy today will be able to edit DV. But to make this easier/faster, get as fast a CPU as you can (will cut down on your render times); at least 1 GB of memory, and you want lots of HDD space. And at least one Firewire port.

[mistergoof]

Get plenty of memory 2Gb is the max Windos XP supports properly.
Memory = Performance more than CPU

I'd also go for a dual core CPU.

I've currently got only analogue Monitors and they do the job for me, but take note of the response time, the lower the numebr the better 8ms is great 32ms is not so good.

You'll also need a firewire port / card and plenty of Disk space.

With £1k there is plenty out there.

[TeleMad]

Can highly recommend an iMac (known as G5).

Don't be scared that it's not Windows - it's better to use (ie doesnt hang or crash), there are currently NO known viruses that can hit a Mac (due to it being based on a unix platform), the screen size can be UP TO 24" (for £1500) and the resolution / interaction will blow you away

[senu]

The most recent dual core Processor based PCs will probably not dissapoint you.

While it is true that the graphics card need not be " all singing and dancing" , Liquid Editon 6 and Avid Liquid & specifically use the processing power of the graphics card to
Display 2d/ 3d effects in real time
Do background procesing so thier minimum graphic card specs should be taken seriously
Im also aware that Software like Adobe Premiere Elements , let alone Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 and 2.0 ( esp for HD) will behave suboptimally if the minimum specs are not met
HTH

[MarkE19]

Croc, what specs is your current PC? Yes a new dual core system will run through everything at break neck speed, but even a modest PC can still work - just slower. Check the specs of the software you intend to use and if the PC meets the min specs then you don't need to upgrade the complete system. Although adding more RAM and HDD space will almost certainly be required (as will adding a firewire card if not already on the PC).

Of course if you are just looking for an excuse to upgrade then feel free to ignore the above

Mark.

[rickyt]

You PC spec all depends on what you have in mind for your video editing . If it's going to be High Def stuff then you will need a more up to date and fast PC . I started off with a AMD 1.5 g CPU , 512mb RAM, 40g HD and had great results using Pinnacle , Vegas .etc .I'm only just using Amd 2.8 's at the minute [I use two ] ,both with under 1g RAM and have no problems . Both have 128mb graphics cards in them .Mind ,there no good for HD stuff .I've tried viewing some HD video and and and they seem to stutter . But , I dont intend buying a HD camera so ,I'm not too bothered . I build my own , being a PC technician at a school ,so I can update my Pc's if and when I like without having to shop arround for the best deal .
So,if your Pc is only to download your DV footage and do some editing and not go into to anything really professional I would say anything over a 2 gig CPU [this is probably entry level though] would do . Remember your likely to spend money on software so take that into consideration.

[Crocodile JD]

Hi Guys, many thanks for the replies, I'm still trying to digest the info, it's like trying to learn a foreign language at the moment.

redsox_mark I was coinsidentally looking at Dell Dual Core PCs. I had my work PC from Dell and it has always been very good.

My current home PC is a Pentium 3 550Mhz with 512MB ram, a 32MB Elsa Synergy graphics card and a , so I think it would be throwing any money at it to try and upgrade it to something that even then would struggle.

I definately going for a new one. Hopefully I'll post a spec. soon for comment.

Thanks

Croc

[redsox_mark]

The dual cores seem to do a great job rendering (they do it faster).

[Crocodile JD]

Well I did it. I went for a Dell dimension 9200 with the following:

Processor - Intel Viiv Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4Ghz, 1066Mhz FSB 4MB Cache)
OP - XP Media Centre with free Vista upgrade option untill March 2007
RAM - 2048MB (533MHz DDR2)
Card Reader - 13 in 1
HD - 500GB (7200rpm)
Optical Drives DVD read/writer and DVD Rom
Monitor - 19" Ultrasharp digital LCD
Graphics - 256MB Nvdia GeForce 7900GS
Firewire upgrade - 1 on front 2 on back
Sound - Sound Blaster Audigy DD7.1 compatable
Speakers - Dell stereo pair
Keyboard - Dell standard
Mouse - Logitech optical
Service - 3year home deal
Software - Various
Printer - Dell 926 All in 1 Photo Inkjet (Basic colour printer free in deal but I upgraded for extra £60)

TOTAL PRICE = £1,162 delivered (Offer finished on 29 Nov)

I think I got a pretty good deal, what do you guys think??

I ordered Pinnacle Studio Plus v10 yesterday as well Amazon £62.99

Let me know how I did
Croc

[meansizzler]

Well I'd go for a Core2Duo CPU, and if your tight get an E6300 and overclock otherwise get the fastest core2duo you can afford, i;d say go for the E6600 as for encoding it does a pretty good job, also since encoding is time consuming and these chips don't use as much power compared to older generation ones then they will save on the electricity bill..

For Memory 2GB at least of DDR2, might as well go for the fastest stuff you can afford...

The best board for video editing would be the Asus P5WD2 WS PRO, as it is feature packed, PCI, PCI-X, two SATA RAID Controllers, but at £200 it is not cheap, supports Quad Core Cpu's so would be a good investment if you decide to upgrade in the future

Graphics card wise a 256MB X Series card should do, eg X1300/X1600 HDMI

Sound card it is really up to you...

For a Hard Drive for performance a Raid O Pair of Seagate 72000.10 as your storage drives and as a Main Drive a 150GB WD Raptor..

[meansizzler]

Originally Posted by Crocodile JD

Let me know how I did
Croc

Not a Dell!! first thing is uninstall all the 3rd party software that comes with it, eg mcfae it really slows the sytem down, and any dell software and free software..., next go into bios and disable Intel Speedstep..., you really picked the wrong computer for video editing, no need for a flash 7900GS...

[Crocodile JD]

Not a Dell!! first thing is uninstall all the 3rd party software that comes with it, eg mcfae it really slows the sytem down, and any dell software and free software..., next go into bios and disable Intel Speedstep..., you really picked the wrong computer for video editing, no need for a flash 7900GS...

Oh my god what have I done. I thought the concensus was favourable to the Core 2 Duo platform. Dell seemed to be the best price all things being equal. I will get rid of most of the software on it, I never like leaving unused stuff on to clutter things up, but what makes it so bad after that. The 7900GS was just the card that came with that package by default. They step up the card when you go for the 6600 processor over the 6300 or 6400. Is there anything elso you would recomend that I do.

Croc

[meansizzler]

The CPU is good, but I just think that if you built it custom you would get more for your money, could of got a slower graphics card as the one you have is an overkill for video editing, and instead could of got a 500GB Raid 0Array as your secondary/storage hard drives... and a 150GB WD Raptor as your primary hard drive, and CPU Wise and RAM wise your fine, but not sure what motherboard they gave you, so certain features might be locked, make sure you go into the BIOS and disable the Intel Speedstep, as it slows the CPU down when it's idle so you only get half speed, bad thing is that when you need the full speed you don't get it straight away..

Software wise Uninstall Mcfae, really slows down the computer, infact uninstall all the dell software you don't need any of it, excep the online manual and the media/dvd player, after that you should be fine... what card of vidoe editing are you doing?, a secondary hard drive is a must these days, you can get a 320GB Seagate 7200.10 SATA for £70, you should at least get one of them and do all you recording/rendering to that. if your handling uncompressed HD content then you would really have to RAID two of them, as 30-55MB/s Transfer rate one of of these is just not enough to keep up.. but all depends on what your editing...

[Crocodile JD]

meansizzler
Thanks for getting back to me. It doesn't seem to tell me what the mother board/chip set is, but the HD is apparently 2x250GB Serial ATA (7200rpm) Dual HDD Config. Raid 0 Stripe whatever that all means. I'm starting to think that I should have made more effort to get someone to custom build one. Having said that, given the spec that I have, what does the price look like (bear in mind that it includes an all in one photo quality printer and a 19" DVi flat screen). I need a moral boost. Can't believe I've just shelled out over a grand and I'm already having doubts. Well the budget is blown now. If I had specified myself I would have probably put in an audio card with RCA outs on it to connect to my stereo amp perhaps M-Audio 2496 instead of the stock Soundblaster one. I can't see me using a PC for home cinema but I like listening to quality music while I'm at the PC

As far as video editing goes, I have bought Pinnacle Studio plus 10 to turn all my Mini DV tapes into edited DVDs. I wasn't planning on keeping it on the hard drive ones complete. Am I in a time warp or is that the norm?

Actually I've just had another look on the DEll site and it says that the chip set is as follow:
Intel P965 Express Chipset/ICH8DH
The P965 chipset supports PCI Express graphics, SATA II hard drives, 1066 MHz front side bus, DDR2 667MHz Dual Channel SDRAM, and integrated RAID 0 and RAID 1.

Croc

[redsox_mark]

Originally Posted by Crocodile JD

As far as video editing goes, I have bought Pinnacle Studio plus 10 to turn all my Mini DV tapes into edited DVDs. I wasn't planning on keeping it on the hard drive ones complete. Am I in a time warp or is that the norm?
Croc

I think that is "the norm" - I doubt many people keep all their original DV footage on their HDD. Even with cheap HDDs if you do much editing you'd need a lot of HDD space to do that. I also keep my edited master production in DV format (back out to tape), as well as the original tapes. It gives me an edited master in the original DV quality; also an alternative media format (which may last longer than the DVDs).

[senu]

Originally Posted by Crocodile JD

meansizzler
Thanks for getting back to me. It doesn't seem to tell me what the mother board/chip set is, but the HD is apparently 2x250GB Serial ATA (7200rpm) Dual HDD Config. Raid 0 Stripe whatever that all means. I'm starting to think that I should have made more effort to get someone to custom build one. Having said that, given the spec that I have, what does the price look like (bear in mind that it includes an all in one photo quality printer and a 19" DVi flat screen). I need a moral boost. Can't believe I've just shelled out over a grand and I'm already having doubts. Well the budget is blown now. If I had specified myself I would have probably put in an audio card with RCA outs on it to connect to my stereo amp perhaps M-Audio 2496 instead of the stock Soundblaster one. I can't see me using a PC for home cinema but I like listening to quality music while I'm at the PC

Your PC specs are fine ... Dell stuff sucks mainly because of difficulty in upgrading components unless you go through them and I wouldn't be unduly impressed with the printer as you will need Dell inks ( no compatibles) and will very soon pay for the printer in Inks.
The audio solution is probably ok .(at least for starters) and a £30-40 satellite /sub speakers may cost less than change of soundcard to connect to your home audio for good quality sound.

Dells higher end stuff is no less costly than the norm although their marketing machine would have you believe otherwise

However, I think you should no regrets as even custom builds may not cost much less although you can specify exactly what you want. I'm sure you ll enjoy your machine It seems very well specified for any work you may wish to throw at it

As far as video editing goes, I have bought Pinnacle Studio plus 10 to turn all my Mini DV tapes into edited DVDs. I wasn't planning on keeping it on the hard drive ones complete. Am I in a time warp or is that the norm?

It is the norm.. If you wanted quick access to the videos in a digital form you could get a big Ext HDD and put them on as Divx.. But DVDs are the portable end product.. Certainly, you can return edited material to tape as a small portable hiqh quality archive

Good luck with Pinnacle Studio