Advice: DV Editing Machine

**FreakyOCR** · August 13th, 2002, 10:28 PM

I am planning on building a video editing machine to edit my 25 (and couting) tapes of un-edited footage.

I want real-time as I don't have the time to sit around and wait for rendering all the time.

I do NOT want a mac. I don't care if it is better. I'm NOT getting one.

I am going to run Windows 2000 Professional SP3.

I am thinking along the lines of a Matrox RT 2500, Pinnacle Systems DV 500 DVD, Pinnacle Systems Pro-One

I DO want to author to DVD and real-time MPEG2 is a BIG PLUS.

I would PREFER to use a dual AMD MP Machine, or a single p4... whatever you think is better. (say AMD LOL)

I want to use 5 WD 100GB 8mb cache drives, 4 in a Raid-0 Stripe, and one as the main drive.

I want your advice on EVERYTHING. Keyboard, mouse, monitors, motherboard, amount of ram, etc, etc, etc

I am building this puppy from scratch, you tell me what I need, from YOUR experience.

**FreakyOCR** · August 14th, 2002, 03:53 AM

Hello? Does ANYBODY know about DV hardware?

**zgf2022** · August 14th, 2002, 04:16 AM

well i havent done much dv work, but i have messed with it and massive amounts of ram really helps things.

and if your looking for a monitor, i just bought a samsung syncmaster 955df, 19' crt. it is one of the best displays i have ever seen, crisp and clear, with bright colors. i got mine for $300 (i think, may have been a rebate, to early in the morning to remember

)

**zgf2022** · August 14th, 2002, 04:20 AM

oh and nice choice of hard drive, i've got the 80gb version, very fast and very quiet

**cwizard** · August 14th, 2002, 04:26 AM

Hello:

I'm just getting into video editing although I've been keeping an eye on the hardware/software for the last 5 years. I've got the Pinnacle 500 + with the bundled Adobe Premier 6.

What has helped me is a publication called Computer Videomaker. It use to just be Videomaker but in the last couple of years as rt video editing with computers became practical and affordable they changed their name.

Anyway, they are at www.videomaker.com. They have round ups of all sorts of video equipment and software. The August issue had a good review of a turnkey editing computer based on the the Canopus DVStorm Rt card. The machine itself was a dual AMD XP-1800. From what I've seen many of the turnkey systems are running AMD.

Right now, I've got my editor on an Intel machine but when I get the AMD Dual going, I'm going to move it over.

Hope this helps. If you haven't read Computer Videomaker, you're missing some great information.

Cwizard

**Mead** · August 14th, 2002, 04:46 AM

I know money seems to be no object for you, but if you want to shave a few bucks off the top you might want to consider running Linux as your OS and Cinelerra instead of WIndows2k and Adobe premier. Here's a link to Cinelerra http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3
They seem to like dual amd's so If there is any chance that you would go this way I would recommend the dual amd and pinnacle setup... actually thats the direction I would head even if I wasnt going to use linux and cinelerra.

**Damien019** · August 14th, 2002, 05:08 AM

If money is no Object go to www.Alienware.com and choose DV systems and customise, you can get whatever you want. I would say that if you want to do background stuff while editing go dual processor. If not just wait till Christmas for the 3Ghz processor, or just get a new system now.

**jak** · August 14th, 2002, 11:03 AM

the ati aiw radeon 8500dv is very nice, built in firewire, very nice card indeed
jak

**implexant** · August 14th, 2002, 11:23 AM

Originally posted by FreakyOCR
Hello? Does ANYBODY know about DV hardware?

well generally i wouldn't suggest a mac, but they are sure alot better when it comes to video editing. but you already said that its out of the game sol...

go with a P4, PC Magazine did some tests and found that a P4 did better in vid editing and graphics work than any other AMD chip. just MHO.

I'd say both Pinnacle and Matrox would be a good choice.

I'd say it looks like you'd want around 1.5GB of ram. go for 2 if you can afford it. get Mushkin, you'll need high quality stuff.

I'd shoot for viewsonic monitor, probably in the Pro series, you'll be looking at a little under $400 for something thats got true color and thats crisp.

keyboard.... hummm... microsoft office keyboar is cool

mouse... another tough one, i'd same Microsoft Wheel mouse optical, i like it better than the Intelli Explorer and i even like it better than my logitech

anyway its worth a look. + its cheap, like $18 or something.

it seems that money is no object... so you might want to look into having Alienware build you a system. i've heard they make great systems.

-Chris

**samwichse** · August 14th, 2002, 11:34 AM

Wow, the reccomended (read: "required") specs on that Cinelerra are impressive:

Cinelerra is not for consumer use. If ease of use, simplicity, and convenience are your thing, you should use Virtualdub, Kino, MJPEG tools or MainActor instead.

If you want to make movies, you want the compositing and editing that the big boys use, you want the efficiency of an embedded UNIX operating system combined with the power of a general purpose PC, or you just want to defy the establishment, the time has come to download Cinelerra.

Along the way, we discovered video processing takes too long to do on a single computer so we put renderfarm support into Cinelerra. The biggest difference is you don't need to pay for node licenses.

Then of course, you don't want to wait for effects to render before finding the result of your tweeking, so in Cinelerra effects are realtime. Drag and drop effects to see the result instantly. Tweek to your heart's content, without having to rewind and repeat.

Imagine a laptop which didn't need dongles to run anything. Imagine not having to phone in and wait a week to renew licenses every week.

Now Cinelerra is by no means a lightweight program. You'll need something slightly less sexy than a handheld organizer to run it most effectively.

RECOMMENDED FRONT END SYSTEM:

Dual 1.6Ghz Athlon.
1GB RAM for high definition.
200 GB storage for movie files.
Gigabit ethernet

RECOMMENDED RENDERFARM NODE:

Single 1.6Ghz Athlon.
512MB RAM for HD.
No storage.
100MB ethernet with boot ROM

I voted for the dual Athlon MP and Pinnacle setup.

Sam

**FreakyOCR** · August 14th, 2002, 12:33 PM

The Linux/Cinelerra option is very interesting.. considering it's free and you can have nodes....

I never said money wasn't an object. I will be leasing this machine so I have a bit of room to move around that I normally would not.

I don't want to get a voodoo or alienware computer because they are way too expensive. I build my own systems and would rarely go and have one built for me.

I am looking for advice and insight... I will then take all that you recommend and select the options that best suit me and my budget.

**FreakyOCR** · August 14th, 2002, 12:35 PM

P4 might be beter than an Athlon... but can a single P4 oust a dual MP system? You can't have a dual P4 system (can you?)

**fosin** · August 14th, 2002, 01:52 PM

I'm haven’t been doing any professional grade DV work, but I think a single Athlon XP and an ATA raid with 2 stripped drives would do fine for you (Plus a separate drive for OS). I have the same setup and it seems handle all the DV I throw at it fine. Duals did make a big difference for me back when doing video with dual 466s.

My other pc doesn't have a raid setup and it will drop frames sometimes when recording from analog in higher resolutions, but does resolutions like 352x240 with no problems. I'm recording from analog VCR tapes, so higher resolutions do me no good anyway

. Full MPEG2 (720x480) is pretty stout, so dual MPs would encode the final twice as fast as a single (with SMP compatible software). That would be nice, save a lot of time. I haven’t done much 720x480 on my system, but I don’t remember it bogging down or skipping many frames.

As far as ram, I'd recommend a gig or more if you can afford it and will be working with higher resolutions. But, both my PCs have 512 and it seems to work fine.

And, I recommend Adobe Premiere software.
(not sure which DV card without doing research first)

**implexant** · August 14th, 2002, 02:02 PM

Originally posted by FreakyOCR
P4 might be beter than an Athlon... but can a single P4 oust a dual MP system? You can't have a dual P4 system (can you?)

no you can't. however, try dual P3 1.4s. that would kick anything to kingdom com. however a dual MP system would be sweet

-Chris

**PresterJohn** · August 14th, 2002, 02:06 PM

>dual MP system? You can't have a dual P4 system (can you?)

sure you can, in fact a dual xeon rig has better numbers than an amd equivalent. though of course, the intel box will cost more.

**FreakyOCR** · August 14th, 2002, 02:22 PM

Intel always costs more. I can sacrafice a bit of performance for a huge savings in cash.

What would be a good p3 mobo?

**FreakyOCR** · August 14th, 2002, 02:25 PM

I was also looking at the new Matrox RT.X100 card.. looks pretty sweet... costs a bundle though.

**implexant** · August 14th, 2002, 04:02 PM

Originally posted by FreakyOCR
Intel always costs more. I can sacrafice a bit of performance for a huge savings in cash.

What would be a good p3 mobo?

since your going to be doing high end stuff, my opinion would be to stick with Intel boards. The Intel STL2 or L440GXG would be excellent options. however, they are both over $350. kinda spendy :-). the gigabyte GA-6VTXDR-C looks cool too. however i've never played with a dualy setup before so don't take my word for it!

-Chris

**FreakyOCR** · August 14th, 2002, 04:15 PM

I am thinking the RT.X100 is the way to go for me.

Validated Mobos are:
Asus P4S533
A-Open AX4B-Pro
(Surreal will jump for joy at these two)
ECS K7S6A
ECS K7S5A
Asus A7M266-D
Tyan Thunder K7

You are SOL with a via chipset. Via's PCI bus can't handle the RT.X100.

Recommended Chipsets:
AMD 760
Intel 860/850/845
SIS 7--
SIS 6--

MUST have DDR.

I'm NOT buying an INTEL board. I would have a hard enough time buying a P4.

**Cody** · August 14th, 2002, 04:24 PM

I used a P4 Xeon 1.5GHz w/ 768MB RAM (not sure DDR or RAMBUS) and it had a Quadro 4

All I can say is that these really complex designs in AutoCAD and similar programs rotated without a hitch... whether or not that has a ton to do with video editing I'm not sure.

Cody