video editting rig advice

[Scubatooth]

To all of you videographers

i need you help in a reccomendation for a computer for a friend who needs to build a new editting rig for editting a system for a video hes working on.

for graphics and picture editting i know what a good rig would need(lots of memory, good cpu, and a very good video card) but for video im not sure what they would need. then the other hitch is he has max of a grand to spend on the box


he will be using premire for editting the video.


Thanks in advance

Tooth

 

[xSandman3]

He needs the fastest processor, video card, and most memory he can afford. Another nice thing to have is as large a hard drive as he can get. A grand is doable if he already has a monitor, etc. If he has a camcorder with firewire out, get a firewire card for the best transfer rate and quality.

He needs to do some reading about equipment to make sure the parts he buys are fully compatible with each other. Sometimes a video card won't work with the processor, etc.

 

[diversteve]

To all of you videographers

i need you help in a reccomendation for a computer for a friend who needs to build a new editting rig for editting a system for a video hes working on.

for graphics and picture editting i know what a good rig would need(lots of memory, good cpu, and a very good video card) but for video im not sure what they would need. then the other hitch is he has max of a grand to spend on the box


he will be using premire for editting the video.


Thanks in advance

Tooth

Here's what Adobe lists for Premiere Pro 1.5. Get as close to the recommended as he can afford.

Intel® Pentium® III 800MHz processor (Pentium 4 3GHz recommended)

Microsoft® Windows XP

256MB of RAM (1GB or more recommended)

800MB of available hard-disk space for installation

Microsoft DirectX-compatible sound card (multichannel ASIO-compatible sound card for surround sound support recommended)

CD-ROM drive, CD recorder (CD-R/-RW) required for CD creation

DVD recorder (DVD-R/RW+R/RW) required for export to DVD

1,280x1,024 32-bit color video display adapter (OpenGL card recommended)

For DV: OHCI-compatible IEEE 1394 interface and dedicated 7200rpm UDMA 66 IDE or SCSI hard disk

For third-party capture cards: Adobe Premiere Pro certified capture card

Internet or phone connection required for product activation

You can skip the capture card if the camera has a firewire port. A lot of computers now have on-board firewire, if not buy a firewire card. Premiere will control the camera functions through the firewire when capturing/editing. It's a nice feature. It works better than USB 2.0 since there's no interruption in the data stream as can happen when some other USB device on the chain interrupts the processing.

And your friend can't buy too big a hard drive either. Make sure it's a 7200RPM drive. And I'd recommend dedicating an entire drive just for video capture, rendering and output. Or at least an entire partition if he can't afford two drives. Don't get a Serial ATA Raid configuration, although that's the current hot setup. Since Raid writes across multiple drives, it's actually not as good for video capture. Although it will certainly still work if he does get SATA, it's still wicked fast.

 

[Otter]

I think the video card is the least of his concerns.....memory, fast processor and hard disk...lots and lots of hard disk. I opted for Motherboard that allows me to have 8 IDE drives. I currently have 4 installed, plus a DVD-ROM and DVD-Burner. I also will use USB 2.0 / 1394 connected drives when I have multiple projects going at the same time.

 

[ScubaDadMiami]

For PCs (not Macs), what software does everyone use?

 

[Scubatooth]

ok guys thanks for the advice, i will pass it along to him



for those who are wondering this is my new graphics editting rig could double as a video if i ever do that in the future.

AMD 3200 XP 400FSB - Barton Core
Asus A7N8X- Deluxe board
1GB (2x512) Muskin Level II PC3200 DDR (CAS of 2-2-2)
MAtrox Parphellia 128 MB Video card (dual/triple DVI out)
WD Raptor 10K 37 GB SATA drive (OS and programs)
WD 250JB 8mb Cache IDE 7200 rpm (Documents, and backup for ext HDD(3 partitions 120/120/remaining a RAM disk)
WD 120LB 8mb cache IDE 7200 rpm (backup for of documents of drive above)
Sony DVD rom (fastest one i could buy about 3 months ago)
Sony DRU710a (fastest one avail and dual layer capable)
Adaptec DuoConnect card for additional usb and firewire ports (in mail)
Pro 9 9n1 card reader (for all types on the market)
5 High volume fans (but quiet)
Antec AMG plus 1080 w/500 watt PS

 

[diversteve]

For PCs (not Macs), what software does everyone use?

Right now I'm using Pinnacle Studio 9.3, I expect to move to Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 by next fall. I used to use an analog version of Premiere, so I have some familiarity with their interface. I like Studio 9, but can see it's limitations, mostly they put too much into making it simple to use so some manual functions are hidden.

Other good programs I considered were Sony Vegas and Ulead Video Studio.

Steve

 

[diversteve]

for those who are wondering this is my new graphics editting rig could double as a video if i ever do that in the future.

No doubt. If there's such a thing as computer envy, I've got it. I have the external version of the Sony DRU-710, it works well for video DVD burning.

Steve