What is the fastest post prod Workflow and best Software?
 

If I want to have the fastest turnaround with the least amount of effort what would be the most effective workflow you would recommend? Specifically, I want to accomplish the following objectives:
1. Two versions of a ten minutes video project--one in lossless native def and the other lower res for DVD and web distributions.
2. Add in sound tracks and color grading in post.
3. Being able to setup a template in the software so that least amount of effort is required for similar projects.
4. I usually have 100 minutes of raw footage from Canon to produce a ten minute project, and I would like to get it all done in four hours with three hours being away from the PC which is a i3, 4GB ram and 500GB laptop.
Please share your thoughts and help me in selecting a workflow and related software. Thanks much.

"fastest turnaround with the least amount of effort what would be the most effective workflow"

Our workflow is based on DVD output and 1280p web VOD.

I use a 8-core MacPro with 32G Ram with 2 sets of raids - one internal and external raid for 12 Terrabytes. I swop out the internal raid with 4 raided hardrives every few weeks. Almost everything is higher spec from aquisition to output including HD cards, Video cards for 3 monitors, Saffire Audio, etc
We also run new 17inch Macbook Pro i7's with 8G Ram and portable 2 TB drives.

Final Cut Studio, Adobe CS4's, Blu-Ray, etc etc.

This barely gets me through HD editing. I transfer the 7D H.264 files into ProRes codec which I believe is the best workflow out there. I edit sound in Soundtrack Pro (with Logic sometimes) in 5-channel surround from the beginning and we monitor all audio in 5 channels for DVD Dolby output. I color grade in Apple's Color program mixed with 10% of Magic Bullit.

Thanks Jon for sharing your thoughts. The specs you mentioned is certainly out of my reach and consideration.
My situation is that I film in the morning for two hours and present a preliminary copy at client's site late in the afternoon on my laptop before I leave. I am trying to figure out the best solution given the constraints.

I realize that color grading can be very processing intensive and thus time consuming. If that cannot be overcome, I will shoot in standard color instead of superflat and just do adding the sound tracks.

Any idea if these can be accomplished?

Premier Pro CS5 on a PC with a suitable NVidia graphic card allows you to drop the original Canon files directly into a project. Instant playback is possible but the files are automatically 'conformed' after import. The 'conforming' is a background process and is fast. This allows editing of the Canon video with transitions and effects plus grading as required.
I don't now need to render repeatedly as I did with CS4 and I'm not currently using NeoScene to convert my files either. I cannot imagine any other workflow can be faster than this currently.
The only external software I currently use is 'deShaker' via VirtualDub to stabilise any slightly wobbly shots (long lenses).
My PC is only an HP xW8800 with 8Gb of RAM-which was bought second hand.
Although I sometimes mix my sound 'in the box' I also export out via OMF/AAF which usually works but really large source audio files do cause hiccups sometimes.
I'm pretty sure that PP CS5 is the cheapest current solution that allows direct editing of the camera files and whilst you need to use the internal 'Mercury Playback engine' to speed things up, the NVidia card I have is a reasonably priced 1Gb GTX460, which required a 'hacked text file' to be acceptable to PP CS5. It's freely available, very simple and works well.
David

I agree with David, PPro CS5 is hard to beat for native-editing of DSLR files. I can easily shoot and edit short videos in the course of a workday... shoot, dump the card(s) to the hard drive, then cut away without worrying about transcoding anymore. With a suitable GPU, the Mercury Playback Engine is astounding for accelerated playback and rendering.

The new version of Avid Media Composer can also natively edit DLSR files, so it might be worth a look, as well. Until Apple updates the Final Cut suite to do so, it would be a hard-sell for a new system purchaser that desires a fast turnaround DSLR editing.