An "I Hate Rendering" Question
 

First a confession - I have zero patience. I know, I should not be trying to edit video, but I love producing videos. Now, here's my dilemna...

I have an FX1 and am currently editing only in SD. If I begin editing in HD, what are the answers to the follwing questions:

When will I rendering operations be required? Can I avoid it completely and do everything in real time?

What software solution offers the shortest rendering times and what ratio (render time vs. running time) should I expect?

If I siwtch to a Mac/FCP5 will I still need to render?

Also, a couple of newbie vocabulary questions (Please define):

M2T, AVI etc

Pull-down

Thanks to all. This forum has been a great source of info for me.

Ultimately you will always have to render - but if you're lucky, this will be at export only. This rendering will take ~4.5x as long in HD as it does in SD due to resolution alone...

However, in order to "edit in real-time" and avoid rendering operations until the end, you'll need a fast enough computer and the correct software. For example, Premiere Pro 1.5.1 in combination with Aspect HD and a ~3GHz Pentium 4 system with 1 GB of RAM will offer real-time editing and real-time implementation of a variety of effects/transitions.

You'd have to detail what editing packages you're familiar with and your system specifications to determine the easiest HD editing path.

-Steve

Re: Rendering
 

Hi Steve and thanks for you time.

I'm using Premiere Pro 1.5.1. I will need to upgrade my processor (Currently 2.0 ghz) but after attending NAB and seeing the FCP5 demonstrations, I am wondering if the Mac is a much better editing solution for HDV, or I should just spend about $1000 to upgrade my pc?

I also looked at Vegas, but it seemed that the render times were horrendous, although I may be able to use my older computers to build a render farm. I don't think PP offers that feature.

Any thoughts?

Paul: since you're already using Premiere Pro, the easiest thing to do would be to upgrade your hardware and buy the Cineform Aspect HD plugin. ($499 by itself or $799 with Premiere Pro plus Encore and Audition.) If you're willing to spend more money, get a dual processor PC and Canopus Edius NX, which is simply the most powerful real time HDV editing solution available. FCP5 sounds like a decent way to go if you happen to already have a fast G5 Mac, but it's not as efficient as the Canopus solution and not as convenient for you as sticking with Premiere Pro.

Note that Apple is very good at generating 'buzz' about their products and convincing the Mac faithful that they do things better than anyone else, but this isn't necessarily the case. It took Apple almost two years longer to deliver effective HDV editing for Macs than it took Cineform to do the same thing for PCs, so that should tell you something about who's really on the ball for all this.

Hm... Here are the options as I understand them:

1. Upgrade CPU (and other components)? to 3.X GHz. This will give better performance (though limited) out of PPro 1.5.1, and decrease render times due to the CPU upgrade.

2. Upgrade CPU (and other components)? to 3.X GHz and buy AspectHD. AspectHD will accelerate the editing workflow, while the CPU upgrades will improve rinal rendering times.

3. Buy Sony Vegas - my understanding is that it renders HDV to DV intermediates for editing... Editing workflow should be as good as DV. Rendering times will be at least ~4.5x as long as DV rendering times currently are on your system. I know nothing of the system requirements. Douglas Spotted Eagle seems to know Vegas pretty well.

4. Buy Vegas + ConnectHD + Upgrade CPU. I expect this will increase editing performance, and reduce render times (as rendering to and from Cineform is faster than rendering with HDV, in addition to the CPU upgrade).

5. Buy a MAC and the new FCP. I'm not sure that this would improve editing performance over a fast PC + PPro + AspectHD. It's probably also the most expensive route, as you would have to buy a brand-new system.

6. Upgrade CPU etc., and buy an additional hardware solution (Canopus etc.).

The bottom line is that upgrading your system will decrease final render times. All other software solutions will improve your editing workflow. You system may be limited in other areas (i.e., RAM? Hard Disks?)... so its difficult to price any particular upgrade path. It seems to me that since you already HAVE an expensive editing package, upgrading the CPU and to AspectHD is the most cost-effective route.

I'm currently running a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4, with 1 GB of DDR400 RAM, and 500 GB of RAID 0 storage for video. My Premiere Pro 1.5.1 performance is managable, but not stellar. I downloaded the AspectHD trial and have thus far been very impressed.

-Steve