Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

I have been reading online at other forums that you need a high end computer for editing HD vids without any hiccups. I am unsure if my Compaq fits the bill.

Here are some specs:

Compaq Presario CQ70 Notebook PC
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CUP T5800 @ 2.00GHz
3.00GB Memory
32-bit OS

* * *

If this is not up to snuff I am open to computer suggestions for my editing.

Thanks.

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

Sorry Robert, but without anymore information, it's impossible to answer this...

What software, what OS, what kind of HD, and what are you exporting to??

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

Software: Sony Vegas Studio HD Platinum 10
OS: Windows Vista
HD: 1080p from a Canon T2i

As for the exporting question...that I don't quite understand. Can you explain?

Thanks.

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

First of all, your laptop is too weak to edit AVC-encoded DSLR video natively. You will need to export the unedited video to a lossless or uncompressed video format (which will require a much larger hard drive than what's installed in your laptop), and then perform your editing on the larger but easier-to-work-with file. (Some examples of lossless or near-lossless formats include Cineform and Lagarith AVI.)

Speaking of export formats, in addition to the uncompressed, lossless and near-lossless formats descrived in the above paragraph, other formats include MPEG-2 DVD, AVC Blu-ray and other compressed video formats.

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD video
 

Alrighty, so I need a new computer. I went to Best Buy this eve and the guy said they don't sell the type of computer I am looking for for HD editing.

Strike One.

So, where do I need to start looking and, oy vey, what the heck am I looking for?

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

Wherabouts you located, and what's your budget??
Are you limited to laptops??

There's a list of sponsers.
Hamilton Video and sound, and Videoguys would be my first choice to look and learn...

Phone them up directly and tell them your needs. It will give you a rough estimate of cost and hardware.

If you're serious about editing, then you'll be sorry you bought from a box store..
There's another place i'd link you to, but these are official sponsers of DVInfo, so they deserve first credit..

Take care.

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

I am in Kingston. No, actually, I would prefer a desktop.

I'd before something tolerable between $700-1000 CDN. I suppose, base, is a computer that will not be slow when editing HD and doesn't take a day to render a video. I should also be able to have a good two or three programs going at a time without any slowdown.

Monitor should show HD, of course.

That's really all I need.

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

Well, you'll be hard pressed to find anything that will edit your Canon in its' native format for that kind of money..Try using a third party codec like Neoscene to let your computer playback efficiently, and makeup for lost horsepower.
Otherwise, find the closest Wintronics dealer ( or any other corner store ), and let him try and get the best bang for your buck..You'll definately need at least 2 hard drives and as much RAM as possible. Don't go crazy on a video card. Many people make the mistake of dropping money on 3d rendering cards, but for your use, it's not necessary...

Good luck.

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

Thanks for the headsup on Neoscene. Never heard of it.

Looks like I need to go with a build from scratch but really can't afford anything over $1000 at the moment. I just wish there was a nice alternative in the big box stores which is what I am used too. :p

I basically just want my wedding vids and short films to look as good as some of the ones I have seen on Vimo. I will basically be transfering the vids over to DVD for customers and such. I also hate choppy previews and my computer going batty when I run more then one program.

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

Oh, they'll look good...
Just as long as you know what you're doing...


I just shot some test footage with a 7D for the first time...
Rather than editing native h.264, I uncompressed it to a usable codec...The uncompression took 2.5 hours for 20 minutes of footage.
Of course, once i used my 3rd party codec, i chopped, sliced and diced, and exported to web pretty quickly..

If this is a hobby, with one or two weddings, you might be able to get by with $1000 (you'll need Neoscene)...But if you start bottlenecking on your workflow, and losing time on slow playback/renders, then you'll quickly learn if the savings have paid off...

Take care...

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

Thanks Peter,
So, I've visited two computer shops in the area. I guess I have upped my budget by $500 because finding anything managable for under $1000 seems impossible. Anyway, these are two different systems. Obviously, I am leaning towards the one that is $1500ish as opposed to closer to 2 grand. Of course, I don't know what any of this stuff means. :p

* * *

*Intel Core i7 Quad-Core Socket LGA1366, 3.06 GHZ, 4.8GT/s FSB, 8MB L3 Cache, 45nm
*Antec Three Hundred Gaming Case ATX 3.0/(6) 2xUSB Audio No PS
*LG GH24NS50 Black Sata DVD-Writer 24xDVD+R/-R
*Western Digital Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX) 1TB SATA3 7200RPM 64MB Cache (OEM)
*Gigabyte GA-X581-UF5 Socket 1366 Intel X58 Chipset Dual Channel DDR3 2200/1333/1066/800MHYz 4x PCI Express x16 Slots GigaLAN 8-Ch HD Audio 2xSata 3Gb/s+6x SATA 3Gb/s 2x USB 3.0+10x USB 2.0 ATX
*Windows 7 Home
*Samsung E2320X 23" Widescreen LCD Monitor, VGA, DVI-D 1920X1080, 5ms
*Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 High Performance 750w power supply
*G.Skill Ripjaws Series DDR3 1600MHz (PC3-12800) 12 GB (3x4GB) Triple Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9T-12GBRL)
*EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SE 1024MB GDDR5 (01G-P3-1367-TR) nVidia GeForce GTX 460 SE Chipset (720Mhz) 1GB (3600Mhz) DDR5 Dual Display DVI-I/Mini-HDMI PCI Express 2.0 Graphics Card
TOTAL COST: $1,541.27

OR

*Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz 8MB LGA1366
*Asus SKT.1366 Intel X58 DDR3 ATX
*Kingston DDR3 PC3-12800 6GB Triple Channel Kit
*Asus GrForce GTX 460 DirectCU 1Gb GDDR5 256-bit PCI-E
*WD Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
*LG 10x Blu-Ray Burner / DVD-RW Sata w/Lightscribe Black
*Corsair HX Series 750w Power Supply
*Microsoft Windows 7 Home Prem 64 bit
*Antec VSK-2000 Mid-Tower
*LG E2340T-PN Black 23" LED 1920x1080 5Ms
TOTAL COST: $1,749.05

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

Hey James...

Find out from Vegas users, what kind of issues they might have with their setups..Perhaps they have a dedicated forum for computer related issues.
The first computer leads me to believe you've got two video cards...Definately a no-no. SLI bridged does nothing. Only if you're a gamer.
Again, not sure about Vegas, but i'm pretty sure everything's going 64 bit, so watch out on your OS...I believe the Home version won't recognize anything over 8gigs of ram or something like that...

I've lost my technical edge a while back (who the hell can keep up anymore)...
So take it with a grain of salt.
The good news, is that there's tons of info. out their to guide you...

Good luck!!!

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

Actually, James, neither of those two systems is ideal.

First off, each of those systems comes with only one hard drive. A properly functioning video editing system requires at least two (or better, three or more) internal hard drives.

The first system comes with a crippled version of the GTX 460 1GB: The GTX 460 SE has only 224 CUDA cores versus 336 CUDA cores in the full-fledged GTX 460 in the second system. However, the second system with the "faster" GPU has only 6GB of RAM (the first system has 12GB of RAM). Worse, the second system is housed in a case with potentially poorer airflow than the first system because the VSK-2000 can only accommodate three 120mm fans (versus five or more 120mm to 140mm fans in the Three Hundred case). In that second system, that leaves you with only the stock rear 120mm fan (the two front fans are optional, and are not included with the case) to exhaust all of that hot air out of that case (I do not count power supply fans as case cooling because they are barely powerful enough to cool their own innards off).

And as I mentioned in other threads, Windows 7 Home Premium is not the best choice for a video editing system: Its maximum total RAM support is limited to 16GB. Many of the better-performing systems have 24GB of RAM, which requires Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate in order to make full use of all that installed RAM.

With that said, the first build is preferred despite the somewhat inferior GPU because it has twice the installed RAM as the second build. Just add one or two additional hard drives to that system before you start your video editing work for real.

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

Another take on things if you don't want to spend a lot of money:

1. Install a 64-bit Windows OS (Doesn't matter which)
2. Install a few more GB or RAM (as many as you can or want)
3. Buy three 7200 rpm drives -
HDD A. For all the native DSLR HD H.264 footage (size should be at least 1.3x total footage size)
HDD B. Cache Drive (read the Sony NLE manual for ideal cache size)
HDD C. Converted footage (Your proxy drive).
4. Get Cineform. If you can't afford it, you don't need it. Use the encoder that comes with your NLE. Convert all your footage to either:
a. Full HD files in AVI or Image sequences (I don't recommend this step)
b. DV format at 16:9 as proxy files (I recommend this). This goes to drive C.
5. Make sure you name your proxy files similarly to your native files. This is important.
6. Edit with your 'refurbished' laptop using the proxy files.
7. When you're done, and it's final, then point all the proxy footage to the native footage (read the manual).
8. Render full HD.

Downsides:
More rendering time for creating proxy/HD files
A little more complicated workflow (not really if you know what you're doing)

Upside:
You save $1,000 dollars
The only part you can't use in the future is the RAM, which is an acceptable loss. Both the OS and the HDDs can be used with a newer system when the time comes.
You look like a star, and you feel like one too.

Hope this helps.

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

Randall: With my budget originally being $1,000 I pushed it to 1,500 but at this time can't go much higher to include the 2 extra hard drives. However, and correct me if I am wrong, these are things I can upgrade to in the future, right? And assuming it, too, isn't an arm and a leg I can upgrade that 460GX to the one you are mentioning that would work better. Can you see it on this page: Computer Parts, Hardware & Accessories | Canada Computers ?

Also, would this be better. It is on sale now: Asus ENGTX470/2DI/1280MD5 nVidia GeForce GTX 470 Chipset (607Mhz) 1280MB (3348Mhz) GDDR5 Dual Dual-Link DVI-I/HDMI Display PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card

I do have EXTERNAL hard-drives at the moment but thank you for your input.

___________________________________

Peter: I think it is only one card. At least, that's what I asked for. The OS is Windows Home 64-bit Premium which says (Windows 7 Home Premium
Limit on X64: 16 GB)

____________________________

I also recently got THIS quote from yet another store:
-Intel BOXDH55HC Intel H55 LGA 1156 DDR3 1333 PCI-Express 2.0x16 Audio ATX Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813121396)
-Intel CPU Core i7-870 2.93GHz 8MB LGA 1156 Retail
-Kingston KVR 1333D3N9K2/8G 8gb Kit 2X4GB 1333MHZ DDR3 Non ECC Cl9 DIMM (http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/conf...R1333D3N9K2/8G)
-LG GH22Ns50 LG GH22Ns50 Sata 22x/22xDVD-RW Drive, BLACK, INTERNAL (http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=12600DR0061)
-Antec VSK2000CN Antex VSK-2000 New SOLUTION ATX Mid Tower 3 1 (6) BAYS USB
-Antec EA-750 750w power supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371026)
-Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 - Hard Drive - 1TB - internal - 3.5" - SATA-300 (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16822148433)
-Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit
-Asus Video Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX470 1280MB DDR5 320bit PCI-Express 2.0 2DVI/HDMI Retail

_________________________

A few questions:
1) how important is it to have a Blu-Ray drive? I know I can cut down on my costs with the regular drives
2) None of these systems included a card reader input. Do I need one?
3) Monitor recommendations?

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

Okay, I think I've put together something I can afford based upon the suggestions by thevideoguys.com and you folks here:

*Intel Core i7 Quad-Core Socket LGA1366, 3.06Ghz, 4.8GT/s FSB, 8MB L3 Cache, 45nm ( )

*Antec Three Hundred Gaming Case ATX 3/0/6 2xUSB Audio No PS
(Antec Three Hundred Gaming Case ATX 3/0/(6) 2xUSB Audio No PS | Canada Computers)

*Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE SATA Black 22x DVD-Writer OEM
(Samsung 22x SpeedPlus? Serial ATA LightScribe internal DVD writer. - SH-S223C - Optical Disk Drives - Optical Disk Drives | SAMSUNG)

*Western Digital Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX) 1000GB (1TB) SATA3 7200RPM 64MB Cache OEM
(Newegg.ca - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive)

*Asus P6x58D-E Socket 1366 Intel x58 + ICH10R Chipset CrossfireX / 3-way SLI Triple-Channel DDR3 2000(o.c.)/1600/1333/1066Mhz 3x PCI-Express 2.0 x16 Dual GigaLAN 8-CH HD Audio 2x SATA 6Gb/s + 6x SATA 3.0Gb.s 2x USB 3.0 ATX
(Overclock3D :: Review :: ASUS P6X58D-E Review :: Introduction and Specifications)

*Asus VE228H, 21.5" LED Widescreen monitor 1920x1080, 5ms (GtG), 10,000,000:1 (ASCR) w/speakers, VGA, DVI-D, HDMI
( )

*Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 High Performance 750W Power Supply
(Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 High Performance 750W Power Supply | Canada Computers)

*G.SKILL Ripjaws Series DDR 1600MHz (PC3-12800) 12GB (3X4GB) Triple Channel Kit
(Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-12GBRL)

*Microsoft Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
(Newegg.ca - Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - Operating Systems)

*EVGA GeForce GTX 460 1024MB (01G-P3-1370-TR) nVidia GeForce GTX 460 Chipset (720Mhz) 1024MB (3600 Mhz) GDDR5 Dual Dual-Link DVI/Mini HDMI PCI-Express 2.0 Graphic Card
(EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked 1024MB (01G-P3-1372-TR) nVidia GeForce GTX 460 Chipset (763Mhz) 1024MB (3800Mhz) GDDR5 Dual Dual-Link DVI/Mini HDMI PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card | Canada Computers)

TOTAL: 1,644.09 (less with mail in rebates)


Okay, so, okay I do realize that there are no two hard drives but I do plan on adding more in the future and I have an external until then. Changed to Windows Pro. One of the guys at the store today was a video editor and said that I wouldn't notice a dif between the GTX 460 and 470 outside of the $100.

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

So, the computer was built to some of your specs and brought home.
Hiccup #1: The guy at the shop who put it together didn't seccure the wires so they were all over the place in the tower. He left the plastic over heatsinks as well. Brought it to another location and the guys there cleared that up.
Hiccup #2: The guy at the second local didn't set-up the disc drive so we had to return it again to get that going.

So, that said, I have set up the system and have a few questions to ensure it is set up properly for HD video editing:

Steps:
1) I instaled Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
2) I installed the Motherboard drivers
3) I installed the Graphics card drivers and the DirectX software that came with it
4) I installed VLC Media player
5) The monitor is hooked up via DV/i

Questions:
1) It seems to be running slower then expected. I figured it had much power and maybe I was expecting too much of it. Is there a way to know if this is, indeed, up to snuff speed-wise? Drivers?
2) The monitor is a wide one and I thought if I put a DVD in to watch there would no longer be the black bars. Am I incorrect on this?
3) Also, I did put a DVD in and it wasn't sharp. You could see some pixilization and/or noise around the text on the menu screen and as well on the image when it was playing. It was playing in Media Player. Do I need special codecs?
4) I don't plan on using this for much internet stuff but did hook it up to put on Firefox and test out videos on Youtube. This is a FULL-HD monitor and the Youtube clips didn't seem as crips as I thought they would. Again, do you think I am missing anything?
5) When windows installed updates and asked for a reboot the computer restarted to a black screen saying to add my boot-media as though I hadn't installed the OS already. When I hit cancel it continued to my desktop. Any idea why it went to the black screen first?
6) Computer takes about a minute to boot up and shut down. This normal for this set-up?

Thanks

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD video
 

Robert, I'm not a real computer expert and it's likely someone who knows a lot more than I do will get in on this latest development before I finish writing this, or shortly thereafter. But I have to say it's been great fun following this thread and seeing how you've evolved your system into its present state. So kudos and congrats on that.

My desktop system is roughly similar to yours in many respects. It performs quickly and smoothly under most circumstances but it's not a blazing fast barn-burner. It's actually the rig I use for daily office work, not for my editing projects. For those I use an older but considerably beefier rig. On my i7 I mostly do web and email and the occasional editing experiment, usually just to answer questions about Premiere and the like.

So anyway, on to your questions:

1) Depends on what your expectations were. Your rig should perform fast but not screechingly so. If you had Premiere installed you could run the PPBM tests to compare your config with others who have similar PCs. But without a benchmark it's hard to say exactly what "fast" is. You could download and run the HDTACH tests to measure your disk performance. More disks will improve your performance, as you already know. There are lots of other online benchmarking tools to measure system performance, so you could try those. Also, check your BIOS screen on boot-up; it's possible your memory isn't running at its rated speed -- it wasn't on my new rig until I adjusted it. No one seems to know that just because your memory says 1600 on it, it won't necessarily run at that speed until you tell it to. Also, make sure Win7 is optimized for "performance" -- you can adjust this in Performance in Control Panel. Also, in this area you should turn of all indexing and disk compressing or anything else that distracts Windows' attention from performing as quickly as it can. In your Power Plan, never let Windows let a disk go to sleep. (As you may have read elsewhere, your Caviar disk isn't the best choice because you can't stop it from going to sleep, but there's nothing you can do abut that.)

2) Depends on the DVD and the software player you are using. If it's a 16:9 DVD you shouldn't have letterboxing; check the settings in your software player. In VLC you right-click on the screen, choose Video and adjust the Aspect Ratio until it's correct. Possibly the DVD lacks the right flags or the player isn't reading them. And of course if it's a 4:3 ("Fullscreen") DVD you will have black bars on the sides unless you stretch out the video to look like it's being viewed through a funhouse mirror.

3) DVDs aren't HD, so they're well below the resolution of your monitor. Also PC monitors aren't ideal for watching DVDs that are made for TVs because of how they display interlaced content.

4) YouTube HD is still well below the resolution of what your monitor can display, and regular YouTube quality is pretty poor in most cases. Make sure you are viewing in HD if possible (there's a control on the YouTube playback bar) and it should look decent if not spectacular.

5) This isn't unusual during updates. Make sure no USB devices are connected during boot-up; it's possible the PC is looking for boot up files on the USB device. This has happened to me more than once.

6) Possibly. You might have a lot of junk and bloatware installed that you should disable or delete, and that could help speed up the process once all that junk is cleaned up. But that's a topic for another thread (and has been covered a lot already).

Hope some of this helps.

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

Thanks Adam. When I get a bit more time this eve I will try that out and post back here.

Also of note:
As posted in another part of the forum I recently purchased a new computer for HD video editing. I work with Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platnium 10 HD. I figured with a marginally powerful computer set-up my Vegas would run without a hitch but, alas, I just discovered that was not so.

When I tried to drag movie clips into the timeline it said I needed Quicktime. I went to the website and downloaded that and then the clips moved in just fine.

The problem occurred during fading one clip into another. In my preview window a few things happened:

*I set the preview to BEST FULL and when it moved into the fade and the second clip it automatically turned back to Preview Half
*When it hit the fade part the preview became choppy a bit

I figured with my new set up the preview would work seamlessly.

Any ideas?

Re: Will my computer be alright for editing HD videoÉ
 

I don't use Vegas but the effect is likely bogging down your processor during the dissolve. It's only for preview so we usually set preview playback to Half/Draft. If we really need to see the final effect perfectly we render first. Then it should playback smoothly.

Also, it's likely that with only one hard disc, upon which resides your OS, your Editing Program and your source footage, the data just can't keep up with the demands. You really need to get those extra HDDs you talked about. A dissolve requires two streams of HD simultaneously and your setup will likely have a hard time keeping up with one.

[My i7 has six internal drives: C for OS and Premiere, D for other program data, and a four x 2TB disc RAID5 for Video files and project file. You don't want to know about my main editing rig.]

What's your source footage? Even on my setup with Premiere, AVCHD is choppy during preview playback. But once rendered it's fine.

Edit: Just noticed you said you were shooting with a T2i, which if I'm not mistaken makes MOV video files. This might not be the best format for Vegas to work with. You could look into one of the Cineform products to transcode this into something that's easier for Vegas to handle. But as I don't use either Vegas or a DSLR, I could be all wet on this.