Nebie cry for help- editing workstation
 

Hi

I have just got my full canon xl2 gear. I need a Pc to edit my footage. I decided to go with a Premier Pro software ( because it is cheaper ) instead of FCP and a Mac.
The problem is that I have no idea what to get. I absolutely know nothing about premier nor the needed software. I do have though a good friend who will build any system for me. I need this system to edit weddings ( If I am lucky once every week ) and my real passion-birds documentaries , mostly 25 fpc 16: 9 SD.
No HD or any special animation in the near future. My budget for this system would be around the $ 2500 ( without monitor). I was told to ask you what kind of CPU , size of RAM and video card do you recommend or any other issue keeping in mind I will be using premier pro. I also would really appreciate any advice on a good monitor.

Thank you all .

Ido
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glenn chan and others have written a bunch of good stuff on new pc choices, so i won't add to that.

when choosing a video card, you'll have to decide between an lcd monitor and a crt monitor, because the connectors are sometimes different(digital vs. analog)... i prefer the crt, but nowadays lcd is what most people buy... i'd imagine that premiere can handle two monitors at once, which is a good idea for editing, check to see if your video card has dual-monitor capability.

are your weddings multi-camera shoots? some editing software is multi-cam capable... will you be delivering product on dvd? i don't know if the base premiere package includes the adobe encore dvd authoring software.

Good thought, as Premiere Pro by itself doesn't have any DVD authoring capabilities beyond burning the current project to DVD without any menus. You'd have to spring for the Adobe Video Collection Standard edition to get Encore DVD. For what you get (Premiere Pro, After Effects Standard, Audition, and Encore DVD) it's a good deal for only $300 more than Premiere Pro alone.

Thank you Dan and Christopher. Your input is very much appreciated !!

Hey, can I chime in here with some Vegas envangelism? :D
I found Premiere annoying and buggy when I tried version 1.0. I believe 1.5 is a lot better, but if you bought 1.0 you would have had to pay for the upgrade to 1.5.

Vegas is typically fairly stable when released (unlike other editing programs). FCP3 along with Premiere 6.0 (and before) had serious problems when they were released.

2- There are a bunch of threads here about what computer to get.

If you're on a budget, you may seriously want to consider getting a good deal on a Dell Inspiron 9100 (with dual core upgrade).
To find a good deal on that dell, check hot deals sites for the US like gotapex.com, etc. (This really only applies to US)

There used to be a bunch of deals where you got a good deal on the base system, Windows, and a Dell LCD (which are typically good quality). One of them was a Inspiron 9100 + 24" LCD for $1400USD (rebate). About $500 to throw in your own upgrades and that was a pretty killer deal.

If you price it out, Dell can be a little cheaper than buying parts off newegg.com.

[QUOTE=Glenn Chan]Hey, can I chime in here with some Vegas envangelism? :D
I found Premiere annoying and buggy when I tried version 1.0. I believe 1.5 is a lot better, but if you bought 1.0 you would have had to pay for the upgrade to 1.5.

Vegas is typically fairly stable when released (unlike other editing programs). FCP3 along with Premiere 6.0 (and before) had serious problems when they were released. [QUOTE]

I will AMEN this. Several years ago when I was starting to go away from Pinnacle software, I tried Premiere. After several curse words and brain fried hours I took a peek at Vegas 4.0. I've never looked back. I honestly don't have the technical patience to argue with premiere about every little detail. Which is what it felt like using it.

I would give Vegas Suite a serious look. Heck, download the demo. Before I spent so much money for my software I would want to know what other comprerable options there are for me.


About the computer. There are many many threads. I just built my latest box, I went with an AMD Dual core 3800. I left my self room to grow but have a good starting part.

I do however have a case recommendation now. I used the Antec P180 and I love it. It is by far one of the most video friendly cases I've seen. If you're like me constantly pulling things in and out or you want the ease of handling many hard drives, the P180 is an awesome case. And a ton more quieter than my Antec Server case.

Forgive the length of this, I type at my 'slave' job and get carried away.


Steven Davis

The highend cases a little pricey though.

To be equivalent to a Dell, the Antec 1650BQE/1600AMB (the lowest end case I think) is about equivalent (with the exception of more drive bays and non-proprietary-ness). The power supply may be a little weak for a Pentium D system possibly- I don't know about this.

if you used premeire several years ago, it has changed a whole lot.

I really dont see how people use vegas. It seems to me like windows movie maker with a few cool filters and transitions.

Couldn't you describe Premiere like that?

At the end of the day, a good deal of what you do is plain cuts and dissolves. And yeah, you can use Windows Movie Maker for that.

Where Vegas is a little more powerful is that it totally kicks ass for doing audio work. It would be wasting your time to go to Pro Tools. You can do all your audio tasks in Vegas quickly.

Premiere/Audition is good too. Audition is nice in that it comes with a good dynamics plug-in, a single-track editor, and a noise reduction plug-in (so you don't need to pay extra for that). I think the downside to Audition is that you have to redo your audio if you ever edit the video after, and that you need to bounce between two programs.

mmmmm, not really.

I use vegas from time to time for different things and I just cannot work well on it. everything seems soooo backwords to me

I guess I am just stuck on the premeiere pro/final cut pro/avid type of layout.

You might want to check out the sticky at the top of the Vegas forum for all the Vegas shortcut keys.

In particular: check the link I posted up. If you hold down crtl and shift while hovering over clips, you can get slip and other edits.

my two cents
 

Hi Ido:

I built my own PC and edit using Premiere Pro 1.5.1 (the HD capable version). It works great for both SD and HD. I built my system new (not including monitor and speakers) for $1200.

Here are the basic "guts" (For your friend that might build your machine):

-Mother Board: Asus P4C-800E (has onboard firewire - don't need capture card)
-CPU: 3.2GHz PIV
-Memory: 1 GB PC3200 DDRAM
-Video Card: Nvidia Gforce 6800 GT 256GB
-scratch disk(1): 250GB internal HD 7200
-scratch disk(2): 400GB external LaCie HD 7200

I got everything from Newegg: www.newegg.com (your friend probably knows about this online store...all computer geeks do :^)

Hope this helps

Cheers!

Andrew