Necessary System for HD editing with the Canon XH-A1?
 

Hello,
I've just purchased a Canon XH-A1 and need to bring the rest of my system up to snuff for HD editing.
Currently I use Premiere Pro 2 waiting for the immenent upgrade to 3.0
I have a Pinnacle 500 interface (but I don't think it works with Pro 2.0 or 3.0), but I am building a New Computer with the following specs:
Intel Dual core 6600+ cpu
Motherboard with 1066 FSB-etc.
2 gig 6400 DDR-ram
7000 series Nvidea Graphics
Large SATA drives

My questions are:
Is the computer spec'd above sufficient?
Do I need to configure a Raid-0 ?
Do I need more than 2 gig ram? (I read that intel doesn't support above 3 gig? Is that right?)
Will I need a special interface to import HD or will the Firewire suffice?
How do I output signal to a HD TV monitor for accurate viewing during editing? What interface is recommended (lower price is preferred)?
For a playback deck, the Canon HV-10 or HV-20? Either/Or?
Does the playback deck/camera need to be a Canon or will any HD camera do?
Does the playback device need to have the same DIGIC DV ll compression or once the tape is encoded will it transfer from any playback device such as a JVC HD camera?

I guess that is it for now. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am venturing into some unknown territory and my last major upgrade was several years ago and so, although I've been reading a lot, I'm not totally familiar with all the advances made and the options available.

Thanks,

rich

well I can spit out some info on the pc side. this system will handle hd but you may have a slight lag from time to time but your rendering time will be what will prolly drive you nuts on bigger projects. No doubt if you can set up a raid 0, you will notice much more improved performance. I have no idea of your budget but being that hard drives are so cheap these days I would recommend a single boot/program drive. Then I would raid 0 two other drives as your data/workload partition. Make sure you set your settings to cache and run each project on this raid array and not the boot drive. Rest of your hardware should be ok (yeah u use the onboard firewire port for capturing and it will be fine). Also here's where you really could help your editing performance is to splurge on aspect hd. I believe that you can get a completely free 2 week trial, install it and watch how smooth pp2 operates with it.

I would get this setup before I buy another cam for capturing :)

Hi Mark. I would like to know some details of your setup:

1.with motherboard you have with the intel QX8600
2.which case
3.if you work with the RAID controller included in your mobo or with an external one
4.if i can build a RAID array with disks of different capacities (i already have 2 of 250g for scratch and i would buy another of 750g to make a RAID of 1tb 250gb)
5.havent you experienced some problems in the playback with the nvidia card and aspect hd?

thanks!!!

Aspect HD v.5
 

Thanks Mark for the tip on Aspect HD. I've read some on it and it sounds like a great program. The Pinnacle DV500 was mostly render free, and I definetely want a fast solution in that regard.
Are you saying, you think I should use the XH-A1 as my capture camera instead of buy the HV10? Or, that between aspect HD and another camera, you would go with the software?
Also, do you have a suggestion for output to a HD TV for monitoring purposes?
thanks

rich

Hey Rich,
I am in a similar boat, although I haven't pulled the trigger on the camera yet. Probably will this week. I do have one at work and I am using the quad core with XP Pro currently. That works excellent for video, especially if you do any After Effects or similar motion graphic applications. Premiere CS3 will take advantage of the quad as well. I'll be doing premiere cs3 at work soon. I think July 2nd is the release. I'll let you know how it runs. I'm going to try and match my system at work... quad core with 4gb or more of RAM here at home, but I agree that the RAID will really help. I do not have that at work and wish I did. Depending on who I buy from I think I'll do a RAID 0 with 2 500gb 7200rpm SATA II Drives and a 10,000 RPM Cheetah as the boot drive. Good luck with your setup, please keep us informed on what you do, I won't be too far behind, but I will actually have to get the camera and the Firestor paid for, and recover, before I can edit at home.

Jeff

Hernan:

Recently upgraded to the new intel P35 chipset (asus P5K deluxe board), and yeah I do notice it's a tad bit quicker than my previous (975x chipset). I would definitely recommend it for any editing machine (or the slightly better X38 enthusiast chipset, which will be out later this summer). I use the areca sata controller (not sure model number off the top my head but its the $500 one). Performance is out of this world much more powerful/faster than any onboard solution and ive tested out many. but obviously you have to pay for the boost that some may feel is unnecessary. not sure what you are asking for the raid sizes :(. and no problems with my video card that I've noticed.


Rich:

Yeah if budget only allows for either the extra "capture" cam or aspect, I'd definitely get aspect for that machine. it'll make editing a much better experience for you. And yeah many of us are anxiously awaiting CS3 and I'm sure it'll be a tad bit bulkier (and when I say that I mean needing a little more pc muscle to push it) so the aspect route will help out future wise as well.


PS. I'm hearing a july 2 release date? :)

Rich, since you already are familiar with Premiere Pro 2, you might consider a Matrox RTx.2 system. My colleagues who are using this accelerator board report very pleasing results...and there are several vendors offering upgrade prices for those who already have an Adobe product.

Doug,
That is a real time editing board correct? Sounds interesting. If you by chance have the names of any of those venors it would definitely be appreciated. Thanks

So what are people using as an NTSC display? I use PP2 and unlike DV there is no real time output via firewire through camera when playing back timeline. I have been using one of my monitors (dual setup) as a playback screen but I would prefer to output to a small HD tv. Am I missing something in PP2 to playback to an NTSC monitor through camera?

canon xha1 & adobe premiere pro 2.0
 

Hi Guys,
I am a total newbie, I am a pro stills photographer going into video in a small way, I have a canon xha1 am using a custom built pc with Adobe premiere pro
2. my problem is I can only seem to shoot in sd modes to be able to capture the footage, I have tried all the permutations that I can see when trying to capture. I can't find any downloads by either canon or adobe to get round this. Can someone please help?

Two Options:
1.) Upgrade to Adobe Premier Pro CS3
2.) Buy & Download Aspect HD
(http://cineform.com/products/Aspect-Prospect.htm)

canon xha1 & adobe premiere pro 2.0
 

Thanks Zack,
Not quite what I was hoping for but, it's not a perfect world is it!

Darren

There's actually a third option.
I am currently shooting in HDV mode with XH-A1 and capturing with Premier Pro 2.0 without a problem.
For 60i use "Adobe HDV 30" preset.
For 24f and 30f you need to download new presents from Adobe support web site. I don't have the link handy now, but I will post it once I find it. Then you can capture/edit HDV natively while you are waiting for PPro CS3.

canon xha1 & adobe premiere pro 2.0
 

Thanks guys,
I am gobsmacked at the knowledge out there and the speed that you come in with your answers.

Darren