Hi, I've been really troubled lately with what to do when I get around to filming my first indie film. I'm going to be using a Canon GL1 in frame mode and I'll probably use the best shotgun mics from Sennheinser (spelling?) and possibly some wireless mics. Anyway, that's the hardware I'll be using and it should be pretty great once the script gets done and I start filming. But then it struck me, if I'm going to make this something to show in the theatres then will I be able to get it done in the best possible quality using Adobe Premiere 6.5? I then decided that I should upgrade to Pro, which had just recently come out, but then some other question popped up, would I be better served using Premiere or AVID? AVID has recently come out with their new MOJO device that, from my understanding, does everything in real time and aids heavily when adding graphics and/or special effects. But, couldn't I get the same out of Premiere using the Matrox RTX.100 Xtreme? So, now I've come to you, the memebers of the DVinfo Community, with one question. What should I get?

Either:

a) AVID Xpress Pro with the AVID MOJO, along with Adobe After Effects 6.0 Pro and Magic Bullet Suite 1.5

b) The Matrox RTX.100 Xtreme Premiere Pro bundle (AE standard, Audition, Encore, and Premiere Pro), After Effects 6 Pro upgrade, and Magic Bullet Suite 1.5

c) AVID Xpress Pro with the AVID MOJO and the Adobe Digital Video Collection Pro, with Magic Bullet Suite 1.5.

Getting to learn new software isn't a problem for me if necessary, I just want whatever will serve me best. I also have a few more questions. If I use Magic Bullet, do I need to use frame mode? Does Premiere Pro and AVID support 5.1 and above surround sound encoding? What would I be expecting to pay/do to get my movie onto film for theatrical showings? Also, does the HD version of Magic Bullet also support the SD resolutions? Or is it only HD format?

Whew, lotsa questions. But I'm mostly concerned with what to get as Christmas is coming up ya know =).

Avid XpressPro does not support 5.1 sound, if that's important.

YOu might want to work the problem form the opposite end. Talk to the companies that transfer video to film. They sometimes have different reccomendation regarding what they want. THEN work back from there to the best sollution for you.

Remember, transferring to film is going to cost a lot of money. Think about shooting in film and transferring to tape for the edit. You can always conform the neg later.

Ok, but you see, I am unable to get a film setup anywhere in my area, and a MiniDV solution is all I can afford ATM. Any other suggestions/answers to a few of my other questions?

The Magic Bullet documentation says that you should shot interlaced with NTSC if you want to do a film transfer.

http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/magicbulletfaq.html
What are the general guidelines I should use when shooting with video to prepare for Magic Bullet processing?

The main thing is to shoot it like film-no matter which camera you use-paying particular attention to motion and lighting.

Top five things to keep in mind:


Shoot interlace, don't shoot progressive (unless it is a Panasonic DVX100-24p)
Use enough light to keep the shutter at 1/60th for NTSC or 1/50 for PAL (you can use the priority mode for this)
Shoot on a tripod or other locked down device. The steadier and smoother the camera work, the more professional it will look.
Don't use fast pans because this is not very film-like and it can cause stuttering motion at 24 fps.
If you have a camera that supports Cine gamma (DVX100) or adjustable knee (Sony DSR-500 or other professional) this can give you greater detail in shadows and/or highlights which will mean a better looking output once you color correct.

All right, now that one of the Magic Bullet questions is down, what NLE should I get? If I am going to show this in a movie theatre, shouldn't I get 5.1 encoding or would the film transfer people do that for me? Isn't there some plug-in or add-on software I can get for AVID or Adobe if there is no 5.1 support included?

Hey, Jack,

Out of curiousity, what's the meaning of the first part of your signature? Have you overclocked your chip?

Considering it's "h20 cooled" it probably is. 4mhz is... insane. Not as insane as 4.4mhz with phase change (refrigeration) cooling. But that's better than any computer you can buy. go-l.com sells overclocked computers that are 3.5mhz and 3.8mhz (go-l.com).

Also, Jack,

I've always wondered, for those that have liquid cooling for their chips--how does your cooling system prevent condensation?

Well, you see, when you go with watercooling, there isn't a problem with condensation issues. Only phase change cooling gets condensation. Although, if using some insanely huge multi-radiator setup or using peltiers, condensation can be a serious issue. But yeah, my comp can go up to 4ghz@38-40C easy ;). My watercooling setup consists of 2 radiators and an assortment of fans, but don't get me wrong, you can't expect the same results. I just have a good chip. But recently, I've decided to clock my processor down to 3.3ghz as stability is important to me (although I never experienced problems at 4ghz anyway, I just wanted to be sure). But if you want to learn more about watercooling, go to Futuremark.com and look in their message boards. Otherwise, could you guys maybe try to stay on subject instead of changing this thread's purpose? I still have questions that need answering. BTW, here's another!

What would be better for Adobe Premiere Pro (should I go that route)? A Canopus DVStorm 2 Pro or a Matrox RTX.100 Xtreme?

You're looking at two seriously different budgets here, Avid alone will cost you more than the Storm2/RTX set up with Prem Pro. If you then add the Mojo your adding another $1700.

If your final target is film then I would be looking at Avid as it's the industry standard for film cutting and Avid Express EDLs can be imported into high-end Avid systems without any problems. Premiere Pro, as good as it may be, is more of a standalone tool for small productions/prosumer use. There are people out there doing great things with Premiere, just as with Vegas, but if you are targeting film transfer then Avid or sometimes FCP are what transfer/post houses will recommend.

From a useability standpoint, it doesn't matter which NLE you use. Both are dependant on the quality of the raw footage. I have never used AVID, but I use Premiere 6.5 every day. From personal experience, I can tell you that Premiere is not the most stable of the NLE's out there, but it is still a good product. I've looked at AVID, but decided it was too expensive for my tastes. What matters most is your comfort level with the tools you use.

If you are indeed going to transfer you feature to film, DO NOT USE Magic Bullet (or Cinelook or any of the other "film look" software out there. The utilities change the Gamma , color saturation, etc of the video, and add grain. The transfer process will do all of these things for you. If you use "film look" software on your video and then transfer to film, the movie will look really weird.

If you are going to project your video onto a movie screen, then these "film look" filters will do a good job for you. Beware of looooonnnnngggg render times though...

Cheers,
Mark Jefferson

I would recommend against Premiere for a feature length movie. We *just* got done delivering our final footage to the DVD production house (who in turn got it to FedEx with 5 minutes to spare to be able to overnight it to the replication facility so we can have it in time for our premiere), and we hit upon so many snags along the way, with 90% of them dealing with Premiere's inability to handle really large projects.

First, we had problems with Premiere outputting video that was filled with noise (bad frames, bad audio, etc) that popped up randomly. Then we flat out lost two complete scenes and numerous sound effects and musical scores... dropped right out of the project file, nowhere to be seen. After we worked around that we found out we had too much data for the DVD (this isn't Premiere's fault though), so we had to recompress. And when I was exporting again, Premiere decided to stop giving video at around the 1:30:00 mark -- still had the audio, but the video was black. Checking the timeline, the clips were there but they didn't want to show anything. Restarting Premiere got the video back in the timeline, but it failed to render properly again... at a different timecode, too. We eventually just recompressed everything else a whole crapload more and worked around it. No one can give me any reason as to why any of these problems happened. Except the guy at the DVD production house. His explanation is that (and I'm paraphrasing) "Premiere sucks".

I'm beginning to agree.

When projects get too big, you can barely move anything around because it's so slow. You can't use very large wav files (so don't think you can send your soundtrack out for editing or noise reduction and drop it back in) because it will crash randomly.

I used to really like Premiere. It has worked very well for us in the past... and probably will again in the future... but I wouldn't trust it to anything over, say, 30-40 minutes anymore. I'm in the market for a new NLE now.

That said, I've never used anything by Avid, but I've heard the learning curve is needlessly steep and most things don't make sense.

"needlessly steep, most things don't make sense"

Riiiight. That would be why it's the industry standard. That would be why Premier and FCP recent updates are designed to make their GUI more like Avids. (Most of the new features were already on higher end Avids)

At any rate, you might want to visit the DVFilm.com website for recommendations for preparing your project for transfer to film. They have some excellent reccomendations of ho to cut it (Remember, it has to be cut to fit on film reels, so watch where you put your edits) what filters to use or don't use, things like that. A real usefull site.

Riiiight. That would be why it's the industry standard. That would be why Premier and FCP recent updates are designed to make their GUI more like Avids. (Most of the new features were already on higher end Avids)

Firstly, features and GUI are separate. Whether or not FCP and Premiere have Avid's features doesn't mean they have to implement them in the same way. It could be much easier to do the same thing in FCP than in Avid, or vice versa.

Secondly, like I said, this is just what I hear. Also, being the industry standard has absolutely zero to do with it having a steep learning curve or not. Actually, things that are really powerful and have a metric crapton of features pretty much always tend toward having a steep learning curve simply because there's so many things you can do with it.

And considering that Avid *is* a high-level professional application, I would be surprised if I could pick it up and edit a full length movie with effects and all right away.

It's like trying to compare a $300 palm-sized video camera with a professional 35mm film setup. You're going to have to do things differently.

"Premiere sucks".
Jon, what version of Premiere are you using? For versions 6.x I would definitely agree that Premiere sucks.

Premiere Pro 7 might be a lot better since it's completely rewritten. (haven't used it)

I use Avid Xpress Pro (without a Mojo) and have used Premiere once. I would have to agree that Premiere was not as stable as I'd have liked and the interface was a little glitchy if I overtaxed it. Avid has a steeper learning curve, a higher price tag, and higher system requirements, but it's the NLE for me.

By the way, I realize the Mojo does more than this but basically it's 1) an AD/DA converter, and 2) an additional external processor used to preview effects in realtime without rendering. I chose not to get one because I already have a standalone Sony DVMC-DA2 (and my GL2 can act as an analog to digital converter) and Avid Xpress Pro renders almost all it's effects in real time now without rendering anyway. Only the more complicated layered effects and 3D stuff requires rendering. I haven't missed the Mojo, but then again I don't know what I'm missing, do I.

My only complaint about the Avid software is that you have to build a system to house it and then you can never patch/upgrade/install any software again... Avid is really sensitive to BIOS upgrades, new video drivers, playing nice alongside other apps (photoshop's gamma tool in the Windows Startup folder killed Avid playback) and installing Windows service packs can mysteriously disable things like your system's firewire port. Heck, just installing Avid activated a new and annoying double beep that happens everytime the system boots (on a system with no SCSI drives).

My recommendation... go with Avid, but install it on a clean new server and then leave it alone.

As with AVID, is it true that FCP is about the only other NLE that can export EDL's that film labs can use?

Zac

Jon, what version of Premiere are you using? For versions 6.x I would definitely agree that Premiere sucks.

Premiere Pro 7 might be a lot better since it's completely rewritten. (haven't used it)

I was using 6.5. When we lost the two scenes and sound effects, that was 6.0. Neither machine we used for editing has XP, so we haven't tried 7 yet... and I find it very annoying that 7 requires XP, since I can't see any good reason to upgrade.

I actually think I might try Vegas next. I'll be shooting/editing another movie pretty soon, so we'll see how that goes.

I've heard good things about Vegas Video. Personally, I'm too lazy to try and learn another NLE. I use Premiere 6.5 and have learned to live with the bugs. Save early, save often! Let me know what you think of Vegas.

Cheers,
slakrboy

Hi Darren! In regards to your previous comment... So you mean to tell me that after I've installed avid on my CPU, I won't be able to install other programs (etc) safely without affecting AVID? I've heard how particular and personalized AVID is to each CPU setup but could you, or anyone else for that matter, elaborate in more detail? What if I created a dual boot-up system, would that help? Any other thoughts, concerns, comments pleease :] Thanks in advance!!

No, you can still install other apps, but you should test Avid functionality afterwards. For instance reboot the system to make sure everything starts up okay, make sure the dongle still works (other apps may install their own Sentinel drivers), make sure the capture utility still works, if you're using a Raptor board make sure the RapNavi utility still works, etc. Just test everything after installing. The number one biggest headache for me has been MS service packs. Avid support will tell you that you should never install software, BIOS upgrades, MS Service packs, etc. without checking with them first.

Dual boot... I don't know. That might work okay, might not. Check with Avid. I know that Avid requires (on windows) the NTFS file system and is sensitive to BIOS changes and both of those are defined at an early point in system setup... could potentially affect the Avid software later even on a dual boot system. Really not sure though as I haven't done dual boot.

Note... with their new Avid Xpress Pro they've gone to great lengths to get the software to play nice on laptops, use generic firewire ports instead of requiring Raptor boards, bahaving on laptop displays, and such. They've fixed alot of bugs and the software works really well.

I run Avid Xpress Pro very successfully on a Dell Inspiron 8500, 2.5 GHz P4, 1 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce4 4200 Go mobile, on Windows XP Pro SP1 (and most of the MS Windows critical updates) with other software such as Photoshop 7, Novell networking client, Cisco Airnet wireless NIC, Intervideo WinDVD, DivX codec and player, 3D Max R4, Norton Utilities 2002, and other strange stuff like Nero and Etherpeek so yes, you can install other apps... but just be careful and check functionality after installing them to make sure you didn't break anything in Avid, or else cross check Avid support for those apps before you install, that's all.

Later!
Darren

Whew! Did you guys all reply today or what =D? Well, I guess I have no other choice but to go AVID! I figured as much, especially because that guy that made the El Mariachi movies uses AVID and that is a selling point for me. But yeah, I'm trying to break into the film industry with this one, I'd prolly just show my movie in the big places, like my hometown, then in San Fran, Sacramento, and L.A. and, depending on popularity, I can maybe get some backing and have a national release. Big dreams I know, but hey, I'm willing to go for it ;) (besides, I'm just posting on some internet message board for crying out loud so I can say whatever). Maybe get an oscar if it turns out really well. It'll be a little film, haven't gotten the name down yet, or the copyright (hence why I'm not telling you what it's about ^_^). But anyway, yeah, so I shouldn't use ANY film-look-alike filters when displaying this thing up on film? What about Frame movie mode then? Can I use that? Also, what's a good portable/non-portable mixer to use for my sound? I was planning on having two shotgun mics on the actors, along with wireless mics for added support, so what do you think? Also, does AVID support the Matrox RTX.100 Xtreme? (Wouldn't hurt to ask neh?)

NO Avid does not support the Matrox Extreme. Avid is a cpu driven realtime software. For ADDITIONAL realtime acceleration (More effects, more videostreams, higher resolution like uncompressed 601) you can add the MOJO. This is part of the DNA line (Digital NonLinnear Accelerators)

Lots of people dual boot their systems, it seems to be a good way to isolate Avid from conflicts with other apps. For in-depth answers to all your avid questions, visit the avid boards at www.avid.com

Note, Avid XpressPRO contains the filmcutting tools. The new Avid XpressDV4 DOES NOT. They have cut out some of the extra apps, but upgraded some of the features for the lower priced Avid XpressDV ($650 I think). So you can get into Avid for a lot less than Pro, but if you are needing to conform a film neg, then go with Pro.

Avid and FCP have good negative/film cutting tools.

Guys, I know which AVID distribution I'm going to go for, which is AVID Xpress Pro with the MOJO. But I was wondering, wouldn't just reinstalling AVID fix the mentioned problems should problems occur?

Reinstalling any app sometimes helps... There is no single answer to "What if I have `some sort' of problem with xyz software?" It all depends on the software, the system, the problem.

Avid XpressDV PRo with MOJO is a big investment, over three grand for software and accelerator alone, without a CPU, monitors, speakers, etc. Lots can be done with just the software alone.

Does Premiere Pro even support 5.1?

I'd suggest Vegas+DVD, it's got 5.1, AC-3, and native 24p right out of the box.

With all the quirks of installing & uninstalling stuff on your pc with avid on it, would a 'gaming/editing with avid' machine be out of the question. It seems like the more I research avid, the more I'm learning that an avid system really needs to be dedicated to solely to its own purpose. Is this a correct assumption?

My rough 'new system sketch' is as follows, any comments are welcome & encouraged :]

- Asus P4C800-E deluxe mobo
- Pentium 4 3.0ghz
- Maxtor SATA
>60gig [boot/apps/games]
>60gig [media/etc/3d work]
>120gig
>120gig [RAID 0 - video]
- 1 gig Corsair pc3200 memory
- ATI Radeon 9700pro *thinking of modding it to FireGL X1*
- Main Software:
>maybe AVID Express Pro or Vegas
>Adobe After Effects & Photoshop
>Maya Unlimited

Same exact config as me with a few differences:

-P4C800-E Delux (also)
-P4 3.0 ghz (also)
-1 gig of Corsair PC3200 XMS (also)
-Maxtor SATA drives (also...but 3 120gig drives)
-ATi Radeon (also...but the 9800 pro)

This config works great for my editing in Vegas and graphic work in Photoshop. I have, however, encountered problems concerning the onboard Promise Raid Controler and onboard IEEE. I can't capture using onboard IEEE to the drive(s) on the Promise controler slots. Drop frames like crazy. Yet if I capture using Audigy 2's IEEE it's fine. Definitly something up between those two onboard devices- they don't like each other it seems. ;)

Gaming is great too- play all new games (Call of Duty, UT2k, etc) with all settings maxed and res at 1280x1024 @ 32bit color and still get 80+ fps. Sometimes when no action is going on I'm in the high 120's.

Oh and Randy as a fellow DVX owner...Vegas is the ONLY way to go. Native 24p support!

FCP and Avid both suggest you dedicate your system to editing. This means the less time you spend on the internet or "reconfiguring" for games, the better the app rund. No frame dropping.

Lots of people run photoshop, after effects, boris, illustrator, office, etc as well.

Avid supports 24p editing. Avid cutlists are readily accepted by labs. (Not sure why Vegas fans seem to think its the only one)

www.avid.com

Granted I've never worked with Avid but I've heard it's not very intuitive. Much larger learning curve. Vegas is has a simple, clean, inerface with little to no learing curve. Plus it definatly has the most bang for the buck with all of it's ablities.
Plus who want's to put a grand or two into a computer to "DEVOTE" just to an NLE!

For the boot drive storagereview.com says that Hitachi drives (SATA) are the best.

For video editing I don't know. storagereview says that transfer rates are the most important for video editing and that Maxtor drives have the highest transfer rates (I didn't double check the second point). However, they have been wrong before. Promax last time I checked recommends IBM PATA drives for video editing but that information is a little dated now that SATA drives and new models are out.

For video editing it seems to me that it doesn't really matter which brand you choose. With Vegas the difference in rendering time between drives is very small. Maybe someone with a RAID with no important data can do a more definitive test on this, but a Maxtor 80GB versus an old Quantum drive is 2% faster with Vegas. see http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15637&highlight=RAID
You won't notice the difference.

Randy,

You said "With all the quirks of installing & uninstalling stuff on your pc with avid on it, would a 'gaming/editing with avid' machine be out of the question. It seems like the more I research avid, the more I'm learning that an avid system really needs to be dedicated to solely to its own purpose. Is this a correct assumption?"

Just to clarify... I didn't mention them but I also have games installed too. Running an Avid system with lots of other software is certainly possible, and you don't *have* to run it on a stand alone box, that's just the best way to avoid headaches and limit the amount of time you spend tracking down bugs. For instance, there's a MS "critical" update (that Windows could potentially install automatically) that fixes some silly exploit in web page drop-down boxes on Windows XP Pro... it will toast your Avid install. Simply uninstalling the MS update will put Avid back in a happy place, but I spent an hour tracking down the weirdness. Other software like games and utilities don't seem to cause as many problems as MS updates do, but every once in a while you'll see some small bit of random violence.

Glen

You said "Granted I've never worked with Avid but I've heard it's not very intuitive. Much larger learning curve. Vegas is has a simple, clean, inerface with little to no learing curve. Plus it definatly has the most bang for the buck with all of it's ablities.
Plus who want's to put a grand or two into a computer to "DEVOTE" just to an NLE!"

Never seen Vegas but Avid isn't hard. The things that are difficult to learn are the more sophisticated pieces... and those are the tools that give it so much power. Basic import, editing and export are a snap. Avid was the first NLE I ever touched and I learned enough in a couple hours to do several short projects right away. I then played with Premiere (installed it side-by-side on the Avid system :-) and thought "Wow... why won't the capture utility work? Why did it just lock up like that? Why is the monitor window freaked out? Why did that large import just lock up the software?" Avid does has advanced features I'm still learning... but I'm the kind of person that likes that. Just when I think the software might be limited I run across another utility or key combo that does what I need :-)

And again, you don't *have* to "DEVOTE" a system to Avid, but if you are more than just a part time hobbiest you'll want a fast, clean system that you know won't let you down when a deadline is approaching, so... I'd be happy to put just about any NLE (Avid or whatever) on a semi-dedicated system if it meant it was going to provide fewer headaches over time.

Thanks!
Darren

I don't know....I don't see how having games installed on the same machine would cause ANY problems. Heck you could even have a dedicated HD just for games. I have like 6 or 7 games intalled on my OS drive along with all my "productive" apps and I still get 60 mb/s read/write times on my OS drive. Plus I have all my media I use in my NLE tucked on a separate HD. This is what computers are made for- multitasking. When I say multitasking I'm not talking about running many apps at once but rather referring to the computers inate ability to run all different types programs and be funtional in many ways. I'd like to hear a convincing argument otherwise. How EXACTLY would having games installed on the same machine, slow down or hinder an NLE?

<<<-- Originally posted by Glenn Chan : For the boot drive storagereview.com says that Hitachi drives (SATA) are the best.

For video editing I don't know. storagereview says that transfer rates are the most important for video editing and that Maxtor drives have the highest transfer rates (I didn't double check the second point). However, they have been wrong before. Promax last time I checked recommends IBM PATA drives for video editing but that information is a little dated now that SATA drives and new models are out.

For video editing it seems to me that it doesn't really matter which brand you choose. With Vegas the difference in rendering time between drives is very small. Maybe someone with a RAID with no important data can do a more definitive test on this, but a Maxtor 80GB versus an old Quantum drive is 2% faster with Vegas. see http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15637&highlight=RAID
You won't notice the difference. -->>>

I can totaly understand why it wouldn't make much of a difference. Very rarely is your HD access times the bottleneck in NLE performance. You would have to have one absymaly slow HD for that to occur. For example- write speed. Do you honestly think you can encode out faster than a HD can write?....Even an mediocre one. I'd think the single biggest bottleneck in NLE performance would be CPU speed and ram. Any *modern* hd is more than sufficient.

My understanding of coflicts with games and nles, is in loading drivers. Some graphics cards are not compatible with some NLE's... there are different areas of allocating resources. It happens.

I don't think I'll be having many graphics card issues, as I use a Matrox Parhelia 256mb =). So far, I have collected this much info:

1. Do NOT use Magic Bullet for theatrical release.
2. Get DV transfer from DVFilmmaker.com
3. AVID can't do 5.1 sound
4. Premiere sucks
5. No FRAME MODE
6. AVID has issues with constant software/hardware upgrades

Ok. I'm gonna go AVID. But what should I do for 5.1 surround mixing? Also, if I do get a film transfer, will I only get one copy or will I get like three? What if I need more copies of the movie?

Wow! I've never really took the time to look at a Matrox Parhelia. Hey Jack, how does it perform in video, games, and if applicable 3d animation (like 3d Max, Maya, etc)? Do you think it outperforms Ati & Nvidia in these groups?

Jack,

When you order a print from a lab, you get just that - "A" print. If you need more than one, you must order and pay for them.

One print should be enough, remember, the lab keeps the negative in storage. Ship the print around to festivals, if it gets damaged or worn out, order another.

Yes, it's expensive. figure 50 to 75 thousand dollars, depending on variables.

Depending on your project, it might actually be cost effective to SHOOT in film, transfer to video, ship the video around, and THEN CONFORM the negative and PRINT THE FILM when someone wants it.

Take a long hard look at the cost of BUYING all your digital equipment AND transfering to film vs. renting the film equipment and shooting in film. If what you want to do is own your own digital equipment, become a digital video producer..well and good. If what you want to do is "Make a film" that "looks like film" and sells, so you can make another one... well think about shooting film.

Not a rant, just an observation. We shoot both video and film. We are about to shoot a short film in 35mm. With the film grant and some carefull budgeting, we will have a thirty minute short that will look awesome.

Well Randy, the Matrox Parhelia is a decent card and will play games (like Jedi Knight 2, Quake 3, Unreal 2, ect.) nicely, but it depends on the game really. If you're going to go with the Parhelia then definitely get the 256mb version! As far as 3D stuff goes, I personally see that the Matrox Parhelia has a superior image quality to my Radeon 9700 Pro in all things (games, internet, ect.) and I would most certainly recommend the Parhelia over an nVidia or ATI solution when doing 3D stuff. You see, the Parhelia was MADE for image quality, performance was secondary (even though it runs at respectful fps rates in every game). When all is said and done, the Parhelia is the core part to my content creation PC.

About the film, so if I were to shoot in film, what would I have to do? How much would a film camera cost? How much would film stock cost? How much would the film editing hardware cost?

If I went with film, I would have to do so much more, but you're right, shooting in film would probably cost about the same in the end as it would shooting in DV. So if you can answer those questions then I can get to making a decision.