Hi Guys... Sorry if this is a repeat question... I searched the forum already but was surpised I couldn't find a direct answer...

This is my first foray into the video world and I just purchased an XL2 with a plethora of lenses and accessories for my first project. I was originally planning on using Final Cut Pro on my roommate's G5, but I don't think that's going to work out... so now I'll have to scrounge up even more funds to put together a machine capable of doing some editing.

What are the minimal requirments for SD video editing on a PC (I'll likely be using Premiere). I'm trying not to go to crazy over budget... I really need something that can just get the job done... I was thinking something along these lines....

Pentium D 2800 Dual-Core Processor
250 GB HD (7200 RPM)
2GB RAM (would 1GB be workable? lemme know...)
128MB PCI Express ATI Radeon X300 SE
DVD/RW
And then I was thinking a 19" flat panel with 16:9 resolution.

I could get that system for like $800 and then another $300 for the screen... which is sort of the budget I was looking to stay in.

Is this system acceptable? Does anything need to be kicked up a notch? Could I tone anything down? Really, I just want a machine that's capable... I don't need a powerhouse just yet.

Thanks!

Charles

According to the Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 System Requirements (http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/systemreqs.html) page the minimum system specs are:

Intel® Pentium® 4 1.4GHz processor for DV (Pentium 4 3.4GHz processor for HDV; dual Intel Xeon™ 2.8GHz processors for HD; SSE2-enabled processor required for AMD systems)

Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional or Home Edition with Service Pack 2

512MB of RAM for DV; 2GB of RAM for HDV and HD

4GB of available hard-disk space for installation

Dedicated 7,200RPM hard drive for DV and HDV editing; striped disk array storage (RAID 0) for HD

Microsoft DirectX-compatible sound card (multichannel ASIO-compatible sound card for surround sound)

DVD-ROM drive for installation

DVD+-R burner for DVD creation

1,280x1,024 video display with 32-bit color adapter

OHCI-compatible IEEE 1394 video interface card for DV and HDV (AJA Xena HS for HD)

QuickTime 6.5 software

Internet or phone connection required for product activation

Adobe-recommended graphics card for GPU-accelerated playback (see the full compatible hardware (http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/dvhdwrdb.html) listing)

Just out of curiosity, is it possible to capture DV and HDV via firewire to USB 2?

Your proposed system is definitely up-to-spec. My system is a 2.26ghz P4, and for the longest time, I was running on 512mb of ram and that was acceptable, now I'm on 1gb and it's definitely more than acceptable. That system should have no problem editing SD at all.