Is this specific enough?
 

Here is a system we have built a couple of times for HDV editing, it is a solid, stable, and fast system for cheap (prices are from NewEgg):

1) Rosewill TU-155 Case w/ 400W Power Supply - $49.99
2) Gigabyte GA-8IP775-G Motherboard - $68.00
3) Intel Pentium 4 530J CPU - $179.00
4) (2) Rosewill 512MB DDR400 - $35.99 each - $71.98
5) Rosewill Radeon 9200SE Dual-Head AGP Video Card (128MB) - $39.99
6) Samsung SpinPoint SATA HD (120GB for Boot) - $85.00
7) Maxtor DiamondMax 10 (300GB, 16MB Buffer for Video) - $200.00
8) Samsung 16x DVD+/-RW w/ Dual Layer support - $49.99
9) Adaptec 3-port Firewire Card - $37.00
----
$780.95

Keep in mind this is not barebones, 1GB memory, 420GB total hard drive space (and that Maxtor drive with the 16MB buffer is smokin fast), 3GHZ P4, etc. If you wanted to skimp on some of the components you could go much cheaper, but this is an example of a very capable, stable system for cheap.

And for you Mac people, it is actually a pretty nice looking system as well :)

Ben

Nice one, Ben!

Further, I would argue that 1) building such a system from those type of components, 2) starting off with a fresh install of XP SP2, and 3) taking sensible precautions with any internet activity will just about guarantee you have an entirely a "rock solid" system - in part because you can escape the bloat of the extra software that creeps in whenever you buy a more expensive pre-installed system.

After a recent discussion regarding AIC quality issues in another thread, I'm now convinced that it is not currently a suitable solution for professional HDV editing work. Apparently Apple botched the design of AIC, which is unfortunate for Mac users because that means they'll be stuck editing HDV in the sluggish "native" codec, or taking the time to convert their HDV footage to DVCProHD.

So it would definitely not be a good idea to do HDV editing on a Mac Mini, and we're back to the fact that a decent HDV editing setup (including software) is going to run about $1500 and up on either platform. This also applies to the system described by Ben Buie, which doesn't appear to include either the cost of a licensed copy of Windows or the cost of HDV-capable editing software. Add those two items and you're up to at least $1400 by my calculations, and probably more depending on what software you buy.

Hi,
I apologise for not being able to reply to my previous posts. And thanks for all the info provided.

Initially I was thinking about a 1.8Ghz G5 Dual PowerMac for editing. I am downgrading, and would like to know if a 1.8 Ghz G5 iMac (1GB RAM, 160 GB HDD) would be sufficient for HDV editing. I intend to start with the HDV Express. Source for HDV is a Z1.

Do all Macs have the AIC problem as mentioned in another post?

Regards,
Ritesh Krishnamurthy

You can use my Commodore 64.

Ritesh, go to www.hdforindies.com, read the FAQ good starting point for HD/HDV and macs.

Pete

AIC is inherently flawed, so it doesn't make a difference if you're on an iBook or a dual-processor 2.7GHz Power Mac G5.

I've gotten good results by transcoding HDV material from its raw transport stream files to DVCProHD, and then editing in Final Cut Pro using DVCProHD. Use Virtual D-VHS to capture and MPEG Streamclip to transcode.

Get Virtual D-VHS from the FireWire SDK (it's in the Developer section of Apple's site). Get MPEG Streamclip by looking it up at versiontracker. You'll need the QuickTime MPEG playback component ($20) and QuickTime Pro might be useful too ($30). For the DVCProHD codecs, I think you;d need FCP to get it, unless someone has figured a way to install those codecs without FCP.

yeah i think this would be best...especially if you're editing for television broadcast, its already almost a TV. who needs a graphical interface for editing?? a text readout is more than sufficient.

just pretend you're one of those guys on the matrix that could read the code as it scrolled.

Hi,
With today's news from Apple on their transition, I am exploring PC options. Ben Buie's PC system seems very affordable.

What are the various software available for editing HDV (from a Z1)?

Anything equivalents to FCP Express to start-off with?

Thanks,
Ritesh Krishnamurthy

A PowerPC based Mac purchased today will still be officially supported by Apple 5 years from now. Developers will have an easy time issuing software for both x86 and PPC Macs. Apple isn't going to license Mac OS X to PC makers and it will not be installable on regular x86 PCs. Even if someone figures a way to crack OS X and get it to install on a Dell, you'd have to question the stability and reliability of such a hypothetical system, and in a production environment those are risks not worth taking.

Anyway, there are plenty of good options for low cost HDV editing on the PC side, which I don't know well enough to give any guidance, but I wish you well in whichever decision you make.

Hi,
More info is adding to my confusion to decide between a PC and iMac HDV editing system.

I am inclined towards an iMac (1.8G, 1GB) due the stability it provides. But the AIC problem that I've read on the posts is beyond my comprehension. And I am running out of time, since I need to make a decision asap.

One of the posts said that I would need FCP to work around this problem.

Is the "FC Express HD" enough to for editing HDV content from the Z1? Will this work around the AIC problem? Or is the "Final Cut Pro 5" (or FC Studio) necessary?

Thanks,
Ritesh

Is it now possible to edit with a consumer laptop, one of those Circuit City specials (17" monitor, 3.2 mhz speed, 80-100gb hard drive, 1gig memory) with an external hard drive or is that too slow? If you could shove in more memory would that do it? I'm just so tired of towers, I'd almost be willing to scrape up the extra thousand to untether my bad self.

Betsy,

Yes a laptop like that will work fine. An external 7200rpm USB2 drive will comfortably playback two streams of 1080i HDV footage for real-time transitions and effects. 3.2Ghz is above the needed spec's for CineForm products. We often use a 3.2Ghz laptop for doing demos of Aspect HD (we also used a laptop to editing HDV footage for a guerilla film competition last year.)

David Newman
CTO, CineForm