Need help purchasing a PC for HD editing.
 

I have up to $1000 to spend. I'm looking for any suggestions as to the minimum specs for a rig that will allow me to edit my HD tapes smoothly. I've bought many PCs from Dell, are there other better online stores to spec out a system? Do you think $1000 is enough?

Thanks,

Have you considered building it yourself? What NLE are you using (or will use)?

Yes I have considered building it myself, even though I've never done it. I'm wary of having incompatible parts. Therefore, I thought about using a step by step tutorial like this one http://www.maximumpc.com/article/bui...mises_1_500_pc

Granted, it's $1500, but I bet I could scale back on certain things and be at $1000. What do you think of the MaximumPC list of parts? Overkill for HD editing? As for the editing software, I was planning on Pinnacle Studio. I've had some experience with an older version of PS, and will buy their latest release. I don't know about any other software, so I'm all ears.

Thanks,

It certainly isn't overkill. There's not much you could scale back on and be happy with the results...

Is $1k enough? To edit HD?

Well, you're gonna need at least two drives. There's $250. You're going to need a decent monitor. That's another $300. You're going to want at least 2GB of RAM, so there's $100. So we're at $600 and we haven't bought a motherboard, a case to put it in, or a processor to go on it.

Even if you build this rig yourself, $1k isn't even in the ballpark. Double that and you're getting closer to a system that won't choke when you add a few effects and transitions.

Notice that machine you linked us to has only one hard drive? And no DVD burner? How do you plan to get the finished product off the machine? Print back to tape? Also note, it has no monitor listed either. In fact, it doesn't even seem to have a firewire port so how would you even connect the camera to capture the video?

You just aren't going to get there for $1k or really even $1500.

These (high quality) parts will get you a nice (pretty fast) machine for editing HD (with 2 hard drives):

Video Card & Motherboard (video onboard this MB) - $102.44
http://www.clubit.com/product_detail...emno=CA4830739

CPU (2.5ghz AMD quad) - $235.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103249

Memory (4GB) - $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211188

Case - $106.75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119137

Power Supply (650 watt) - $94.99 (after rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139005

Windows XP (home edition) - $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116056

Hard Drives (750GB X 2) - $259.98 ($129.99 X 2)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152100

DVD Burner - $35.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135163

Total for above - $995.13 (shipping included in prices)

You also need a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

This is a nice 22" low cost monitor ($240.10 shipped):
http://www.clubit.com/product_detail...temno=A4693007

This is a decent low cost keyboard/mouse combo ($17.49 shipped):
http://www.clubit.com/product_detail...emno=CA3847086

I'd suggest also getting Cineform NEO HDV (for $219.95 + shipping):
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._Software.html

Well guys, I apologize. I had a brain freeze and forgot to add that I already have: 3 spare HDs of 500 GB each, a 24" LCD monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers. So I'd like to spend the money on: case, motherboard, CPU, RAM, video card, sound card, power supply unit, Windows XP.

Robert: many thanks for putting together that list. My concern is any probable incompatibility and configuring the whole system. From the article I linked to, it's pretty straightforward, but that's because they've done it WITH those parts. Do you anticipate any problems with your list, since I assume you haven't actually put those exact parts together?

I build lots of computers (used to do it for a living). I haven't used that motherboard yet, but I just got one. I don't expect to have trouble with it. Gigabyte makes good quality motherboards (and feedback at Newegg is real good on that particular board - price is lower at ClubIT though). I have a Phenom running in this machine that I'm on right now (and it works fine). The newer Phenoms do fix a bug that can cause rare problems with the first Phenoms that were released. I suggest using the one I linked to (newer version - they just bumped the price up $8 dollars though). That power supply, memory and DVD burner I suggested is top notch (always use a top notch power supply - will save you grief). The Samsung hard drives have worked fine for me. I avoid Maxtors and try to shy away from Western Digital.

With the parts you already have, you can easily build a nice editing machine, for under $1K.

Norris,

Without the need for a Monitor or hard drives, that $1k is a bit tight, but certainly doable. What NLE are you using? The reason I ask is because some don't use the GPU at all (like Sony Vegas) and money is better spent on a good CPU, while others use the GPU extensively and would benefit from a fast graphics card.

So Take Robert's list, knock off the hard drive, add a better graphics card, and up the Cineform to the 2k edition, and you should be golden. Or if you go store-bought, then try to find something with similar specs.

The onboard graphics on that particular motherboard are decent. That is actually one of the first motherboards made with a built-in GPU that has some kick (very cost effective). That 2.5ghz Phenom quad is not slow either (even though the Q6600 Intels might be a little bit faster, it's not a huge difference really). The reason to go with that combination is that it is extremely cost effective, offering very nice overall performance for editing with just about any NLE.

[QUOTE=Perrone Ford;857063]

What NLE are you using? The reason I ask is because some don't use the GPU at all (like Sony Vegas) and money is better spent on a good CPU, while others use the GPU extensively and would benefit from a fast graphics card.

QUOTE]

I was planning on getting Pinnacle Studio, but now I'll do some reading on Cineform. Is it user friendly? I'm a novice, so the better the user interface, the easier and more involved I want to get with my projects. If the editing software is too complex and has a steep learning curve, it's not for me.

Thank!

Cineform is not an NLE. It's a codec. A very good one. But you can think of it in the terms as WMV or Quicktime. It's just "visually lossless" unlike those two. And it's easy to edit too so it takes some overhead away from your processor.

For me, it's worth it's weight in gold.

What camera are you using Norris?

I have the Canon HV10.

Can you summarize for me what Cineform does? The way I understand video editing is: I will transfer video footage from my camcorder into the PC. The footage on the tape is in HDV format, once on the hard drive, it can be in any format I choose, but some people recommend that I use avi. After editing/rendering I can output back to tape as HDV, or burn on a SD DVD, or leave it on the hard drive. Is that correct? So where does Cineform fit in this work path? What I really want to do eventually, maybe by year's end, is to put the HD edited video on a Blu Ray disc.

Thanks!