Aspect HD or Matrox RT.X2 with Premiere at DVinfo.net

Matthew Ebenezer · December 10th, 2006, 12:45 AM

Hi,

I'm investigating my options for the move to HD.

My current setup is:

Canon XL2 (PAL)
Sony DSR-11 deck
Pentium D 3.2Ghz
4Gb RAM
Canopus DVStorm2
4 x 300Gb 7200RPM SATA drives
Dell 24" monitor

My main projects are TV commercials and promo DVDs.

Camera upgrade of choice is a Canon XL-H1 and I already own Adobe Production Studio.

I'm planning to purchase a new computer system as well to assist with the move to HD.

I've been using the DVStorm and Premiere 1.5 for about 3 years now and it runs like a dream - but that doesn't help with with HD. I've been using PPro 1.5 + the other Production Studio programs because the DVStorm2 is unsupported on PPro2.0.

Apart from the price difference - anyone got any advice/recommendations/experiences related to using Aspect HD or the Matrox RT.X2 with Premiere 2.0 and Adobe Production Studio?

Thanks.

Harm Millaard · December 10th, 2006, 10:42 AM

I've had a Raptor, then upgraded to the Storm2 and ran into serious problems with PP 1.5 that were never solved, then went for the Matrox RT-X100 and had severe problems as well. I dumped all three and only use OHCI firewire now.

For editing HDV I suggest to spend the money not on a Matrox RT.X2 card, but on better and faster components for your computer. That will allow you to get much more horsepower into you new system. For instance a dual Clovertown setup on a Greencreek mobo with an Areca raid configuration.

Aspect HD is a very worthwhile investment for HDV editing, it makes life a lot easier.

Bottom line, skip investing in Matrox (saves you nearly $ 2.000), buy Aspect HD (costs you $ 500) and invest your remaining $ 1.500 in better/faster components.

Miguel Lombana · December 10th, 2006, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harm Millaard

I've had a Raptor, then upgraded to the Storm2 and ran into serious problems with PP 1.5 that were never solved, then went for the Matrox RT-X100 and had severe problems as well. I dumped all three and only use OHCI firewire now.

For editing HDV I suggest to spend the money not on a Matrox RT.X2 card, but on better and faster components for your computer. That will allow you to get much more horsepower into you new system. For instance a dual Clovertown setup on a Greencreek mobo with an Areca raid configuration.

Aspect HD is a very worthwhile investment for HDV editing, it makes life a lot easier.

Bottom line, skip investing in Matrox (saves you nearly $ 2.000), buy Aspect HD (costs you $ 500) and invest your remaining $ 1.500 in better/faster components.

Matt although Harm and I don't agree on Canopus mainly because I've not seen the same issues as him, I do totally agree with him on the need for more machine, Aspect and fore go all the realtime cards. I have a Raptor, for me it works great but it's in a machine that I rarely even use anymore now that I have a dell workstation with some real power.

PPro 2.0 has enough guts on the right machine to give you realtime playback, unless you're doing some incredible multi-layer effect that just brings the system to a total crawl.

The key to editing now and especially for HDV is power, look at workstation class machines and fast 7200 or 10000rpm drives! SCSI isn't an advantage now that S-Ata drives do what they can do, but for serious editing, RAID-0 arrays for your editing is what will pull it all together. As well opt for no less than 2g is ram, 4 is ideal and for the video card, I've been using the Matrox Parhelia APVe for the last 2 months with phenomenal results. The card allows for 2 screens for editing and an HDV set for monitoring via component out. There are some caveats to getting this configuration but it's not extreme, check out the Matrox site for details.

See what you can do about a dual core processor or even dual processors, the D chips are dual aren't they? A really large power supply is a must in that box if you're going to run 4 drives or take 2 drives and build a drive box with it's own power supply and raid them out. Scrap the Canopus card (scrap the crap) and invest in a 2nd monitor for editing and pick up Aspect before you try doing any HDV stuff, it will save your A**.

Buena Suerte!

Miguel

Matthew Ebenezer · December 10th, 2006, 06:33 PM

Thanks for the replies.

So, if I go with Aspect HD - what is the capture process from a Canon XL-H1?

Currently I use a Sony DSR-11 deck into the DVStorm2 and capture in Premiere.

With Aspect HD and PPro2.0, do I just capture via Firewire using the camera or a a deck like the Sony HVRM15P?

Or should I be looking at an AJA Xena card?

Thanks again.

Marc Colemont · December 11th, 2006, 02:29 PM

With AspectHD you got some options through Firewire. Either capture from the camera through the HDlink software, which works great, or through PPro 2.0. The second option takes more CPU load. For my computer it resulted in some dropped frames, but it's only a P4 2.4HHz Hypertreading computer.
I now use a harddisk recorder on my camera. I copy now the captured files on my harddrive of the computer, import the m2t files into HDlink, and convert them into the Cineform AVI codec to have the real-time performance in PPro 2.0.

December 10th, 2006, 12:45 AM	#1
Matthew Ebenezer Major Player Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Toowoomba, Australia Posts: 370	Aspect HD or Matrox RT.X2 with Premiere Hi, I'm investigating my options for the move to HD. My current setup is: Canon XL2 (PAL) Sony DSR-11 deck Pentium D 3.2Ghz 4Gb RAM Canopus DVStorm2 4 x 300Gb 7200RPM SATA drives Dell 24" monitor My main projects are TV commercials and promo DVDs. Camera upgrade of choice is a Canon XL-H1 and I already own Adobe Production Studio. I'm planning to purchase a new computer system as well to assist with the move to HD. I've been using the DVStorm and Premiere 1.5 for about 3 years now and it runs like a dream - but that doesn't help with with HD. I've been using PPro 1.5 + the other Production Studio programs because the DVStorm2 is unsupported on PPro2.0. Apart from the price difference - anyone got any advice/recommendations/experiences related to using Aspect HD or the Matrox RT.X2 with Premiere 2.0 and Adobe Production Studio? Thanks.

December 10th, 2006, 10:42 AM	#2
Harm Millaard Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Posts: 1,832	I've had a Raptor, then upgraded to the Storm2 and ran into serious problems with PP 1.5 that were never solved, then went for the Matrox RT-X100 and had severe problems as well. I dumped all three and only use OHCI firewire now. For editing HDV I suggest to spend the money not on a Matrox RT.X2 card, but on better and faster components for your computer. That will allow you to get much more horsepower into you new system. For instance a dual Clovertown setup on a Greencreek mobo with an Areca raid configuration. Aspect HD is a very worthwhile investment for HDV editing, it makes life a lot easier. Bottom line, skip investing in Matrox (saves you nearly $ 2.000), buy Aspect HD (costs you $ 500) and invest your remaining $ 1.500 in better/faster components.

December 10th, 2006, 06:33 PM	#4
Matthew Ebenezer Major Player Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Toowoomba, Australia Posts: 370	Thanks for the replies. So, if I go with Aspect HD - what is the capture process from a Canon XL-H1? Currently I use a Sony DSR-11 deck into the DVStorm2 and capture in Premiere. With Aspect HD and PPro2.0, do I just capture via Firewire using the camera or a a deck like the Sony HVRM15P? Or should I be looking at an AJA Xena card? Thanks again.

December 11th, 2006, 02:29 PM	#5
Marc Colemont Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Belgium Posts: 695	With AspectHD you got some options through Firewire. Either capture from the camera through the HDlink software, which works great, or through PPro 2.0. The second option takes more CPU load. For my computer it resulted in some dropped frames, but it's only a P4 2.4HHz Hypertreading computer. I now use a harddisk recorder on my camera. I copy now the captured files on my harddrive of the computer, import the m2t files into HDlink, and convert them into the Cineform AVI codec to have the real-time performance in PPro 2.0.