Norman Willis
December 8th, 2008, 02:37 AM
Hi. It is a long story, but basically we are making documentaries, and the video editing just got dumped in my lap. Now I am blessed with the opportunity to get up to speed as fast as possible. I have been reading, and I still have a lot to learn, but I am hoping some of you old pros would please be so kind as to help me finish figuring out how to configure the computer. I appreciate your patience and help.
I need to make 2-6 hour documentaries, with the base footage shot in an indoor studio with three point lighting. I will be editing on a three year old Dell Precision 380 workstation with a Pentium D 930 at 3.0 GHz. I have 4GB RAM on Windows XP SP3, with the Control Panel preferences set to 'performance'. NLE is Vegas 8. Hard Drive C is twin 250GB 7200 RPM HDD's in RAID 0 that back up externally to a 1TB Seagate via Symantec BESR 8.0. Hard Drive D is twin 1TB Seagate 7200 RPM HDD's in RAID 1. The video card is a Palit (NVidia) GeForce 8600 Super +1GB. The primary filming camera is a Sony HDR-FX1, but I will use an HDR-HC1 to feed the tape into the computer via firewire.
1. My main concern is the processor. Is a Pentium D 930 at 3.0 GHz capable of handling and rendering 2-6 hour films with Sony Vegas? The Sony website (Sony Creative Software - Vegas Pro 8 - System Requirements (http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro/sysreq)) gives the minimum system requirement for HDV in Vegas at 2.8 GHz, but I read somehwere that this is only the minimum system requirement, and that it is much better if your processor is significantly stronger than that, especially once the machine gets warm. I can upgrade to a 3.4 GHz processor (Pentium D 950) for about $120.00, or to a 3.6 (Pentium D 960) for about $240.00, plus grease, but my question is: is this upgrade worth the cost? Would upgrading to 3.4 or 3.6 GHz processor make the editing/rendering process more stable, and more reliable on long renders? Or is a 3.0 GHz Pentium D 'plenty' of processor even for long HDV rendering? And what are my rendering times likely to be for a 2-6 hour film?
2. A related concern is the codec. I am told that Cineform NeoHD can convert the HDV codec to HD. It is expensive, but I am told that processors can handle HD much easier than they can handle HDV. (I am also told that it gives greater fidelity). Does anyone have experience with this? If I purchase Cineform NeoHD, would I still need/be well advised to upgrade the processor to 3.4 or 3.6 GHz? Or is a 3.0 GHz Pentium D 'lots' of processor, especially with HD (not HDV)?
3. My second main concern is the HDD arrays. Instead of having C: in RAID 0 and D: in RAID 1, would it be better to put C: in RAID 1 and D: in RAID 0, and then back up the D drive externally? Either I would have to find a 2TB external drive, or else with the standard compression I could probably back up to a 1.5 TB Seagate Free Agent drive. Alternately, I could leave C: in RAID 0, and put D: in RAID 0 without too much trouble.
I should probably say that there are four internal drive bays, and I have not considered RAID 5 because I do not know how it works. I just want to make sure I have enough speed and capacity to handle HD/HDV without any problems.
4. Is the video card adequate?
5. Do I need any kind of a video capture card? I have just been feeding things in to the motherboard via the 1394 Firewire port. Is that good enough?
Thank you very much for your help. Our budget dried up, but it is do-or-die time, and this is my life. If there is something that will make a difference, I will try to find a way to do it.
Thank you very much for your patience and help.
Norman
I need to make 2-6 hour documentaries, with the base footage shot in an indoor studio with three point lighting. I will be editing on a three year old Dell Precision 380 workstation with a Pentium D 930 at 3.0 GHz. I have 4GB RAM on Windows XP SP3, with the Control Panel preferences set to 'performance'. NLE is Vegas 8. Hard Drive C is twin 250GB 7200 RPM HDD's in RAID 0 that back up externally to a 1TB Seagate via Symantec BESR 8.0. Hard Drive D is twin 1TB Seagate 7200 RPM HDD's in RAID 1. The video card is a Palit (NVidia) GeForce 8600 Super +1GB. The primary filming camera is a Sony HDR-FX1, but I will use an HDR-HC1 to feed the tape into the computer via firewire.
1. My main concern is the processor. Is a Pentium D 930 at 3.0 GHz capable of handling and rendering 2-6 hour films with Sony Vegas? The Sony website (Sony Creative Software - Vegas Pro 8 - System Requirements (http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro/sysreq)) gives the minimum system requirement for HDV in Vegas at 2.8 GHz, but I read somehwere that this is only the minimum system requirement, and that it is much better if your processor is significantly stronger than that, especially once the machine gets warm. I can upgrade to a 3.4 GHz processor (Pentium D 950) for about $120.00, or to a 3.6 (Pentium D 960) for about $240.00, plus grease, but my question is: is this upgrade worth the cost? Would upgrading to 3.4 or 3.6 GHz processor make the editing/rendering process more stable, and more reliable on long renders? Or is a 3.0 GHz Pentium D 'plenty' of processor even for long HDV rendering? And what are my rendering times likely to be for a 2-6 hour film?
2. A related concern is the codec. I am told that Cineform NeoHD can convert the HDV codec to HD. It is expensive, but I am told that processors can handle HD much easier than they can handle HDV. (I am also told that it gives greater fidelity). Does anyone have experience with this? If I purchase Cineform NeoHD, would I still need/be well advised to upgrade the processor to 3.4 or 3.6 GHz? Or is a 3.0 GHz Pentium D 'lots' of processor, especially with HD (not HDV)?
3. My second main concern is the HDD arrays. Instead of having C: in RAID 0 and D: in RAID 1, would it be better to put C: in RAID 1 and D: in RAID 0, and then back up the D drive externally? Either I would have to find a 2TB external drive, or else with the standard compression I could probably back up to a 1.5 TB Seagate Free Agent drive. Alternately, I could leave C: in RAID 0, and put D: in RAID 0 without too much trouble.
I should probably say that there are four internal drive bays, and I have not considered RAID 5 because I do not know how it works. I just want to make sure I have enough speed and capacity to handle HD/HDV without any problems.
4. Is the video card adequate?
5. Do I need any kind of a video capture card? I have just been feeding things in to the motherboard via the 1394 Firewire port. Is that good enough?
Thank you very much for your help. Our budget dried up, but it is do-or-die time, and this is my life. If there is something that will make a difference, I will try to find a way to do it.
Thank you very much for your patience and help.
Norman