I recently bought a Sony Z1P. I have spent quite some time reading posts about editing /monitoring options but I still haven't got my head around it - partly because I do not know enough of the background that many posters take for granted.

What I have concluded so far is that Premiere Pro + Aspect HD look like the software options for me - this is good because I have used Premiere 5 for some years and know it reasonably well.

What I am least clear on is how to monitor while editing my captured video.

Initially I thought I would opt for upgrading my PC monitor to handle 100% HDV resolution (a 22" CRT that handles 1080 x 1960). I assume that really means monitoring the CineForm intermediate stream - which sounds fine.

Is this a viable option (viewing at 100%) with a p4 multithreaded 3GHz single processor with 2 Gb 400MHz FSB ram? Do I need a state of the art video card for this (reading the CineForm site it would seem the answer is probably no?).

Is using the PC monitor a bad option as opposed to setting up with an external hd TV monitor and if so what needs to be done to use an external monitor.

My primary end use will be projection on a high quality HD projector - which if I understand things right means I will be able to use PC monitor type color space rather than TV colorspaces.

I apologise in advance for these newbie questions, I am on a steep learning curve with much to learn.

Andrew

<<<-- Originally posted by Andrew J Hall : I recently bought a Sony Z1P. IIs this a viable option (viewing at 100%) with a p4 multithreaded 3GHz single processor with 2 Gb 400MHz FSB ram? -->>>

800Mhz FSB with 400Mhz Dual Channel DDR works best (today.) Note: 1066Mhz FSBs are coming.

<<<--Do I need a state of the art video card for this (reading the CineForm site it would seem the answer is probably no?).-->>>

Any good video card will do fine. Dual head cards are helpful, or cards with s-video or analog component outputs.

<<---Is using the PC monitor a bad option as opposed to setting up with an external hd TV monitor and if so what needs to be done to use an external monitor.-->>>

You will need to to be careful with monitor calibration, but this is the case for any reference device if you intend to do color correction.

<<<---My primary end use will be projection on a high quality HD projector - which if I understand things right means I will be able to use PC monitor type color space rather than TV colorspaces.-->>>

Calibration is still required, but yes you can do this.

Thanks for your reply David.

So using AspectHD + Premiere Pro it is realistic to view fullsize HDV on the PC monitor with the sort of set-up your are describing?

With respect to monitor calibration - I calibrate my monitor for photographic use using a Colorvision Spyder (calibrates gamma, greyscale and RGB) - is this the same meaning of calibration that you are using also or is video calibration something quite different?

Thanks again

Andrew

No you have it perfectly under control.

Another question as I work towards building my editing system.

I note Cineform specify either Pentium or AMD cpu's. If you were starting from scratch is there a preference assuming I go the Premiere 1.5 / Aspect HD route.

One consideration is I work in a pretty small room and would prefer the noise to be as low as possible but I do not want to pay for this with unreliable performance.

I noticed Adobe seem to recommend only Pentium while reading through the Premiere forum (at Adobe) there were, as you would expect, views either way but a preference for Pentium - though many of the concerns seemed to relate to capture cards which at this stage are not something I am planning to go with.

Andrew

The faster Intel single CPU has the slight edge over the fastest AMD single CPU because Intel has hyperthreading (something Aspect HD makes good use of.) For dual processor systems go with AMD, there is no comparison at the moment, because AMD has Hypertransport and Xeon does not. However, all modern systems will work well with Aspect HD.

We tried Aspect with an Athlon 64 system, with DDR 400 RAM and there was major problems with the captured pictures, the same thing happened with the PPro 1.51 update. We simply replaced the mother board and changed the processor to a 3.4 Pentium and now it all works very well well.

With Adobe product I think it is still safer to stick with Intel

We have been doing much more AMD testing for Aspect HD 3.0. I hope that the issue you experienced will be addressed for others. However, your new 3.4Ghz P4 will do very well.