I just bought a Sony HDR-HC1, and I want to edit the movies I take on my computer, but I don't know anything about editing movies on my computer. The manual for this Sony says I must have an editing program, so what would be considered a good editing program for someone new at editing by computer? I have two digital still cameras that I use and I use Adobe Photoshop to work with the pictures I take and it does a really good job for me. My scanner is connected to my computer with a 1394 firewire. My computer is not a new one, but has pentium III and 80 GB hard drive and 256 RAM. Thank you for your advice.

Bob Plunkett

Bob, Sony makes an NLE called Vegas Movie Studio+DVD Platinum (http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/products/showproduct.asp?PID=983) that handles HDV and is designed for beginners. It is packed full of features. This is what I used when I started several years ago (although it was called Video Factory back then). The great thing about this NLE is that it is a scaled down version of the high-end Vegas+DVD editor (which I use now) and everything you learn in Movie Studio is directly transferable to Vegas. Don’t underestimate the advantage of leveraging what you already know as you progress. I highly recommend it for beginner-intermediate editing work.

You may, however, want to get a new computer to handle HDV. 256MB of memory is not going work very well at all. You need 512MB minimum with 1GB recommended. (remember you are processing 4.5x the resolution of DV!) Also a Pentium 3 will render HDV very slowly. Any low-end PC for $499 with a P4 3.0GHz will be significantly faster than what you have now. So don’t be surprised if your computer doesn’t perform well with HDV. You really need a modern computer to work with HDV and P3 is extremely old technology.

~jr

John, Thank you so much for all that information, that was just what I was looking for. I will probably have to do what you suggest about getting a new computer. Thanks again.

Bob.

Try Ulead's MSP8. It uses 'smart proxy' files to make it possible to work efficiently with HDV with low power computer systems and is very easy to learn.

You can download the demo from:

http://www.ulead.com/msp/trial.htm

Hope this helps.

Danny Fye
www.dannyfye.com

I second using Sony Vegas. I have used MSP and prefer Vegas due to it's better video encoding, audio controls (best available in any NLE), and program stability.

You can purchase an inexpensive plug in called GearShift from VASST that will let you work with proxies as well.

My computer is not a new one, but has pentium III and 80 GB hard drive and 256 RAM.

This computer is nowhere near good enough. Trying to use it for this will just be an abject lesson in frustration.

Try out Media Studio Pro 8 like what was mentioned earlier. The Smart Proxy mode works great for computers that have a little less under the hood.

I'd recommend Vegas aswell. Very simple to learn, but also very powerful.

Vegas is amazing. I have achieved results with it that would take me 3x longer with Premiere. I definetely recommend it over any other software out there. The interface is very easy and doesn't seem to use as much resources as other softwares.

I vote Vegas movie studio+dvd platinum, but I also agree on upgrading your machine.

I vote for Sony Vegas too. I have just started editing and I have the HDR HC1 too. What a great camera!

I would be glad to help with any questions if I can - am still learning it...

2,8 GHz Pentium 4 and 1 GB RAM is usually the minimum specs for most HDV editors.

I want to thank everyone for their suggestions and comments. I am going to try Ulead Videostudio 9 and see what I can do. Sounds like I am going to have a very difficult time, but would like to try this machine out first and see what happens. I have 512 MB of RAM.
The problem I am having right now is getting my machine to recognize my Camcorder. My 1394 was made by Texas Instruments, but I don't get any image device when I check it out on the Device Manager. Down in the Sounds, Video section it recognizes my camera. I've unplugged my camera several times and then unplugged my computer and the restarted the computer, but nothing happens. My scanner is hooked to my computer and it works just fine through the 1394. I unplugged my scanner to see if that would make a different, no it didn't.

Thank you very much.

Bob Plunkett

I downloaded the Sony HDV plugin and now I can capture my video into my computer, but like several people stated, it's just not going to work with your present computer, and you all were so right, so I will get me a fast computer in the near future. I liked what one person said, you are just going to experience abject furstration try to capture your video with your present computer. Thanks again for all your help. I will now try and find me a new computer that has the necessary components for capturing video from my HRD-HC1.

Thanks,

Bob Plunkett.

Thanks again for all your help. I will now try and find me a new computer that has the necessary components for capturing video from my HRD-HC1.

Thanks,

Bob Plunkett.

You are quite welcome.

It's best to build your own system instead of buying one. This way you will have it custom made the way you really want it, not a generic system that may or may not meet your needs. If you can't build one yourself that's ok too.

Head over to the Videoguys web page for some helpful information on buying and/or building your own system.

http://www.videoguys.com/system.htm

I built my own system in such a way that there are no permanently mounted hard drives. No floppy either. It just sits there and wastes power.

All hard drives are in a removable tray. This way I can change my system to be according to my needs.

I can put in an internet boot drive for when I want to access the internet and a non-internet boot drive for when I want to do video editing. This way I don't have a bunch of internet type of programs running such as a fire-wall or anti-virus and whatever draining my resources.

One can even setup a boot for old software on Windows 98 or an alternative operating system such as Linux. All on the same system. Also without the hassles of multiple partitians.

Whatever you decide to do, don't go cheap with it. Get more than what you need to cover future needs but not so much more that you loose value when technology changes and you need/have to rebuild. There is a balance.

Finally, if you need help, there is someone here that can help.

Danny Fye
www.dannyfye.com

Hey Danny.
How does your system handle HD? (rendering times)
Could you list your system?

Those Videoguys specs are 6+ months old and predate most of the new affordable-ish dual-core processors.

Just sayin' ...

yeh
I sure wish someone who knew what he was doing would make an updated list of components for a top o' the line HD video editor computer for those of us who want to build from scratch.

There's been discussion of some dual core systems over in the Cineform forum:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=54667

This one sounded nice:

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Athlon X2 4400+ in an Asus A8N-SLI Premium motherboard with 1 gig of 400 mhz ddr ram .... 250 gig Hitachi SATA for system drive ... 2 x 250 gig Hitachi SATA's in a raid 0 configuration for video drive ..... cpu is overclocked 10% (2.4 ghz core speed, 880 mhz front side bus, and 440 mhz memory speed) ... Matrox APVe driving 2 x 19" 1280 x 1024 displays for the desktop and a Samsung 23" LCD 1366 x 768 hdtv display (YUV component in) ..... performs slightly better than the dual Xeon 3.2 gig that I was previously ... runs much cooler and quieter than the Xeon system.
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