Cineform workstations and hardware suggestions

Gabor Lacza · June 24th, 2005, 10:28 AM

Can I use a 22 inch CRT computer monitor !!! But how do you connect them to the card since they do not have component input???? Any help here is appreciated....
As a second note can you connect an SD broadcast monitor ??? Will Premiere or aspect HD will downconver real time when you editing HDV to SD for preview ???
Anyway if my first option is a yes then I dont need the second one.
Thanks

Radek Svoboda · June 25th, 2005, 10:21 PM

http://www.averatec.com/notebooks/6240series.htm

HD can be replaced with 7200 RPM one.

Can be external 1600x1200 monitor added for editing FX/Z1?

I would use Vegas 6. What else would need for efficient editing?

Radek

Steve Crisdale · June 26th, 2005, 01:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radek Svoboda

http://www.averatec.com/notebooks/6240series.htm

HD can be replaced with 7200 RPM one.

Can be external 1600x1200 monitor added for editing FX/Z1?

I would use Vegas 6. What else would need for efficient editing?

Radek

Can't see whether it has IEEE-1394 connectivity...

You could probably get a PCMCIA Firewire card: but it's nicer if it comes built in...

BTW, watching HDV on a 15.4" screen is gonna seem mighty small even if (and possibly because of) it has a WS aspect. Be about the same viewing size as watching 16:9 on a 17" 4:3 aspect monitor.

Laptop/notebooks like this are only gonna get cheaper, but the important things to make the final purchase decision over, are whether there's truly enough high-rezz screen real-estate, enough hard disk space (that's fast enough... though this is less of a concern as it was) and enough connectivity options. Then you gotta decide whether you want battery time over performance. I'd suspect the AMD mobile chip would be about as power hungry as my P-IV laptop is, but it'd be worth knowing for sure...

Jeff Baker · September 28th, 2005, 04:55 PM

I'm starting into the upgrade process for a pci-express system and I am seeing a lot of cards that indicate HDTV-Out capable in the marketing. How do they differ from the PNY 540 card (other than the breakout box)?

If for instance, I would like a 256mb or 512mb model? For instance Leadtek makes a $50 256mb card with hdtv out capability or any dual DVI card with HDTV capable output?

What is approved for Aspect HD if any and what do I need to look out for?

David Newman · September 28th, 2005, 05:22 PM

If you MediaPlayer can output to the HD component output of the graphics card, then Aspect HD will work with it. So any card will work. The amount of RAM (256 vs 512) is not all that relevant to Aspect HD.

Jeff Baker · September 28th, 2005, 06:25 PM

Sorry for the simple HD questions, but I'm from the the DV world where none of these issues came up... Now if I used a dual DVI HD resolution capable card with a scaler how would that work? When does one use a scaler normally?

How would I use a video scaler in conjunction with a video card such as this one:

Startech.com VID2DVIDTV Component/Composite/S-Video
Code: DH-VID2DVIDTV
$185.00pad

Convert between resolutions and video formats with StarTech.com s VID2DVIDTV, a Composite/ S-Video/YCbCr/RGB component to DVI scaler.
CONNECTORS- (1) DVI-D Dual Link Female
(1) S-Video Female
(4) RCA Female
FORMATS - Input : Composite, S-Video, YCbCr component or RGB
interlaced.
SIGNAL LEVELS- Input : Video @ 1V p-p, 75 ohm
Y @ 1 V p-p, 75 ohm
Color @ 0.7V p-p, 75 ohm
YCbCr
RGBH
RESOLUTION - Output PC (RGBHV): Progressive Scan
VGA 640 x 480 @ 60/72/75/85 Hz
SVGA 800 x 600 @ 60/72/75/85 Hz
XGA 1024 x 768 @ 60/70/75/85 Hz
WXGA 1280 x 768 @ 60 Hz
SXGA 1280 x 1024 @ 60/75 Hz
Output HDTV (YPbPr, RGBHV): Progressive Scan
1080i 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz
720p 1280 x 720 @ 60 Hz
576p 720 x 576 @ 50 Hz
480p 720 x 480 @ 60 Hz

David Newman · September 28th, 2005, 07:11 PM

The card does it all, I have never worried about that stuff. We use a standard overlay surface, when you play out HD you get HD, the card will automatically scale if necessary (such as outputing a 1920 image to a 1280 display.)

Geoff Murillo · October 9th, 2005, 04:20 PM

Hi David,

What is the minimum required speed for Athlon 64 processors to run Cineform Aspect?

At the Cineform site you have listed minimum requirements for single HT Pentiums, but not for single Athlon 64 processors -- Does this mean that any Athlon 64 is capable of running Aspect and allowing realtime performance with 3 to 4 HD streams?

-Geoff Murillo

David Newman · October 9th, 2005, 04:39 PM

Not quite. All Alton 64 processors will work, yet the performance will very with different memory and CPU speeds. The faster units will have 3-4 HD streams. Unfortunately we don't have good data on the single proc AMD parts (we have only one at the office), as most of our workstations have the very fast dual AMD Opterons.

Glenn Thomas · December 7th, 2005, 05:15 AM

Quick question here. I was wondering if I hooked a LaCie Firewire 800 PCMCIA interface into my Dell 3.06ghz HT Inspiron 5150 notebook, and then connected a LaCie 1TB BiggerDisk Extreme to that via Firewire 800, if there would be much increase in editing performance? In Vegas 5 that is, with maybe a bit of colour correction used. Or would the CPU speed be more of an issue? I'll be buying a copy of Connect HD once my HC1 is back from Sony.

Glenn

David Newman · December 7th, 2005, 11:04 AM

Disk speed is not the biggest bottleneck with your system, for a laptop it is good to have 7200RPM drive in the system, or the data on a standard FireWire drive. For a 3.06Mhz system you are likely running a 533MHz memory bus (most systems are 800Mhz now,) which is the biggest bottleneck -- unfortunately that can't be upgraded. Memory speed is more important than CPU or disk speed. That said Connect HD will still speed up capture about 3X, plus many other features. Vegas preview is very scalable allowing significant performance on a wide range of systems.

Glenn Thomas · December 7th, 2005, 03:59 PM

Hi David, thanks for the reply. The internal drive is 7200rpm, but I'm looking at using an external drive anyway. Maybe the LaCie I mentioned, which I believe has at least 80mb/s sustained if connected via Firewire 800. So a faster drive like that would probably enable more tracks to be streamed, but not if the memory is still only 533mhz? I'll be monitoring at half resolution in Vegas (720x540). Not using any external monitoring.

David Newman · December 7th, 2005, 04:29 PM

Yes, the slower memory will limit the number of video streams that can be decoded before the drive speed will be an issue.

Don Donatello · December 8th, 2005, 12:25 AM

i'd check the speed of the firewire 800 as microsoft preaty much knocked it out with XP SP2(knock it down to s100 -should be s800) - they then did a fix but that just got it back to firewire 400.
from my test even using unibrain 1394b driver doesn't equal XP SP1 1394b speeds ...

Glenn Thomas · December 9th, 2005, 04:29 AM

Ah yes, I remember reading about SP2 reducing the speed. Maybe I'll just wait until I get a better computer. Actually, I saw a Boxx laptop at a media show yesterday that was quite impressive. More of a workstation with 2x drives in a Raid 0 configuration, a proper CPU (not Centrino), 1920x1200 17" display etc. Expensive, but no more than a good laptop would cost 5 years ago.

June 25th, 2005, 10:21 PM	#17
Radek Svoboda Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Prague, Czech Republic Posts: 500	1,200 USD notebook for NLE http://www.averatec.com/notebooks/6240series.htm HD can be replaced with 7200 RPM one. Can be external 1600x1200 monitor added for editing FX/Z1? I would use Vegas 6. What else would need for efficient editing? Radek

September 28th, 2005, 04:55 PM	#19
Jeff Baker Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Northampton, MA Posts: 184	Just PNY540 or any HDTV out card? I'm starting into the upgrade process for a pci-express system and I am seeing a lot of cards that indicate HDTV-Out capable in the marketing. How do they differ from the PNY 540 card (other than the breakout box)? If for instance, I would like a 256mb or 512mb model? For instance Leadtek makes a $50 256mb card with hdtv out capability or any dual DVI card with HDTV capable output? What is approved for Aspect HD if any and what do I need to look out for? __________________ Canon C100, 5D3

September 28th, 2005, 05:22 PM	#20
David Newman CTO, CineForm Inc. Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California Posts: 8,095	If you MediaPlayer can output to the HD component output of the graphics card, then Aspect HD will work with it. So any card will work. The amount of RAM (256 vs 512) is not all that relevant to Aspect HD. __________________ David Newman -- web: www.gopro.com blog: cineform.blogspot.com -- twitter: twitter.com/David_Newman

September 28th, 2005, 06:25 PM	#21
Jeff Baker Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Northampton, MA Posts: 184	Sorry for the simple HD questions, but I'm from the the DV world where none of these issues came up... Now if I used a dual DVI HD resolution capable card with a scaler how would that work? When does one use a scaler normally? How would I use a video scaler in conjunction with a video card such as this one: Startech.com VID2DVIDTV Component/Composite/S-Video Code: DH-VID2DVIDTV $185.00pad Convert between resolutions and video formats with StarTech.com s VID2DVIDTV, a Composite/ S-Video/YCbCr/RGB component to DVI scaler. CONNECTORS- (1) DVI-D Dual Link Female (1) S-Video Female (4) RCA Female FORMATS - Input : Composite, S-Video, YCbCr component or RGB interlaced. SIGNAL LEVELS- Input : Video @ 1V p-p, 75 ohm Y @ 1 V p-p, 75 ohm Color @ 0.7V p-p, 75 ohm YCbCr RGBH RESOLUTION - Output PC (RGBHV): Progressive Scan VGA 640 x 480 @ 60/72/75/85 Hz SVGA 800 x 600 @ 60/72/75/85 Hz XGA 1024 x 768 @ 60/70/75/85 Hz WXGA 1280 x 768 @ 60 Hz SXGA 1280 x 1024 @ 60/75 Hz Output HDTV (YPbPr, RGBHV): Progressive Scan 1080i 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz 720p 1280 x 720 @ 60 Hz 576p 720 x 576 @ 50 Hz 480p 720 x 480 @ 60 Hz __________________ Canon C100, 5D3

September 28th, 2005, 07:11 PM	#22
David Newman CTO, CineForm Inc. Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California Posts: 8,095	The card does it all, I have never worried about that stuff. We use a standard overlay surface, when you play out HD you get HD, the card will automatically scale if necessary (such as outputing a 1920 image to a 1280 display.) __________________ David Newman -- web: www.gopro.com blog: cineform.blogspot.com -- twitter: twitter.com/David_Newman

June 24th, 2005, 10:28 AM	#16
Gabor Lacza Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Budapest , Hungary Posts: 194	Can I use a 22 inch CRT computer monitor !!! But how do you connect them to the card since they do not have component input???? Any help here is appreciated.... As a second note can you connect an SD broadcast monitor ??? Will Premiere or aspect HD will downconver real time when you editing HDV to SD for preview ??? Anyway if my first option is a yes then I dont need the second one. Thanks

October 9th, 2005, 04:20 PM	#23
Geoff Murillo Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Glendale, CA Posts: 92	Minimum Athlon 64 speed for Aspect realtime performance Hi David, What is the minimum required speed for Athlon 64 processors to run Cineform Aspect? At the Cineform site you have listed minimum requirements for single HT Pentiums, but not for single Athlon 64 processors -- Does this mean that any Athlon 64 is capable of running Aspect and allowing realtime performance with 3 to 4 HD streams? -Geoff Murillo

October 9th, 2005, 04:39 PM	#24
David Newman CTO, CineForm Inc. Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California Posts: 8,095	Not quite. All Alton 64 processors will work, yet the performance will very with different memory and CPU speeds. The faster units will have 3-4 HD streams. Unfortunately we don't have good data on the single proc AMD parts (we have only one at the office), as most of our workstations have the very fast dual AMD Opterons. __________________ David Newman -- web: www.gopro.com blog: cineform.blogspot.com -- twitter: twitter.com/David_Newman

December 7th, 2005, 05:15 AM	#25
Glenn Thomas Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 320	Laptop with external drive question Quick question here. I was wondering if I hooked a LaCie Firewire 800 PCMCIA interface into my Dell 3.06ghz HT Inspiron 5150 notebook, and then connected a LaCie 1TB BiggerDisk Extreme to that via Firewire 800, if there would be much increase in editing performance? In Vegas 5 that is, with maybe a bit of colour correction used. Or would the CPU speed be more of an issue? I'll be buying a copy of Connect HD once my HC1 is back from Sony. Glenn

December 7th, 2005, 11:04 AM	#26
David Newman CTO, CineForm Inc. Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California Posts: 8,095	Disk speed is not the biggest bottleneck with your system, for a laptop it is good to have 7200RPM drive in the system, or the data on a standard FireWire drive. For a 3.06Mhz system you are likely running a 533MHz memory bus (most systems are 800Mhz now,) which is the biggest bottleneck -- unfortunately that can't be upgraded. Memory speed is more important than CPU or disk speed. That said Connect HD will still speed up capture about 3X, plus many other features. Vegas preview is very scalable allowing significant performance on a wide range of systems. __________________ David Newman -- web: www.gopro.com blog: cineform.blogspot.com -- twitter: twitter.com/David_Newman

December 7th, 2005, 03:59 PM	#27
Glenn Thomas Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 320	Hi David, thanks for the reply. The internal drive is 7200rpm, but I'm looking at using an external drive anyway. Maybe the LaCie I mentioned, which I believe has at least 80mb/s sustained if connected via Firewire 800. So a faster drive like that would probably enable more tracks to be streamed, but not if the memory is still only 533mhz? I'll be monitoring at half resolution in Vegas (720x540). Not using any external monitoring.

December 7th, 2005, 04:29 PM	#28
David Newman CTO, CineForm Inc. Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California Posts: 8,095	Yes, the slower memory will limit the number of video streams that can be decoded before the drive speed will be an issue. __________________ David Newman -- web: www.gopro.com blog: cineform.blogspot.com -- twitter: twitter.com/David_Newman

December 8th, 2005, 12:25 AM	#29
Don Donatello Hawaiian Shirt Mogul Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: northern cailfornia Posts: 1,261	i'd check the speed of the firewire 800 as microsoft preaty much knocked it out with XP SP2(knock it down to s100 -should be s800) - they then did a fix but that just got it back to firewire 400. from my test even using unibrain 1394b driver doesn't equal XP SP1 1394b speeds ...

December 9th, 2005, 04:29 AM	#30
Glenn Thomas Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 320	Ah yes, I remember reading about SP2 reducing the speed. Maybe I'll just wait until I get a better computer. Actually, I saw a Boxx laptop at a media show yesterday that was quite impressive. More of a workstation with 2x drives in a Raid 0 configuration, a proper CPU (not Centrino), 1920x1200 17" display etc. Expensive, but no more than a good laptop would cost 5 years ago.