Recommendations for new Edius NX system
 

I'm thinking about making the move to HDV and will need to upgrade my computer. I will be using the Edius NX card. I currently use an off-the-shelf Gateway Pent D 820 2.8 Ghz machine to edit DV. For SD DV, this computer rocks. I'm looking to be able to do the same things I do now, only in HDV. Any ideas what type of system I should go for to be comparable to my current one, only to be able to edit HDV? A loaded question, I'm sure...

If a Core 2 Duo, should I look at an E6600 or 6700? Or would I be better off going with a dual core Xeon 5130? I'm concerned with performance but also want to keep the cost down as much as possible, as there's cameras to think about as well. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I do occasional p-in-p (though not that often), some slo-mo, and maybe a filter or two per clip (color correct, etc.). Nothing too outrageous. I shoot weddings so need to edit 2-3 cams for ceremonys. Thanks!

Lee,

I was in your boat a while back while still in SD. I was using P4 3.4ghz HT. Upon migrating to HDV however, it wasn't enough. I am currently using a Core 2 duo and so far, for 720P work its stable and does the work, its value for money. Just make sure you have Lots of ram and a good graphics card with dedicated DDR2 ram of at least 256mb.

Happy easter,

Ted

Ted,

Just wondering what Core 2 Duo you are using... 6400,6600,6700, 6800...? Also, do you have to do much rendering or is most of your work realtime?

Thanks,

Lee

Lee,

im using 6600, real time in almost all situations even with nested sequences.

Ted

Anyone else...? Dual Xeon or dual core...???

I would go Dual Xeon if you can aford it.

For the future I would consider the Dual Xeon Dual or Quadcore Cpu's. They will not be fully utilized as of this moment but hopefully in the near future they will :)


Mike

Mike - do you know if 4.5 beta being shown at NAB was written to take advantage of the Quad Cores?

I could be completely wrong but I do not believe it does. 4.5 is more of a GrassValley integration and not a Major release.

The Ability for Edius to work seemlessly with other GrassValley products as well as working with the codecs needed.

There are and will be bug fixes and the GUI has a whole new look but it still functions the same :)

I will find out for sure though and lt you know.


Mike

Does this mean integration of j2k ( jpeg 2000 ) and support
for the infinity line of products?. Can Edius 4.5 edit j2k in real time?.

I will finding out today :)

My editing needs are similar to yours and I'm currently doing okay using Edius on a Core 2 Duo laptop with the T7400 processor, 2 GB RAM and a 256 MB video card. This setup stutters sometimes when running everything off the internal hard drive or an external USB2 drive, but it's functional. Using a better external drive solution like eSATA might help.

Yes. J2K is supported. It is a heavy format so editing in it is not easy but native support is in 4.5

Is the HP xw8400 certified for EDIUS NX Express?

I believe at the GV booth at NAB this year, this machine was what most of the demos were being run on. Maybe Mike can chime in here as he was the main ring leader for the demos.

Ivan the8400 has beocme the recommended workhorse power workstation for NLE. Avid, Adobe, MAtrox, Grass Valley all have certified it.

There were some initial bios issues that delayed certification by some (like Avid) but today (May 2007) it is certified and bullet proof for just about every PC bvased NLE solution on the market.

Gary

Check out our most recent DIY article:

As NAB2007 rolls around this April, we want to take the time and offer a DIY update article for you. Our DIY4 and DIY5 dual core machines are still an excellent recipe to follow. We still advise anyone planning on building a new machine (or having one built for them) to reference both these articles. We looked over the configs from those two articles and tweaked them a little, and then we re-priced them to reflect the most current pricing on the web. We ended up with 4 models all told.

* Good $1,000 –
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ on A8N-SLI Deluxe
* Better $1,500 –
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 on Asus P5B Deluxe
* Best $2000 –
Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 on Asus P5W DH Deluxe
* Ultimate $2500 –
Dual Xeon 5130 on Tyan Tempest i5000XT

What makes these 4 machines so great is that they can run any and all of the PC based NLE solutions. From Sony Vegas and Avid Liquid all the way up to Matrox RT.X2 w/ Premiere Pro 2 or Avid Xpress Pro Mojo w/ Studio Toolkit or even Avid Media Composer. Regardless of your budget, we’ve got a DIY configuration here that will meet your needs.

http://www.videoguys.com/DIY5updateNAB07.html

GAry

Thanks for the great information guys!