lost in NLE world. help

[Adi Head]

please excuse my ignorance. i just don't get it. i'm trying to figure out how this whole NLE scene works and the more i read and research, the more i feel as though i know less.

i'm about to buy a pc to base my NLE system on and am trying to figure out what i need.

i've been reading about avid dv xpress and this seems to be the editing software that will fit me best.

then i read about capture cards (on videoguys.com) and got puzzled. there's a capture card called canopus dv storm 3.5 which is supposed to be the only real-time dv output card out there and costs big $.
but on the other hand, avid dvxpress states it enables real-time editing. so why can't i settle for the $90 firewire card?

i'm not sure i understand if canopus dv storm is software or hardware. is it a card i have to put into my computer, or is it just a cdrom i install?

ahhh. i just don't get how it all works. what one has to do with the other and what each piece of hard/software is for.
i don't get if i need A and B, or if A won't work with B and i have to choose one or the other. or if i get C, will it work with A or with B or both or should i just get a high costing D which does it all and be done with it.

by the way, is there a web site that clears all this up in dr.suess english. about what exactly are the things i should be looking for to build a pro-quality pc based NLE system and what exactly do these things do? firewire, capturecards, editing platforms, real-time, rendering, graphics eccelerators/cards, avid, vegas, premiere, dvstorm, dvd burners.... it's all become one mesh to me.

some information on what i'll be editing, my needs, and so on:

shooting with sony pd150

mostly docs (50min, 90min)

PAL (european system)!

am NOT looking for a "start with this, its easy to learn and maybe later get into the juicy stuff" system. i'm not an editor, but i've sat in on numerous editing hours and i'm familiar with the enviorment and the basic-know-how.

budget:
the pc NOT including editing sofware and capture cards: $700
editing software: whatever it takes
dv capture cards: i'm lost here. would gladly buy a $90 firewire card, but is this all i need? what is this $1000 dvstorm about?

can anyone help me sort this out, please. i'm anxious to buy the pc soon.

thanks in advance for your time and patience.

[Richard Alvarez]

I think you need to look at what your biggest limitation is...

$700 for the PC.

Not going to buy you a whole lot of processing power AND video storage, but you can get something you can edit on.

XPRESS DV is going to blow your budget out of the water for software alone.
Check out Adam Wilts page for most of the answers to questions about DV. Go visit some of the resellers, the turnkey providers like dvline.com or promax. Take a look at the systems they offer, especially the choices they make for matching capture cards to editing systems.

Doesn't cost you a dime to look at how other people configure their systems.

(Well, maybe it does, don't know what you pay for internet access...)

-Bill

[Doug Quance]

FWIW

You've got a great camera.

The next question is: How much are you willing to spend, total?

If it's less than you spent on your camera, you're going to be limited, I can tell you that.

But you'll still be able to produce some work.

There's some great threads in this site, if you do a few quick searches. I found out all kinds of stuff that helped shape my thoughts about what to buy... as well as what all this NLE stuff was, anyway.

There are extremes you can go to. I started out with VideoStudio 5 that came free with a $50 firewire card I bought for my laptop. It worked very well, for what I needed. I upgraded to VS 6 for another $50. So, for a hundred bucks, I was editing digital video, and creating streaming video for the web.

If you need to wait a little while to get the NLE, you'll still be able to shoot footage in the meantime.

And the prices will continue to fall....

[Dylan Couper]

OK, here it goes...

You can buy Adobe Premiere, which on it's own is a good NLE, but doesn't have any real time features. (don't correct me if I'm wrong, I'm generalizing here). You will also need a $50 video capture card (Firewire, IEEE-1394)

or

You can buy a real time card, such as the Matrox RT2500, Canopus DV Storm, Pinnacle Pro-One, or Matrox X-100.
These cards are a combination of a $50 video capture card, and some other hardware, that works with Adobe Premiere, and makes it all real-time. These cards are mostly the same, but have individual strengths and weaknesses. The DV Storm and X-100 both have real time DV out, for example. These cards range from $800-$1300.
Remember, these cards will ONLY work with Adobe Premiere so you will be installing hardware and software (except the DV Storm will also work with Storm Edit, I think).

or

You can buy a $50 video capture card and Avid DV Xpress for $1300-$2400. Avid DVX is an AWSOME piece of software that does real time editing WITHOUT buying any extra hardware. Of course, it's more expensive than pretty much any of the real time capture cards. I do not believe it outputs DV in real time though, which may not be necessary to you.

or

You can take the extra $1000+ you might spend on the above, and get extra hard drives, more ram, faster CPU's and use Premiere by itself, or alternately, Vegas Video. The newest versions of both of these NLE's gives you real time preview, which may be all you need. This may be the smartest choice.
Don't fool yourself into thinking you have to have every feature known to mankind, and be absolutely cutting edge.

Hope this has helped some.

[Adrian Douglas]

One of the most important things to remember when building a PC based NLE is that you must ensure that ALL the components in the system are compatible.

If you want a high performance RT system The best thing to do is to find someone who builds NLE systems and tell them what you need. Unless you have a fairly high knowledge of PC building I would not recommend doing yourself.

[Rob Lohman]

Very good post Dylan! Good suggestions too. I'd personally
go with more harddisk space, a cheap firewire card and an
editing app like Premiere or Vegas Video. Think that gives you
the most bang for the buck if you haven't got that much to
spend. You need some fast amounts of harddisk space anyway!

[Bill Ravens]

save yourself a greatdeal of hassle, learning, frustration, and $$$$. You can download a demo version of Vegas Video 3 and see what a fine piece of work that is. Forget about hardware accelerators and hard to learn, hard to use NLE's like Premiere.

[Adi Head]

ok people. thanks for all the advice.

so i guess the way to go would be with an under $100 firewire capture card that'll give me dv in and dv out. use the extra cash for storage space and go with either vegas or premiere.

by the way. what about downloading editing software from somewhere? or is that kind of thing not discussed in these forums?

[Bill Ravens]

shame on you

[Robert Knecht Schmidt]

Hi Adi,

Without being blunt, it's best to say "such things are not discussed on these forums."

Chris Hurd can recommend to you a DVi sponsor for great deals on editing software.

[Andrew Petrie]

Yessir, I went the upgrade and Vegas Video route. I upgraded to a DDR system board, an Athlon XP, twice the RAM I used before, and a big honk's 120GB hard drive. Purchased Vegas, and I'm laughing :)

Them money I saved from not buying the elaborate (but I have no doubt that it kicks MAJOR ass) XPressDV, or a good real time board, I'm putting towards more toys for the camera (filters, tripod, etc).

Eventually I'll get better editing equipment, but I put my $ into what I _need_ for editing right now - more processing power and heaps of hard drive space. Can't build a house without the foundation

[Dylan Couper]

I went with a better computer and Vegas Video. However, I wish I got more HD space. I only went with a 40gb system drive and an 80gb video drive. It should have been at 60gb and 120gb.

On a different note, my light kit cost exactly as much as the money I DIDN'T spend on Avid DV Xpress. Coincidence? I think not.

[Adi Head]

i'm familiar (more or less) with the earlier versions of premiere. but have never seen or used vegas before.

i imagine i'll download the demo version as suggested. but can any experienced users match these two editing platforms up please. pros and cons. do vegas and aftereffects work well together?

would like to know of good deals for software available online.

thanks.

[Chris Hurd]

Although not officially a DV Info Net sponsor (yet), you can't go wrong with Gary Bettan's videoguys.com, also known as The Electronic Mailbox. That's my recommendation for a reputable, honest PC software dealer with realistic, competitive pricing. Hope this helps,

[Richard Alvarez]

And don't forget when shopping for your software, FCP, Avid and Adobe offer "student" packages and prices... for people with student IDs. This can save you a bundle.

Bill Angstrom

AvidXpressDV user