Help me optimize my editing system

[Roger Akers]

Thanks for the help in advance. I just purchased the Panasonic 500 and the accessory kit and wanna get to editing. My current computer specs are as follows:

-AMD64 3500+ (win XP)
-NFORCE3 Neo Platinum mobo
-1 gig ram
-Geforce 6600 GT Video Card
-1 80 gig Seagate IDE 7200 rpm HD
-1 80 Gig Western Digital 7200 rpm hd
-Soundblaster Audigy 2 Sound

My motherboard has a firewire port and several usb inputs. What can I do to optimize this yet, still be cost effective? (I spent a pretty penny on the video equiptment) First thing that glares at is the hard drive. Are external hard drives a viable option for editing? Perhaps more RAM as well.

Also, for those familiar with it I have a Pinnacle Miro DV 300 Capture card I got a long time ago but I *think* it only supports Win98..I can't seem to find any drivers for XP..but it would be nice to have that hardware codec and extra firewire ports.

Anyway, thanks to anyone that can point me in the right direction.

[James Harring]

Actually you are probably set to get going assuming you have the firewire cable to connect the camcorder to the firewire port on the computer (you have shot some video, right?). You don't really need any other card. If you want to use the pinnacle card, goto pinnaclesys.com see if it's updated to XP. If not, stick w/ FW and chuck the card.

Seems you DO need NLE software.
If you are just starting and don't really plan on doing much beyond basic editing, Windows Movie Maker (avail w/ XP) is a good place to start. It's free and lets you try all this out before committing more $$.

If you want something more fancy, but still in the consumer realm, cnet.com and other websites can recommend some apps to try. I recommend Premiere Elements or Ulead for beginners. Download the trials, play around with them and then decide.

If you are convinced you're the next Speilberg, go for it, Avid, Vegas, Premiere, whole slate of them... take your pick.

Once you get a taste of the free stuff and decide to grow, You WILL need more storage, SD video consumes 13g per hour, so you will run out shortly.

I prefer firewire, I hate usb for a number of technical and personal reasons. Mainly, bus means shared access. I debug usb problems all the time. Firewire never gives us trouble.
newegg.com has firewire external cases and you can get a hard drive pretty cheap there too. If you buy a seagate external drive, you get a year warranty, I believe. If you buy an internal seagate and an external shell, you get 5 year warranty and generally costs less.

geeks.com has removable (internal) drive bays very cheap... makes a 300g HDD removable like a Zip drive. Good for mid-tower configurations

But mostly, don't focus on the tech, but focus on the craft... I have friends who sit and admire their HDTV and seem surprised when I say "hey, turn it on!"... it's not the equipment, but the operator.

[Roger Akers]

Thanks for the prompt reply James.

I suppose I'm going the spielburg route..I'm fairly experienced at Premiere 4.0 from back in the day. I hear the new Premiere 2 is fairly buggy and Vegas is the way to go. I'm sure the interface is so different from the one I'm used to it wouldn't matter where my loyalty lied so to speak.

I do have a firewire port on my motherboard however, I would still have to use a software codec if i went that route correct? I would much rather try to get this miro capture card to work if I could find xp drivers for it. The hardware codec on it (from what i remember) is impeccable.

[Ervin Farkas]

I wouldn't waiste a penny on analog capture cards! Any old D8 or MiniDV camcorder will do the ana-to-digi conversion should you need that. And no, you don't need a driver for your firewire port - XP has that already.

As far as the NLE goes, it's mostly a matter of preference - we won't tell Adobe if you move away, but you might want to take a look before you do that... Premiere has gone a looong way since version 4, it's one of the most respected application out there especially for its integration with Photoshop and After Effects. And no, it's not buggy anymore, as long as you keep your computer clean and stay away from software (especially freeware) that would mess with audio and video codecs and other essential elements.

Most programs can be downloaded for a trial period, so give'em a try and make and informed decision afterwards. As James said, start shooting and editing, you'll be up and running in no time!

Good luck,

[Roger Akers]

I'm not sure if there's a communication error on my part. The card I have isn't analog. It's the Pinnacle miro *DV* 300 firewire capture card. As far as I know it's 100% digital. There's 2 firewire ports on it and a SCSI adapter. Would it not be beneficial to use the hardware codec on that card to greatly reduce render times and artifacts in an NLE?

If I were to opt to use my firewire port on my motherboard what software codec would compare?

[Jon Whiteford]

I just gave away a DV1000a card with premier, with the shrinkrap still on the box!

your dv300, dv500, dv1000 etc cards are obsolete, and I mean totally.

use your motherboard firewire, and a software nle like vegas. if you stay away from HD you have plenty of computer to get you started. if it seems too slow, put in another gb of memory, if that does not do it quit. save for a new dualcore or quadcore machine from the ground up. although people do, I would not reccomend editing with external drives, when your current second 80 get too small go for something bigger, but don't expect a big increase in spead.

go to videoguys.com and look for their optomizing xp for video editing faq's, very useful, infact I have bought all my stuff from them and rate them 5 star for honesty and competence.

ps
I live down on lake cumberland and used to live in lex. find a student and order software from academicsuperstore.com or from the academic site at videoguys (haft look around for it)

[Jon Whiteford]

speed, speed, speed

[Roger Akers]

Just got back from a New Years trip in Nashville and found your post. Thanks for the reply. I'm going to deal with what I have for starters and upgrade as I need. I thought the DV300 might not be obsolete because certain web pages I've found seem to hint at a Driver for XP but it's all in German so who knows.

I'm thinking about trying Vegas because I'm familiar with ACID due to some audio work I've done over the years. So let me ask you this..

If I shoot a 5 minute film and edit it in Vegas with the goal of outputting it to DVD to watch later what codec should I use? What would be the best for visual quality and render speed pound for pound?

Thanks again