What's your computer/editing set-up? at DVinfo.net

Robert James · March 15th, 2011, 09:54 AM

I posted in another part of the forums that I discovered my lappy is just not going to cut it when ti comes to editing however, in doing some research, it looks like a lot of the better systems for video editing are going to cost me the arm and the leg I cannot afford to lose.

So, I am wondering what the video editing set-up is for most of the wedding videographers here. That is what I am going to be doing as well as short, indy flicks. I will be using Sony Vegas 10, I believe. Basically, I just want something that can create some of the quality videos I have seen over on Vimo. I need editing to be smooth in previews and not choppy and should be at least able to run 2 or 3 programs at the same time without much hassel. HD monitor, I imagine, is a necessity too.

Anywho, just trying to get some ideas based around what you folks are having success with. Thanks.

RJ

Tyson Yoder · March 15th, 2011, 01:51 PM

I'm kinda new to this but I have been using my Sony laptop with Sony Vegas pro 9 and haven't had any problems. I am able to capture HD footage and do multicam editing and haven't had any problems! I now u can spend a lot of money on editing stuff but this is what I use and u can do a desant job

Kren Barnes · March 15th, 2011, 02:46 PM

Just bought a Dell XPS 17 laptop for HD editing....it comes with an i7 processor, 3 GB Nvidia Video card, 1 TB Hard drive 7200 rpm, 8 GB Ram DDR3 for only $1400.00..i think its a great buy considering i got it for almost $600 off..with no interest for 1 year :)

Cheers,

Kren
Vertical Video Works* Winnipeg Videography

Steve Bleasdale · March 15th, 2011, 02:49 PM

Robert

Editing with sony vegas pro 9 + 10 also premeire elements 8 + 9. the latter when running smooth is superb and not to be laughed at... takes all the mov files with a good spec computer. creates great menus without added software. I have i7 processor, 2 tb hard drive and 1tb external for dvd clients storage. 6 gig ram but need more. good quality motherboard and cooling system. nividia graphics.. HD monitor x 2 connected to each other. steve

Robert James · March 15th, 2011, 04:21 PM

Yeah, from what I have read i7 Intel is the way to go. I'm a bit worried about DELL, though. I have heard mixed reviews. I am heading out to a local computer shop now to take a look and get some advice.

Keep 'em coming, folks. The input here is much appreciated and, besides, give us all a chance to show off our editing systems. :P

John Knight · March 16th, 2011, 04:59 PM

Is i7 better than Xeon multi processors?

Zhong Cheung · March 16th, 2011, 06:57 PM

A custom PC desktop with Intel Q6600 quad-core, 4gb Ram, and a mid-level Nvidia Quatro graphics card from back in the day (probably worth next to nothing today). Sony Vegas Pro 10, PluralEyes, Magic Bullet Looks 1.4.

It does stutter sometimes, but not enough to go fork out $1k+ for a Core i7 system yet.

John Wiley · March 16th, 2011, 07:02 PM

Are you shooting HDV or AVCHD/h.264? A lot will depend on that.

My Laptop, a 2ghz Core 2 Duo with 4bg RAM and 516mb graphics card can handle HDV fine in Vegas (not in Premiere CS3 though), even for full length wedding edits. However render times are huge - sometimes upwards of 24 hours which is why I got my desktop.

My desktop, a 2.8ghz Core i7 with 8gb RAM and 1GB Nvidea graphics card, handles HDV great, even with Premiere, AE and Photoshop all running simultaneously, and exports weddings at 3-4x realtime. It struggles with AVCHD though, so I still transcode all AVCHD footage to something else for editing.

You're lucky that you're using Vegas. as it has less demanding system requirements and for HDV you can probably get away with a good laptop. AVCHD or DSLR's however, will require you to get a powerful desktop and probably upgrade your software to CS5 if you want to edit natively.

Robert James · March 16th, 2011, 08:42 PM

So, I've visited two computer shops in the area. I guess I have upped my budget by $500 because finding anything managable for under $1000 seems impossible. Anyway, these are two different systems. Obviously, I am leaning towards the one that is $1500ish as opposed to closer to 2 grand. Of course, I don't know what any of this stuff means. :p

* * *

*Intel Core i7 Quad-Core Socket LGA1366, 3.06 GHZ, 4.8GT/s FSB, 8MB L3 Cache, 45nm
*Antec Three Hundred Gaming Case ATX 3.0/(6) 2xUSB Audio No PS
*LG GH24NS50 Black Sata DVD-Writer 24xDVD+R/-R
*Western Digital Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX) 1TB SATA3 7200RPM 64MB Cache (OEM)
*Gigabyte GA-X581-UF5 Socket 1366 Intel X58 Chipset Dual Channel DDR3 2200/1333/1066/800MHYz 4x PCI Express x16 Slots GigaLAN 8-Ch HD Audio 2xSata 3Gb/s+6x SATA 3Gb/s 2x USB 3.0+10x USB 2.0 ATX
*Windows 7 Home
*Samsung E2320X 23" Widescreen LCD Monitor, VGA, DVI-D 1920X1080, 5ms
*Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 High Performance 750w power supply
*G.Skill Ripjaws Series DDR3 1600MHz (PC3-12800) 12 GB (3x4GB) Triple Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9T-12GBRL)
*EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SE 1024MB GDDR5 (01G-P3-1367-TR) nVidia GeForce GTX 460 SE Chipset (720Mhz) 1GB (3600Mhz) DDR5 Dual Display DVI-I/Mini-HDMI PCI Express 2.0 Graphics Card
TOTAL COST: $1,541.27

OR

*Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz 8MB LGA1366
*Asus SKT.1366 Intel X58 DDR3 ATX
*Kingston DDR3 PC3-12800 6GB Triple Channel Kit
*Asus GrForce GTX 460 DirectCU 1Gb GDDR5 256-bit PCI-E
*WD Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
*LG 10x Blu-Ray Burner / DVD-RW Sata w/Lightscribe Black
*Corsair HX Series 750w Power Supply
*Microsoft Windows 7 Home Prem 64 bit
*Antec VSK-2000 Mid-Tower
*LG E2340T-PN Black 23" LED 1920x1080 5Ms
TOTAL COST: $1,749.05

Roger Van Duyn · March 17th, 2011, 07:21 AM

I would put the version of the operating system that your editing software specifies. Not all of them will work under Windows "Home" versions, premium, ultimate or otherwise. For example, Avid Media Composer. It has to do with the "Permissions" in Windows. Don't ask me to explain it, it's too complicated for me. Just save yourself some grief. Start with the requirements of your editing software.

Hope this helps.

By the way, from experience, the latest and greatest ain't always so great! I've learned to stick with what's been around for a while. Let someone else swat the bugs.

D.J. Ammons · March 26th, 2011, 10:56 PM

About three months ago purchased my new computer system and simultaneously upgraded from Vegas Pro 8 32 bit to Vegas Pro 10 64 bit.

Dell XPS 7100
12 gigs RAM
AMD Phenom II 1090t six core processor
Radeon 5870 HD 1 gig graphics card
2 TB 7200 rpm hard drive
Iomega Professional 7200 rpm 2 tb external eSATA hard drive
Blu-ray burner
DVD/CD burner
24" Dell monitor
M-Audio BX5a audio monitors

Blake Tijerina · March 26th, 2011, 11:10 PM

I went with a costume system set up is as follows

i7 950
Asus Sabertooth x58 board
12gb gskill 1600 cas 7
gtx 470
120 gb ssd
three 1tb drives one eternal 1.5 tb drive and one external 1.5 tb drive in fat 32 format so i can go back an forth with pc and mac
blu-ray burner
two 23" acer monitors

windows 7 pro 64 bit
and adobe master

Jeff Brewer · March 27th, 2011, 06:33 AM

At home:

Mac Pro
2 - 2.4 GHz Quad Core Xeons
6GB Ram
4 TB internal storage
3 TB Raid 5 External Storage
ATI Radeon HD 5770
Superdrive
LG Blu-ray Burner

Laptop:

Mac Book Pro
2GHz Quad Core i7
8 GB Ram
500GB 7200 RPM Drive
15" Hi Res Monitor
Superdrive
and Thunderbolt!

Both equipped with Final Cut Pro and Adobe CS5.

Wayne Faulkner · March 27th, 2011, 09:45 AM

Laptop:

MacBook Pro 17" running Snow Leopard (March 2009)
2.93GHz Core 2 Duo
8GB Ram
320GB 7200rpm HDD
ATAPI Superdrive HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS21N (replacement under warranty within 12 months)
USB 2.0 Panasonic BD-RW BDR-TD02
USB 320GB HDD

Proposed Desktop:

iMac 27" would be nice

Kelly Langerak · March 27th, 2011, 12:08 PM

We use the MacBook Pro i7 and Final Cut. Awesome!

March 15th, 2011, 09:54 AM	#1
Robert James Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Canada Posts: 137	What's your computer/editing set-up? I posted in another part of the forums that I discovered my lappy is just not going to cut it when ti comes to editing however, in doing some research, it looks like a lot of the better systems for video editing are going to cost me the arm and the leg I cannot afford to lose. So, I am wondering what the video editing set-up is for most of the wedding videographers here. That is what I am going to be doing as well as short, indy flicks. I will be using Sony Vegas 10, I believe. Basically, I just want something that can create some of the quality videos I have seen over on Vimo. I need editing to be smooth in previews and not choppy and should be at least able to run 2 or 3 programs at the same time without much hassel. HD monitor, I imagine, is a necessity too. Anywho, just trying to get some ideas based around what you folks are having success with. Thanks. RJ

March 15th, 2011, 01:51 PM	#2
Tyson Yoder Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Montgomery IN Posts: 124	Re: What's your computer/editing set-up? I'm kinda new to this but I have been using my Sony laptop with Sony Vegas pro 9 and haven't had any problems. I am able to capture HD footage and do multicam editing and haven't had any problems! I now u can spend a lot of money on editing stuff but this is what I use and u can do a desant job

March 15th, 2011, 02:46 PM	#3
Kren Barnes Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Winnipeg Manitoba Canada Posts: 415	Re: What's your computer/editing set-up? Just bought a Dell XPS 17 laptop for HD editing....it comes with an i7 processor, 3 GB Nvidia Video card, 1 TB Hard drive 7200 rpm, 8 GB Ram DDR3 for only $1400.00..i think its a great buy considering i got it for almost $600 off..with no interest for 1 year :) Cheers, Kren Vertical Video Works* Winnipeg Videography

March 15th, 2011, 02:49 PM	#4
Steve Bleasdale Trustee Join Date: May 2010 Location: England liverpool Posts: 1,343	Re: What's your computer/editing set-up? Robert Editing with sony vegas pro 9 + 10 also premeire elements 8 + 9. the latter when running smooth is superb and not to be laughed at... takes all the mov files with a good spec computer. creates great menus without added software. I have i7 processor, 2 tb hard drive and 1tb external for dvd clients storage. 6 gig ram but need more. good quality motherboard and cooling system. nividia graphics.. HD monitor x 2 connected to each other. steve

March 15th, 2011, 04:21 PM	#5
Robert James Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Canada Posts: 137	Re: What's your computer/editing set-up? Yeah, from what I have read i7 Intel is the way to go. I'm a bit worried about DELL, though. I have heard mixed reviews. I am heading out to a local computer shop now to take a look and get some advice. Keep 'em coming, folks. The input here is much appreciated and, besides, give us all a chance to show off our editing systems. :P

March 16th, 2011, 04:59 PM	#6
John Knight Major Player Join Date: May 2008 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 588	Re: What's your computer/editing set-up? Is i7 better than Xeon multi processors? __________________ Over 28 years watching TV

March 16th, 2011, 06:57 PM	#7
Zhong Cheung Major Player Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: North Hollywood, CA Posts: 202	Re: What's your computer/editing set-up? A custom PC desktop with Intel Q6600 quad-core, 4gb Ram, and a mid-level Nvidia Quatro graphics card from back in the day (probably worth next to nothing today). Sony Vegas Pro 10, PluralEyes, Magic Bullet Looks 1.4. It does stutter sometimes, but not enough to go fork out $1k+ for a Core i7 system yet.

March 16th, 2011, 07:02 PM	#8
John Wiley Trustee Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Byron Bay, Australia Posts: 1,155	Re: What's your computer/editing set-up? Are you shooting HDV or AVCHD/h.264? A lot will depend on that. My Laptop, a 2ghz Core 2 Duo with 4bg RAM and 516mb graphics card can handle HDV fine in Vegas (not in Premiere CS3 though), even for full length wedding edits. However render times are huge - sometimes upwards of 24 hours which is why I got my desktop. My desktop, a 2.8ghz Core i7 with 8gb RAM and 1GB Nvidea graphics card, handles HDV great, even with Premiere, AE and Photoshop all running simultaneously, and exports weddings at 3-4x realtime. It struggles with AVCHD though, so I still transcode all AVCHD footage to something else for editing. You're lucky that you're using Vegas. as it has less demanding system requirements and for HDV you can probably get away with a good laptop. AVCHD or DSLR's however, will require you to get a powerful desktop and probably upgrade your software to CS5 if you want to edit natively.

March 16th, 2011, 08:42 PM	#9
Robert James Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Canada Posts: 137	Re: What's your computer/editing set-up? So, I've visited two computer shops in the area. I guess I have upped my budget by $500 because finding anything managable for under $1000 seems impossible. Anyway, these are two different systems. Obviously, I am leaning towards the one that is $1500ish as opposed to closer to 2 grand. Of course, I don't know what any of this stuff means. :p * * * Intel Core i7 Quad-Core Socket LGA1366, 3.06 GHZ, 4.8GT/s FSB, 8MB L3 Cache, 45nm Antec Three Hundred Gaming Case ATX 3.0/(6) 2xUSB Audio No PS LG GH24NS50 Black Sata DVD-Writer 24xDVD+R/-R Western Digital Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX) 1TB SATA3 7200RPM 64MB Cache (OEM) Gigabyte GA-X581-UF5 Socket 1366 Intel X58 Chipset Dual Channel DDR3 2200/1333/1066/800MHYz 4x PCI Express x16 Slots GigaLAN 8-Ch HD Audio 2xSata 3Gb/s+6x SATA 3Gb/s 2x USB 3.0+10x USB 2.0 ATX Windows 7 Home Samsung E2320X 23" Widescreen LCD Monitor, VGA, DVI-D 1920X1080, 5ms Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 High Performance 750w power supply G.Skill Ripjaws Series DDR3 1600MHz (PC3-12800) 12 GB (3x4GB) Triple Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9T-12GBRL) EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SE 1024MB GDDR5 (01G-P3-1367-TR) nVidia GeForce GTX 460 SE Chipset (720Mhz) 1GB (3600Mhz) DDR5 Dual Display DVI-I/Mini-HDMI PCI Express 2.0 Graphics Card TOTAL COST: $1,541.27 OR Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz 8MB LGA1366 Asus SKT.1366 Intel X58 DDR3 ATX Kingston DDR3 PC3-12800 6GB Triple Channel Kit Asus GrForce GTX 460 DirectCU 1Gb GDDR5 256-bit PCI-E WD Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive LG 10x Blu-Ray Burner / DVD-RW Sata w/Lightscribe Black Corsair HX Series 750w Power Supply Microsoft Windows 7 Home Prem 64 bit Antec VSK-2000 Mid-Tower LG E2340T-PN Black 23" LED 1920x1080 5Ms TOTAL COST: $1,749.05

March 17th, 2011, 07:21 AM	#10
Roger Van Duyn Major Player Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Lakeland Florida Posts: 692	Re: What's your computer/editing set-up? I would put the version of the operating system that your editing software specifies. Not all of them will work under Windows "Home" versions, premium, ultimate or otherwise. For example, Avid Media Composer. It has to do with the "Permissions" in Windows. Don't ask me to explain it, it's too complicated for me. Just save yourself some grief. Start with the requirements of your editing software. Hope this helps. By the way, from experience, the latest and greatest ain't always so great! I've learned to stick with what's been around for a while. Let someone else swat the bugs. __________________ Roger My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAp...2AHr_pHFID5LDA

March 26th, 2011, 10:56 PM	#11
D.J. Ammons Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 506	Re: What's your computer/editing set-up? About three months ago purchased my new computer system and simultaneously upgraded from Vegas Pro 8 32 bit to Vegas Pro 10 64 bit. Dell XPS 7100 12 gigs RAM AMD Phenom II 1090t six core processor Radeon 5870 HD 1 gig graphics card 2 TB 7200 rpm hard drive Iomega Professional 7200 rpm 2 tb external eSATA hard drive Blu-ray burner DVD/CD burner 24" Dell monitor M-Audio BX5a audio monitors

March 26th, 2011, 11:10 PM	#12
Blake Tijerina Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Ohio Posts: 26	Re: What's your computer/editing set-up? I went with a costume system set up is as follows i7 950 Asus Sabertooth x58 board 12gb gskill 1600 cas 7 gtx 470 120 gb ssd three 1tb drives one eternal 1.5 tb drive and one external 1.5 tb drive in fat 32 format so i can go back an forth with pc and mac blu-ray burner two 23" acer monitors windows 7 pro 64 bit and adobe master

March 27th, 2011, 06:33 AM	#13
Jeff Brewer Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Greensboro, NC Posts: 119	Re: What's your computer/editing set-up? At home: Mac Pro 2 - 2.4 GHz Quad Core Xeons 6GB Ram 4 TB internal storage 3 TB Raid 5 External Storage ATI Radeon HD 5770 Superdrive LG Blu-ray Burner Laptop: Mac Book Pro 2GHz Quad Core i7 8 GB Ram 500GB 7200 RPM Drive 15" Hi Res Monitor Superdrive and Thunderbolt! Both equipped with Final Cut Pro and Adobe CS5. __________________ MediaBrewer Films

March 27th, 2011, 09:45 AM	#14
Wayne Faulkner Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Shrewsbury England Posts: 69	Re: What's your computer/editing set-up? Laptop: MacBook Pro 17" running Snow Leopard (March 2009) 2.93GHz Core 2 Duo 8GB Ram 320GB 7200rpm HDD ATAPI Superdrive HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS21N (replacement under warranty within 12 months) USB 2.0 Panasonic BD-RW BDR-TD02 USB 320GB HDD Proposed Desktop: iMac 27" would be nice

March 27th, 2011, 12:08 PM	#15
Kelly Langerak Major Player Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Bay Area Posts: 522	Re: What's your computer/editing set-up? We use the MacBook Pro i7 and Final Cut. Awesome!