The "perfect compromise" Video Editing (and general use) PC -- please comment - Page 2

Mark W · #11 (**permalink**) 10-13-2006, 10:17 PM

This is getting daft now.

You are giving poor advice and I really dont know why.

Specifically - you say you need 4 gig to edit video. THIS IS WRONG.

The vendors of my editor say 512 is fine and I recently went up to 1 gig and say NO CHANGE in render times or responsiveness.

The OP of this thread wants a family machine he can edit on and you say...

"First of all, Pro video editing systems (high end) will use two or more processors, not dual core but two seperate ones. so that means that you are now looking for a dual processor board "

This again is factually inaccurate and totally unhelpfull and irrelevant advice.

Since you appear to believe your expirience is valid and that people should listen to your advice I am afraid I have to counter it with this....

What editor do you use? What camera ? What sort of films have you made? How long have you been editing films?

I have been editing and making films for 4 years using serveral editors early on on a range of systems. I have had flings on everything from prem to fcp on systems as varied as celerons, dual processor macs and a three rack avid system at the bbc (all too briefly). My films have been widely screened and I have been asked to make films for all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons - rarely money - that isnt my main motivator.

I am also studying for an MA in documentry film and video and may well be the next Michel Moore (but less tubby!).

That is the background and expirience that informs my advice, that and an understanding for the passion that people have for this art and an understanding of the need to do it all within a budget.

To refocus on your car analogy- well I would say porches are driven by arrogant show offs who drive stupidly, have little care for the environement and derive pleasure from flaunting their obscene wealth. The reliant driver is probably an enthusiast on a budget whose car will likely still be in use after the porche has been pranged and written off as scrap - oh yea, and they both get stuck in the same traffic jams....

GTWCMT · #12 (**permalink**) 10-14-2006, 03:13 AM

You know I don't edit films and just starting, btw I use adobe premier pro, Mini DV, editing the odd film now and then over the past 4 years.

So then you must have extensive computer knowledge? You seam to know lots about films and the making of these, but I am sure that you spend you time being an artist more than a computer systems engineer and designer, I on the other hand design computer systems for a wide range of usages, I also know of the computer system architecture and software design, with over 18 year experience in these areas.

Look @ these system requirement they are a minimum:

Intel® Pentium® 4 1.4GHz processor for DV (Pentium 4 3.4GHz processor for HDV; dual Intel Xeon™ 2.8GHz processors for HD; SSE2-enabled processor required for AMD systems)
512MB of RAM for DV; 2GB of RAM for HDV and HD
Dedicated 7,200RPM hard drive for DV and HDV editing; striped disk array storage (RAID 0) for HD
Of course system specification are dictated more so on the file sizes that are being used. I know that when I do some editing I use all my system RAM (2 gigs) and even idle my system loads 800 megs of data to the page file, 386 to the system RAM and a few hundred to the virtual memory. It goes with out saying, virtual, and PF cause the system hard drives to slow down dramatically thus slowing down the workflow. If you didn’t want this, there are two ways to deal with it, 1: add more RAM 2: build a disc array of 20 discs. (that would be faster than the RAM on the system)
System ram – 4480 MB/s disc speed 50MB/s SATA, 26MB/s IDE
If you wish to check this is a fact, run crystalmark on your system and it will show you.

So why did I say dual xeon processor system? Well, I did say get the mobo but not the processors, funny enough it don’t really cost any more (maybe £80) but the scope for upgrading is a lot better.

I would love to pop in to see you with my two computers so you can take some first hand knowledge away with you.
I do resent that you state "factually inaccurate" when I have built pro editing systems for clients; They say things like wow that’s really fast, a great use of technology, this has cut my work time down. These are comments from people who use workflow. It not inaccurate, I just look at computers different than you do.

TBH many people would be happy with what you suggest; a home PC with 1 gig of ram and waiting a few hours to render their videos, many people want it to be done fast so they can get on with other things.

My analogy:
LOL OK they do get stuck in the same jams, what I meant is comfort cruzing, or putt putting along is a noisy old banger.
Computers change all the time and I don’t like having to replace my system each time, so forward planning saves money in the long run

Mark W · #13 (**permalink**) 10-14-2006, 02:06 PM

PLease remember this is a video editing board, not a board for show off computer geeks

Much of your advice has been ill considored, lacking in thought and reflection, unhelpfull and often plain wrong.

If you want to show how clever you are with all your drivelling on about 8 gigs of ram and xeons and clap trap this is the wrong place. It looks like childish unhelpfull waffle. I really think you should stop... and

STOP claiming to be and expert YOU ARE NOT.

Even in areas where you claim a geeky expert status you continue to make errors.

Geeky waffle is all well and good but you have near ZERO expirience of editing systems and software so stop telling people what they need to edit PLEASE.

I knew things were looking dodgy with all that ceo stuff....

I am bored of this now, I shall say no more as I am at risk of looking more of a loon than you, and I have editing books I need to reading for my seminar on monday and films to be making.

I shall continue to challege errors and reckless advice I see posted, as ever and I trust you will do the same, inevitably....

What fun this has been...

'10% than the best at 1/6 of the cost' .... tut tut.