Hi Everyone

I have tinkered with Premiere in the past to create web streaming video, but essentially this is my first time getting into video editing and DVD creation. I have done a lot of reading on forums but as a relative newcomer I need some advice on hardware. Hope you can help out.

Here’s my system setup as it stands:-

O/S: Windows XP Pro SP1
Software: Adobe Premiere Pro
CPU: Pentium4 2.8Ghz 800FSB
RAM: 512MB Crucial PC3200 DDR
Motherboard: Intel D865PERL
O/S Drive: IBM 30GB 7200 IDE ATA
A/V Drive: SAMSUNG 160GB 7200 SATA
Philips DVD+RW
Iiyama Vision Master Pro 17” CRT
Soundcard: onboard but willing to upgrade to quality card depending on needs.
Videocard: antique STB card. Willing to upgrade depending on needs.
I don’t have a camcorder.
I don’t have a firewire card.
I have an excellent Panasonic Flatscreeen 21” TV with SCART in (rear) and AV inputs on the front - Composite Video and L&R Audio( all RCA)



I will be using the Video Editing PC for two reasons:-

1. To create DVD’s from video footage recorded on the hard disk of my set-top PVR. This will be an ongoing thing. My PVR has the following outputs:-

• SCART
• S video (DIN)
• Composite Video (RCA)
• L&R Audio (RCA)
• Optical Digital Audio.

I don’t think I can take footage straight from the hard disk to my PC so for now please assume I will be taking it from one of the outputs listed.

2. To create DVD’s from my old VHS and SVHS tapes. This will be a one off process just to get through my back catalogue of tapes. My VHS machine has the following outputs:-

• SCART


At this stage I don’t want to buy a dedicated capture card for real-time effects. I just want to get my analogue video into the PC to edit with Premiere Pro.

Question: Premiere Pro is touted to offer real-time effects without the need to render Or the need to use a dedicated capture card (e.g.. Raptor). Is this true?

I realise I need an A to D converter with “audio-video synch lock” to get my analogue video into the PC in DV format. Canopus appear to be the best and looking at the specs it seems to be a choice between Canopus ADVC100 or the ADVC 1394 or the ADVC50 since these are the only ones with audio-video lock.

The ADVC50 seems to be similar to the ADVC1394 except that it has the front drive bay which mimics the inputs on the card itself (apart from the number of pins on DV input). I am not keen on spending extra to get this bay and it appears the card works the same as ADVC1394? Any thoughts?

I realise that if I go for ADVC100 I will need a Firewire card in my PC. At present I don’t have a Firewire card in my PC so I am tempted to go for the ADVC1394 as a combined solution. It appears to have the same DV codec as the ADVC100.

Questions:

• Most of the guides I’ve read say that it’s easier to edit by viewing output on a TV while you have the timeline etc on your PC monitor. How do I view the video output from premiere on my TV?

• I know the ADVC 100 has analogue outputs as well as inputs. The brochures seem to indicate that these are meant for sending analogue video back to a VHS machine at the end of the edit process. If I go for the ADVC 100 it also has DV->Analogue conversion. Does this mean that the ADVC100-->Firewire Card link is bidirectional, and that any video played in Premiere can be sent through Firewire into the ADVC100, through the ADVC100 analogue outputs and displayed on my TV in Realtime?

• Or should I set the Premiere Pro up to use the second output from a video card to display footage on TV? Would I need to have a video card with separate TV output to do this rather than just D-SUB and DVI?

• If this is possible it would mean I could buy the ADVC1394 card and simply use a graphics card output to display the Premiere video output on TV. Has anyone tried this solution? Has anyone tried the same method using the ADVC50?

Video card
============
I am in the market for a new video card so has anyone got a recommendation for a good one to use in the above system setup bearing my mind my questions above. I want to avoid a video card with a cooling fan – I am trying to keep the noise down as much as possible. I am not a gamer and don’t need DirectX 9.0, so I was considering a Radeon 9200 with 128MB, D-SUB and DVD-I outputs. Any thoughts? If I need a card with DVI and TV output as well – any thoughts?

Sound card
------------
Is their any benefit for video editing in getting a new sound card rather than use the onboard sound on the Intel D865PERL mobo? As far as I can tell any audio goes IN through the ADVC (whichever model I choose)

RAM
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Will it make much difference to the editing process if I add another 512Mb RAM ?

Hope you can help. Thanks.

Pete