Any recommended computers?

**cameraguy** · July 12th, 2002, 05:06 PM

[ August 30, 2003 05:24 AM: Message edited by: cameraguy ]

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I'm looking to buy a new computer and want one for video/DV editing. At this time it is only going to be used for editing and nothing else. Mac or PC?? I know almost nothing about NLE on the Computer.

[ November 14, 2003 10:45 AM: Message edited by: Alex ]

**Alex** · July 12th, 2002, 06:57 PM

The standard, simple answer is to get a final cut pro editing system on a macintosh platform.

Adobe Premiere is popular also.

One nice thing about Final Cup Pro are the users groups that meet all over the country on a regular basis. I would recommend attending a users group in your area before making a purchase.

I'd also recommend creating a small simple job that could be enhanced by editing on a N.L.E. (Non-Linear-Editing) system, and pay an editor to edit your job in their edit suite while you supervise.

This approach allows you to see how the overall system works, and how it works in the toughest of all situations, with a client looming over the shoulder of the editor.

You should try and get a flat rate for the edit project. It could be as cheap as a $100.00 for a couple of hours or as much as $500.00 for the day. (I think $100.00 is plenty)

I think the learning curve is always the fastest and most efficient when you learn with a purpose, rather than get a gimmicky free demo that is so sacharine you will get zero calories from the experience.

This is probably the most popular Fincal Cut Pro website in the world. http://www.2-pop.com

[ July 12, 2002 04:00 PM: Message edited by: Alex ]

**Mike Buckles** · July 13th, 2002, 01:28 AM

I have Premiere 6, and I really like it..very versatile...I haven't tried the Final Cut one. What I liked about Premiere is that it integrates with other Adobe products like Illustrator and After Effects (of which I have both), so I have good interaction between the 3. Premiere is a bit of a learning curve, but not bad for someone used to editing. Premiere has it's shortcomings...can't export to Mpeg 2 without a 3rd party plug-in...but it now has it's own capture utility which works very well, I've created several family movies and a cable access tv show that worked great on premiere. I just bought a Sony Pcv-rx670..1.8 mg, 750 mgs ram, 80 mgb hard-drive...I love the speed and the xtra cool programs sony includes, but the sony dv codec is a headache...I use the microsoft codec, which is not compatible with some of the sony programs on the computer, and I had to do a lot of setting up and searching the net to get the system to work for me using Premiere 6. (their sony codec only works with Premiere Limited Edition, which comes bundled with the computer. But any decent brand of pc will perform well for you...Mike

**cameraguy** · July 13th, 2002, 01:54 AM

[ August 30, 2003 05:24 AM: Message edited by: cameraguy ]

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I don't need the fancy Premiere or Final Cut Pro. I was thinking of a Mac and just use the Imovie or whatever they comes with. I am only using Hi8 for a camera and don't shoot a whole lot but have accumulated a bit over the years.

I am mainly interested in what the minimum system setup should be for it to run alright. 512 MB RAM enough?

[ November 14, 2003 10:46 AM: Message edited by: Alex ]

**Mike Buckles** · July 13th, 2002, 02:11 AM

I have an older Sony computer...it has 200 something mb ram, and that was ok..so your 512 would work fine!

TA152 · July 13th, 2002, 05:02 AM

[ August 28, 2003 10:57 PM: Message edited by: S8 Booster ]

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Recently bought the high-end iMAC. It comes with iMovie which will do the trick and also has the built in "Superdrive" that burns DVDs & CDs as well as it has two 400 bps FireWire ports. It also comes with the iDVD software that produces the DVDs.

I have used Adobe Premiere since 1994 and I think it is a great program. For most of us it is only the imagination that sets the limit there.

There are probably some iMACs lower down the line that will do exactly the same, possibly the new "education" model as well. Check!

http://www.apple.com/hardware/

[ November 14, 2003 10:48 AM: Message edited by: Alex ]

**Actor** · July 15th, 2002, 02:21 AM

If you are going to be using the computer exclusively for video editing then an iMac is definitely the way to go. 512Mb is plenty of memory. It comes with iMovie and FireWire built in.

If you're going to be editing Hi8 then you'll need a Sony DVMC-DA2 to convert from S-Video to FireWire. If your Hi8 camcorder has LANC then you're all set. You'll be able to control your camcorder from the computer.

Without LANC you can import your footage into the computer but you may have problems exporting back to the camcorder. I've been getting conflicting reports on that. One source says that you cannot export without LANC. Another says it's no problem. In any case Sony is working on the problem.

**Alex** · July 15th, 2002, 04:05 AM

GreatwarEagle, your question can require a booklength's answer. Consider this the cliff note version.

Mini-dv and DV-CAM are compressed, and frankly, compressed at a rate that Hollywood and other professional entities would say is inferior to what is the typical Broadcast spec...

You would edit your project in the digital realm, via firewire, and it would be compressed at what is known a 4-1-1 compression scheme. Many believe that 4-2-2 compression is superior, especially for making DVD's and the like.

Mini Dv and Dv-Cam use Digital Firewire in, Digital firewire out, and if you have kept your video levels "broadcast legal", you can remaster your DV master to Digital Betacam, and it probably will be accepted for broadcast. (although they also want a certain audio loudness ratio, the loud sounds to the soft sounds have to fall within a certain range)

But first your digital master will go through a rigorous Quality Control Report that will red flag every video drop-out and technical mistakes that exists in the digital master.

Keep in mind mini dv is short one/half of one teeny-tiny video line of info at the top of the screen, so if some broadcast nitpicker wants to make a big deal about it, you will need to enlarge the picture by one video line when you remaster to Digital Betacam.

That's how it is with NTSC video, I don't know about PAL.

Theoretically, Beta-Cam SP is a better standard than mini-dv or DV-CAM, but not if you go more than a couple of generations.

TA152 · July 15th, 2002, 05:50 AM

[ August 28, 2003 10:57 PM: Message edited by: S8 Booster ]

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Original Message reinserted by the moderator to keep the entire topic thread intact

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There is some quite interesting info available on DV / Beta ++++ etc at
http://www.adamwilt.com/
http://www.cilect.org/DV_Report.htm
http://www.matrixav.com/pdf/tech/DV_Betacam.htm
(Contains truckloads on DV/ BETA and a LOT more concerning the issues touched here.

Firewire/editing/copying quality loss etc.
http://www.adamwilt.com/DV-FAQ-tech.html#1394

Linear/Non Linear Editing
http://www.adamwilt.com/DV-FAQ-editing.html#linear
http://www.adamwilt.com/DV-FAQ-editing.html#NLE

Side By Side DV:BETA
http://www.adamwilt.com/DV-Beta.html

EBU's Evaluation of DV Formats
http://www.adamwilt.com/EBU-DV.html

(I think the DV misses a few lines to actually comply with The Broadcast Standard)

R

[ November 14, 2003 10:52 AM: Message edited by: Alex ]

**Alex** · July 15th, 2002, 06:41 AM

Thanks for the links!

I feel the DV versus Beta comparison was flawed. I just shot some photographs with my 3-chip 750 line video camera, in component mode, into my Beta-Cam Sp deck.

There was no need to convert, revert and divert the signal as was done with the DV/Beta Cam SP comparison.

In his test, Adam Wilt went through too many encoders and transcoders. YUV transcoders don't always work that well.
Time Base Correctors made in the early to mid nineties that converted S-Video to YUV component were not necessarily very good at it!

Plus, the digital camera that they used was of a lower resolution, if the Beta-Cam SP reproduces that signal exactly, it will look noisy!

DV-CAM or Mini-DV makes sense for most users nowadays because you can go multi-generation digitally if you have to, and the digital video decks are less expensive than Beta-Cam SP. (but the digital decks do come with significantly less features that are standard with the Beta-Cam Sp video decks.)

If you can afford the $6,000 - $8,000 Beta-Cam Sp Video Decks, then transfering your Super-8 film to Beta-Cam SP, dumping it into NLE in component format only, editing your project, then dumping back to Beta-Cam SP via component format, you are probably ahead quality wise then if you had gone DV-CAM.

But the difference will not be that great. And if you have to reload the newly created Beta-Cam SP edit master back into the NLE at a later date to make changes, then you would have been better off starting with DV-CAM, although the missing broadcast line or lines might pose a problem when it comes to distribution.

BetaCam SP is also a superior archival format.

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