operating systems, etc.

[Screener]

Well, there's a couple of ways you can go, obviously. My question is, how are you planning on IMPORTING the film footage? Do you do your own telecine? (Shoot the footage off a screen?) Or do you have a lab do it? What is the source for the import? When you say "capture card" are you talking analogue conversion capabilities (Canopuas advc100 for about $288) or simply a firewire card? (ADS Pyro about $70) How complicated do you plan to get with your editing - Will iMac do the job or do you need Avid?

In the paper this morning, at the local FRY's electronics store... there is a Sony Vaio P4 2.4ghz, 512mb ddr memory, 80gig hard drive, cd-rw and dvd-rom, front and rear I-link(firewire) Windows XP, with free "Music, Movies and More" software bundled in for $899. (No monitor)

How long are your projects? 5 minutes? 15? 120? If you are doing long form, I suggest adding an additional "media" drive for storage. Your editing system resides on your system drive, and your media is stored on your media drive. (7200rpm minimum, 8mb buffer).

Good luck

[seekaee]

Before you buy aything, check out pricewatch.com, you can get some amazing deals if you snoop around.

[Nigel]

I advocate Mac like I advocate Aaton. I think that the computer is the least of your concerns. I know many Indie editors and they have great set ups.

1) Buy the best computer you can. I suggest Mac. The better the monitor the better off you will be. It wouldn't hurt to have two.
2) Buy some good video decks. Try to get at least a pro DV format and a pro Analog format.
3) Buy some good Audio decks.
4) Software. FCP and ProTools.

Those are my Two-Cents. Good Luck I think that it is in close reach if you use your head.

PS--Remember use the IRS to your advantage. You can claim three years of losses against what you earn.

[dr.sanchez]

I'm at a crossroads in my budding filmmaking career. (Maybe career is a strong word) I'm ready to make the next leap into non-linear editing on my computer. Unfortunately, I have a 4-year old PC running Windoze 95 and a lot of the latest and greatest software and hardware is no longer compatible with this OS. To edit at home, I need a capture card, but most only supply drivers for other OSs (Win98, 2000, NT, or XP). Sooooo, I'm considering some options and would like your opinions, remembering that cost is a factor and I'll probably never get my super 8 movies into Sundance:

option 1) update the operating system to Windows XP or similar ($300), buy a decent capture card ($200 to $600), buy editing software ($0 to $500). Total: $500 to $1100.

option 2) buy a new imac comparable to my existing system and use the included capture card and imovie software ($800). Total: $800.

option 3) scrap the whole windows thing, change OS to Linux ($0), buy capture card ($200 to $600), find Linux drivers ($0), install Kino or similar editing software ($0), spend a lot of time doing Linux stuff, be a part of the open source movement (priceless). Total: $200 to $600.

Any opinions? I'm intrigued by the Linux option but haven't heard of too many people using this OS for video editing. Also, I like the idea of Mac and fear that microsoft is trying to take over the world so if it's a tie, ....

Thanks for reading this far.

[Scott123]

this is what i would do, to go cheap.


i'd pick up the 1700+ athlon for 50 bucks,
a 100 dollar motherboard, 512mb pc2700 memory, nice video card.....something all together in a pc that would run you like 500-700 dollars.

i would get a 60mb primary hard drive, and a 120+ gb hard drive to store the video ( make sure you get the maxtor with the 8mb cache)

i would also run win2000, you could get a copy from a friend, or download off kazaa or something, i'd only suggest this if you are comfortable with it. if you are the honest type, it's definately worth the money.

the same goes for editing program, i absolutely love adobe premiere 6.0. you could download it from kazaa, or pay about 600 dollars for it.

[noble]

If it was me, I'd just build a new computer with plenty of RAM and storage. Especially if you're workin with a lot of footage. It eats your gigs like nothing. Then I would get a pirated version of Windows for free or dwld it, and do the same for Adobe Premier. It's a great program. To me, building a computer is often cheaper than getting a package. Software piracy is a wonderful thing. Good luck.

[Scott123]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Software piracy is a wonderful thing. [/QB]</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>


i totally agree, but i try not to brag about it, or seem proud. because even though it's an easy crime. some straight laced people seem to get really get angry about it, or see it as immoral.

[seekaee]

Premiere is ok, but I would pick up Avid Xpress 3.5 if you can. It cost a couple of grand, but you get get it a lot less of you look in the right places [img]smile.gif[/img]

[dr.sanchez]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Scott123:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Software piracy is a wonderful thing. </font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>


some straight laced people seem to get really get angry about it, or see it as immoral.[/QB]</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yup. Sorry to get all sanctimonious, in addition to this not being a forum on softwary piracy, but stealing software isn't an option for me. If someone put the time into developing software, whether it be Bill Gates or someone on this discussion board, he deserves to get paid for it.

But the beautiful world of Linux takes care of all that by being unashamedly free. I guess it just takes a little more work installing kernels and searching for homemade drivers. And though I'm still keeping all options option, does anyone have experience with video editing using Linux?

[calgodot]

I've used 'em all, use 'em all, and even have been known to build and sell 'em all.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> option 3) scrap the whole windows thing, change OS to Linux ($0), buy capture card ($200 to $600), find Linux drivers ($0), install Kino or similar editing software ($0), spend a lot of time doing Linux stuff, be a part of the open source movement (priceless). Total: $200 to $600. </font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've been using and supporting Linux since 1995. As a rabid open source proponent, I'd love nothing more than to be using Linux as my desktop video editing OS. But there are issues with hardware, especially in the firewire area. Most of the Linux-based software suites for editing are nowhere near as full-featured and robust as Final Cut Pro or even Adobe Premiere. And then there are the codecs. Unless you are a pretty savvy Linux user, or are willing to spend lots of time on this and have it fail, I do not recommend this route.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> option 1) update the operating system to Windows XP or similar ($300), buy a decent capture card ($200 to $600), buy editing software ($0 to $500). Total: $500 to $1100. </font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

You didn't offer any specifics about your current hardware, but if it is 4 years old it is unlikely to be 100% ready for video editing or a contemporary Wintel OS. You may need faster hard drives or even a new hard disk controller. Your current VGA video card may also be less than ideal for video editing.

As for the OS upgrade, I cannot speak more highly of Windows 2000. I've used it for over a year now as basis of my dual-head editing system (a 1.4 Ghz P3 with 256M of RAM, a 40G system drive and a 80G 10000 RPM video drive, a Pinnacle DV-200 capture card, two Matrox video cards and two Sony monitors). With the proper hardware choices, a Win2K machine can outperform any of Apple's hardware.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">option 2) buy a new imac comparable to my existing system and use the included capture card and imovie software ($800). Total: $800.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

While I can't recommend any iMac-based solution, an Apple-based hardware solution is what I suggest to probably 90% of my clients these days. It's the only out-of-box solution I recommend, though it really isn't a OOB solution because Final Cut Pro takes a lot of time to tweak. But it is a simple setup, with some good professional support only a phone call away, and the online community for Apple has always been superior to the Windows world.

If you're budget-conscious, you can find an older G3 or G4 system that will never leave you wanting. Get one that will handle OSX and you'll be happy: FCP is simply the all-around best editing suite for the consumer (hell, I like it better than Avid).

And if you go the Mac route (or even a new PC), you can put Linux on your old PC, and then work your way through the Linux video editing headache while having a fully-functional system at the ready. That's pretty much what my desk looks like.