High end video editing rig

[Zucarita9000]

My friend told me that his cousing is planning on invest on a high end video editing rig. He told me to give him advice on what type of hardware to get, so I wrote this few thing down. I believe this is too much but it's going to be a top performer.

Dual Intel Xeons MP 2.8GHz
3 or 4GB of RAM
(1) 120GB ATA100 with 8MB buffer for OS, Apps and project files
(2) Ultra320 SCSI 15,000rpm HDs. I was thinking about dual 73GB Cheetahs...
Adaptec Ultra320 SCSI controller
Matrox Parhelia with 256MB of RAM video card
(2) 19" Flat CRTs + (1) Sony Professional Video Monitor (20")
4x DVD±RW Unit. Possibly a Pioneer AO6...
Windows XP Pro...

I'm still looking for a high end capture and editing card... there's so many out there. I was reading about the Matrox RT.X100 Xtreme, but that's probably too little for this rig 😎

 

[BoomAM]

Seems like a good system. BUT;

I`d think that something like;
2x Maxtor 120GBs in RAID 1, and a Maxtor 240Gb in Raid 0 with the other maxtors would be better. You`ll then have writing/reading speed from the HD`s, and Security and data integraty from the 240gb. And it`d be cheaper.
The Matrox Parhelia is a odd choice for a video editing machine. I`d say something like a 9700/9800 AIW would be better. You get loads and loads of connectors to connect to any video source then. And its cheaper.
And for a sound card, the Audigy2 PlatinumEX. You`ll get loads of Audio Inputs as well then.

Consider waiting for A64/Prescott as well.

 

[Zucarita9000]

That's good too... I'm still looking thou. I did consider the choice of waiting for Prescott, but how much would that cost? I believe dual Xeons would give this system a good lifespan. Besides, using an Ultra320 SCSI card with an external connector gives me the option of moving to a external array of HDs in the future. How is FireWire for A/V editing? There are a few external HD arrays aout there and they're cheaper than external SCSI towers...

Oh, I forgot. For sound inputs I would prefer to have them in the same Capture card in order to get good sync with the video streams. High end capture cards have these inputs.

And I chose a Parhelia because Matrox is rather good in the dual display market.

 

[draelon]

I think firewire would be a must on this system because nearly every dv camera these days has a firewire out on it. I also think a single 120gb drive might not be enough storage space to do real editing. 7200 rpm also seems on the slow side for video.

I don't see a real need for a solid 3d card like the 9700 or 9800s. The matrox card should do fine as long as you are doing strictly video. If you want to get into animation however, you'll want to start looking at high end video cards. Possibly the 9700/9800 or the Fire GL.

In terms of setup, I would put the OS, the Apps and the scratch files on the fast scsi drives and use the slower IDE drives stricly for storage. RAID is definitely a good idea and like Boom suggested, I'd run a striped mirrored raid for speed and redundancy.

When shopping around, make sure that the motherboard you get has a 64bit PCI slot to support that SCSI card, otherwise, you might as well get SCSI3 (80mb) or U160 seeing as a 32bit PCI slot will bottleneck your drives.

 

[BoomAM]

That's good too... I'm still looking thou. I did consider the choice of waiting for Prescott, but how much would that cost? I believe dual Xeons would give this system a good lifespan.

The Xeons would be a good, but expensive CPU option.

Besides, using an Ultra320 SCSI card with an external connector gives me the option of moving to a external array of HDs in the future. How is FireWire for A/V editing? There are a few external HD arrays aout there and they're cheaper than external SCSI towers...

A/V was one of the primary design reasons for Firewire.

Oh, I forgot. For sound inputs I would prefer to have them in the same Capture card in order to get good sync with the video streams. High end capture cards have these inputs.

The 9700/9800 AIW cards would provide this.

And I chose a Parhelia because Matrox is rather good in the dual display market.

The 9700/9800 AIW`s do dual display as well.

I think firewire would be a must on this system

A Creative Audigy card would provide the firewire. Or a seperate firewire card.

I don't see a real need for a solid 3d card like the 9700 or 9800s. The matrox card should do fine as long as you are doing strictly video. If you want to get into animation however, you'll want to start looking at high end video cards. Possibly the 9700/9800 or the Fire GL.

My reccomendation of a 9700/9800 AIW was not from a gaming stand point, it was from the flexability that the AIW versions of them provide. They provide some of the best A/V connections and options, all from one card. They would be infinitaly better than the Matrox, because of the wealth of connections that they have. The Matrox cards are limited to DVI/DSubs for connections, where as AIW card, have DVI, DSub, S-Video, Composite A/V, component, SP/DIF, optical out, and many more.

In terms of setup, I would put the OS, the Apps and the scratch files on the fast scsi drives and use the slower IDE drives stricly for storage. RAID is definitely a good idea and like Boom suggested, I'd run a striped mirrored raid for speed and redundancy.

Good idea there. SCSI for Win/Apps and the IDE Raid 0+1 over the 2x120gb and 240gb for data.

When shopping around, make sure that the motherboard you get has a 64bit PCI slot to support that SCSI card, otherwise, you might as well get SCSI3 (80mb) or U160 seeing as a 32bit PCI slot will bottleneck your drives.

To save a bit of money, he might want to consider a WD SATA drive, you can get 15000RPM SATA drives now. It`d be cheaper than a SCSI setup by quite a bit, and provide more disk space as well.
So a 15K SATA drive would be just as good as a SCSI setup for the Win/App storage.

 

[jose]

Don't forget a scis raid card ie. Mylex AcceleRaid 170LP . Pair this w/ 5 10-15k rpm drives.
And you have a high end video editing rig.

Regards,
Jose

 

[Zucarita9000]

I'm afraid that a 9800 AIW wont do it. See, it lacks all the features I'm really looking for, such as real-time color correction, effects and so on. It is not intended for professional video editing, more like capturing TV shows and family tapes.

I need something powerfull, such as a Matrox RTX100 Xtreme, a Pinnacle Liquid, etc.