Memory, Digital Video Editing, and 3D

[iddy92]

hi
I'm currently setting up my new computer. here is the specs:
AMD 1700+ XP CPU
Epox 8k7a MB
Crucial 256DDR RAM
64DDR Geforce3 Ti200 Video Card
60Gig IBM 7200RPM U100 HD
WinXP

My main purpose for this system is to be able to capture digital video without fram drops, and to render digital video as quickly as possible.
Previously, I had Celeron 500mhz(overclocked) with 256 PC100 SDRAM and I had no problem with capturing, but it took me 2 1/2 hrs just to renderd 10 minutes of DV movies in Adobe Premeire 6.0. I know that I can shorter rendering time with Ulead Video, but Premeire certainly offer much more funcationality.

eventually i like to play with 3D Graphics as well

Is 256DDR RAM enough? I once read that in win2000, to go from 128 to 256 PC100 SDRAM, you'll only see about 5 % improvement. So I don't think that to go from 256 to 512 is worth it. Is the digital video rendering going to go a lot faster if i get another 256DDR RAM, or just a minor improvement?
and i heard that if you're doing 3D graphics (programming), then you need as much memory as you can possibly afford. is that true as well?

thanks!

 

[Soccerman]

first of all, capturing video tends to be best with a Radeon AIW type graphics card (how would you do it with the Geforce 3 btw?). I would recommend windows 2K instead of Windows XP, because XP can waste alot of memory with all the pretty graphics.

anywho the Radeon 8500DV is extremely expensive (unfortunately) but is also currently the ideal card for doing anything with TV unless you start looking for professional cards or add-on cards (of which I know not too much).

as for Rendering DV movies, do you mean CGI type movies?

 

[iddy92]

Thanks for your advice!

I guess render is quite an ambiguous word.
Basically, after I added music, add special effects (not necessary 3D), and cut scenes, etc, etc...and when it's all done, i want to save changes onto another DV file..........so that's when premiere used the word 'render' to save the movie frame by frame.........and it takes ridiously long.

for myself, i dont care much about how it appears with on my computer....because eventually i like to get a DVDRW drive so i can make DVD movies and play it on my home DVD player. The only reason I bought GeForce3 Ti200 was because I bought it for 100 dollars at Best Buy the day after thanksgiving. I know that ATI is a much better card when it comes to 2D, and i bought ATI firewire PCI card to do the capturing and it works fine. i was just surprise it takes that long to render movies (without CGI, and i'm assuming even longer with CGI). I'm hoping my new system will be at least 3 times as fast.

thanks!

 

[billyjak]

I used to use Ulead to do this, now I use Pinnacle studio 7, it's much faster and does it on the fly.
Many options galore with studio 7 if you get the addon packs.
I run a 1900+ with 512 megs of ram on an Abit KR7A Raid board and it takes a very very short time to render a 10 minute video.

 

[pulse8]

<< first of all, capturing video tends to be best with a Radeon AIW type graphics card (how would you do it with the Geforce 3 btw?). >>


If he's capturing digital video, meaning from a MiniDV or DVCAM source, all he needs is a firewire port to input the video. It's independent from the video card.

I would also reccommend Win2k instead of XP and I would also say stick with Adobe Premiere.

I would also suggest getting a second 60GB or larger hard drive. If you can, it's always best to capture video to a seperate drive than what the program is running off of and they can fill up pretty quickly.

With that system, you should definitely see a large increase in the exporting of the video file. CPU plays a large part in this and I think you should fine with what you have.

 

[Kitros]

a lot of mixed opinions here, so here's mine.

Soccerman- I disagree with that Radeon suggestion. A geforce 2 or 3 is fine, but you seriously won't be able to take advantage of what it has to offer (gaming / fps) I mean, getting a card that can pump 100 fps isn't going to do you much good if you all you are doing are simple effects in an editing studio. The real cruncher is the cpu. I would suggest a faster processor over a better card anyday. Now, depending on your budget, an Ati Fire card is expensive, but worth it - ONLY if you are serious about the 3d modeling, etc. However, for a capture system, a Matrox card is MUCH better for its outstanding 2d and more than sufficent 3d performance. Get a 32 or 64 mb card.

The other overlooked part to capturing is the card. DO NOT SAVE MONEY on a card. Get the best that you can afford. Once again depending on your budget, I would suggest a Pinnacle card, maybe in a package deal w/ Premier (DV500), but the DV200 would suffice. ADS is crud, Dazzle is a good runner up. If you have the funds, get a Matrox real-time card.

GET MORE RAM, and (again I disagree with above post) use XP. I agree that XP and video editing is slow with only 256MB, but if you can put >768 in that baby, you will be pleased. When using XP, create a profile(or a seperate boot if you can +++) and disable all that smooth font crud and GUI(Gooey) stuff. Turn it back into a 2k machine, but, it will run faster.

As for the HDD, this depends on you. Frankly, I don't believe in SCSI anymore, as ATA drives are getting fast enough. Again, if you can, go RAID and stripe 2 60gb's, but if you don't want to mess with that (and I can FULLY understand why) just get 1 40GB 7200 and a HUUUGE drive for storage. Put a few boots of XP on the 40, and leave the video to the big guy. Also, have one IDE per each HDD and get a controller for the other devices you may have. or... just disable the other devices in your "video" boot/profile.

I really suggest turning it ALL off for the capture, including unnecessary ports, sound card, CD-Rom, etc. Just have the bare necessities - 1394, video card, etc. With that you should be fine and drop no mo' frames.
Try dual monitors, every video professional uses at least 2.
O yah, and get a Maxtor or Seagate or WD, IBM has too many quality control issues, don't even mess with 'em at this point.

AMD 1700+ XP CPU
Epox 8k7a MB
Crucial 768DDR RAM
Matrox G550 (32MB card with dual DVI out)
Pinnacle DV500 firewire (w/premier)
40GB Maxtor 7200RPM ata133
>80GB HDD ( i like the 80gb 7200 ata 133 by maxtor)
WinXP


Good luck!