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Simple video editing computer

A

ApacheChief

Senior member
My little sister wants to do a little video editing, she has a video camera with DS out (I believe)

What would be the cheapest (but still stable and efficient) system for editing video, and possibly playing a couple games over LAN?
 
a 866mhz is bare minimum for editing...

i would go for something similar like below

2.4ghz or amd equivilent (knowing pentium 4 is a faster chip for editing)

256mb at least pc3200

hard drive depends on the file stored
 
Well she could store her files on my computer over the network (320 gigs of space)

Why not go pentium?

I'm looking for a cheap system, a 2.4ghz amd would be fairly spendy (look at around 500~ for the entire thing, peripherals included)
 
Virtual Dub is free... I'm thinking a p4 2.4 minimum as well, keep in mind video encoding is almost entirely cpu-dependant, and can take quite a while... For instance shrinking a typical DVD down to CD size for backup purposes takes me 3-4 hours on a p4b 2.67. A couple games over the LAN is night & day depending if you're referring to say.. counter strike, or something like far cry. In the first case a cheap 9200 or 5200 is all the video card you need, which helps with expense.
 
I would recommend the minimum processor at 1.6GHz (Intel). That is the line where AV captures to DV can occur at 30fps according to a source I can no longer quote (it has been about 3 years...)

As noted, find the software and work from there is the best approach. Does she have a digital video camera? I would consider:

Better than 2.4GHz or equivalent
At least 512MB mem.
2 drives, 60-160GB OS; 120-250GB for video
Pioneer 108 or NEC 3500 DVD drive
Firewire (IEEE 1394)
Optical mouse (Lots of dragging - if the mouse tracks funny, she'll hate it)
Something other than on-board video (9600+ or such).

Work up from there. If she does not have a DV camera, look into something like Pinnacle's Studio 9 with the AV card or better still, the Moviebox DV (the DV works better than the USB version according to some posts I have seen - I don't do much AV and use an All-In-Wonder when I need to).

 
one of the main components often overlooked is the motherboard. Invest in a very good motherboard.
I would recommend a pentium-4 (though I hate intel) because p-4s are fast where video editing is concerned. GO for a minimum 2.4 Ghz with 512 Kb of cache.
 
Asus P4P800SE <$115 (Deluxe with Firewire)
2.6c Gig P4 $190?
Corsair Value Select 1Gig Twin Pack of PC3200 $160?
DVD+-R/CDRW $80 Lite-on, Plextor??
Second DVDrom CDRW($41.00) LITE-ON
Floppy (May not be needed) ($10.00)
Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro ($200) Or ATI AIW 9800 PRO ($300), Sapphire 9600 PRO/XT
Hard Drives. As much as you can buy. Maybe one 160 gig drive, 120 gig drive, or 80 gig drive. Add a second Large drive as necessary.

Note:
You dont have to have a fancy video card for video editing. You could get by with a $49.00 ATI Radeon 9000. This is the price I saw earlier today for this on www.newegg.com. Spend as much as the quality you wish to buy on the video card.

 
Asus A7N8X-X($59.00)
Sempron 2000+ ($49.00) Or just the processor of choice
like a XP2800 which I have and like.
512Meg Crucial RAM ($80)
No Floppy
Flash Card READER ($30) (Optional)
CD/RW/DVDROM ($41.00)
ATI Radeon 9000 ($49.00)(I have one of these) (Mine is Sapphire) Alternative 9200 or 9600

Just look at the Bulding Guide for low-end system.
 
if the cam is firewire she could just take it to an apple store and plug it in and go. they actually encourage this.
 
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