What specs do I need for decent AVCHD editing

[Davegod75]

All,

I am looking into buying a Canon Vixia HF S100 right before the baby arrives!! I have heard that editing the AVCHD files this thing produces it quite a chore. The current specs on my computer are below. Is this sufficient? What is the best bang for the buck upgrade or two that will help the most with performance when editing videos shot from this camera?

Thanks!

Gigabyte EP45-UD3R mobo
Corsair 400CX PSU
Intel E8500 @ 3.8Ghz
8GB (4x2) Corsair DDR2 800
Seagate 7200.11 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB
Sparkle Nvidia 9400GT 1GB
Windows 7

 

[Deadtrees]

First, you need to state how much you're willing to spend.
If money is not a concern, I'd say you go with i7 920 D0 and overclock hell out it. 4Ghz would be the sweet spot.
If you want to keep the damage as low as possible, Q9550 would work but Q9550 isn't something I'd recommand unless you're tight on budget. Q9550 is a great CPU but i7 or i5 is just much better for the work you intend to do.
Whatever you decide, I think it's best to wait until i5 come along in a few month. Even if you don't go for i5, introduction of i5 would shift things around and there's very high possibilty that you'll get things cheaper.

Anyway, my computer is Q6600 @ 3.2ghz and I'm on the same boat as you. I almost decided to go for i7 920 but upcoming news about i5, USB3, and SATA3 got me waiting. The thing is, if I'm going to upgrade the motherboard for this CPU, I want the board to have those new stuffs in them. You see, if you buy a motherboard now, you have to buy extra USB3 and SATA3 boards later on. That's not right, I think.

 

[Davegod75]

so your saying my current specs won't cut it then? How bad is the editing experience going to be with my current setup?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I'll let you know real soon. I have 2 HF S100's and Premiere Pro in a Vista 64 box with a UD3R, Q9650 @ stock, 4870 HD, bout to be 8Gb of ram soon. I'm about to test things today.

let you know later,

529th

 

[Davegod75]

danke

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

And if it doesn't go well. I already have a NIB i7 D0 920 chip that i'll soon put together the rest (mobo & ram) and see how that performs...

 

[randomlinh]

alternatively, just convert it to something far more workable and buy more HDD space, it's far cheaper and easier to support for now.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
"... buy more HDD space"

I think that's what i'll end up doing

like a separate drive for storing files

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

btw, B&H had them for 899$

let me give you a tip. call in and ask if the current price is the best they can do on the HF S100

this is a good SDHC card - Class 6 says 20mb/s I've seen as much as 26mb/s at times

 

[Davegod75]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
alternatively, just convert it to something far more workable and buy more HDD space, it's far cheaper and easier to support for now.

any format recommends? What kind of file sizes are we talking about here?

 

[akugami]

Best bang for the buck is just to buy a quad core CPU and overclock it. Generally speaking tasks such as video encoding benefit more from multi-core CPU's than something like gaming. Yes, an Intel i7 (or i5) will speed things up but I'm assuming you're editing mostly home videos and stuff of that nature. I'd also buy another HD regardless of what you do. The more HD space you have the better.

I'd say get a 1TB HD, maybe the Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS and use that as your primary HD. Replace the CPU with either an Intel Q9400 or a Q9550 and overclock it and you should be good to go.

An Intel i7 would be much better but again, the problem is if you go that route you're practically buying a new system. I don't know if it's that much better that you want to go that route.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I think I just found my storage drive

Thanks akugami!

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I think my situation might be a little different than yours. Premiere Pro edits AVCHD natively rather than trans-coding for an intermediate file format like most or i think all other NLE programs. My system is stock and there are a few variables I am wondering about. Lets bring back my platform conf. Q9650, 4gb, 4870 stock cpu speed. Just got of bios from turning C1E & EIST I am also editing directly from the SDHC card so I don't know it that causes latency. Once I get my storage drive things might play differently.

 

[California Roll]

OP's rig is more than acceptable to edit AVCHD with. Quad core/i7 will make it better of course but it's not like it's impossible or unacceptably poor.

Definitely get more storage tho. Even some external storage to backup your media.

Try it out before you spend money that you might not need to spend. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Actually in Premiere Pro when I am viewing in the sequence window (not source) the motion picture stutters.

EDIT: not sure what its from. I'm a newb so take this like a grain of salt

 

[theblackbox]

using a core 2 duo 2.26 laptop. i transcode. no problem here. i prefer transcoding into 422 so i can get a better color space.

 

[Davegod75]

what format does everyone trans code into? avi? mpg? I'll probably pickup another 640gb or 750 gb WD green HD.

edit: I'll probably use Song Vegas 9. Is that good? I wish google made a video editor

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: Davegod75
what format does everyone trans code into? avi? mpg? I'll probably pickup another 640gb or 750 gb WD green HD.

edit: I'll probably use Song Vegas 9. Is that good? I wish google made a video editor

Pro? That is a good choice. Adobe is another with that nVidia card. If you have CUDA, there are even other things that will help like http://www.badaboomit.com/ for accelerated transcoding. Considering AVCHD is primarily Sony's, they have skin in the game to make sure it works natively in their editor.

BTW, with video, you choose the editor first, and then build the hardware around it.

 

[California Roll]

Originally posted by: Davegod75
what format does everyone trans code into? avi? mpg? I'll probably pickup another 640gb or 750 gb WD green HD.

edit: I'll probably use Song Vegas 9. Is that good? I wish google made a video editor

Almost all of the major NLEs have a fully functional 30 day trial. Make use of it.

Depending on your needs and budget, I'd recommend Vegas Pro 9 (not Vegas Movie Studio), Premiere Pro, or even Premiere Elements.

I don't recommend Vegas Movie Studio not because it's terrible, but because it's learning curve is the same as Pro, with less option/capability. If you're learning a video editing program and decide to go the Vegas route, go with Pro. Learning how to use both versions is about the same so I'd go with the higher end one (unless it's out of budget) and you don't have to worry about outgrowing it. If you don't need the Pro version, VMS is another good (and cheap) option.

Premiere Pro and Elements on the other hand are pretty different. If you learn one, you don't really have a step up in learning the other like with Vegas.