Hardware For DV

[kapilaura]

Hi all
i m new to the forum as well to DV. I want to use adobe after effects and adobe premier, for this i wish to buy a new machine. I m not sure what is exactly the hardware that i need...
if there is anyone who can suggest me it would be great.
please send me the mail at kapilaura@yahoo.com

thanks
kapil

[bobbagoose]

I run after effects 6 and premiere 6.5 and pro on my AthalonXp2000+, with 512mbRam.
A large HDD is reccomended because the video files can be enormous, at least 120gb to future proof i'd reccomend. Also a reasonable good graphics card with a tv out and possible dual monitor out would be beneficial if you want to edit a lot of video. Nvidia's PNY Quadro4 VCQ4200NVS-PB card is a good start especially if you're on a budget.

If you want an absolute saver system I'd go for 1.2ghz Pentium3, 256mb RAM and 60gb HDD, Geforce 4mx graphics.

I hope this has been some help.

[kapilaura]

Thanks
i was thinking of a Athlon 2.6 ghz, with GForce Nvidia 512 this has dual video out, 80GB HDD and 1 GB ram
i would be buying a 19" monitor
according to your reply.. this seems fine to me ok. my budget is something like €1000

thanks again

[maritime]

Hi kapilaura

I'd recommend that you have a 2nd hard drive for your video capture and editing. Using your boot drive will slow down your system and could result in drop-outs. With a tight budget you'll want to keep your eye open for rebates and sales at the big box electronic stores for a good deal. I recently picked up a 200GB Western Digital HD w/8MB cache for $99 after rebates. And just this week I got another 250GB HD for $149 (Circuit City)

The next step up from a single second drive is to have 2 drives setup on a raid 0 array. This configuration will double the effective thru put and ensure pretty much a glitch free capture and edit system. This is what I use.
If you are working with a lot of video you can get slide in racks for your drives to swap in more storage and offline projects easily.

[kapilaura]

hi maritime
thanks for the suggestions... i m still kind of pondering on the system.. and collecting info from all u guys out there. thanks again
kapil

[atifsh]

Re: Hardware For DV

Originally posted by kapilaura
Hi all
i m new to the forum as well to DV. I want to use adobe after effects and adobe premier, for this i wish to buy a new machine. I m not sure what is exactly the hardware that i need...
if there is anyone who can suggest me it would be great.
please send me the mail at kapilaura@yahoo.com

thanks
kapil

first if u want mpeg2 in the end result as most ppl want try getting a hardware mpeg capture card that works with adobe premier, that will give u best result, small size compare to DV which will be in big size then will require time to do encoding lateron.

getting a capture card with hardware encoder for mpeg/mpeg2 will also sovle the problem of getting a processor above 2.0 ghz.(u require that speed if u want to capture full dv resolution mpeg2 in real time without ardware encoder)

as for machine, get any 2.0 ghz processor intel or AMD (not athlon 2000+ get one with actual 2.0 ghz speed). also if getting amd get one with atleast 333 bus speed, ram of atleast 512 ddr 333 atleast. get a faster harddrive 7200 rpm if not serial ata, 80 gb 2 drives are better then single 200 gb disk. u dont need a super 3d card for capturing or editing a decent 3d card like radeon 9200 onwards or geforce 4 Ti to FX onwards are enough. always choose ur motherbord with less builtin stuff, better to research fr one u want on google before buying. as fast processor on crap motherboard will result in crap system.

also always look for the best quality cables of anykind for ur system, like from ide cables inside to ur dv cable. never use single ide cable to connect harddrive and cd/dvd drive.

[kapilaura]

out put for TV

hi thanks for your feedbacks
my outputs would be on TV. but i m still very ignorant about the formats tha i would need... better get myself informed on this
thanks any way..

[atifsh]

Re: out put for TV

Originally posted by kapilaura
hi thanks for your feedbacks
my outputs would be on TV. but i m still very ignorant about the formats tha i would need... better get myself informed on this
thanks any way..

how would u see ur captured movie on tv?

1: u would make dvd, for that u need mpeg2 format.
2: u would make vcd/svcd, for that u need mpeg1 / mpeg2 format.
3: u would make divx file and use ur pc to output on tv, in that case whole scenario changes......

[kapilaura]

i would need to make DVD. so that makes it more clear for me. thanks Atfish

[maritime]

You might want to take a look a Canopus if you are interested in hardware capture and encoding support. The Storm is a nice card that enables analog and DV input and output. There is also Avid with their Mojo and DNA solutions too which are a bit more expensive but are useful if you plan on working with other folks since Avid is very popular in professional non-linear environments.
Personally I went the Canopus route with the Storm card and have been very happy with the results. Canopus also has an excellent encoder called Procoder and a light version and you'd need to have a good encoder for mpeg2 for DVD or whatever your final destination. The other good thing about Canopus is they have a very active and knowledgeable forum.

http://www.canopus.us/Index_US.asp

[atifsh]

Originally posted by maritime
You might want to take a look a Canopus if you are interested in hardware capture and encoding support. The Storm is a nice card that enables analog and DV input and output. There is also Avid with their Mojo and DNA solutions too which are a bit more expensive but are useful if you plan on working with other folks since Avid is very popular in professional non-linear environments.
Personally I went the Canopus route with the Storm card and have been very happy with the results. Canopus also has an excellent encoder called Procoder and a light version and you'd need to have a good encoder for mpeg2 for DVD or whatever your final destination. The other good thing about Canopus is they have a very active and knowledgeable forum.

http://www.canopus.us/Index_US.asp

no offence but how many of us u think can afford 1500 $ card ? (and thats a bargain price nice actual 3000$ )
already ppl think i got enouh expensiv card, which they cant afford and im talking bout my 200 $ card.........

[onerose]

welcome to the world of digital video it not what they say in the mag's it's not that easy and very expencive if you want quality output just remember you have to spend some $$$ to make some$$$$

[atifsh]

Originally posted by onerose
if you want quality output just remember you have to spend some $$$ to make some$$$$

not always u need to spend to make $$$, sometime u just need quality output for personal use too

[maritime]

Originally posted by atifsh
no offence but how many of us u think can afford 1500 $ card ? (and thats a bargain price nice actual 3000$ )
already ppl think i got enouh expensiv card, which they cant afford and im talking bout my 200 $ card.........

I totally agree. I was just pointing out options since I don't know what folks are trying to do. You can certainly go gorilla to do it for the lowest price, but it can take more time and knowledge to get there. You don't need a card of course. But having one will make it easier to do certain things and save time in areas such as rendering.
I think buying as little as possible when starting out is the way to go. After you gain experience then you can make decisions on what to spend $ on. One simple example of this is on lighting. You can go to Home Depot and get some light bulbs and a few refectlors and build a kit for $20. Or you can spend a couple of thousand on an Arri DV light kit. Both can work, but the Arri kit will probably give better more consistant results as long as you learn how to use it. Of course it looks cool too...
My advise isn't to spend a bunch of money on a card or lights. It's to learn how to use simple tools effectively and then buy (rent, borrow) just what what you need when you need it.

Hope that helps