#Help selecting hardware
12 messages in this thread
Hi, I am new to this fourm. I have an IBM "clone" 486 DX4 100 with 16 mb RAM,
two IDE hard disks 1 212 MB and one 345 MB double spaced to 745MB -+, a Media
Vision CD-ROM (SCSI) ProAudio Spectrum kit, VESA Video Card, VESA Multi I/O
Card, two internal modems, HP ScanJet IIcx, and a Tape Drive with its own
controller. I have ONE slot left If I move one of the devices over that does
not use a slot (is possible??). I also have a VGA to TV device.
Now…. I want to be able to create VHS video tape which will use my Sony
Hi8mm Camcorder, Computer created presentation (MS Power Point or Harvard
Graphics). You know wipes and swipes, and overlays, and titles. I may want to
write some full motion video to disk and play with it before I move it to VHS.
Question: What will I need? I know that is a big question, but I would like a
big answer. What additional video boards, interface cards, connection devices
should I get, and why?? I do not really want to spend a thousand or thousands
of dollars.
Any help would be appreciated.
Hal :+}
Ha,
It sounds to me like you want to be able to do digital video editing and to
accomplish that you will probably want to add a Windows Video Capture Card like
the Fast Movie Machine or the Miro DC1. Both are good products that allow you
to capture video and audio to a hard disk, and then digitally cut and paste
clips and graphics together to form a finished video.
The output quality of these devices is sub-vhs quality, which I guess means
that when people watch it they will know that it was not "professionally"
produced, but it can still be enjoyable, 'course.
The Movie Machine is a one slot solution when purchased without the optional
M-JPEG module (which gives you hardware based compression and decompression for
a higher quality) and sells for about $500 retail. You also may consider, with
the prices of harddrives as low as they are, going ahead and getting yourself a
nice fast gigger or so to hold the vast amounts of data that digital video
editing creates.
-John
Jeff:
Sorry, but I don't think the Movie Machine is the choice here. As John
Soberheim points out "The Movie Machine is a one slot solution when purchased
without the optional M-JPEG module." Problem is, you gotta have that M-JPEG
module to do what you want. As John Small points out in the following message,
uncompressed video creates enormous and, literally, unmanageable files sizes
and data rates. Without the M-JPEG compression broad you won't be able to
capture anything more than a few frames.
Also, I hope that tape drive controller is a SCSI so you can daisy chain a
larger SCSI drive out there. Those IDE drives aren't going to do too much for
you. They like the sock drawer in you're dresser when it comes to video. If
you're going to have any video wardrobe at all you'll need more space.
I don't know what you mean by double spacing you're second drive, does that
have a Stacker kind of program going? If so, no good for video. Those involve
compressing data, which I just said was necessary, but compressing video is a
whole lot different than compressing other data. For one it all has to be done
in real-time. The Stackers, etc. aren't designed for that.
Jeff Sauer
Desktop Video Group
Check message #4483. It gives the big picture overview. To do linear
editing will require only a genlock card but when you move to digital video
capturing and nonlinear editing this is a big big step. It requires 2GB or
more of hd to have any real usable space (we're talking 1mb/frame x 30 fps
uncompressed raw data) and today's ISA capture cards are about to be
replaced by more able PCI based cards. Still for your machine a Miro DC1 at
$600 might interest you. As well as ///FAST Movie Machine Pro.
Hope this helps some.
-jts
John:
>
It requires 2GB or
more of hd to have any real usable space (we're talking 1mb/frame x 30 fps
uncompressed raw data) and today's ISA capture cards are about to be
replaced by more able PCI based cards. <
One thing I'm STILL confused about re: PCI cards–is this going to mean we'll
have to use PCI-compatible computers, and what would it take to make my
year-old, still-paying-for-it pre-PCI computer PCI-compatible?
Best,
Tim
Yes, you'll have to put the PCI card in a PCI slot. This means a PCI
motherboard with Pentium cpu. The memory on these boards is 64 + 8 parity
bits or 72 bit memory. You proabably have 32 + 8 bit memory chips on your
486 mobo. Of course memory is a bit hit since 16mb is minimum with NLE and
32mb is better. At $160/4mb that's a good chunck of change. Otherwise all
your current components will move over just fine and you can use the same
box. For this reason I roll my own and always put them in the larger tower
cases. Easier to work with.
-jts
John:
>
Yes, you'll have to put the PCI card in a PCI slot. This means a PCI
motherboard with Pentium cpu.<
<*groan*> Just when I thought I had this under control…
How much is one of these PCI motherboards?
Best,
Tim
I'm not sure of the current price BUT the price will most definately come
down by the time the PCI capture cards are available. Wait until the last
possible moment before doing this upgrade. I recall $700-800 for a P90
mobo.
-jts
John:
>
I'm not sure of the current price BUT the price will most definately come
down by the time the PCI capture cards are available. Wait until the last
possible moment before doing this upgrade. I recall $700-800 for a P90
mobo.<
Well, it ain't cheap, but it's less than I feared…
Thanks!
Best,
Tim
I'm jumping in here to say that my high expectation for PCI bus
solutions at NAB led to big disappointment. PCI is not worth waiting
for in the short term. Like almost all other highly anticipated and
hyped technology, this looks like it will take some time to work up
to its billing. Reports from the development community seem to be
that, yes, it gets great numbers in lab benchtesting, but the
implementation is not solid yet. Further, the OS, both MAC and PC,
can't take advantage of its raw speed. Windows95 is said to increase
throughput over ISA, but NuBus is holding its own for the time
being. I'm sure over time PCI will become the standard.
This NAB seemed to be more about products that have been out for a
generation or two at least, that work, and that producers can use and
get work done reliably today.
I suppose I ought to wait for Comdex in two weeks to say any more.
But on the high end, PCI is not here yet.
From what little I've read here a elsewhere about NAB it appears that no one
had a functioning PCI capture card to show, did they?
-jts
Jeff:
>I'm jumping in here to say that my high expectation for PCI bus
solutions at NAB led to big disappointment. PCI is not worth waiting
for in the short term. Like almost all other highly anticipated and
hyped technology, this looks like it will take some time to work up
to its billing. <
Frankly, that's a relief to me! I couldn't exactly afford $800 for a PCI
motherboard at this point in time, but I need to have a fairly up-to-date
system if I'm going to be reviewing DTV products (which it's looking REAL good
that I might be…).
Well, we'll see…
Best,
Tim