CompuServe Thread

Lance: >Since I am just beginning to do this I would like some help setting up my system to edit video. It just seem a waste of computing power to use two VCR's. Basically I would like to know what basic hardware pieces to get to edit my work. I plan on entering my work into film festivals, so I am interested on professional capability. I an not interested in you giving advice on namebrand information, just what is needed to do the job. I have a 486DX2-66 system with 16 meg of RAM, 256k cache, 300 meg Hardrive (I know, small), 3 x 32-bit EISA Bus slots, 5 x 16 bit ISA Bus slots, 2 x 32-bit VESA Bus slots, ThunderPro 1024 x 768 graphics card w/ 1meg.< W/a hard drive that size, non-linear editing (NLE) wouldn't be a wise option since digitized video is SUCH a memory hog! (In case you're not sure, NLE takes your video footage, digitizes it to your computer, and lets you edit your digitized footage and then output it back to videotape.) I'd suggest a "hybrid" system like the Fast Video Machine Lite (which I'm currently using) or the new Toaster for Windows. What it will do is A/B roll linear edit your footage (so you can do dissolves, wipes, etc.), and allow you to place computer graphics onto your videotape for titles, etc. Or, if you'd rather not use your computer, Videonics and Panasonic make a digital video mixers so you can do dissolves and other special effects, Videonics makes a nice, reasonably priced titler, and Videonics is also coming out this summer (they say) w/an A/B roll edit controller (Future Video also has a couple, both for use with and without your computer). Outside of your hard drive size, your computer seems perfectly DTV-worthy, IMHO. A Pentium would be better, admittedly, but what you've got sounds perfectly usable. Hope this helps, Tim Liebe

David, For professional looking results, in a non-linear editing environment, you will need a video capture/playback card that works at resolutions greater than 640×480 and that can capture 60 fields per second with 24bit color resolution. The DPS PAR card is a good choice in this range of capture cards. -John

When I started looking around in the same way a few months ago here's what I came up with … For home quality editing the new low cost capture cards from Miro ($600 for DC1 with new DC20 PCI card due out June or so along with a rash of competition in PCI 'broadcast' quality capture cards) and ///FAST ($1000 Movie Machine Pro … but some have noted significant software problems) are ok for NLE. Somewhere between VHS and SVHS quality if fed hi band signal. Watch out for that PCMag 4/11 review since it mixed cdrom/multimedia mostly video capture cards with the Miro DC1tv. Only the latter is truly made for video ouput. Software for NLE is Adobe Premiere and it's usually bundled. For pro work all say it's still tape based editing unless you're willing to spend $20,000 or so. For this level of video capture Truevision Targa 2000 is considered entry level. I can't help you on this level but others in BPFORUM, DTVFORUM and CEVIDEO can. Selected vendors have forums as well … .///FAST, Miro, Truevision, Adobe for examples. Computer can be either Mac or PC/Windows with lots of heat on which is 'best'. My take is that Windows has the decided advantage but I wouldn't want to argue this point. Mac is fine. It all started with Video Toaster for Amiga. Now Commodore is out of business tho a German company has purchased them recently and pledges to bring them back in the marketplace. Basically you can't have enough CPU, memory or hard drive. For PC most say 486DX2/66, 16mb ram and 2-4 gigabytes of fast HD (E-IDE or FAST SCSI-II) ok for starters. Bottle neck for NLE is hard drive sustained transfer rate. For tape based editing nearly everyone is positive about ///FAST Video Machine. A/B roll. Everything you need except the decks. Lite version for $2500 MSRP. FutureVideo V-Station 3300 ($1000) comes up often too. EzV2 often mentioned as bargain VISCA software controller at $250. A safe low cost entry to get your feet wet would be Gold Disk's VideoDirector edit control software. Windows based and has multiple protocols including VISCA for $100 … of course at this price it's straight one source assembly of cuts only. Stand alone edit gear (ie., non-computer based) … All I know is that Videonics is the only serious prosumer stuff and I've seen a lot of messages from satisfied owners. I've been advised that 'illegal video' makes this a less than satisfactory brand if you're after true broadcast quality. Panasonic, Sony and JVC often mentioned at pro level. This is way out of my league anyway. <g> March '95 issue of Videomaker has a nice overview with product lists in each category (storyboard, capture, overlay, NLE, hybrid, tape editors). The last couple issues of Videography have focused on first Mac and then Windows based editing. I haven't seen a good book, at least on the prosumer level. A multimedia cdrom called 'How To Shoot Video Like A Pro' for $30 is supposed to be a good intro. As you already know camcorders are Sony TR-700 for top consumer palmcorder and reads and writes RCTC for $1250. Prosumer level is Sony VX-3 and Canon L2 at about $2,500 (and up for Canon with interchangeable lens). Panasonic AG-455 is popular in SVHS format. Everyone craves the Sony Hi8 EVW-300 at $5k. VX-3 and EVW-300 are 3 CCD camcorders. Decks are Sony EV-S7000, CVD-1000 and EVO-9720 for Hi8. The latter has two transports and works nicely for simple editing self contained or A/B roll. About $3500. The former are about $1400 with second being VISCA. SVHS is Panasonic AG-1970 for starters. When single frame accuracy needed Sanyo GVR-S950/955 is usually mentioned. There is a lot of gear out there. What I'mm learning with is the TR-700, two CVD-1000 and a Magni genlock card. Software is VideoDirector and EzV2 for edit control with Curtain Call and PrimeTime CG. For me this is a home editing hobby but even so I saw that I needed a separate record deck rather than use the 700 and also a TBC to steady the video stream. I'm planning to add NLE when the PCI video capture card offerings firm up, 4 GB E-IDE drives come out and down in price and Pentium P90 or P100's prices fall a bit. Probably Q3 this year. B&H Photo NYC handles it all. 800-947-9925. Oh, having lots of money can be useful. <g> But today's gear is considered a bargain for what it does compared to what it once required for the same tasks. Hope this helps. -jts