Video editing on my PC

[squeakmail]

Have a project in mind that requires video editing....and would like to do it on my PC.

I am running a 200Mhz AMD chip, some 73Mb of RAM..and a PCI motherboard.

Have a CDRom and a secondary CDWriter on board. Two hard drives - a 12gig and a 5gig.

Easiest format to feed into the PC would be NTSC - though may have a requirement to feed PAL (system I). All feeds would be from video out (and audio out) of standard VCR's.

Would like to feed stuff in...chop it about...and then play it back out to either VCR or burn onto a CDRom.

Any suggestions as to which video card would be suitable for this...and which would most certainly not be suitable?

Would also appreciate any advice on where to buy said video board. Got one for sale?



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LIVE in peace...or REST in it!

[stickyb]

You probably need a lot more disc, and a huge amount of memory more (try a minimum of 128Mb for Video Editing) and a more powerful chip.

[spannersatcx]

Saw something recently about this sort of thing. Sorry to say with your present system it won't work. You need a very hi-spec CPU not less than 600mhz, there are dedicated video editing cards which cost megabucks, a good place to start looking at reasonable priced cards is Matrox. You would need an absolute minimum of 128mb ram, the biggest hard drive you can get. Easycd creator deluxe v4 has video software on it for around 45GBP, not sure that it is dedicated enough for editing the way you want. Sorry to sound down about it, just giving you the hard facts I'm afraid.

[Squiddley]

Squeakmail,

I'm quite new to the digital video scene, having bought a camera a few weeks ago. However, there is plenty of online information on this and related topics.

If you intend to record and edit from a VCR, most of today's graphics adapter cards can handle input. Many have a TV out option to. You might also consider a TV tuner card, if it's recorded TV programs you are editing. This way you could skip your "traditional" VCR altogher.

Pending purchase of an IEEE1394 adapter, I'm using a Pinnacle Systems "Studio PCTV" (PCI card), which is bundled with a remote control and straightforward capture/editing software. This card has (of course) a standard TV aerial socket, as well as S-Video and composite video sockets. Video can be output as MPEG or AVI, depending on your needs.

More info and recommended graphics cards here : http://www.pinnaclesys.com/frameset.asp?state=HomeVideoProduct&content=6

A good place to start would be reviewfinder.com where you can search for reviews and other criteria.

If it's just a software package you need, there are plenty out there, but I should think that a hardware solution (which comes bundled with proprietary and/or third party software) would make for better final results.

Hope this helps. Best wishes.

[FL310]

I am doing editing, but.... 500 MHz with 128 MB RAM, 16 GB SCSI dedicated HD, 32 MB video card and U-LEAD program. Works charming. Doubt very much that a lower speed processor gives you sufficient reliability, especially if you also need real time de- / compression when using alternative sources to cut in...

[squeakmail]

Darn it.

Thanks for all the replies...I'll have another think.

[spannersatcx]

Have a look at this, it may be what you are after. <£50 as well. http://www.jungle.com/show/EM032H/415/1/

[squeakmail]

Thanks for that..spanners.

I'll talk to them...see if it will do what I need...and if they'll export.