PC FOR VIDEO EDITING
Personal Computers for Video Editing
Following a previous talk to the Reading Film and Video Makers
I was asked to publish the main points that I
had suggested a newcomer to video editing should consider when
purchasing a computer. Although a modern 'off-the-shelf computer
will probably be adequate, better performance and stability will
be achieved if the PC is specially configured for video editing;
the following are my recommendations. Additionally, some editing
programs and additional software with which I have had experience
are suggested, but I must stress that these are my personal recommendations
and no doubt others may have different ideas and views on the
subject
Recommended Minimum PC spec for Video Editing
Most current PCs will be fast enough for at least basic standard
definition video editing and will not necessarily require a dedicated
video card (I am referring to a card that receives the video input
from the camera, not the graphics card)
As of Jan. 2010, my recommendation for high definition editing
would to base the PC on an Intel i7 950 (3.0GHz) processor with
a minimum of 3GB RAM, ideally 6GB or more and a separate SATA
hard disk or RAID array for the video files. Using such a system
with Edius 5.12 software I am now getting the real time performance
in editing that is very close to that which I experienced with
SD some 5 years ago. I now record in full 1920 x 1080 50i with
a Sony EX1 camera and I find that using this software, I rarely
need to render any HD transitions or FX to see their operation
in full quality and frame rate in real time on the external video
monitor; I should mention that I also have the Grass Valley NXex
HD cards fitted to provide HD video output to the external monitor,
but their inclusion does not effect the real time performance
of the system. As an alternative to the NX express cards you could
fit an Edius Storm or Spark card.
Use a separate hard disk for the video data, don't use the C drive.
A 1TerraByte SATA hard disk or greater will be adequate for HD
although using two drives in a RAID 0 configuration will almost
double the video data throughput thereby allowing the computer
to process more video tracks and effects in real time. SATA drives
are faster than the older drives and are to be preferred for video
editing
Ensure that the PC has a Firewire (IEEE 1394) connection. You
will use this to connect to the digital output of your camera
or recorder and so avoid the need for a separate video input/output
card. If the PC does not have a Firewire connection you may fit
a Firewire interface card in one of the PC motherboard's PCI slots
at a small cost - around £15-20. For those who use an analogue
camera, then a suitable video interface will be require to receive
either the composite or S video and audio inputs.
Software
Operating System:
Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (NB XP and other 32bit
operating systems cannot see more than 3GB of memory),
Windows Vista 64bit Business edition or Windows 7 64bit.
Video Editing and related software :
My favourite, because of its speed, real time performance and
stability is Edius (or Edius Neo). These programs also
allow you to create a DVD or Bluray directly from the timeline
and also support the increasingly popular AVCHD form.
MAGIX 'Movie Edit Pro 15+' (About £60 ) this also
includes a DVD burning program, a sound editing program, a photo
manipulation program and others to provide exceptional value for
money. Movie Edit Pro 16+ is expected around
March of 2010. Be sure to get the + version of this software as
it includes the above mentioned programs and many other extras.
Adobe Premiere CS4 Suite is also a very comprehensive suite
of programs, but costs a lot more than the Magix software. The
suite includes Encore a very comprehensive
DVD/Bluray authoring package and additional audio editing software.
Sony Vegas is another editing program that you may wish
to consider. It comes complete with DVD Architect
that provides DVD/Bluray authoring.
Ulead DVD Movie Factory 7 an inexpensive, but versatile
and easy-to-use DVD/Bluray authoring program. My preference for
general use where the greater flexibility (and difficulty) of
Adobe Encore is not required.
Bluff Titler - An inexpensive 3d title making program
- download from the internet
Audacity - Audio editing (free) - download from the internet
Blender - 3d Modelling (free) - download from the internet
Acronis Backup Use this software to make a safety backup
of you C drive. The back-up copy of your C drive could be on the
separate video hard disk or on a setoff DVD/Bluray disks and it
would then be possible to use this copy to restore the original
or new C drive to the original working state in the event of a
major crash thus avoiding having to reload the operating system
and all other programs separately. Highly recommended!
HD Tune Use this to measure hard disk performance - This
is a free download from the internet
Scene Analyzer A useful utility that captures video data
into separate files at scene changes - download from the internet.
Hardware Add-Ons
2nd PC Monitor This may require a new graphics card that
provides two monitor outputs. Check that the card is compatible
with the editing software that is to be used. Using two monitors
to display your work area makes video editing much easier on the
eye.
Separate Video Monitor or television Recommended for
assessing colour balance - LCD screens' colour performance is
not as accurate as that of CRTs
Contour Control Unit A useful control unit to supplement
the Mouse. The unit provides rotary knob control for Jog and Shuttle
operation plus a number of programmable keys to provide the equivalent
of keyboard shortcuts when editing.
External Back up drive
Video Keyboard A keyboard with colour coded keys that
relate to the keyboard shortcut commands for the editing program.
Not available for all programs, but available for Adobe Premiere,
Vegas and Edius.
Film/Photo Scanner for bringing in still images from
35 camera slides or photographs
There are a number of recommendations that help to ensure the
best performance and least likelihood of system crashes:
Turn off all other programs that may be running in the background
Turn off Internet Access - If possible, don't use the
editing PC for internet connection.
Turn off Security - Virus/Firewall when editing
Turn off CD Auto Play. Auto Play requires that the CPU
periodically checks whether a CD has been inserted and, if so,
automatically runs the program on the disk. This takes up valuable
CPU processing time which can be better used in the video editing
program.
Enable DMA (Direct memory Access) This will allow hard
disks to transfer data using less of the system CPU power, typically
about 40%, thus leaving that power for video processing with no
adverse effect on hard disk performance.
Use separate drive for Video Use a SATA drive if the PC
supports this type of interconnection. Consider using two hard
disks in a RAID 0 configuration to improve data flow or RAID 1
to provide added security to your video files (ie. duplicated
storage). RAID 5 provides increased data throughput and security,
but require at least three hard disks.
Defrag (de-fragment) the video hard drive regularly (Select
Disk Drive > Right Click and select Properties > Tools >
defrag) This will ensure contiguous data files on the hard disk
and will maximise data access.
Disable write behind memory caching This is an option
on a disk drive and may be accessed via the Properties page in
the Device manager
www.Videoguys.com list a number of tweaks that should be made to Windows XP to ensure
the best performance. These have been found to be beneficial and
have produced no unwanted side effects on any of my editing PCs.
Remember to use the Windows XP System Restore utility whenever
installing new software programs and device drivers. Set a
system restore point before you install the new software so that
should you suffer problems following the installation you may
return to the previous settings.
Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions relating to editing. I can't promise
to be able to answer all questions, but I will do what I can.
Happy editing.!
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