Is my computer powerful enough to handle Ulead?

[skier-hughes]

writing long files is hard work for a pc and if you use the same drive as the OS it has to read from the hard drive to work the OS and the programme while it is trying to write the file at the same time.
Much easier to read from one drive and write to another.

[2Dogs]

The drive with the Windows XP operating system on it will show as the C: drive in Windows Explorer or "My Computer". Most pc's will have just a single partition on that drive, although some may have a hidden partition for restoring the pc to it's original default settings. Dell, HP and many others have such a setup. You might be able to get a better idea of the arrangement in Windows "disk management".

Assuming that you added another hard drive, and that you didn''t have one of those hidden backup partitions, the new hard drive would show up as D: in My computer etc.

As you do more video editing, you'll find that it's easy to use up 100's of GB on a hard drive - so your existing hard drive might soon fill up.

Apart from the extra space, there is some advantage in having two hard drives installed, when doing certain things with VS.

For example, if you were saving a trimmed miniDV avi clip, it's quicker to do it to another drive. The pc will be reading from one drive and writing to another, which it can do significantly quicker than reading from and writing to the same drive. Another operation that shows a significant speed gain is smart rendering mpeg-2 files, for the same reason.

On all of my pc's, I also like to keep the operating system and all the programs in a separate partition, and the data in another one. This has several benefits. If you've used Windows defrag, you see a visualisation of the fragmentation of your hard drive. The Windows operating system tends to make the drive look like a Swiss cheese. By contrast, if you have a partition with just data on it, it tends to remain much less fragmented - and only becomes fragmented after you delete some files and add more - so it's much quicker and easier to keep defragmented than a mixed partition containing the operating system, programs and data. When you are capturing video, especially if it's in miniDV avi format, it helps to have your drive defragmented. It doesn't make capturing any faster, but just helps to prevent dropped frames during capture.

For me, however, the principal benefit of having a separate operating system and programs partition is that I can back it up and restore it very easily and quickly, using an additional backup partition, similar to the hidden ones mentioned above. Since the OS and programs partition is generally about 6 to 8Gb on my pcs, with 4 - 6 GB used, I can write a backup image of the partition in about 6 - 8 minutes, and restore an image in not much longer - say 8 - 10 minutes.

The downside of all of this is that you need to learn how to re-partition your drives and how to use the imaging software. So it's not for everyone.

[sseres]

system:
Dell Dimention 4700
OS WinXP sp2 (Home Ed)
Pentium 4 CPU 3.2 Ghz
1.5gig RAM
HD#1 145gb
HD#2 230gb
Video: Radeon X300 Series

questions:
1) is it going to make it feasible for me to edit ASCVD video (even in SD) if I get a video card with onboard memory?
2) is it worth it to consider changing the processor to a dual-core one?
3) do I sell it on ebay and get a new computer?
4) if 3 is true, what's the best Dell for doing video editing in the about $1000 range?

Thanks!

[2Dogs]

system:
Dell Dimention 4700
OS WinXP sp2 (Home Ed)
Pentium 4 CPU 3.2 Ghz
1.5gig RAM
HD#1 145gb
HD#2 230gb
Video: Radeon X300 Series

questions:
1) is it going to make it feasible for me to edit ASCVD video (even in SD) if I get a video card with onboard memory?

VS puts only modest demands on a pc video system - onboard graphics are fine. If it becomes problematical, HD editing can use "Smart Proxy", for which even the humblest onboard video is fine.

2) is it worth it to consider changing the processor to a dual-core one?

You might be able to use an older Pentium D dual core cpu in your existing motherboard. If your motherboard does support the Pentium D cpu, it could be the most economical upgrade, since you can simply swap out the cpu and keep the motherboard, RAM and so on.

If it doesn't support a Pentium D, it makes things tougher. You'd have to get a new motherboard and cpu. Although the Pentium D was an improvement on the Pentium 4, it's no match for a Core 2 Duo. To install one of those, however, you'd be looking at a new motherboard, new DDR2 RAM, and probably a new PCI Express video card, if you didn't want to go for onboard graphics.

One option might be to consider going over to an AMD cpu. You might still be able to get an AMD motherboard and CPU that takes DDR RAM and can use an AGP video card.

If you change the motherboard, however, you will have to re-validate Windows.

3) do I sell it on ebay and get a new computer?

If your motherboard does not support the Pentium D, it could be an option - but shipping costs are significant for pc's so you might try to sell locally.

4) if 3 is true, what's the best Dell for doing video editing in the about $1000 range?

Look for built in Firewire if you're going to capture from a miniDV camcorder. The hard drive camcorders can generally transfer stuff by USB, which you'll find on all pc's.

If you're not interested in Gaming, don't bother with anything beyond integrated graphics. You can always add a video card later as the need arises.

You might consider buying just the "system unit", since you presumably have a monitor with your existing pc.

I would go for a mid tower case with room for adding extra drives (although just about all pc's can have two drives usually positioned at the bottom front of the case.

Hope that helps.

[Ken Berry]

I am not sure exactly what you mean by 'ASCVD', since to me, the only acronym I can think of relates to cardio-vascular (heart) disease! However, if you are talking about AVCHD video, then your current computer might be able to handle editing it, though very slowly. However, curiously enough, it would probably not then be able to play back the edited video correctly. I just had my main video editing computer die on me. It was not dissimilar to yours (3.0 GHz P4 with 2 GB RAM). It could edit AVCHD but when I played back the product, it was 'jerky' in the sense that a few seconds would play properly then it would slow down and suddenly leap forward again. I thought the editing had been ineffective until I transferred the clip to a Core 2 Duo 2 GHz 2 GB RAM machine, when the edited clip played smoothly. Anyway, on reading more about AVCHD I learned that a P4 simply can't play it correctly.

For what it is worth, I just bought a Core 2 Quad with 4 GB RAM and super fast ATI graphics card as my new editing toy ... er... computer! See my system button. That can handle AVCHD well.

[sseres]

Ken: no heart disease here... just a bumble of the keyboard is all. How did you decide on the video card you use? Did you part your computer together or get it from someone like Dell?

So, my understanding, 2dogs, was that there was nothing on earth good about integrated graphics card and editing hi-def stuff. You say I might upgrade to a video card later. What would you suggest?

[Clevo]

On the new PC I just bought I chose the:

512MB GEForce 8600GTS Dual DVI, HDCP, Pure Video HD

Plugging into it is the very nice Samsung 206BW 20" wide screen TFT, 1680x1050 DVI, HDCP

The graphics card, whilst not top of the line is DirectX 10 compatible and came at a very resonable price now the the GeForce 9 series are out.

Shop around and do buy it from a repuatable shop rather than from e-bay

[Ken Berry]

I bought the computer ready made from a company in Sydney. I just happened to be reading a review of the computer in my favourite computer magazine here the day before my other one died. Coincidentally, the mag also had a review of the motherboard which is used in the computer. And one of our other users the week before had been praising the graphics card that is used in it. I have since read on-line reviews of that too, and apparently it is a very fast piece of work. So overall, I am more than happy... not to mention having the 3 TB of hard disk space to fill up!!

And Clevo, it looks even better on my 22 inch widescreen TFT monitor!! The computer even has an HDMI port so that I can connect it directly to a high def plasma or TFT TV...

[Clevo]

I bought the computer ready made from a company in Sydney. I just happened to be reading a review of the computer in my favourite computer magazine here the day before my other one died. Coincidentally, the mag also had a review of the motherboard which is used in the computer. And one of our other users the week before had been praising the graphics card that is used in it. I have since read on-line reviews of that too, and apparently it is a very fast piece of work. So overall, I am more than happy... not to mention having the 3 TB of hard disk space to fill up!!

And Clevo, it looks even better on my 22 inch widescreen TFT monitor!! The computer even has an HDMI port so that I can connect it directly to a high def plasma or TFT TV...

I'm trying to get used to having access to all filters/effects without having to scroll down.

I've gone from a 4:3 CRT monitor to a 20 inch wide screen and all that real estate feels very strange indeed.



On Vista VS runs very very smoothly but for some reason after I close it down I get a message that VS didn;t close properly. I think this might have something to do with the VS pre-load.

[Ken Berry]

Maybe a 64 bit thing...? Mine closes (and operates) smoothly... so far!!

[Clevo]

Maybe a 64 bit thing...? Mine closes (and operates) smoothly... so far!!

It's not effecting anything so I just click it away and ignore it...

I'm a little dissapointed with Audacity within Vista but it's a vista problem really as recording "what you Hear" has been disabled. With reasonable reasons too.

[2Dogs]

So, my understanding, 2dogs, was that there was nothing on earth good about integrated graphics card and editing hi-def stuff. You say I might upgrade to a video card later. What would you suggest?

If you're on a budget, you could go for a machine with integrated graphics. If playback of HD video on your pc is important to you, then without a video card that gives hardware acceleration, you need a pretty fast cpu - such as an Intel Core 2 duo E6600 or better.

I haven't looked at the kind of pc that the likes of HP and Dell, the "Tier One" suppliers put together with that kind of processor. It may well be that they include a discrete video card. The Nvidia 8600 series, such as mentioned by Clevo, can provide hardware acceleration, which can reduce the load on the cpu when playing back HD video on the pc, subject to using a software DVD player on the pc that can take advantage of that.

I would not recommend getting an 8600 card right now. There have been a couple of new 8800GT cards released recently, which, when supply settles down a bit, offer high end performance for mid-range prices. I therefore think that prices of existing cards such as the 8600GT will drop sharply in the near future.

Whilst the hardware acceleration can benefit HD video playback on a pc, it has no effect on HD video encoding. So, although you could use a slower cpu on a machine with, say, an 8600GT, I think your money would be better spent getting a faster cpu. As I said, you can always add a video card later if you find that you want to play the latest video games on your pc, but with an E6600 cpu or better, you won't need one for HD video playback.

I would suggest you try using your existing pc for some test editing, to get a feel for what's involved. In the near future, Intel will be releasing the 45nm versions of their C2D line up, which will probably have the effect of reducing prices of cpu's like the E6600, which is a 65nm process part.