I'm new to video software and I'm looking at buying the Ulead Video Studio. I will also be setting up a new machine to run the software so I am interested in what machine resources make the biggest difference to this type of software...
I suspect plenty of RAM and big fast disks (maybe a 3 disk RAID 0 config or possibly a big SCSI drive?) will make the biggest difference but I would like to hear from someone with experience... What gives you the biggest bang for your buck in a video editing machine? What about capture cards, video cards etc... What does it take to do the job well?
Thanks in advance.
Z
Machine Spec
Moderator: Ken Berry
specs
I suggest you must have a powerful processor, large amount of ram, videocard may not do, and large amount of disk space in your hardisk. Depending of what editing of videos you want to have or what output you might want and also what budget you have will determine your purchase of your machine in video editing. Hope this helps. ^_^
†bryave
Hi,
I would say your processor is critical and can never be fast enough if your want to really edit things (tiltles, effects, overlays etc).
RAM is very useful but 512 is enough and over 1GB does not yield significant improvements any more.
Free disk space is definitely a comfort, but speed has no effect (ultra-SCSI are not needed), VideoStudio computes a lot but doesn't write often nor long, even when doing final rendering. Writes are few and "far" between. The disk cache is enough to cope with the throughput.
It helps if Windows, the swap file and your data are on separate disks (and I don't mean separate partitions, but physical interfaces).
Video card you should go with a recent card, the trick is having a producer that really follows up with the updates of the DirectX drivers.
Video RAM 128MB is right. Performance today if you go with ATI or nVidia chips is OK in all models. On board models could slow you down a little.
Then you need any Firewire card for DV capture and optionally a analog capture card if you need it. There too performance is always OK.
So buy any large disks pair you can find and spend the rest on the processor. The rest are mostly irrelevant. Other's mileage WILL vary.
A late editing: get a DVD burner capable of 8x of more DVD-/+RW burning. You'll be amazed at how many test disks you will burn. Waiting is never fun.
I would say your processor is critical and can never be fast enough if your want to really edit things (tiltles, effects, overlays etc).
RAM is very useful but 512 is enough and over 1GB does not yield significant improvements any more.
Free disk space is definitely a comfort, but speed has no effect (ultra-SCSI are not needed), VideoStudio computes a lot but doesn't write often nor long, even when doing final rendering. Writes are few and "far" between. The disk cache is enough to cope with the throughput.
It helps if Windows, the swap file and your data are on separate disks (and I don't mean separate partitions, but physical interfaces).
Video card you should go with a recent card, the trick is having a producer that really follows up with the updates of the DirectX drivers.
Video RAM 128MB is right. Performance today if you go with ATI or nVidia chips is OK in all models. On board models could slow you down a little.
Then you need any Firewire card for DV capture and optionally a analog capture card if you need it. There too performance is always OK.
So buy any large disks pair you can find and spend the rest on the processor. The rest are mostly irrelevant. Other's mileage WILL vary.
A late editing: get a DVD burner capable of 8x of more DVD-/+RW burning. You'll be amazed at how many test disks you will burn. Waiting is never fun.
-
GeorgeK
Hardware to support video editing
Zoro,
The think I like about UVS is that it does not require great and powerful hardware.
If you can I would recommend more than I am using, though I find it OK.
My configuration is now a bit old, and faster and better is not that expensive.
I have a Nvidia 64 MB video card and it seems find.
I would recommend a 2GHz or faster P4 (or equivelent) CPU. 3MHz would be nice.
I have 512 MB RAM and I believe that 1GB would be better, especially if you use Windows XP (I hear it is good at using RAM).
A 7200 RPM hard drive is find. The larger the Hard Drive cache, the better, I believe. And if I could afford it, I would like to try a 10,000 RPM drive. But I often find it is not the hard drive which is working that hard, more likely the CPU. I would not bother with RAID, unless you want to for the fun of it.
I would recommend Windows 2000 or Windows XP for the large file capacity (but I guess you would not be looking at anything less that Windows XP).
I find an hour of DV AVI video takes about 12 GB. If I have a project that has two hours of recorded video (even if the final output is going to be 20 minutes long), I like to have all my video on disk in DV Type 1 AVI files. Therefore two hours of video is about 24 GB.
Hard Drive space, well if you like me, I would recommend a Primary Hard Drive for your OS and other programs and data (data in a separate partition to OS), and second hard drive (say 120 to 300 GB) with (many) multiple partitions of about 30 to 50 GB. I usually have several projects going at a time. As defragmentation is a frustration to me, I use separate partitions to capture and then move files to other folders for editing. Have as much Disk Space as you can. I work with a 120 GB HD in two partitions. And I have a spare 200 GB HD (I can swap with removeable hard drive drive bays) which has four 45 GB partitions. The 120 GB is more than I need when I am organised (which is rarely).
By the way, I really enjoy Ulead Video Studio 9, it has some strange "features" , but it is GREAT !!!!!, and lots of FUN
I woud recommend you purchase one of the Epson or Canon printers which can print on DVDs. I have an Epson RX210 (very cheap) which does a fantastic job. I believe the Canon printer are great too. Of course, if I was purchasing a printer now, and had the funds, I would purchase the Epson STYLUS PHOTO RX700, does this printer look good! The only think I would like to see added is a fax modem to it.
I use printable DVDs with a 22mm (approx 1") diameter centre hole. The effect is very professional.
I would recommend purchasing several CD/DVD wallets/books as I found I soon filled several with DVDs containing DV AVI files and UVS project files (including still photos, and DVD label projects). After all if I spent all that time creating my DVD, I sure was not going to throw out the project files.
I do hope you find these comments useful.
Go and buy your computer and UVS 9 and have lots of fun. The main point is not the computer, or UVS, but what you can do with these tools.
The think I like about UVS is that it does not require great and powerful hardware.
If you can I would recommend more than I am using, though I find it OK.
My configuration is now a bit old, and faster and better is not that expensive.
I have a Nvidia 64 MB video card and it seems find.
I would recommend a 2GHz or faster P4 (or equivelent) CPU. 3MHz would be nice.
I have 512 MB RAM and I believe that 1GB would be better, especially if you use Windows XP (I hear it is good at using RAM).
A 7200 RPM hard drive is find. The larger the Hard Drive cache, the better, I believe. And if I could afford it, I would like to try a 10,000 RPM drive. But I often find it is not the hard drive which is working that hard, more likely the CPU. I would not bother with RAID, unless you want to for the fun of it.
I would recommend Windows 2000 or Windows XP for the large file capacity (but I guess you would not be looking at anything less that Windows XP).
I find an hour of DV AVI video takes about 12 GB. If I have a project that has two hours of recorded video (even if the final output is going to be 20 minutes long), I like to have all my video on disk in DV Type 1 AVI files. Therefore two hours of video is about 24 GB.
Hard Drive space, well if you like me, I would recommend a Primary Hard Drive for your OS and other programs and data (data in a separate partition to OS), and second hard drive (say 120 to 300 GB) with (many) multiple partitions of about 30 to 50 GB. I usually have several projects going at a time. As defragmentation is a frustration to me, I use separate partitions to capture and then move files to other folders for editing. Have as much Disk Space as you can. I work with a 120 GB HD in two partitions. And I have a spare 200 GB HD (I can swap with removeable hard drive drive bays) which has four 45 GB partitions. The 120 GB is more than I need when I am organised (which is rarely).
By the way, I really enjoy Ulead Video Studio 9, it has some strange "features" , but it is GREAT !!!!!, and lots of FUN
I woud recommend you purchase one of the Epson or Canon printers which can print on DVDs. I have an Epson RX210 (very cheap) which does a fantastic job. I believe the Canon printer are great too. Of course, if I was purchasing a printer now, and had the funds, I would purchase the Epson STYLUS PHOTO RX700, does this printer look good! The only think I would like to see added is a fax modem to it.
I use printable DVDs with a 22mm (approx 1") diameter centre hole. The effect is very professional.
I would recommend purchasing several CD/DVD wallets/books as I found I soon filled several with DVDs containing DV AVI files and UVS project files (including still photos, and DVD label projects). After all if I spent all that time creating my DVD, I sure was not going to throw out the project files.
I do hope you find these comments useful.
Go and buy your computer and UVS 9 and have lots of fun. The main point is not the computer, or UVS, but what you can do with these tools.
Here are Ulead's System Recomendations. I think they are a little "light" on the hard drive specs. Uncompressed AVI eats up about 13 GB per hour, and you need to at-least double the per-hour requirements so that you can have both edited and un-edited copies of your video files. Any modern system il likely to have at least an 80GB drive, so this should not be a problem.
CPU speed is only an issue for analog capture. If the CPU can't keep-up with the analog play-back, you can get dropped frames and nasty glitches. Again, this should not be a problem for any new system. If you want to to real-time MPEG capture (generally NOT recommended) you need the fastest processor you can get (or a capture card with a built-in hardware MPEG encoder).
The quality of the video card / chip won't affect the quality your digital files. But, a better card might display the video more accurately so that you can better judge how your finished DVD will look.
CAPTURE DEVICES:
If you are "capturing" from a digital camera, you don't need a capture card. You can connect the camera directly to your USB2 or FireWire port. If your DV camera has an analog input, you can often use it as a caputure device (i.e. connected between your VCR and your USB or FireWire input).
Most analog capture cards have a built-in TV tuner, so you can use your computer as a TiVo.
ATI makes the very popular All-In-Wonder and TV-Wonder capture cards.
Hauppauge makes capture cards with hardware MPEG encoders.
Pinnacle makes capture cards and external capture devices.
SOFTWARE
You can download trial versions of all Ulead programs (or you get a trial CD). So, try them before you buy. Most competitors have trial versions too.
Assuming that you are going to be making DVDs, consider getting DVD Workshop to use with Video Studio. Video Studio's DVD authoring is limited. If you get them together, you can get the Special Upgrade Version of DVD Workshop Express for $150.
CPU speed is only an issue for analog capture. If the CPU can't keep-up with the analog play-back, you can get dropped frames and nasty glitches. Again, this should not be a problem for any new system. If you want to to real-time MPEG capture (generally NOT recommended) you need the fastest processor you can get (or a capture card with a built-in hardware MPEG encoder).
The quality of the video card / chip won't affect the quality your digital files. But, a better card might display the video more accurately so that you can better judge how your finished DVD will look.
CAPTURE DEVICES:
If you are "capturing" from a digital camera, you don't need a capture card. You can connect the camera directly to your USB2 or FireWire port. If your DV camera has an analog input, you can often use it as a caputure device (i.e. connected between your VCR and your USB or FireWire input).
Most analog capture cards have a built-in TV tuner, so you can use your computer as a TiVo.
ATI makes the very popular All-In-Wonder and TV-Wonder capture cards.
Hauppauge makes capture cards with hardware MPEG encoders.
Pinnacle makes capture cards and external capture devices.
SOFTWARE
You can download trial versions of all Ulead programs (or you get a trial CD). So, try them before you buy. Most competitors have trial versions too.
Assuming that you are going to be making DVDs, consider getting DVD Workshop to use with Video Studio. Video Studio's DVD authoring is limited. If you get them together, you can get the Special Upgrade Version of DVD Workshop Express for $150.
-
Zoro