http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ Videomaker Forums » Tag: PC - Recent Posts en Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:04:59 +0000 http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/live-webcastingkinda-new-to-this#post-52407 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:45:04 +0000 EarlC 52407@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>You COULD throw money at NetTek's Tri-caster. If I had it to spare I'd have one in my backpack and use it until it fell apart literally.</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/live-webcastingkinda-new-to-this#post-52390 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:26:38 +0000 addison 52390@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p> </p> <p>Hi,</p> <p>If you want to get into live webcasting then the services provided at<br /> TalkPointCommunications.com will help you out. The programs offered here are<br /> extremely user-friendly and also don't require any special software<br /> downloads.</p> <p> </p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/live-webcastingkinda-new-to-this#post-50352 Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:00:20 +0000 dbakerboy3 50352@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>Hey im kinda new to this video production thing, im trying to get into live webcasting and am kinda stuck at the moment... i was wondering is there a way to transmit video and sound from my camcorder to my laptop wirelessly...i need the mobility for the type of production i am doing... all the help is greatly appreciated </p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-50275 Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:40:57 +0000 cfox 50275@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>It seems I forgot to mention something huge in my original post that would have helped guide the suggestions thus far. My delivery method for my documentary project will be DVD and web video (smallest file size possible), so if I would have disclosed that in the beginning I'm sure I would have been guided to the point where my research led me today. The camera I was looking at was great, but there's no way for me to burn AVCHD to a regular DVD disc, and the majority of my target audience does not own a Blu-Ray player, nor do I own a BR burner. So, although that camcorder is very nice and I'd love to start with that one, if I can't burn my HD video then I can't justify purchasing an HD camera at the moment.</p> <p>Stepping down to an SD camera just made things much less complicated for me as far as hardware/software, so let me just run one other things past you guys. Instead of the Canon HF S10, would the Canon FS22 be sufficient? I'm having some difficulty finding answers to my questions about the speicific cameras in question, so I hope you guys aren't tired of helping this newb yet. I just need a camera that will be able to shoot some good footage for a documentary. It must have decent sound or ability to connect a mic, must have tripod connection, etc. Please give any advice on the camera side if you can, and I'll promise to stop posting for a while, lol. </p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-50271 Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:17:25 +0000 cfox 50271@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>Alright, so I'm in the process of purchasing a couple external hard drives to get a head start on this before I bite the larger bullet of ordering the sotware and camera. Here's where I'm at so far...</p> <p>LaCie 1TB external HD, very affordable at $165 each from Dell. Only problem is it doesn't appear my PC has FW 800 connectivity (heard Vista doesn't support that interface yet...?), so I won't be able to daisy chain two of these on the 800Mbps side. So here's the big question, do I get two drives and daisy on FW 400 or just get one drive and connect via eSATA?</p> <p>Thanks again for all the help! </p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-50193 Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:45:47 +0000 cfox 50193@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p> Thanks so much for the helpful advice!  I know I'm bound to hit some snags along the way, as you said, but I wanted to get as many suggestions as possible from people with much more experience.  So, thanks for that!</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-50161 Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:04:10 +0000 NormanWillis 50161@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>And it sounds like you are doing your research, which is good.  You will hit snags, but persevere.  Your basic plan seems sound.</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-50160 Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:02:48 +0000 NormanWillis 50160@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>You'll be fine.  You'll have some technical support issues, because that is the nature of the beast.  But your basic plan and strategy is sound.</p> <p>You definitely want a second hard drive for HD: and in fact a RAID 0 setup for the second drive is even better, although not entirely necessary.  </p> <p>AVCHD is a bear, because the files are compressed so much.  The processor has to uncompress them on the fly in order to edit them, which is a big job, so it taxes the processor heavily.  However, you can ease the load on your machine somewhat by transcoding the files with Cineform NeoScene, a $99.00 utility through Videoguys.  I use the Canon HF S10 (which I love) and the AVCHD .mts files make my CoreDuo Quad 3.0GHz run at 95% capacity on all four cores.  However, when I transcode the files first with NeoScene they run at about 57%, and the colorspace is much better.  NeoScene is the cheapest thing you can do to increase your relative processing power/speed.  It makes AVCHD editing so much easier.</p> <p>Internal drives are at least hypothetically better than external drives.  Some guys have problems with external drives, but it all depends on you and your machine.  Most guys use external drives with out problems, but if you have the option, bring the hard drives inside of the box to eliminate problems.  The same goes for DVD or BluRay burners.  Most times you are fine.  But.</p> <p><em>&gt;&gt;Second, am I starting too big?  I don't really want to use Windows Media Player, and I know that Adobe Premeire is very high-end, so if there's something int he middle that will get the job done and make my project look just as nice, please let me know.</em></p> <p>If you want something 'in the middle' try Sony Vegas.  It is a comprehensive all-in-one suite that is very easy to use.  Most of the people on this forum (maybe 2/3rds) use it, because it is so easy to use, and because it delivers excellent bang for the buck.  It does not have the higher-end features of CS4, but lots of guys use Vegas for their primary (because it is so much easier) and then they export whatever needs 'finishing touches' to CS4 with a free utility called DebugMode Frameserver (which I have not used yet, but everyone loves).</p> <p>I hope that helps.</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-50159 Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:51:05 +0000 cfox 50159@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p> I've been trying to read around about the compatability with the Canon VIXIA HF S10 and Premeire Pro, but I need some confirmation.  I've read there may be difficulties with this model's encoding (AVCHD) and Premier...any idea if this camcorder will cause me any problems if using it with Premiere to edit?</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-50021 Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:35:48 +0000 lmenningen 50021@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>1. I use PremierePro CS4 and use multi-cameras and may have many more than three timelines/sequences, some nested, and all the other stuff you'd do when editing, and PremierePro handles them just fine. There doesn't seem to be a limit to the number of timelines.</p> <p>2. Your computer should be OK, but having three (3) internal or eSata hard drives can help. Premiere lets you allocate drives: say drive C for the system and project files, drive D for your source files and a third drive for the preview files. This allocation provides tremendous speed improvements. Buy tera-byte drives.</p> <p>3. Your processor should be fine - mine is the i7-940 which is only slightly faster than yours, but I do have 12GB memory. Before I went to Vista 64-bit I had a system with only 4GB of memory, and PremierePro CS4 constantly crashed on projects of very minimal size. It was very frustrating, and it crashed on over a dozen projects. The problem was that 4GB in a 32-bit OS is not enough. You have 6GB and a 64-bit OS which is much better, but be alert for crashes - that shouldn't happen unless you have a larger project; most projects should work just fine.</p> <p>4. Editing doesn't make much use of your kind of graphics power, but of course it won't interfere in any way either.</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-49969 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:11:34 +0000 BruceMol 49969@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>I capture to an internal hard drive for editing, but I also eSATA drives for backups. My preference is to have 2 copies, one on the data drive of my computer and one on an eSATA drive which I regularly exchange for another drive in my safety deposit box at the bank. Read about the read/write speeds and I'm sure you'll go with eSATA. My new m/b (ASUS P6T) has an eSATA port and I was able to add an eSATA card to my other computer quite easily.</p> <p> </p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-49961 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:11:17 +0000 TDedmonSBP 49961@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>I do all of my editing from my external. I have a 72000RPM seagate connected with firewire 800 and it runs just fine with Adobe master CS4. If you can find an external with eSata then you will be even better off because of the speed.</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-49959 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:46:27 +0000 cfox 49959@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p> Dang, just as I licked Post, one last question, lol....</p> <p>On my secondary hard drive, do I need it to be an internal drive or could I get by with an external?  I'm assuming I could just dump all my footage from the camera on an external and then transfer it over to my internal to edit on it, but Adobe's reccomendations leave my wondering if that will work smoothly.  Any advice?</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-49958 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:45:03 +0000 cfox 49958@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p> Thank you so much for all the help!  Now I have a better idea of what the capabilities of my system are as far as editing, so now it just comes down to deciding on the camera model.  I'm looking forward to my first project, so thanks again for the help and suggestions!</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-49957 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:22:41 +0000 BruceMol 49957@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p> According to the HFS10 manual <a href="http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/9/0300001969/02/hfs10-s100-nim01-en.pdf">http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/9/0300001969/02/hfs10-s100-nim01-en.pdf</a> you are always recording in wide screen. There are 5 recording modes 2 of which are full HD abnd the others are less. So, for this camera, it appears that the 4:3 option doesn't really exist (see pages 46 &amp; 46) . Previous cameras (I use an HV20 and XHA1) do have that option. </p> <p>If you really need to produce in 4:3 aspect ratio you'll have to set up your Adobe Project settings to reflect that, capture your recording and if what you want is not in the field then nudge it over.</p> <p>Certainly HD is more demanding on the computer. With my i7 920 based computer I can have 3 HDV video timelines before I see a halt in processing. Sooner if I've color corrected an entire timeline. My previous computer could barely handle 1 line of HD though it had no problem with 3 timelines of SD. </p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-49939 Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:02:20 +0000 cfox 49939@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p> Just to clarify, are you saying on an HD camera like the Canon I was looking at, I should be able to choose to shoot in 16:9 SD even though it's an HD camera...is that right?  One other clarification, I've heard that editing in HD is extremely demanding on the computer, can mine really handle that or should I shoot in SD if I can?</p> <p>Thanks for the advice on Adobe, I'm looking forward to getting it and diving in to get used to it!</p> <p>Please keep the suggestions coming, I really appreciate it!</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-49937 Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:59:57 +0000 BruceMol 49937@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p> I think you are starting off right. I just finished up a documentary using two Canon HD Cameras, an i7 920 PC, Adobe PPro CS3. I shot in HD though my project was always intended to be 16:9 SD. (you can select 4:3 or 16:9 SD in the menu options) Shooting in HD allows for some flebility in framing a shot, you can move around quite a bit in the frame. I highly highly highly recommend one more drive. Also note what others are currently writing in recent posts about professional products like Adobe - they hardly ever choke. I can't recall how many sequences I had but I had 25 x 63min DV tapes to edit and the only time I had trouble is when I inadvertently caused it! </p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/beginner-needs-advice-on-hardwaresoftware-for-documentary#post-49935 Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:28:45 +0000 cfox 49935@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p> Hello everyone.  As stated in the title, I am a complete beginner to all of this, so I would really appreciate any and all advice.  I'm planning a documentary-style production as part of a little project I'm working on, but I need some serious help deciding what exactly I need.  I've been looking at some camcorders and researching as best I possibly can, and I already have a decent PC that I hope will be able to handle the editing side, so let me run those by you first.</p> <p><strong>Camcorder<br /></strong>I'm looking at the Canon VIXIA HF S10.  It's a HD model and has internatl 32GB storage which I think would be handy considering I'll be shooting at multiple locations and might not want to transfer video to my PC in between (or have multiple cards).  However, I'm not sure if this is the model that I NEED...it's a great-looking camcorder and would handle my project nicely from what I can tell, but if I should start with something lower-end first I'd be open to hearing that.  The big question is...do I need HD?  If I shoot with an SD camera will it affect the picture when viewed on TV's (will it be 4:3 or can I still get a 16:9 with an SD camera)?</p> <p><strong>PC<br /></strong>I currently have a Dell XPS 730x as my gaming rig that I think I should be able to use for the editing side of this project.  It has an Intel i7-920 processor (8 core, probably 2.6GHz if I remember right).  It has 6GB of RAM, running Vista 64-bit, and I've got a dual ATI Radeon 4870HD for a total of 4GB video RAM.  I have one hard drive, and from what I've read on the Adobe website about the Production Premium suite, I don't know if I'll need a second hard drive (website says "dedicated hard drive for editing....").  Just not sure.  So do you think I will be fine with this computer?</p> <p><strong>Editing Software<br /></strong>I've been looking seriously at Adobe Premeire Pro (and the other titles included with that CS4 suite).  The biggest question I have on this is would I be able to run that software suite smoothly on my PC with the specs listed above?  Second, am I starting too big?  I don't really want to use Windows Media Player, and I know that Adobe Premeire is very high-end, so if there's something int he middle that will get the job done and make my project look just as nice, please let me know.</p> <p> </p> <p>Alright, that's all of my questions so far.  I am very much a beginner, but I'll save the technique questions for a later time and try to figure most of them out myself while I'm experimenting with my gear once I get it.  For now, I need the most help with figuring out what the best gear would be for this project.  I know you pros must read many posts from beginners and get tired of answering all these simple questions, but I would really appreciate any help you can offer!  Thanks in advance!</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/using-video-acquired-from-a-dvr-system-copyright-infringement#post-49869 Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:41:39 +0000 composite1 49869@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>Jerron brings up some good points and some clarification on 'fair usage'. However, the burden of proof will fall upon you. He's right that 'you don't have to comply', but the devil in those details is you'd better be prepared to defend your usage and if they file against your internet provider or your web hosting service, in order to minimize their headaches they will likely cancel your service.</p> <p>On the other hand, giving full credit for where you got the footage from often holds off those inclined to lawyer up. But that also depends on you using short clips and not entire broadcasts. With everyone embedding video the rules are getting pushed to the limits. As is at the moment, you're in the run it up the flag pole and see if anyone objects stage. Sticking to the topics and not attacking anyone specifically may help keep you out of trouble.</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/using-video-acquired-from-a-dvr-system-copyright-infringement#post-49859 Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:28:42 +0000 lenau92@gmail.com 49859@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>Ok so then, what do you think about my situation?</p> <p>Id like to produce a political commentary web show. In this show id like to review things said in the previous nights news. This would entail either reading a transcript, or playing video clips of the discussed piece. Do you think i would run into problems with this? If i could do it... i would post it on youtube, but i also had interest in posting it on my personal website. This website contains advertisement.. would it be wrong to host a video with copyrighted material on a site where im making money from advertising? ... Its hard for me to see myself getting notified from fox news or cnn that they want to remove their clips from my videos... DO you think their are any dangers in just going ahead with it until someone stops me?</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/using-video-acquired-from-a-dvr-system-copyright-infringement#post-49829 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:29:15 +0000 jerronsmith 49829@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>&gt;&gt;according to fair usage regulations you can use portions of said<br /> material either with permission or without in a non-profit manner which<br /> is a broad description but that's how it works.  b)The moment the<br /> copyright holder objects to your usage and requests you either remove<br /> the materials from your project or take it down entirely according to<br /> law, you are required to do so immediately.&lt;&lt;</p> <p>Just a clarification. Technically the "fair use doctrine" of the copyright laws does not make a distinction between whether you the infringer makes a profit from your infringement or not. What it actually evaluates is whether or not your infringement has a negative effect on the ability of the copyright holder to make a profit. It is the reason that YouTube can't successfully claim fair use for people posting even small clips from film and television. The copyright holder can claim that even small snippets can negatively impact their profits from both rebroadcast and dvd/internet download sales. </p> <p>And by the way if you are claiming fair usage you don't have to comply with cease and desist orders from the copyright holder. That is the entire point of the doctrine, they can't tell you not to use it, because it is a protected use. Keep in mind that the main thrust of the doctrine is to protect scholarly research, criticism, and satire not just because yo felt like using the material, so depending on the context you may be able to get away with a claim of fair use or not. Another issue to keep in mind is something a judge friend of mine once told me; "if you plan on using the fair use doctrine as a defense you must first admit that you infringed a copyrighted work."</p> <p> </p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/using-video-acquired-from-a-dvr-system-copyright-infringement#post-49817 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:43:49 +0000 composite1 49817@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>Lenau,</p> <p>Yes and no is your answer. Yes it is copyright infringement if you take all or portions of copyrighted work to use in other projects without permission from the copyright holder. No, in that a) according to fair usage regulations you can use portions of said material either with permission or without in a non-profit manner which is a broad description but that's how it works.  b)The moment the copyright holder objects to your usage and requests you either remove the materials from your project or take it down entirely according to law, you are required to do so immediately.</p> <p>Those talk shows you mention almost always have permission to do so. To find out more about the rules and regs regarding US copyright at copyright.gov.</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/using-video-acquired-from-a-dvr-system-copyright-infringement#post-49812 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:12:54 +0000 lenau92@gmail.com 49812@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>&lt;span style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"&gt;<br /> &lt;p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: #ffffff; background-position: initial initial; margin: 8px;"&gt; </p> <p>My question is in regards to publishing original videos online with clips from tv shows recorded via DVR.</p> <p>Is it legal to use video acquired from a DVR system in a video of your own? (like video clips from the news or a tv show)</p> <p>If so, are there regulations? ( Water mark? Not full screen, or frame the original video?)</p> <p>Is youtube's policy on this congruent with the actual copyright law?</p> <p>Is youtube's policy on this congruent with the actual copyright law?</p> <p> </p> <p>This is done all the time in pop culture talk shows where they review what happened the previous night on television... is this relevant?</p> <p> </p> <p>any thing else you think might be useful to my inquiry?</p> <p> </p> <p>&lt;/span&gt; </p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/to-build-or-not-to-build/page/6#post-49507 Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:50:07 +0000 composite1 49507@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>Norman,</p> <p>I'm on the fence on the AMD vs Intel debate. I happen to have had good results with both brands. Now that more programs are developed with AMD in mind, the main things I'm looking at are; speed, price, stability and flexibility. Right now, Intel has the advantage in the flexibility dept. while AMD has the advantage in pricing. Both produce very stable chips but Intel seems to be winning the 'core wars'. I currently am using an Intel Quad in my latest system and don't necessarily have any plans to build anything with an AMD in it. However, that could change.</p> <p>Concerning your fine argument for HDD backup vs Tape; numbers wise, it is much cheaper when you put it the way you did. But, you also have to figure real-world components into the equation like; power, medium stability and reviewing capabilities. </p> <p>Power issues are mighty important. With no power, you can't view the footage from a harddrive particularly with the bigboy's you mentioned. With tape, if need be I can take a battery powered camera and a tape, plug it into a battery powered laptop and still keep working. As an aside, you can do the same thing if you have your materials archived on solid-state media (but those are more expensive than tape.)</p> <p>Medium stability is a major factor as well. Long as the tape was in good condition initally, you use a VTR with clean undamaged heads and store it properly, digital tape will last a very long time. Harddrives are also very good for archiving but you are completely at the mercy of the hdd's mechanics and file system. At any given time you connect your drive to power and to your system it could fail catastrophically. It's a regular occurrance no matter what platform you work with ergo the 'many redundancies' used to back up volatile digital footage. Unless a tape broke, I've never seen one 'crap out' like the many harddrives I've had to recover or lay to rest.</p> <p>Lastly, you have to factor in what you're viewing it on. If you need a quick look at some archival footage, you can keep a small rechargable player or camera in your archiving area. Whereas with HDD's you are committed to connecting them to a computer or laptop for external drives. The cost of the computer / laptop has to be factored into your overall costs of useage along with it's power usage and time accumulated in it's use (start-up, shutdown, etc.)</p> <p>Don't get me wrong, I like and utillize HDD storage, but still will store footage on tape as well until the solidstate technology reaches the economical / storage capacity of current HDD's before I make a 100% switch over.</p> <p>Oh, and I am unaware of anyone who's built a Xeon system.</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/to-build-or-not-to-build/page/6#post-49423 Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:33:12 +0000 NormanWillis 49423@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>Hi Comp.</p> <p><em>&gt;&gt;Backing up is my main beef with a fully tapeless workflow. You have to put all of that footage onto a drive and drives are fragile.</em></p> <p>I think the key here is redundancy.  You can get a 1TB external USB Seagate Free Agent for $129.00 right now through Tiger Direct, and prices keep dropping.  So that's $129.00/1000 GB = $0.129 cents per gigabyte of storage in hdd's, versus $7.00/13GB =$0.54 per GB with HDV tape, or something like, I dunno, 400 times cheaper?  So even if you have three external hdd copies of everything (just for redundancy's sake), you are still at least 100 times better off, in the long run.</p> <p>But I do have a couple of questions for you.  Earlier you said that Sony Vegas was optimized for AMD.  How big of a factor is that, considering the fact that Intel processors currently outrun/outperform the AMD ones?</p> <p>And does anyone ever home-build a Xeon?</p> <p>Norman</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/to-build-or-not-to-build/page/6#post-49317 Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:09:14 +0000 composite1 49317@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>Norman,</p> <p>Yeah the Apple/Jobs thing is a real factor. Seeing how the bean counters over there are already rolling with 'iLife' and 'iThis' and 'iWannapuke'. It may well be innovative software, but it will be interesting to see what happens when Jobs ultimately steps down or passes on. Not to mention they're coming out with 'Snow Leopard' and they make some ballsy claims about it's max system requirements. How they are going to back all of that up while still using the FAT32 file system will also be interesting.</p> <p>Yeah, Avid has their own weirdness going on as well typically, because the bean counters are looking at 'what sells' not 'why it sells'. They seem to be under the auspices that their primary market is big-time Hollywood. But, like they implied in those discussions all that's starting to change.</p> <p>The Sony/Adobe combo is a pretty good fit. Encore is alot like Cinescore, but I believe the latter is a lot easier to use. I much prefer ACID for the freedom to create with premade loops or your own. Takes a bit of tweaking to make it line up but I think it's much better. Encore has not impressed me. Glad to hear V9 has been stable for you.</p> <p>Backing up is my main beef with a fully tapeless workflow. You have to put all of that footage onto a drive and drives are fragile. Maybe when the solid-state harddrives become prevalent, larger in capacity and much cheaper they will be a stable option. I find that any savings in time not digitizing is lost in how many redundancies of backup sources needed. Even the vaunted Blue-Ray technology is already obsolete as you can't store any real amount of stock footage on a BR disc. 40GB max for a dual-sided BRD is still going to come out to quite a large and expensive pile when archiving a 500GB+ Drive full of uncompressed HD footage.</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/to-build-or-not-to-build/page/6#post-49280 Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:30:02 +0000 NormanWillis 49280@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>That MacVideo that said ProApps was going down along with Steve Jobs' health really made me think twice about going Apple, or Avid.  I had no idea that Avid is going down, and that bit the guy said in the end about Adobe quietly but steadily improving CS4 and 5 really made me think hard.</p> <p>I am looking forward to getting into Creative Suite, but right now I am just trying to learn all of the ins and outs of Vegas.  The software does so much.  I will probably build my next machine, and although I will probably build a machine that could run Avid (with "Intel everything", as John Rofrano is recommending) I don't see much reason to spend big bucks on their software.  What makes more sense is just to learn Vegas, and then pick up CS-whatever after that.</p> <p>So far Vegas Pro 9 has been really stable.  It is on a fresh install of Vista 64 Ultimate (b/c I need the language support), and not one crash so far.  Way better than I expected.  I did get an external USB drive for 'drive wipes' like you suggested somewhere; and if the machine ever gets unstable, then a clean install is only a couple of hours away.</p> <p>So it looks like I also will be heading for the Vegas/CSX combo....</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/to-build-or-not-to-build/page/6#post-49253 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:12:32 +0000 composite1 49253@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>Norman,</p> <p>You voted your mind at the time. It's been a long thread and a great deal of info and research on your own later. Pre-built systems obviously have their uses or they wouldn't be as prevalent. If you think about it, though there are tens of thousands of in-house built units out there the number wouldn't scratch the paint on the number of pre-built's that get made each year.</p> <p>As I mentioned at the begining of this thread, building your own is not for the casual user or the technically disinclined. You must have a strong background in computer usage and understand the basics of how they work. Once you get past the concept of the unit being 'sacrosanct', you'll be able to 'crack open' the case and find the computer is just a machine that can be altered. With practice, you'll get to the point where you'll see a pre-built and either know you could build a better one or be ready research you could.</p> <p>Yeah, Avid has been at this since the beginning. That Apple has been able to gain on them is because of their initial association and their similar tightness on the technology. Avid really stepped away from them when they went cross-platform. If apple ever unpinched their sphincters and allowed some of their software to go crossplatform, they would probably dominate for a while. Lately, I've changed my mind about going back to Avid. I've been working with the Adobe Suite for the last year and it's really a pro setup. I'm still a hardcore Vegas Suite user (haven't gotten 9 yet) and find that there are things Premiere can do and Vegas can do so I use them both. The combination of the two suites allows me to do some serious finishing work and with certain compatible hardware options, I can do similar work at far less expense than putting together a Media Composer setup. Now that money all around is much tighter, that is a serious consideration.</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/to-build-or-not-to-build/page/6#post-49217 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:48:00 +0000 NormanWillis 49217@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>Yeah, well at least I finally understand why Avid specs their machines out like they do.</p> <p>I wish I knew how to go back and change my vote from 'modified Dell' to 'home-built'!</p> <p>Norman</p> http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/to-build-or-not-to-build/page/6#post-49216 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:36:21 +0000 composite1 49216@http://videomaker.com/community/forums/ <p>Norman,</p> <p>Nice article. I too 'graze' at the Cow from time to time. Yeah, there are a lot of myths as to what causes instability with windows products. The biggest cause is as you mentioned coming from parts that don't play nice together due to driver issues. The great advantage of building your own can also be the biggest disadvantage. Being able to 'mix and match' parts can save you time and money up front. But, if you don't do proper research on the system requirements and driver compatibilities, you'll end up 'paying' those savings back by having to replace parts and or time spent on reconfiguring.</p> <p>Mr. Rofrano is on point about in-house built systems. I personally do not recommend them for the casual user. For the professional editor, freelancer or production house I strongly recommend them provided they have the technical resources and personnel to maintain their systems which by the way they would need anyway. </p> <p>Yes, the closer you stay to recommended system requirements/compatibility the better. That goes for AMD chips and mobo's as well. So far my latest build has been quite stable. The only oddities have been; CS3 glitches involving the licensing and Vista's protection protocols (fixed), minor weirdness with the 'Gadgets' panel on the desktop after startup (fix by hitting refresh) and the very rare startup stall (fix by restarting system.) I'm just sorry we currently don't have room for that 'super system' I spec'ed out!</p> <p>And you're welcome.</p>