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What
to look for in a video editing PC:
Do you need to do just basic editing or do you see
yourself getting tempted into some intermediate
editing work?
A lot of companies build what they call
entry level video editing PCs but they may not cut
the mustard. Our advice is look for one with a real-time
video editing cards [what
is this?].
This article on why "basic video
editing" may not actually exist.
It's
like this: Do you agree that you need a complete
PC to send an email? You can't of course send an
email if you have only a PC monitor. Whether you
want to send one tenny, weeny, email, or work full
time as a webmaster and internet developer, you
need the same parts. You need bits like a monitor,
keyboard, mouse, hard disk and internet
connection. Don't you?
Actually,
you don't! You can manage without some of those
parts. You can use a TV set or a laptop screen
instead of a monitor (or maybe a microwave!), you
can use a trackball or drawing tablet instead of a
keyboard and mouse, you could save your
"email" on a floppy disk and give it to
a friend to send via his internet connection at
work, or you can use one of those Amstrad phone
gizmos that allow you some limited email
functionality directly from your phone. Very
messy, but not impossible. You can send an email
without having a monitor, or keyboard or internet
connection :-) It won't be much fun and will
probably be quite an annoying way to work. The
extent of the annoyance is going to be decided by
how much of email you do want to send, how quickly
you want to reply to incoming mail and whether you
want to archive the old mail.
Video
editing PCs without real-time editing cards are
like that handicapped PC above. They do (part of)
the job but, crucially, with a lot of
compromises, some inconvenience, and slower
speeds. PCs without the right parts and software
will be annoying to work with. The extent of the
annoyance (and the limitations) will depend
on how much you want to do on your video editing
PC.
Option 1 - choosing a ready made package:
Choose a turnkey video editing PC
that comes ready for both analogue and digital video
editing. Simply plug in, put on, and start
editing.
Option
2 - choose a PC and choose a video editing card:
Choose any standard PC and add a dedicated
real-time video
editing card
and
software.
Professional:
A professional video editing dual processor
turnkey workstation can be assembled by specialist
companies dedicated to that sector.
If your requirements are unusual you'd be better
off contacting such a niche supplier.
Some
Advice:
Choosing
your connectors:
You
need to decide which of the following you need:
Analogue input
Analogue output
Digital input
Digital output
Analogue
inputs/outputs are like the red, white and
yellow sockets (composite) on your TV/VCR. (The red and white
handle the sound, the yellow handles the video). Some camcorders have
the round S-Video connectors that are
also supported by some VCRs but you don't find
S-Video inputs on average computers. S-Video
handles video only and if you're using S-Video
you'll have to use a
separate cable to provide audio feed. If you have an
older analogue camcorder you will need analogue inputs
on your PC. The quality of analogue footage is of course
lower than digital.
Tip:
If a computer lists an S-Video socket on the
graphics card it's probably only an S-Video out
and NOT an S-Video in. However, you do get
composite
inputs on most professional video editing cards.
Digital
input/outputs (DV) are provided by what's called
Firewire i.e. IEEE 1394 ports. You will need this
if you wish to transfer footage from a digital camcorder
to your PC. Firewire ports can be
found on some soundcards (like Creative Audigy 2),
are included on most modern motherboards, and if
you have neither of these you can add firewire
functionality via a PCI Firewire card, which is a
lot cheaper than a video editing card. All modern
"dedicated" video editing cards provide at
least one firewire port.
Tip:
When buying a digital camcorder check that it supports
out digital out and digital in. Not all do.
A
word in favour of analogue: Note that even if your
camcorder is digital you may want analogue connectors on
your PC for the following reasons:
1.
You may at some point want to connect a TV, VCR etc to
the PC. You may want to play footage from the PC on a TV
screen.
2. You may not have a digital input on your
"digital" camcorder and may need to input
analogue signals into your camcorder.
3. You may want to connect other camcorders to your PC
4. You may want to connect other analogue equipment to
the PC (to feed in a audio track, for example)
It's
always useful to have analogue in and out on your PC. If
you don't need it now, the chances are that you'll find
you need it at some point, our suggestion is to play
safe and have it from the start.
Tip:
Convertors like "Scart to composite" are
widely available in the market. If you buy such a
connector to plug into your TV/VCR then ensure that it
has a switch to allow you to select whether you want to
use the composite sockets as inputs or outputs.
Tip:
If you already have a camcorder that does not have DV in
then visit this site: members.magnet.at/erpar/Lremote.htm
and you may be able to "add" that feature.
Why
buy a real time video editing card instead of a firewire
card or video capture card?
You
can indeed use your built in firewire port and the
basic editing program in Windows XP (Windows Movie
Maker). Or use a cheap video capture card with Movie
Maker. Cheap and
cheerful. But you'll soon see how very, very
limited that is, and how slow some tasks are even
on the fastest of computers.
You
could buy a video editing software package separately
for as little as £50. It'll probably offer you a
little more than the free Windows Movie Maker
software built into Windows XP. However, do note that
there are incompatibilities. Not all video editing
software works on all firewire ports. And even if yours
does work it can't be taken for granted that the card +
software will work with your video camera. More
on video
editing software >>
OHCI
Compliancy: More from Microsoft >>
The
main reasons for using a video editing card rather than
a firewire card or video capture card are speed, convenience, features, free
bundled software that is a lot more powerful than the
Windows program, versatility, no compatibility problems,
and not having to hang about while your clip is being
rendered, your video format is being converted, or your
movie is being encoded for storage on DVD. A firewire card would take ages to
apply the simplest of changes even to a small, low
resolution video clip, even on a fast PC. Most video editing cards on the other hand do "real time"
processing i.e. they have dedicated electronics built
into the card to handle just this type of task. You will
be relying on that dedicated hardware rather
than the computer's processor (which is a
very general purpose piece of hardware, and therefore
slower on video editing) to do the work.
ALSO,
a much overlooked factor is quality. When you move up
from a standard firewire card to a video editing card
you'll be impressed by the difference in the quality of
your clips.
Other
links
Want
some independent advice
and some excellent information on all things to do
with video editing?
click here
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