Computer for editing suggestions?

April 1, 2012 10:21 AM

Need suggestions on a computer build for HD video editing.

I am trying to purchase a computer for video editing footage from my cannon rebel T2i (full 1080P hd, I don't have the bit rates or anything in front of me at the moment).

I am in the middle of pre-production for an indie pilot I am about to do and I need a computer for editing. Unfortunately price is an issue. So I did a whole bunch of research and I have landed on this barebones kit at tigerdirect and an accelerated graphics card. My previous editing experience was on adobe premiere, which I liked, but to use again would of course add to the cost.

Here's where the question comes in. Since trying to save money is a big issue, should I buy this pc with windows 7 and give lightworks a try or should I by this PC use ubuntu and try cinelerra? I have no linux experience so that of course seems like a dangerous decision, but of course it saves the most money (an OEM DVD for win 7 costs an additional $100). I do know there are some extras I will need like an additional hard drive for media only (or should I use a different drive for the boot drive and keep the 1tb as the media drive? I was planning to use my HD TV as the monitor, so that saves there some, and I was going to buy a wireless keyboard and mouse). Tiger direct doesn't ship on sundays, so I was going to try and make a decision by this evening so it could ship this week. I am open to any suggestions, but as far as price goes this is the range to try and keep it in.

posted by djduckie to technology (2 answers total)

You should start with the editing software you want to use. Then pick an OS that supports your software and is familiar to you. Then pick the hardware.

Based on what you've said, you should get Premiere and run it on Windows 7.

Make sure you max out your RAM and have some large, fast hard drives. A single 1TB drive will fill up very quickly, particularly if you are actually doing HD work. Software is one of the smaller costs in a video editing system.
posted by b1tr0t at 10:46 AM on April 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

1) Ease of use.
2) Cheap.
3) Fast.

You only get to pick two. You've already picked "Cheap", which is too bad because video editing rigs are the most expensive computer setups.

I agree with b1tr0t above, choose the software you're going to use and build a computer to run it. The software is where you're going to be spending 100% of your time and you need to make sure you can use it. If you have trouble using the software to do what you want it doesn't matter how fast your machine is.

I have found that, in general, free video editors are worth roughly what they cost. On the other hand you can "rent" a full Adobe production suite for something like $50 a month.

Will that set up edit video? Yes. But then again I edit full HD on my laptop, It's not fast, but it works, so it's all about degrees. A smaller high speed internal drive for working footage would likely increase productivity. (Keep the os and software on the other drive.) And you will want more than 8 gigs of ram.
posted by Ookseer at 12:05 PM on April 1, 2012