Printable View
Does downloading and editing from a camcorder require very large resources? If the processor is 2.8GB or 3GB Intel P4 or AMD 3.0GB with 7200 rpm HDD and 128MB Radeon card is 512MB PC3200 400mhz dual channel RAM enough or should we be looking at 1GB? My husband needs to keep the cost down of a new computer I am helping him configure online.
Depends if you intend to change what format the video is going to. Like if it comes off the cam in avi and you plan to convert to mpeg or the other way around . What you have is likely fine it should do it fairly nicely with possibly an addition of 512 of ram later. Also which Radeon card?
My husband knows absolutely nothing about video editing and I do not know much but he wants to buy a camcorder and a decent computer and he has a budget which I am trying to keep to at the same time as giving him the computer he wants. I am quite worried as he knows very little about computing and has been using Millenium for the past few years and has never used a digital still camera although. He gets lost in the simplest photo editing software and has no patience with reading the books. So I do not know what he will be doing but I bet I will be constantly rescuing him as I do now! I do know that he hopes to film steam railway and old bus rallies plus our Cat.
The Radeon card has to be the cheapest 128MB one.
Well thats likely the Radeon 9250 then. Seems to me the lesser one 7000 isnt avaliable in 128 only 64 megs. You may want ot have em try the video program in windows XP called movie maker. He will do a lot better in XP thats a given at least.
Resources or the lack of just increase the time it takes to render the finished video. Pinnacle or movie maker are pretty easy to use. What you do need is scads of hard drive space. Pinnacle does some compression on the captured video - means that 7 minutes produces a 1.5 gigabyte file... this you then edit and render down into DVD format to get 1 to 2 hours on a single sided single layer (4.7gb) dvd.
If he is willing to learn, what I did with my father is showed him every step, and at each step made him write down what he did in his own words. The next day we tested those words to see if he could follow them - he could. He now happily captures and edits his own video with pinnacle.
Have you cosidered a video camera that writes straight to DVDR and plays back on a standard DVD player [that is compliant with that format]?
an example would be the Sony DCR-DVD91
http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-Sony_Cam...ttery_NP_QM91D
The card is 128MB DDR ATI RADEON X300SE PCI EXPRESS or might upgrade to 128MB NVIDIA 6600 if the extra thirty quid justifies it.
My husband has learning difficulties and even as a trained teacher I cannot push him too far. Because of his various illnesses and present disabilities, two cardiac arrests, the drugs he is on and his pain he is unable to concentrate for long and also forgets very easily. He even finds navigating Windows and finding his files hard and is quite freaked out about having to learn XP. I have got him a graphic book from the Library which he says will help when the computer comes but he cannot relate to the content now. Many years ago before he was ill he was streets ahead of me and was programming Spekky stuff. BTW he cannot write now, only enough to sign cheques etc. and can just about move his mouse and hit one key at a time. I have to keep things as simple as I can so Archer thanks for the suggestion about considering a video camera that writes straight to DVDR and plays back on a standard DVD player which he has. That seems to solve the problem and I need not order a bigger computer than he needs. Does he still need a firewire card?
He needs to find a camcorder that he can handle easily because he has nearly lost the use of his hands so I think I am going to have to visit Jessops with him to try them out, then make an excuse and buy online where I bought my new Fuji E500 digital camera because Jessops are expensive. I had it demonstrated at Jessops but bought if fifty quid cheaper at http://www.internetcamerasdirect.co.uk/
Hi Morselady it looks like your poor husband has a difficult time ahead of him he is lucky to have a very understanding and loving wife :thumbs:
Given all that you have said I see great difficulty for him in using a video camera as they require a degree of dexterity and understanding for even some of the simplest features this said I hope you do find a model which suits your needs.If you dont mind me asking what uses are you expecting to make of the camera?
Thanks for your kind words Archer. I am afraid my husband spends much of his time sitting in front of his portable TV watching videos and DVDs and his great love is steam railways. We are lucky enough to live right on the main line to North Yorkshire etc and he has visited there and wants to go again and to one or two other accessible preserved railways and take a camcorder. He wants to do this himself and despite his problems he is very stubborn about wanting to do what he can.
I will also be using the camcorder to film our cat and my walks to places my husband cannot go like the bluebell wood and the valley but it will be his and will have to suit him first.
If the camera writes directly to dvd, then if the new computer has a dvd drive, you can rip straight from the dvd if you wanted to edit something. Firewire though is always useful... it's not just for dv capture. If you can afford it, then get one to save having to add it later. This then would give you the option of being able to use anyone's dv camera and make a copy of the pictures for yourself.
DV cameras are small and fiddly, if he is stubborn enough he will find a way around it. PS anything higher than a radeon 7000 will do fine for video processing...the best video cards have hardware mpeg2 encoder/decoders, but as I say, this only speeds up the rendering process and I don't think time is an issue... or is it?
Thanks Noo. The card will be either a 128MB Radeon X300SE or the 256MB X600 or possibly a 256MB Nvidia card, this last option is my preferred one. I have quotes for computers saved at Evesham, Dell and Watford all around the same price and favour Evesham. I am just trying to decide if he really needs lGB of memory or if I can save him fifty quid by ordering 512MB. I have asked him if he multitasks and he said no and says he never has more than three windows open at once and usually only one. So my favoured lineup is
3GB P4,160GB HDD which I shall partition for him so he has a large data drive, 128 Radeon or 256 Nvidia as they are nearly the same price, 512MB RAM and dual optical drives one CDRW the other multi layer DVDR/RW, Firewire, Floppy, Modem. Networking is onboard as is 7.1 surround sound so no need for a sound card as my husband plays his computer through a hi fi amp anyway.
Regarding time being an issue yes and no. He has all day but on the other hand he gets very annoyed if he is kept waiting and I am sure having spent over £700 on the new computer will expect appropriate results but I will try and explain that some processes do take time.
Then I will see if we can find a camcorder he can use and I have told him they are small and he might find it difficult to use but he still wants one.
As hes going to be doing a lot of multimedia work Morselady Id go for the IGB it will improve the processing speed no end as video editing eats memory.
My husband has now ordered his new computer from Evesham and is very happy with the spec below
3GB P4,160GB HDD, 128 Radeon X300SE, 1GB RAM and dual optical drives one CDRW the other multi layer DVDR/RW, Firewire, Floppy, Modem. Networking is onboard as is 7.1 surround sound no need for a sound card as he plays his computer through a hi fi amp. Works 8 and XP home. I am giving him my present 17" digital CRT monitor because I want a new one when I order my new PC.
Should be fun, he is insisting that he sets it up without my help as he says it's his computer. Doesn't he know how much I could charge for my services and how lucky he is to have a geek in the house :devil:
Thansk All.
Hey you mean he's expecting it to work? What fun is that? :D
Well thats one new customer now all you need to do is work out how much a call out fee is going to cost him :D
Archer and Noo I take it your comments about call out fees and expecting it to work refer to the fact that my husband will not let me set up his new computer and not an adverse comment on Evesham? If the latter please let me know because there is still time to cancel as the machine has not yet gone to build and because the weekend his credit card has not been verified yet, they say that takes 72 hours, strange! Can anyone on here vouch for that firm please as I am seriously worrried now. Maybe we should have gone to Dell? :confused:
Hi Morselady
No my comment was meant in jest as Im sure NooNoos was in relation to you having increased your customer base by one.Sorry if you took it the wrong way :thumbs:
Ooops! Sorry I have a migraine and it affects my sense of humour! Yes he is lucky to have free Customer Support and I will have to push this a bit. I have suggested he sets it up with me watching but the problem is I tend to grab the mouse and show him and he says I work so fast he cannot follow - never make a good IT teacher :rolleyes:
I take it we can be confident in Evesham?
Do we have no skinflints around here any more or what ?:eek2:
I was thinking since this is all new to him, why not order a pc with a tv card & get yourself a cheapish vhs-c camcorder, let him learn what he needs, then if image quality is important upgrade then - that'll save you a fair old bit !
But it seems ordered now ?
.. evesham aren't gonna run off with your money I wouldn't have thought morselady :) maybe their merchant won't authorise payment out of banking hours ? - thats not that unusual ;)
MorseLady, to put your mind at rest, Evesham build good quality machines. I've worked on a number of them for self-inflicted software problems and the insides are all quality hardware, no PCChips rubbish! Their phone support is well spoken of too, but with Windrivers, who needs manufacturer support ? :)
Thanks for putting my mind at rest about Evesham Jeff and Con-fused and I feel a lot happier. No I am sure they will not run off with my husband's money but I thought when you entered a credit or debit card number it went through electronically and the merchant knew if you were in funds or not?
Yesterday morning we sat down here and went over the options and I advised my husband that Evesham offered the best configurable options and value for money. They also have good write ups in PC Pro and other good magazines and many Awards. My husband then told me to buy it, that's what he said! He worked in Stockbrokers once, it shows! I have discussed the issue of a camcorder with him and we are going to go into Jessops and try theirs out and then buy cheaper on the Internet like I did with my cameras.
How much should I be charging him? :devil:
Yup I have had my hands on an evesham or 3... they are also used in schools alot. No real problems with them - just users
Going back to my husband's intention to use a camcorder I have been looking at some and would like one or two things explained please.
It was suggested my husband downloads direct to PC and burns direct to DVD so does that mean the camcorder must have USB connectivity?
I notice Canon do not have Firewire or USB but JVC do and this brand would be my choice in the low to mid price range models.
What is Composite video input? Canon have this, JVC do not.
Where does the DVI out on a graphics card come into it please?
What Archer suggested @ sony
which is clear as mud !!! :confused:
These seem to record staright onto DVD recordable ? i.e there's a recordable dvd drive in it ?
Composite video means it has RCA jack points - & takes leads like this:-
http://atifrst.nexenservices.com/art...ntree%20TV.jpg
http://www.circuitcity.com/IMAGE/pro....THXV100R8.JPG
DVI out only needs to be thought about if you want to eventually connect a digital monitor (most would be thinking that 'slimline LCD' are like this), this'll maybe confuse you ? , but hopefully not ! :)
If you want a digital camcorder Id recommend the one I purchased last year the JVC GR-D93E has both USB,Firewaire and composite video/audio input/output.The cheaper models only have video out with the video in disabled for VAT reasons.Oh and includes a not great but passable 1.33Mega pixel camera which records either to digital tape or seperate SD card.
Cheapest place I found at the time was www.pixmania.com [shipped from France] 2 year warrenty
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/4270...dv-gr-d93.html
Yes hence the suggestion as it removes the need to input from the camera to the PC.Quote:
These seem to record staright onto DVD recordable ? i.e there's a recordable dvd drive in it ?
Why don't they say RCA instead of composite video? I understand RCA connectors perfectly being a radio amateur and hi fi enthusiast.
I did have a look at the JVC model and others but reviews suggest the video quality is not as good as say Canon or Sony. Looks like going to have to be a compromise but we won't decide until we have seen and tried them at Jessops and then buy online.
My husband's new computer arrived today days ahead of the estimated time frame and with loads of software and booklets. It is very big and sturdy and my husband is very excited and eager to set it up which will be done tommorow. He started to read the setup guide and realised he did not understand things like computer name etc so he has agreed to me supervising the setup but he will control the mouse and keyboard so we have to agree no shouting or tantrums because he does get het up easily :flame:
Glad to hear it :thumbs:
I suggest you use your god given womanly patience and only input your help as your husband asks for it and he [thinks he ] has control of the project :thumbs2:
Hey ... that can be productive :D - just look at me, as I have been known :rolleyes: {where's the "whistles innocently" icon button ? :devil: }Quote:
Originally Posted by MorseLady
Slight delay in setup - no setup because my husband's monitor has a VGA
connector and the new computer has DVI on m/bd and graphics card and the convertor was left out so Evesham are going to send us one. He was very angry and upset because he thought his machine was incomplete but apparently I should have requested a VGA connector when ordering. The tech at Evesham was really helpful and they even rang me back on my mobile.
Another suggestion on the 'how to get stuff in' from your camcorder front, Morselady - & since you were just on about transposing VHS videos to DVD on another thread, them too ! :)
http://195.224.29.130/isroot/Light/I.../GR3051_bg.jpg
Noo Noo wroteI got talking to someone in the PC Store today who claimed to know a lot about video editing. He said you need the biggest hard drive you can afford because transferring from DV camcorder requires 4MB persecond of movie time and for converting VCR tapes to DVD unless you compress to MPEG. Is this true?Quote:
What you do need is scads of hard drive space.
Un-compressed video can be pretty big .. which is what compression is for ? once you've got a certain amount of space all you need to be is organised ;) - that's what your dvd writer is for isn't it ? You don't keep it all uncompressed for ever of course, you capture some & then transfer it etc..
You did tell him you already had - how much is it on this machine 250 gig ?
I think you are getting like me about all of this - confus-ed :D - so try this link
Transfer or Copy from Video Tape to DVD which covers the whole idea :thumbs:
At the moment only my husband has a new machine, I have yet to order mine and I cannot make up my mind how much I cannot afford :sad: but I know what I would like :devil:
My husband has a 150GB SATA 7200rpm HDD which I shall partition once we have it up and running and he has played with it a bit. I will create a very large DATA drive for his swap file, data and image storage and if his video software can be so configured for buffering up the DVD writer. The PC comes bundled with Pinnacle 9 but I might buy the new Roxio 6 revisited for us.
I will be ordering as much hard drive space as I can afford and probably twin 160GB SATA or maybe one 250GB SATA or could I do with even more? Hope not as I am really at the top of my budget with the configuration I have decided on.
I have read the system requirtements on that link you gave me, con-fused, many thanks, and I see a TV card is required. I will add one to my cart or put one in my machine later and as the best VCR is down here in the room my workstations is in I will do the converting, good excuse to get out of my husband doing it as he will never learn all that.
I have since been to the Evesham website where I have my configursation stored and they do not seem to offer a TV card. I do know that the machines use the Intel 915G chipset and have S video out but not sure if that implies it has withspecified on the link you gave me. The machines have lots of spare PCI slots so installing a card will not be a problem and Evesham have said that it is OK to open the machine during Warranty so long as you run it past them first so they can advise if you are likely to harm your machine.Quote:
an analogue capture card (usually referred to as a TV card or video card)
Its one of the ways :) - the thing I showed above, will do it too - for about the same price as a tv card via usb, & we were looking at an 'all singing version' (of above {capturing via USB?}) on another thread ?Quote:
Originally Posted by MorseLady
As for 'required' HD space, I'd personally say 150mb is plenty, after that 'bonus' ;)