is my PC powerful enough for editing HDV?

[JoeZ]

I have a 6 month old Dell Dimension 9200 with: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13GHz, 2127 Mhz. I have 2 gigs of ram + Dell's 24" flatscreen monitor + NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS card.

I downloaded a 1080i clip- I think it was from Canon's web site on the HV-20. It ran a bit "jerky". If that ran jerky, should I presume that my PC isn't poweful enough to edit 1080i??? Another clip, a 720i, ran fine.

I can always add more RAM but I hope I don't need a more powerful CPU.

Comments appreciated.

Joe

[JoeInBH]

Playback is much tougher on your system than editing. I have a 6 YEAR old Dell that's editing HDV fine using Sony Vegas. Playback at full resolution is impossible, but you don't want full resolution in your preview window anyway. If your goal is to get video off of your HV20, do all the editing you can imagine on your computer, and then burn to DVD, HD-DVD, or BD for playback, you'd be fine with one-quarter of the processing power and RAM you have now.

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

Your PC is fine. I have a much slower machine and I am fine too with Vegas.

Clips will run faster or slower depending how they were encoded. .m2t files run fine on my PC with the commercial ArcSoft decoder for example and Windows Media Player, while h.264 HD files encoded using the CABAC option give a hard time to QuickTime. So it all depends on how they were encoded/decoded. A file being slow doesn't mean that using Vegas or Premiere won't be possible to nicely edit some footage.

[JoeZ]

Your PC is fine. I have a much slower machine and I am fine too with Vegas.

Clips will run faster or slower depending how they were encoded. .m2t files run fine on my PC with the commercial ArcSoft decoder for example and Windows Media Player, while h.264 HD files encoded using the CABAC option give a hard time to QuickTime. So it all depends on how they were encoded/decoded. A file being slow doesn't mean that using Vegas or Premiere won't be possible to nicely edit some footage.

Thanks Eugenia and JoeInBH! When I bought the system early in the year I could have gotten a somewhat faster duel CPU but instead decided to put the $$$ into a premium monitor and video card. The 24" monitor's native res is 1920x1200 which I thought might be needed editing HD.
Joe

BTW, this forum us dynamite. I'll be asking a lot more questions after I get the HV-20 and even before.

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

If I were you I would use dual monitors. One for 1920x1200 as a second fullscreen preview display and one at lower resolution (e.g. 1280x1024 or 1680x1050) for the actual timeline and tab views of Vegas.

[JoeZ]

If I were you I would use dual monitors. One for 1920x1200 as a second fullscreen preview display and one at lower resolution (e.g. 1280x1024 or 1680x1050) for the actual timeline and tab views of Vegas.

Great idea, Eugenia! Yuh, I believe this system can handle a second monitor- and with monitor prices dropping it would be a good investment.

Joe
PS: I just added a small picture to my "signature" before sending this- but it isn't showing- at least not in the preview. Or, perhaps I need to put that image in the "avatar" part of my profile?

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

Yes, avatar.