advice for a video conference and video editing machine

[chinamike]

i'm about to build my first pc and it's going to be used for video conferencing as well as editing home digital videos. right now i'm thinking about getting:
AMD Palamino Athalon XP 2000
Gigabyte GA-7VRXP KT333
Allied 400W PS

any advice on specifications/features for the rest of the hardware, ESCPECIALLY the video card?

thanks,
cmike

[chinamike]

oh yeah, btw, i also want to use this pc to make DVDs from my video camera (uses firewire).

[Wiggo]

Why not consider this motherboard then if "legacy free" doesn't bother you and it does have 3 firewire ports and 4 USB 2.0 ports? :?:

These would be some good video cards to look out for, ATi All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500 (or the DV version if you wish a firewire port that way) or maybe a GF4 Ti4200 VIVO or go all out and get a GF4 Ti4600 VIVO. The last 2 are made by a number of manufacturers so shop around for which ever price/software bundle suits you.

Maybe you'd like some good sound that also includes a firewire port like the Sound Blaster Audigy or go all out for one of their two premium cards with breakout boxes.

But there are many ways you could go about it this was just some food for thought. If ya do go with the Gigabyte board be sure that it is a version 2.0 model (some ppl have had a lot of trouble with the earlier versions). ;)
<center>:cheers:</center>

[Ehhe Yebeb]

I also recommend abit AT7. Also for video editing and conferencing, you may want to consider an MP setup with a Tyan or MSI board.

[chinamike]

thanks for the input. i might have to give tha mobo another look. it's got pretty much all i need except i wish it had legacy :cry: i'm not looking to make this a entertainment center, so a pricey sound card isn't needed, nor is TiVo or TV tuner capabilites. i just want a fast video card with alot of memory, that can handle video editing and streaming conferencing. am i thinking on the right track, or is that stuff more of an issue for the processor and RAM?

[Ehhe Yebeb]

It depends on what kind of video editing you do. Video encoding is entirely CPU based, using a TNT2 or a GeForce 4 Ti4600 wont make a difference in speed. Video playback is high dependant on the card though. Basically i would not recommend going with any nVidia card for your application, as they are pretty much overpriced games cards (except Quadro, which is used in CAD apps). Atleast ATI is slightly better in that sense but they are also pretty much games cards. You would probably want something around a Matrox G550 for your use

[chinamike]

hmm... i suppose i need to keep reading up on this whole video editing / capturing thing. as far as video capturing, do i need a "video capture card" or can i attach my dv-cam via firewire and use a video capture software? sorry if this sounds like a stupid question, i'm pretty new at the video aspect of comps.

[zeradul]

do i need a "video capture card" or can i attach my dv-cam via firewire and use a video capture software?

Not a stupid question at all. You perfectly described the two most used options. If you have DV cam, with firewire attachment, then all you need is what you said... a firewire card and a good piece of software. Adobe Premier is the best there is for that. And that method is the best.

[chinamike]

OK, well that sounds encouraging. slowly things are starting to make sense. what do you recommend for the size of HDD for video editing? i understand RAID is the way to go for speed. but how much disk space is a safe number for editing/producing a bunch of ~10 minute clips (to be burned on DVD later)? or better yet, anyone know of a good website where i can learn about all this?

[Beefy]

For HDD access, either check out some of the fast (but expensive) SCSI solutions, or grab a couple 7200 or 10,000 rpm drives and RAID them.

[drpeterbright]

chinamike Get the largest you can afford. Video eats up a lot of HD space.