Desktop PC for Video Editing

[TheExpertish]

Hey guys,

The wife and I are looking at getting a desktop strictly for HD video editing. Camera is a Canon DSLR, and the videos are being edited on Adobe Premier 10 and Sony Vegas. Wondering what a great out of the box tower is, or specs to look for and maybe build one?

[bartt]

Check newegg for a multicore (4 or more) AMD or Intel system with about 8gig of ram and at least a 1Tbyte drive. Get the fastest system you can afford. I have done some nice editing on my old system with AMD opteron cpus at only 2 Ghz. The new systems should be a lot faster than mine.
You might also want to want to check out UBuntu Studio (free download). It has some amazing tools for audio and video editing. It is Linux so you might have to dual boot your new box, but that is pretty easy.
HTH..

[Dark Sky Solutions]

I would suggest a Mac for any video editing. They are a bit more expensive but with warranty and a real store to go to for help well worth the price.

[natrab]

Build one yourself or get some help. I'd be happy to help you or build one for you. You can build a computer that smokes a Mac for about $3k less.

[Dark Sky Solutions]

Build one yourself or get some help. I'd be happy to help you or build one for you. You can build a computer that smokes a Mac for about $3k less.

$3k less not really. I will say probably $1k less of a compatible model but I have a $2k all in one Mac and I edit videos on it weekly with great results. A lot of the studios are actually editing their movies on Macs. If a full length movie can be done on a Mac why wouldn't you.

Plus, once u build your own there will be no one to help u fix or trouble hoot it if something goes wrong.

Just my $.02

[Dubious_Beans]

I'll be curious to see what you build and how you like it !

I recently got a Canon DSLR also, and editing HD vid with Sony Vegas on my 7+ year old Dell is rather... sluggish.

[SuperSet]

I edit DSLR stuff on my Gateway desktop I3 that cost me less than $600. With a Nvidia graphics card update and Sony Vegas Pro 10, you'll have tolerable render times and video preview will play smoothly in your editor. Having played with my sister's MacBook, I prefer Sony Vegas.

[JDay]

I would suggest a Mac for any video editing. They are a bit more expensive but with warranty and a real store to go to for help well worth the price.

You can buy a PC with on-site service for less than the cost of a Mac, and get better specs.

A lot of the studios are actually editing their movies on Macs.

Nope. The studios use custom in-house solutions.

[TheExpertish]

Thanks for the suggestions. We did consider Mac as we have relatives who work for them, but we both have PC laptops so for congruence we want to stick with what we have for the times we do have to travel and edit. I'm considering more and more just building one.

[ocabj]

I wouldn't get a Mac for just video editing unless you are going to use Final Cut Pro for your work flow. If you're using Premiere, then just go with a Wintel box.

[odysseus]

I wouldn't get a Mac for just video editing unless you are going to use Final Cut Pro for your work flow. If you're using Premiere, then just go with a Wintel box.

Correct. People in vid editing use Mac's not because of Apple hardware, which is just an over priced normal intel based system, but because Fine Cut Pro only is coded for Mac OS for reasons to sell Apple hardware.

OP said Sony Vegas and Adobe Premier, so a wintel box is more than fine.

OP: Plenty of quad Intel CPUs to choose from. Importantly get a lot of RAM. 16GB or more. RAM is super cheap right now. Also, a very good large format color accurate monitor will be another big investment. Consider having OS and/or programs to a SSD drive for amazing speed, and of course some TB drives as needed for your video editing space.

[paul0660]

Notice AAPL doesn't bother promoting their computers any more? They aren't dumb.

It's ooooooveeeer.

[pdq_wizzard]

get an Intel I-5 or I-7 Windows 7 will be 64bit (that way you can use more than 3.5ish GB of memory) and at lest a 2BG video card

[ocabj]

Notice AAPL doesn't bother promoting their computers any more? They aren't dumb.

It's ooooooveeeer.

They don't need to. "Halo effect" through their iOS devices. Many people end up buying Apple computers once they adopt iOS.

After they have someone using Mac OS X, they tend to retain those customers.

I was Microsoft up until 2002 then switched to OS X. Most of my colleagues in my age demographic are the same. Some were actually Mac users originally, went Windows and Linux during the OS 8 and OS 9 years, then back to Mac after OS 10.1.

But I digress.

As far as what computer to get, if the OP is already Windows invested and owns Premiere, then stick with Windows. The key thing is that the software (Premiere) is capable of editing the video natively from the cameras being used without having to transcode to something the software can edit. That will save tons of time during editing.

[SuperSet]

As far as what computer to get, if the OP is already Windows invested and owns Premiere, then stick with Windows. The key thing is that the software (Premiere) is capable of editing the video natively from the cameras being used without having to transcode to something the software can edit. That will save tons of time during editing.

Sony Vegas and even the cheaper Sony Vegas Movie Studio can edit the native files straight from your camcorder. And you're right, it saves a ton of time without having to go through transcoding stuff.