Professional/Prosumer editing system, seeking recommendations and advice.

[adamschroeder]

Some background:

I work at a small advertising/production company. We currently do our editing on an aging Avid DS 4.0 system. The OS is Windows NT and it is running on Dual Pentium 400Mhz processors.

It would be a great machine if we could upgrade the hardware… but the system is not designed that way. Every component and driver needs to be exactly what the DS software expects or it will not work.

Obviously we could spend 20-30k to upgrade to latest and greatest proprietary Avid system, but I believe we could achieve most of the functionality and in many cases a higher quality final output by going with open source/freeware and a few commercial software packages (Premier Pro, Edition, Vegas Video, etc…).

Using non-proprietary equipment/software would allow us to easily keep the machine up to date, rather than scrapping it to buy an entirely new system.

Traditionally our focus has been on local broadcast video and corporate training delivered via VHS, or BetaSP. Now we are moving towards digital delivery of our video, either by DVD, web, or incorporating into Multimedia programs.

So assuming a budget $2000 up to $10,000 what type of equipment and software would you buy?

My first thoughts are to go with a DV based system, purchase a new camera that can shoot in progressive video, and buy a Canupus Bridge (So we can interface with our existing equipment and other analog needs).

I would love hear any thoughts on this or other suggestions you guys might have. If you know any other good resources to check out I would be interested in hearing them as well. The end quality of the product is extremely important.

-Adam

[theReal]

I never expected I'd ever say this, but... I'd suggest a Mac G5 with Final Cut Pro.

For personal use I'm staying with Windows because installing hardware and software is one of my hobbies - but if you need a professional system that just runs without any problems, get the G5.
Final Cut Pro is a very good NLE program, the new version 4 is incredibly fast (and even moreso on a G5). In terms of quality you won't lose any of it when you're using a DV/DVCAM recorder via firewire connection.
The tv station I'm working at is using five G4 Macs with Final Cut Pro and two older PCs (one with Avid and one with Silver). Contrary to the PC systems that need a lot of administration, the FCP Macs have been working ever since without any problems.

[adamschroeder]

I would prefer to build a PC system. I can use Macs but I can't fix them if they break. Also, like you I enjoy installing hardware and messing around with various software settings.

I also want to make sure I easily use wonderfull programs like TMPG, Virtual Dub, and AVISynth.

We have had many Avid systems running on Mac's in the past and we have not found them very reliable... although definetly more reliable than the DS system.

---Edit---
I found this video about editing on Mac you might find amusing :)
http://www.infopackets.com/dloads/using_a_mac.wmv
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[theReal]

I also want to make sure I easily use wonderfull programs like TMPG, Virtual Dub, and AVISynth.

Me too, absolutely. Personally, I would'nt like a Mac because of the lack of additional (freeware) programs. I'd use another encoder if the quality is better, and I wouldn't mind if it was only half as fast as all other encoder.

But for professional use, a very important factor is speed and ease of use. New people must be able to quickly get to know the program and it must be as fast as possible. The station I'm working at is still using a hard-cut (that is basically just two DVCAM decks) where you can make a rough cut in two minutes and cut a feature in 10 minutes. When using the computer, you already need 10-15 minutes for dubbing the material to HD, another 3 minutes to play it back to tape.
And more than once a day stuff has to be cut in basically no time, so...

[Arky]

Pinnacle Purple (or Chrome, higher up the range, for example), would probably be the closest thing you'll find to Avid, at a 'sensible' price. There's a lot of flexibility in the range.

Why not check out these video demos to see if the interface has any appeal to you? Pinnacle solutions do not suit everyone, but have a tremendous amount to offer (I am an Edition user):

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/docloader.asp?templ=1022&doclink=/dotMedia/liquidblue/English(US)/doc/PL_tut_080103.html&product_id=490&Langue_ID=2


Arky ;o)

[Foambullet]

Well, actually I just pieced together a system myself, which I use to do little videos with my friends.

I bought a barebones case, then filled it up myself. I used a Shuttle SS51G ($200). It has a case, motherboard, onboard video, audio, LAN, USB 2.0 (4 ports), and firewire (3 ports). It has a PCI slot and an AGP slot, which I didn't use, but you could put in an analog capture board. Then I got 512 MB ram and a 2.4 GHz processor ($100 and $180). I found a 200GB hard drive ($194), it holds around 14 hours of DV. I re-used my old monitor and speakers but had to buy Windows XP ($200, some stores sell OEM copies which don't offer tech support for $99). I like Adobe Premiere because of the 2-Monitor view ($700).

All of this together adds up to about $1575. A brand new Canon Xl1 or Sony VX-2000, both high quiality MiniDV cameras, will run around $2400-$3000, depending on the vendor.

[Arky]

Update to my previous post - Pinnacle have upgraded Edition5 to Liquid Edition - it's the same price, but you now get the most advanced colour correction available in an NLE, and dynamic timewarp (great feature!).


Arky ;o)