pc laptop for video editing fast?

[keithm 0]

this is what im looking at getting for a laptop, but have to render fast. say like a 20 min call? is this possible with this laptop rendering HD video? or only filmed in SD with an HD camera? Do i need to go to a desktop to get this speed? Any help would be awesome! thx

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[DSE 5]

*if* you run this like most people use their laptops, I'd expect that in a short while, it won't render typical tandem vids in the allotted time. It will do so off the shelf, if you set it up correctly and don't install a lot of garbage (and get rid of the garbage that comes with it).
You'll want an external (SATA, preferably) HDD for rendering/processing/archiving.
If speed is a serious need, then don't shoot HD.
You don't mention which camera. If you're shooting with a GoPro, it'll be slower (depending on the resolution you're shooting) than a CXseries Sony will be.
HTH

[freefalle 0]

What video program are you editing with? Honestly, I don't shoot in HD, and I don't render in HD. Is it really that important to you? Do you customers have an HD DVD player and an HD TV. Rendering in HD takes time. The laptop you spoke about is good, in my opinion. I personally think you would be fine shooting in SD and rendering in SD. How long is it going to take you to edit? That depends on you, and what you like to do with your videos. If I'm editing a tandem and I just drop in the leader, the tandem video and the footer then add the music it probably takes me 10 or 15 mintues to edit but I'm not very fast at it yet. If I drop in the leader, then the tandem video, cut the clip re-drop in the freefall section run that in slo-mo the patch it all together and drop in the footer and music it probably takes me 25 minutes or so. The it takes about 10 minutes to render.

Do I think you are going to land, edit, pack and be ready for a 20 minute call? I don't think so. Do I think that you can edit a simple tandem video on the computer you have in 20 minutes? Yea probably pretty close to it if you are good with your editing program.

Let me know how it works out for you, have fun and more importantly, don't get in such a rush that you forget to be safe.


Chuck Bryan

PS personally, I would delete mcafee off the computer. download something like AVG free for virus protection

[dragon2 2]

20 min call I can do, with a pc (I ditched my quidcore laptop for editing a while ago). Core-i7 920 (= better than 860 for video), 12 gb RAM, CS4/CS5 (5 seems to be faster but only switched last weekend, just one vid so far). External hd with e-sata. And that's with near 0 editing time as I got that down pat, just importing, shuffling music around to fit, add slowmo, render, burn. In SD, not HD. HD takes a few mins extra to render.

I use my pc for other stuff too (internet) so it is not optimised (it's got antivirus, anti spayware and office), but still lightning fast compared to laptop. Don't forget the dvd burn speed that's important too, my pc beats my laptop here too.

A pc is way better than a laptop for video editing, I have both but am glad I don't need the laptop that much anymore for editing.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[freefalljason 0]

What is the price for this machine? What would it cost to get a comparable set-up in a desk-top?

Just curious.

Blue Skies,
Jason

[JSE 1]

Quote

A pc is way better than a laptop for video editing, I have both but am glad I don't need the laptop that much anymore for editing.

I think most people would agree, however, its not financially viable for many people to build/buy a top of the line computer that probably has to be left at the dz solely for doing tandem videos. At least with a laptop you can take it home and use it for other things.

Does it really take that much time to render a simple 6-8 minute video and burn to dvd? What about prerendering some of the fluff/lead in material?

I'll be watching this thread as I'd love to ditch the editing board eventually.

[dragon2 2]

Meh, the other vidiots here have a cd burner or laptop, dvd burners, tv(s), mixing boards, 1 or 2 music sources etc, that's not cheap either. Especially the dvd burners need replacing often it seems...

My videos are ~10 mins each, with music, slowmo, short intro and outro. Fluff here is filmed per tandem so not much you can do beforehand. Just about everyone beats me with videos, although some have more equipment failure than others so then I win I can do 20 minute calls, that is drop rig with packers, make the dvd, burn stills cd, hand both to previous passenger and film new passenger's briefing and interview and be in the plane on time. But that's only possible (and relatively stress-free) because by now I can edit pretty damn fast. What would help me/speed me up now is workflow stuff like automating capture etc.

I was up till last weekend using Vista/cs4, as win7/cs4 was quicker but the burned dvds had slight stutter in them for some weird reason I couldn't figure out. I'm hoping win7/cs5 will be a bit quicker now though, we'll see this weekend.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[jtiflyer 0]

I ordered a similar setup from sony. Unfortunately it got delivered 2 days after I went to SDC for 10 days. Will let yoiu know it it works when I get back. I have lots of HD 4-way footage I need to edit.

Jason

[rhys 0]

Quote

*if* you run this like most people use their laptops, I'd expect that in a short while, it won't render typical tandem vids in the allotted time. It will do so off the shelf, if you set it up correctly and don't install a lot of garbage (and get rid of the garbage that comes with it).
You'll want an external (SATA, preferably) HDD for rendering/processing/archiving.
If speed is a serious need, then don't shoot HD.
You don't mention which camera. If you're shooting with a GoPro, it'll be slower (depending on the resolution you're shooting) than a CXseries Sony will be.
HTH

That may be the case now, for mainsteam stuff. I have access to a skydiving DVD program that is almost completely automatic, I saw it produce a DVD, stills and upload to the web in less than 6 minutes on an old laptop thatis cluttered up with junk. My input was less than a minute. I 'could' pack and there would be a DVD and photos ready and the video is already uploaded to the web and can be used as a widget (is tht how you spell it?) on facebook or similar with links to your wesite.

More than an editing program.

No fading no rendering (well it does everything itself), it will be on the market very soon it works now and is more than 95% complete.

What happnes in vegas stays in vegas.

Who likes editing anyway, might as well leave that for the computer.

Sorry to hold thew carrot in front of your nose, but just warning people not to spend too much money on editing. Theree will be much less expensive and user freindly options in the very short future.

Just like the cameras.

What a waste of money my cx100 ended up being... I gues it made much more than i paid for it but more hass;le than any other camera I have used, simply because it di not have a red light.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[keithm 0]

ok, so that new fancy editing program your talking about....any idea when that may be out? Maybe a month, 6 months.....a year?? All sounds really nice!

[DSE 5]

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That may be the case now, for mainsteam stuff. I have access to a skydiving DVD program that is almost completely automatic, I saw it produce a DVD, stills and upload to the web in less than 6 minutes on an old laptop thatis cluttered up with junk. My input was less than a minute. I 'could' pack and there would be a DVD and photos ready and the video is already uploaded to the web and can be used as a widget (is tht how you spell it?) on facebook or similar with links to your wesite.

.

At what resolution? I'm not able to believe anything can affect xfer and conversion of any high quality bitrate to a high quality bitrate at those kinds of speeds.
My opinion nothing to do with Vegas but rather limitations of USB xfers and encoding speeds.
No rendering? Not possible. Any time you process a frame with anything except what is inside the frame container, it *must* be rendered. No way around that. Even if it's a crappy camera with low resolution.
An editing program can put the links on YouTube, Facebook etc too. There are widgets in existence that already do this.
There is even a widget now, that allows videographers to drag files to the widget, create the video final file, upload to vimeo and youtube. Eliminating fades, titles, color process would help avoid rendering, but it won't help with Xcodes, and that requires a fair amount of computer horsepower.

Without fades, repeated exits, and other small party favors, it's like tandem GoPro's. It's ugly as heck, does the sport a lot more harm than it does good, and doesn't provide for very good video to the customer/student.

[keithm 0]

Quote

.
You'll want an external (SATA, preferably) HDD for rendering/processing/archiving.
If speed is a serious need, then don't shoot HD.
You don't mention which camera. If you're shooting with a GoPro, it'll be slower (depending on the resolution you're shooting) than a CXseries Sony will be.
HTH

Thx for the info, so i was lookin at a couple things, would you run Vegas off of the operating system or keep it all on an external sata drive? Would a Solid State Drive be better than a Sata HDD? I would of coarse get a external dvd writer via firewire, i think 22x burn is the fastest? Would a USB 2.0 compliant / e-SATA port with PowerShare work just as quickly as firewire for the sata external drive?
Was thinking of going sony cx series, any one in particular? thx for the help!

[rhys 0]

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At what resolution? I'm not able to believe anything can affect xfer and conversion of any high quality bitrate to a high quality bitrate at those kinds of speeds.
My opinion nothing to do with Vegas but rather limitations of USB xfers and encoding speeds.
No rendering? Not possible. Any time you process a frame with anything except what is inside the frame container, it *must* be rendered. No way around that.

O.k I am not a geek on the subject and nor do I need to be one. I said it does everything itself, it probably renders but you don't hve to wait for it and it probbably does all the things you said, you simply do not need to know that. Much like modern operating systems compared to old ones. You don't need to know how to read computer language to use a computer anymore do you? This is the same.

All I know is that I inserted the card, the thumbnails automatically came up, we clicked on the ones with audio to, then click on the freefall one, then clicked go button.

That would take less tha 20 seconds when you are familiar.
Everything else is automated, and 8 minutes later a DVD popped out, on a fast computer it would be much faster than that.

I beleive it should only be a couple of months before this is available.
I have it now

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[Superfletch 1]

Sounds to me like they are using DSE's stuff...

Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher
D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I
Videographer/Photographer

[rhys 0]

It sounds to you; wrong!

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[keithm 0]

rhys,
Will this edit hd video as well? Do you know what type of file it is before it is burned to dvd? Is the quality of the video just the same as any burned from an avi. file? If so , i can wait to check it out! Got a website?

[DSE 5]

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Sounds to me like they are using DSE's stuff...

It sounds like they're using an auto-stitch with background encode. No big thing, and if poorly presented video isn't a problem...it's fine.
The system we developed (and are about to release the 2.0 version of) provides for color correction, auto titles, crossfades, stock media inclusion, thank you, custom DVD menu with personalized links, and a whole lot more. But..some folks are fine with raw media, and that's very easy to do in a one-click. But it's not what I'm personally (nor professionally) into delivering.

[keithm 0]

Be sure to let us know when these awesome programs come out guys;) They sound great! Have no idea on specs but they sound great!

[DSE 5]

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Be sure to let us know when these awesome programs come out guys;) They sound great! Have no idea on specs but they sound great!

Specs are basically any off the shelf editing system. There are a coupla dozen DZ's running our systems now, and more than a few of them are just plain ole' off the shelf systems.
In other words, nothing special needed in terms of hardware.

[keithm 0]

so there is the i7 830 or the i7 920 extreme edition for laptops. Would the rendering time be much different between the two processors? The 830 is in the dell and the 920 is in a HP. Same price, same insides......any thoughts? thx
oh and would 6gb vs 8gb ram be much difference in the rendering process if your just running the editing program?

[DSE 5]

haven't tested them, maybe Phree has some inside info. I don't think you'd gain more than a small percentage of speed with the slightly faster proc.
RAM...you gain render speed if you're using 64bit, and want to run multiple copies (ie; editing 3 things at once, burning 3 discs at once).

[rhys 0]

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rhys,
Will this edit hd video as well? Do you know what type of file it is before it is burned to dvd? Is the quality of the video just the same as any burned from an avi. file? If so , i can wait to check it out! Got a website?

I have probaly said more thn I should have already, but to answer your question it will not be HD capable until HD is mainstream.

How many skydiving DVD's have been put out on blue ray or HDDVD?

Not many, this is meant for everybody, not just the geeks.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[rhys 0]

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It sounds like they're using an auto-stitch with background encode. No big thing, and if poorly presented video isn't a problem...it's fine.
The system we developed (and are about to release the 2.0 version of) provides for color correction, auto titles, crossfades, stock media inclusion, thank you, custom DVD menu with personalized links, and a whole lot more.

...and a manual to use it as long as the enclyclopedia Brittanica?

Not everyone has the desire to know all this stuff about editing.

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But..some folks are fine with raw media, and that's very easy to do in a one-click. But it's not what I'm personally (nor professionally) into delivering.

there are plenty of people out there still using a sound mixer and a DVD recorder. They are afraid of what you desire, what we are using is for them, not editing experts.

Lets see what time tells eh?

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[DSE 5]

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...and a manual to use it as long as the enclyclopedia Brittanica?

The manual to use the Production Assistant system is literally less than two pages printed in size 18 point type. Lob has them posted on the wall at Elsinore.

It's fully automated. The two people putting together at Elsinore are not skydivers nor video editors. The people editing video at Jumptown are not skydivers nor video editors (one of them is a computer geek tho).
In other words, you need to know very little.
Put in a card, type in a student's name, click "resume" and then "Process."

Even those using a sound mixer and a DVD recorder are cutting together more than just raw footage, or at least those who have an interest in quality product do.
A significant percentage of the posts in this fora are entirely dedicated to "how do I make my video better." Delivering a quality product that tells a short story is a very relevant and profitable pursuit as it helps draw people to our sport.

edit to add: I didn't answer the question about where/how for Production Assistant. PA runs only with Sony Vegas Pro 8 or 9, not the Movie Studio or Platinum software.
Production Assistant was my brainchild, but we sold the software to SonyCreative, so it's currently available only through Sony. The information page is found here.
It was originally intended as an automation tool for broadcasters, but Chris Warnock and I together, discovered a great way to use PA for skydiving. Chris has been instrumental in bringing it to where it is now in the skydiving and other instant-delivery video worlds.

[rhys 0]

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Put in a card, type in a student's name, click "resume" and then "Process."

I thought that type of conduct was for people that don't care about their quality?

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix