Capture / Edit / Output Resloution Help Please

[Mike Velte]

1. Transfer of video from tape to hard drive is just that…data transfer. The capturing app (Premiere) assign a header file with info about the format (DirectShow type2). There are no settings. Depending on the capturing app, you may not be able to use the video in Premire.
2. Again no settings…just data transfer.
3. Same song…you get what is in the camera’s tape.
4. Best bet is to export as Mpeg 2 for DVD.

Your computer is well below the recommended minimum for editing…3.0 GHZ P4 HT. DV is 13 GB per hour. External drives often do not work well to capture to or edit from. 512 MB RAM is bare minimum. Suggest you do this job on a REAL machine.

You are over your head, even from a SHORT building.

[Viki Kumar]

Hi Mike,

Im so happy you replied. Thanks.

To clear some things

Firstly i dont do the capture thru adobe premiere pro. Remm i said the studio shoots it all. Then they give me the output. So they are willing to give it in any format requested. So ihave nothing to do with the capture but to specify what sort of capture i want. I dont know anything about DIRECTSHOW TYPE 2 can you gist me in on that ? Secondly i didnt wanna confuse the issue by telling you already what i had done but now i will. I got my dv tape transfered onto hard disk. At MPEG2 with a very high bitrate (what do you feel about very high bitrate BAd / Good) this was PAL 720 x 576 resolution) But it didnt occupy 13 gb. In fact 1.5 hrs of shoot came to about 3.9 gb totally.

About the machine config…

Could you suggest me the ultimate desktop machine that can handle this with ease.
Im basically into 3ds max and recently got into premiere pro.
Do you feel avid express is less demanding in hardware specs than premiere pro ? And does it give more features than premiere.

What do you feel about..

3.4 ghz (amd or intel which would u suggest)
Hyerthreaded.
or should for a dual processor ? Opteron ? Xeon ?
2 GB RAM
what kind of hard disk should i look for (large capacity of course) SCSI or ???
Should i have 2 independent harddrives on the machine than one single ?
What kind of Graphics card should i have ? Id prefer one in which i can watch the monitor out on a small TV. So i can calibrate the contrast etc suitably. Otherwise what looks one way on the monitor might look different when played from DVD on a normal TV !
Ill take all your suggestions seriously. Since whom could advise me better than you.

[Mike Velte]

Premiere wont handle Mpeg 2 for editing without the Main Concept Mpeg plug-in ($300). If there is no way you can do the capturing from tape to Pro, then Windows Media Video at 2 mbps will be the next best, but the resulting quality will be poorer whichever format…too many generations.

A 3.4 P4 HT PC with 2 GB RAM and several SATA drives will work fine. Nvidia display cards work fine, but you will preview to a TV via Firewire to a DV camcorder, A/D converter or DV deck and then to the TV…. not using the video card.

[Redgum]

Plainman007,
You can edit on your laptop with restrictions but you will need to boost the RAM to 1Mb and your external drive needs to run at 7200rpm on USB2. I use this same setup in the field twice a week to do two 8 minute TV spots without any hassle.
If you have complicated edits buy the Desktop you suggested.

Ask your studio to give you PAL MS AVI Type 2 files on your drive and they will load directly into Premiere Pro. There are no presets with MS AVI Type 2 files.

Be happy and be creative.

Redgum Television Productions
Broadcast & Corporate Documentaries
Brisbane, Australia

[Viki Kumar]

Hi Redgum,

Thanks that was at least inspiring. I was confused that the adobe site gives specs similar to my system as mimimum requirements. Then it should at last run right ?

I open adobe premiere pro. Import only this one small avi. Duration = 30 Secs. Its in Mpeg 1 too. So not more than about 20 mb in file size. And when i add it to a sequence etc. And try to play the seq. Just that plain one file. The monitor which shows the sequence plays the video as if its struggling. I mean the video and audio stutters and never plays in a flow (this is the right hand side monitor of the 2 ones which appear on the top. Now Redgum is this normal behavior or is it happening only in my system ? that too for such a miniscule file ?

Now i got one of my live events (yes im in the live events industry) shot completely in DV PRO (Shot on SONY PD-170) then i took the file output onto my hard disk in MPEG2 format with a very high bitrate (which the studio said would have more clarity). The total rush footage on the DV Tape was about 1.5 hrs. The total space these files took on my external hard disk was about 3.9 GB. The file was given in 4 chunks for ease. All this was done because i wanted to finally burn the output as a demo showreel. So this means my final video was only going to be about 3 to 4 minutes. Now i import one of these chunks (about 900 MB size) into premiere pro directly from the external hard drive. It plays within PREM PRO with the usual stuttering. But the sound never plays (but there is sound in the orginal chunk which i checked in windvd player). I even tried a test render of a small segment. Which it rendered quite well in about 5 minutes for a 20 secs region. No sound in the rendered output too. Then i dropped a single color correction filter onto the file for a tester. The damn machine froze and had to CTRL ALT DEL. Tried it 7 more times. When i drop the color filter. FREEZE which leads to CTRL ALT DEL.

Im sorry Redgum, but i had to give you the entire picture.

Whats happening ? Like you said. Ive heard of guys working on combustion, Flint etc on machines like mine. That too im looking at making small 2 to 3 mins clips. Do i really need a desktop to work on such a minscule file. All i want is just a small demo showreel. If i cant even do that,,,,, what good is Premiere Pro ?