[Alex Gerulaitis]

Use a Matrox MXO2 preset

Alex
DV411

[Alex Gerulaitis]

If you open a completely new project and import just one clip, add a title, and, say, a fade to black – will it work in terms of scrubbing the timeline, rendering and outputting to a file?

Alex
DV411

[Alex Gerulaitis]

[Micah McDowell] “When put on the timeline, the audio plays in sync for about 25 minutes and then repeats from the beginning of the clip while the video continues.”

Does this happen only on a timeline, or in a source monitor too?

If you create an instance of a clip with an in-point trimmed right to where the problem occurs (e.g. at 24 minutes), does the problem occur at the same place?

Alex
DV411

[Alex Gerulaitis]

That’s a great suggestion (swap hard disks between a “problem” and a “no problem” systems) – I’d try that first; if the issue persists in a different system, then I’d try copying a project from a “problem” system to a “no problem” one.

Also, a quick disk benchmark test to run in administrative command prompt: “winsat disk -drive C:”. Takes a minute or two to complete; look for “sequential” numbers after it’s done.

Alex
DV411

[Alex Gerulaitis]

How much clearance do you need – i.e. what’s the maximum length of the card that will fit?

All of the supported GeForce cards are full-length (9.75″), dual slot. Among supported Quadro cards, FX3800 and 4000 a single-slot. FX3800 is 9′ long, 4000 – 9.5′. Dual slot cards are usually 9.75″ long.

Alex
DV411

[Alex Gerulaitis]

I find my 30-incher indispensable in pixel-peeping of hi-res still photos, yet often crave for a 2nd monitor when previewing video.

Alex
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[Alex Gerulaitis]

It does have an HDMI port that will allow you to extend the laptop’s display to a 2nd monitor – but won’t support dual external monitors. (I don’t know a laptop that does.)

Alex
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[Alex Gerulaitis]

Thanks Mike!

(Looks like a GTX 285 costs more these days than a GTX 470! What gives?)

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[Alex Gerulaitis]

Thanks Mike – good points about an add-on controller for RAID levels other than 0 and 1, and using non-MPE graphics where it’s unnecessary.

Would you agree that for SD and light duty HDV editing, hardware-based MPE won’t be all that critical? Taking it off will shave $300-500 off the total – which may make sense to those editors.

The imaginary customer for this “sweet spot” hardware MPE system will primarily use Premiere Pro and related apps (Encore, ME) for medium and light duty SD and HD projects – HDV, H.264, AVC-I. Heavy After Effects use is not anticipated but the system will handle it, and can be upgraded to use more RAM, a “pro” graphics card, and redundant storage if necessary.

It’s designed to be a “value” proposition to most budget-minded editors looking for a new system: i.e. it’d be hard to get a similar or better system for less money, and you’d need to spend quite a bit more to get a significantly better system.

Anticipated service life – 3-5 years.

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DV411

[Alex Gerulaitis]

A decent eSATA drive (7200rpm, not too old) will be more than enough to capture and edit DV and HDV.

Both DV and HDV are about 25Mbs, and today’s drives run 20-30 faster than that.

Alex
DV411