Camcorders and CPU Spec - one for computer techies

[Steve Maskery]

Hi all,
My PC knowledge is rather out of date these days, so I'm hoping someone can help me out here.

Which is "better"?

Pentium M 735 / 1.7 GHz - Centrino, or
Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz

I've used the quotes as I fully expect someone to tell me I'm comparing apples with pears. Basically I'm looking for a machine that will edit DVD files and I'm being offered a Tosh Quosmio at a good price. No OS, but I don't think that will be a problem, I've built hundreds of PCs in the past, just not done an OS on a laptop. I'm assuming it is no different.

The Tosh is the Pentium M 1.7 and the software for the DVD editing requires Pent 4 2.4Ghz, so will this do the job?

TVM

 

[Roger]

Hi Steve

The M stands for Mobile which was what the Centrino was designed for in Laptops. It doesn't have a particularly good reputation and certainly isn't a workhouse by any stretch of the imagination.

If the software requires a P4 2.4 - the Centrino will definitely NOT handle it and the chances are, the software wouldn't even install! :shock:

 

[Pecker]

Seconded!

mark

 

[Roger]

Just another thing Steve. If you're not familiar with Laptops, installing an OS on them can sometimes be very problematic and not the same as a standard Desktop system at all. They usually have proprietary hardware and drivers and unless you have all the CD(s) that came with it in the first place, it can be a Royal PITA :shock:

Besides which, fiddling around with a Laptop to edit Video isn't too much fun - stick with a Desktop :wink:

 

[Steve Maskery]

Hmm, thanks, guys (I think! - it's not what I wanted to hear ).

Actually I have installed the software with no problem on my rather aged Athlon600 machine, but not actually used it - I don't have any raw footage yet. So I'm pretty sure it would actually install, but my understandingis that camcorder files are resource intensive, and if I'm going to have to upgrade my PC, I'd be happy to consider going mobile at the same time, and this looked like a good deal. It's no use if it won't do the job, though, although from the price I would expect it to be quite some machine:

Basically I'm being offered one of these:
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Toshiba- ... ersion.asp
for £600

But if installing is dodgy anyway, and it won't do the job, I think I'll reluctantly pass.

What sort of spec do others use for camcorder work?

 

[mailee]

My wife has the Tosh laptop Steve and it is pants! My old Pentium 4 2gig is much faster and she even has a memory upgrade in hers too! I would look for something other than the Tosh mate. Does it have to be a laptop as desktop PC's are much better in the long run and much cheaper to upgrade ETC. :shock:

 

[andrewm]

Don't forget that digital video files take something like 13Mb per hour so an 80Gb hard drive is not going to go very far unless you are planning on archiving everything back to tape or burning to DVD as soon as you have finished editing it.

A desktop with a BIG hard drive might be a better option and at that price you should get a pretty good one.

Andrew

 

[cutting42]

Hi Steve

I guessed that the PC question would come up after the camcorder thread a few weeks ago

Video editing needs HORSEPOWER and in spades. You will get very frustrated if you try even simple effects such as fades, wipes without a good amount of memory, hard disk space and processor speed in that order.

I have a laptop with a Pentium M 1.6Ghz processor and it is actually a very efficient and surpirisingly powerful processor. It works very differently to the Desktop P4's and you cannot directly compare speeds. However Ploget is bang with the comments about drivers etc, they can also be hard to track down as many laptops have dedicated rebuild cd's which don't allow a custom install of the OS. Unless you need to be mobile I would not get a laptop.

The best thing you can do with a desktop machine is to buy as much memory you can fit in it, 1Gb is a bare minimum with 2Gb being the preferred option. Then buy a big hard disk (or two) and set it up as a data drive separate from main disk with the program files loaded on it. After this you can worry about the processor, I use a 2.2Ghz machine and it runs Pinnacle Studio Plus very well with 2Gb memory.

For £600, assuming you have a monitor and keyboard already you can get a very capable machine, about £220 for a e6600 Core 2 Duo processor, £80 for a high end motherboard, £130 for a 500Gb hard disk with a SATA2 high speed interface and 2Gb of DDR2 memory for £160. This lot will keep you going for a long time.

Hope I have not tried to teach you to suck eggs as you say you have built many PC's and probably know all this but hope others might benefit from this as well.

 

[RogerS]

Steve..have you thought about getting a Mac?

Now..where's my coat ?

 

[Steve Maskery]

Mailee - I'm surprised at that. My wife a little entry-level Tosh and it is smashing. But thanks for the heads-up.

Andrew - You are not giving Granny lessons. As I said, my PC knowledge is a bit antiquarian. I know everything there is to know about Windows 98 and NT. Well nearly everything. And Knew. I've done very little technical with XP.

I was hoping not to have to spend that much actually, it just seemed a good deal to upgrade and get a laptop at the same time. I am reasonably inclined to get the best I can; my present AMD600 machine was state-of-the-art when I built it. When would that have been? 1998? A long time ago, anyway, and apart from hard drive and memory upgrades, it's done everything I've asked of it. But this is a different game really, isn't it?

I have at least settled on the cam - I'm going for a Panasonic GS180. It's MiniDV and appears to have a good quality/price ratio. It has a mic input, too.

Roger - well yes I have, but that is an even more expensive option, and what do I do with all my existing programs? It's like the yokel answered the enquiring motorist - "You want to go to London? Well I wouldn't start from here if I were you!"

I'm beginning to get a bit scared of the costs here. I originally thought I could buy a cam for a couple of hundred quid and off I go. But it seems I need a good mic, good lighting, expensive software, music and the licence to use it, and the PC upgrade will be the most expensive of all. I reckon maybe £1000 - £1200 by the time I've finished. I don't know how many I can expect to sell, or at what price, but at that rate I'd have to sell 60 at £20 or 120 at £10 just to cover my financial outlay, let alone time costs, and as to making a profit, it just seems so unlikely.

I have loads of material. GW has published a lot of it in one form or another over the years, and I know that my jig articles are very popular. I reckon I have enough material for two or three DVDs, and with the accompanying drawings and SU models, I'm sure that some people would find them attractive. But what sort of quantity? I can see selling just a few dozen a year. It's something I would like to do though. I have no-one to pass my skills onto, and this would be a way of dong so, and if I'm going to do it, I want to do it well.

I'm rambling, I think I need a coffee.

 

[RogerS]

Steve...the new Intel chip based Macs are able to run windows programs using a program called Parallels IIRC.

And most importantly don't forget that you get all the DVD editing software plus a huge amount of other excellent software FREE with your Mac.

Check out this link while you're drinking your coffee!

 

[cutting42]

I was hoping not to have to spend that much actually,

In that case just concentrate on getting a new PC Box for about £300 and top up the memory to 2Gb, should do the job fine then.

I have at least settled on the cam - I'm going for a Panasonic GS180. It's MiniDV and appears to have a good quality/price ratio. It has a mic input, too.

An excellent choice, lovely quality and the best value 3 chip camera available IMO. You can get a reasonable quality tie clip mic for about £20 and hide it down your jumper and the audio should be fine. Buy a couple of 250W exterior floodlights from B&Q for about £12 each and clamp them up high for lighting and you are away.

Have fun!!

 

[mr]

Unless you're going to record audio separately by which I mean to a separate tape, I would have thought a tie clip mic was essential otherwise, if relying on the onboard mic you will end up recording the noise of machinery at the same input level as your voice which may not work too well. Another option which might work well would be to mix in an overdubbed layer of voiceover explaining the action while keeping workshop noise at a lower but atmospheric level in the background.
Cheers Mike

 

[Steve Maskery]

Hi Mike
Yes I agree, that's one reason why I favour the Panasonic, not all cams have a separate mic input.
My head is buzzing with all the options at the moment.