Before I buy this PC, look at the specs and ....

nobody
Member

I'm planning on purchasing a Dell XPS computer this week, but before I do would some of you look over my customized specs that I'm planning on ordering, and
then answer a few last minute questions? Keep in mind my two purposes that this PC must meet:

a. It must provide me with Real Time video editing/authoring of feature-length (long) video
productions, utilizing professional software,
and it must meet that need for years to come.
Eventually, I will be using a Panasonic dvx100 camera as my camera.

b. I must be able to take a 104-minute video production shot on 3/4-inch SP video and make a dvd out of it using menus, a commentary track, etc. The 3/4-inch video
deck has composite outputs only.

P4 at 3.2 GHz with 800 MHz front side bus/hyperthreading
Windows XP Pro
2 GB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400 MHz
256 MB DDR ATI RADEON 9800 XT
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 w/dvd audio and dolby Digital 5.1 capability
250GB Serial ATA hard drive (7200RPM)
120GB Serial ATA hard drive (7200RPM), RAID is not desired
4x dvd+R+RW drive CD-RW
48x CD-RW drive
3.5 inch floppy drive and 64 mb USB memory key
56K PCI data/fax modem
19 inch Dell M992 CRT flatscreen monitor, LCD is not desired
DVI-VGA Adapter
Altec Lansing ADA995 speakers
Quietkey keyboard, optical USB mouse
Dell Movie Studio Plus, including IEEE 1394 card

1) Am I missing any hardware to accomplish what I want to?

2) Is my two hard drive setup good enough? I'd rather not spend more money but if the 36GB 10000 RPM drive would be
beneficial as a third drive....

3) I eventually plan on getting a NTSC monitor to
complement the M992 monitor. Is the M992 a good CRT?

4) Is Dell Movie Studio Plus which includes the IEEE
card something I really need since I'm going to be using
other editing/authoring software? I'll need the 1394 card though to capture my 104 minute video, correct?

Posted 8 years ago #
nobody
Member

Your system certainly is snappy. It won't do realtime without some added hardware though. If you just want to edit w/ realtime previews, like Veas and Premiere Pro, and then render the final project inorder to print to tape, then your compter will be great! You'll want a Matrox RT.X100 Xtreme Pro w/ Premiere Pro if you want to crank out realtime. Or you could invest in a DPS Velocity system.

You have plenty of harddrive and if you need more, you can always get it cheap down the road. I wouldn't go with a raid set-up because if one of the drives goes crapola on you, then you lose everything.

You don't need the Dell Movie Studio Plus package. Your computer already has a 1394 port in the front and you won't need the software they give you.

Good luck with your set-up. I'd do a little more research on realtime solutions because it is a major investment!

Posted 8 years ago #
nobody
Member

i am firml against Dells because mainly you can get a computer thats just as fast but cheaper elsewhere http://www.abspc.com theu ahve some awesome deals

also if you really want true amazing performance and arent too too concerned about price egt an Alienware http://www.alienware.com You may have heard all the G5 commercials advertising the G5 as the fastets personal computer int he world... well thats a lie a recent article in PC wrodl proves that wrong an Alienware Aurora equppped with a AMD 64 bit chip beat it... soo all you apple suers the Alienware auroras OWN YOU! haha

Posted 8 years ago #
nobody
Member

and DELL will load a bunch of crap onto your system you don't need. You can always goto a company that specializes in video-editing computers/laptops

http://www.pcnirvana.net
Great place!

and..
http://www.dvline.com

Posted 8 years ago #
nobody
Member

yea if you get it form a company that specializes in vidoe editing you probably get a better price and itll probably come with more of the stuff you need instead of stuff you dont need (capture card or software) most likely

Posted 8 years ago #
nobody
Member

Be careful when you criticize G5s. Criticizing a G5 is like criticizing GWB. Before you know it, there'll be black helicopters with apples painted on their sides hovering over your house. I think its called Orchard Security.

Posted 8 years ago #