enough hardware?

[tazza]

Okay, I am almost ready to purchase Eduis Broadcast 4 – I just need some guidance with regard to my existing computer power.
I have a P4 3.20GHz Alienware notebook w/2gigs RAM, Nvidia GeForce 6800 VC.
Are there any “really bad” aspects with regard to Eduis with this hardware setup?
Also what options do I have for an external RAID, I don’t have an expresscard slot only PCMCIA.
:dankk2:

[bhiga]

It's almost never a matter of whether EDIUS will/won't work, it's more a matter of will it do what you want to do in realtime?

So, what do you want to accomplish in realtime?

Brandon

[JimJulian]

That computer should play SD just fine, but for HD you'll need a dual processor to be happy.

[tazza]

Thanks guys,
The main reason for me purchasing Eduis is for it’s P2 capabilities. I would shoot in the 720p mode mostly, not sure what that buys me as far as my computer doing things in real time. I’m an Adobe user but I don’t see any solution being presented by Adobe – and I don’t want to buy other programs to handle the HD format within Premiere.
Not sure what I want to accomplish in real time, I mostly do non-effect type editing, some titles and PinP stuff.
I’m sure Eduis will work on my system I just want to know how well it will work.

[Ted Ramasola]

On our PC running P4 3.4 ghz with 2gig of ram and 128 mb dual monitor graphics card.
We have no problem with 2 streams of HQ encoded AVIs, short transitions with simple titles. -and even 3D PnP.
For longer transitions youll need to do a "very brief and short" rendering (ctrl+Q) for the overloaded areas. But still fast enuf.

Good luck with your Edius Tazza.

Ted

[tazza]

thanks TB,

That makes me feel better about using Eduis.

What are you doing about storage/hard drives?

[Ted Ramasola]

2 eide Barracudas striped into 1 drive and 2 sata barracudas also striped into 1 drive.
Both handle 720p HQ footage well.

[Ted Ramasola]

And also Tazza,

You will find the "consolidate project" feature of edius a neat way of archiving your projects after your done. It gives you an option of retaining only the files you used and an option to trim them further in the heads and tail part to further save archive space.

[tazza]

Thanks again TB,

I am working with an Alienware Note Book, what would I use to connect the drives? as I don't have an Express Card slot and if I use the PCMCIA slot I loose my ability to read the P2 card, i assume you have your drives rigged internally in your PC. I do have 2 firewire connections but I believe there only FW400- not sure if their capable of supporting a RAID setup.
Sorry for all the Q's.
The "consolidate project" option sounds great!

[Ted Ramasola]

Tazza,
check if you can upgrade your drives to a bigger size. Dont count on doing intensive post work on a laptop when your working with HD.
DV is completely "digestible" even by modest laptops.
We hav a 2 ghz laptop that can handle DV, but barely.
My set up of 3.4 ghz Hyper Threading CPU on a PC, is to my opinion, "barely getting by" or just on the tip of "minimum working set up". We set up another system using a Core 2 duo 2.13 ghz PC and THAT only handled well the 2 streams i mentioned earlier without render.
I therefore think, that the next in line Core 2 duo 2.4 ghz is the way to go to fully appreciate HD editing on a PC without using any add on cards.
For storage, drives must spin at least 7200 rpms ie; barracudas, to avoid dropped frames. Were still talking here of only 720P not even 1080i.
Your alienware laptop must have the firewire specs to sustain this datarate.

Ted

[tazza]

Ted,

The data rate at 7200rpms is fine on the firewire line, as my HD's are 7200. i'm just not sure about a RAID setup. I think after I'm on the other side of the learning curve with regard to Eduis B - I'm going to buy a kick ass Desktop system. For now it sounds like my Alien notebook should be fine.
Thanks again for your help.
Ron:beer:

[Ted Ramasola]

Good luck Ron, do keep us posted how well Edius handles the P2 files, I dont hear much yet on users on this workflow.