Apple, Sony, Avid, and Adobe all recommend having fast Cpus, for PC's 3.0ghz is the standard requirement for editing HD and for Apple a 1.0ghz dual CPU+ is at the bottom of the list. Almost every vendor however recommends that a dual CPU be used for HD work, and the good news is that Both Intel and AMD have recently released affordable dual core processors that have 2cpu's in one die that may even fit in your existing motherboard.
Storage reading and writing speeds seem to be the biggest question from people wanting to upgrade to HD, how much room they need and if they need to go through the added expense and hassle of setting up a Raid Array. I made this little chart to help you understand what each common codec requires in terms of write speed, and as you can see, most compressed formats can just get by with not requiring a raid setup for single line editing, but, of course, almost every NLE recommends it.
When your looking at specs in print or on the forums, you might think people have gone nuts as one person says 100Mbps and other people say 12.5 MB/s. (damn you Barry Green). The larger numbers, like 100Mbps has become the standard way of saying computer speeds, Firewire for example is 400Mbps, and P2 DVCpro-HD is 100Mbps. If you see a small number like 12 MB/s, that is a method that still camera guys measure the speed of their storage (compact flash, etc.) so it adds some confusion. MB/s means MegaBytes per second, Mbps means Megabits per second. The difference is a bit is about an 1/8th of a byte.
Average Drive Speeds, as tested with Black Magic HDLINK Speed Test |
| 2.5" External Hard Drive Firewire |
144 Mbps |
| 3.5" External Hard Drive USB 2.0 |
291 Mbps |
| 3.5" Internal Hard Drive SATA |
472 Mbps |
| Compact Flash 80x |
57.6 Mbps |
Codec |
Bitrate (Mbps)
Megabits / Sec |
Bitrate (MB/s)
Megabytes / Sec |
|
GB per hour |
Colourspace |
Raid? |
| SD- DV |
25 |
3.13 |
|
11 |
4:1:1 |
N |
DVCPRO-50
|
50 |
6.25 |
|
22 |
4:2:2 |
N |
| DVCPRO-HD 720/24-P2 |
40 |
5 |
960x720 |
18 |
4:2:2 |
N |
| DVCPRO-HD 720/60 |
100 |
12.50 |
|
44 |
4:2:2 |
N |
| DVCPRO-HD 1080/60i |
100 |
12.50 |
|
44 |
4:2:2 |
N |
| HDV720 |
25 |
3.13 |
|
11 |
4:2:0 |
N |
| HDV1080 |
25 |
3.13 |
|
11 |
4:2:0 |
N |
| ProHD |
19 |
2.38 |
|
9 |
4:2:0 |
N |
| HDCAM |
144 |
18 |
|
64 |
4:2:2 |
N |
| HDCAM-SR |
440 |
55 |
|
193 |
4:4:4 |
Y |
| Uncompressed |
|
| 720x 486 |
210 |
26.25 |
|
92 |
4:2:0 |
N |
| 1280x720/24p |
332 |
41.50 |
|
146 |
4:2:0 |
Y |
| 1280 x 720/60p |
818 |
102.25 |
|
364 |
4:2:0 |
Y |
| 1920 x 1080/24p |
746 |
93.25 |
|
328 |
4:2:0 |
Y |
| 1920 x 1080/60i |
932 |
116.50 |
|
410 |
4:2:0 |
Y |
| HD-SDI 10bit RGB |
1900 |
237.50 |
|
850 |
4:4:4 |
YYYY! |
As you can see, even with a single internal or external drive you should be able to away with enough bandwidth to cut most of the compressed HD formats in a normal 2-3 layer sequence. Once you go above that, you start to require Raid Setups, and of course enter Dual-Processor country. Some Codecs like HDCam are a little tricky, as in its compressed state its fairly workable, however HDCAM is transferred over HD-SDI, so it quite retardedly goes from compressed on tape, to Uncompressed over HD-SDI then back to compressed on your drive.
| Now that I mention HD-SDI, its a pretty good chance if you never have been outside the firewire-DV world you would have never seen it, HD-SDI is a transfer system (like Firewire, for example) that developed out of the SDI Standard Definition world that uses BNC connections that hook up to cameras and decks. Your computer probably wont have a SDI nor a HD-SDI connector on it, for that you need to purchase a specific board such as Blackmagic's Decklink that gives you the necessary bridge into your computer. Its a $595 upgrade that would of cost you $5000 just 2 years ago, and NLE'S like Vegas have the capability built in to output directly to your decklink card for external monitoring, which brings us to the next point. |
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Monitoring HD is the final step in the HD chain, and most likely the most expensive upgrade. The little 8" Sony monitor that you have been using as a monitor isn't going to work anymore to monitor HD, specially not the 1080 Flavour. You need a HD capable monitor, and there a re quite a few expensive options available. That said, a great and one of the cheapest solutions is the new $950 Dell 24" monitor. It has component HD inputs that will go from the HD component out on your camera right into the monitor, so you can view full 1080 video directly without going through your system. The Decklink and cards like the Kona HD also has SDI and HD-SDI outputs on the card, so you can monitor HD from your NLE to an external monitor. If you have one of the HD-SDI cards, your monitor hooks straight up to it, so you no longer need an intermediate device like a deck or camera to use to output to a monitor.
If you are finishing your HD project on the same system, your probally going to want to obtain a HD CRT-based Monitor or a High quality LCD like the Panasonic BT-LH1700 LCD or Sony BVM-D20F1U if your color timing, as consumer displays are not as accurate as you may need to color correct. |
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