Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 Windows - Did I buy the right one?

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Impossible

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Hello Gang -

Here's my situation...

I just got an Amazon "deal" for a new edit program, the much talked about Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 (brand new, under $500 with shipping and it comes with Encore, and a manual in the box). I've been using and abusing Ulead's MediaStudio Pro but want to adapt to a more "industry recognized" set-up without having to morgage my girlfriend, so Adobe seemed the way to go...

Naturally, I own a DVX (100B) and may get an HD soon.

I want to know if I made the right choice for my desktop. I have a HP Pavilion Media Center PC (running XP), AMD Athlon 64x2 (dual core), with 2048mb memory (I'm assming that's the total of the dual cores). My graphics card is the stock NVidia Gforce 6150 LE. It has a 320GB drive (partitioned).

I'm assuming Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 will run on it. Am I right or am I stupid? (I know I'm stupid in LOTS of other areas, I just want to know if I should add "editor guessing" to the list.)

Can someone out there please:
A) put my mind at ease and congratulate me on saving 36% off the retail price.
B) convince me to cancel my order because I made a bad choice.

ANY advice, recommendations, suggestions are welcome!

I'll be at the bar, chewing ice while I wait for a reply...

Thanks -
Matt :cry:
 
There's one way to find out... install the software :)

Seriously though, I think you'll be fine. By the time you're ready for HD, you'll likely want to upgrade, but for SD you're golden. The only thing I would recommend is to NOT use your system drive for a media drive. Either install a second internal drive (or get a computer-savvy buddy to do so), or use an external drive. Firewire is preferred, though depending on your computer, you might have limited FW ports. USB can work in a pinch, and will usually do fine for non-critical "I'm learnin' me a softwares" editing. Don't expect screaming performance, but it'll work... ish.

Just to reiterate: DON'T use the system drive as a media drive, commonly labeled C: on PCs. It's a quick way to put the dead on your hard drive. Installing the program there, however, is perfectly OK and preferred.

Have fun...!
 
I second what cb said, those computer specs will run Premiere fine and dandy for SD footage. They'll even work fine for HD, but I would consider a processor and video card upgrade when you switch to HD. And try to keep your running processes down, alot of HP computers come bundled with a ton of programs that are always running and hogging your system resources.

A dedicated video hard drive is essential, and quite cheap. Best Buy and Circuit City are always running specials on hard drives.
-Kevin
 
Thanks CB -

I won't cancel the order. I'll wait until it gets here and see what happens. I have ONE firewire port (on the front of the PC) that enables me to capture from the DVX, and export to the DVX (the camera automatically picks the flow direction depending on the play or record buttons pushed).

I'm just wondering if I could temporarily capture and store footage to the C drive, then disconnect the camera from the firewire port, plug in the external drive to the same firewire port, and copy the footage to the external drive. Then I could delete the footage from the C drive, and work off the external...

If I screw up, I could also fry the ONLY FIREWIRE port I have! (I could also delete the C drive which would then make my PC as usefull as a paperweight or a doorstop!)

This HP also has a "Personal Media Drive Bay" on the left side of the front that accepts an HP cartridge type drive. Maybe that will work if it handles the footage at firewire speed. Hmmm... I'll have to call HP and see what they say. If it does work as a second hard drive, I'll invest in a cartrige. I should be moving at a decent speed if it works like I think it will.

I'm doing a few instructional DVDs, so working with SD is fine for that. I'm psyched that you think it should be "golden" for SD.

Your suggestions and advice are greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Matt
 
Hi Matt,

You'll do fine.

You can daisy-chain IEEE1394 devices. Hookup the drive to the computer, then the camera to the drive, if that's what you want to do.

I would add one if not two SATA drives in the box. If you're frisky, adding an eSATA card in an available slot (assuming you have one) is a good idea for removable storage, should that idea appeal to you. SATA throughput is sufficient for HD in multiple streams.

An additional drive (besides the drive for your media) will give your a drive for your preview files. That will matter with some projects - long ones, involved ones, ones with a lot of effects or complicated effects, or if you use a lot of programs at the same time. Drives are pretty cheap, I'd likely add the additional drive and configure it Edit>Preferences.

I have edited to USB2.0 drives all day without consequences, BTW, but having gone HD, I've also gone SATA, too.:beer:
 
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