Ok every one seems to be getting all the suggestions wrong. First of all just about ever one of thoese video cards they mention are simply video game cards with different drivers. They all pretty much have the same technology on them and wont help you out much.
If you have a bit of a budget then stay away from Nvidia, ATI, and Matrox... No card they have will give you the best performanance. Not to mention next year they will have a video game card that is better than your so called production card.
My suggestion.. is to go with a PRO card. Namley 3D Labs Wildcat video cards. Either the Wildcat 4 or teh wildcat VP. Course some of the top end video cards are up to $ 2,500+ dollars but what you get is more power than you can deal with. How does 328 MB of DDR ram sound for video?
These cards are perfect for 3D and advanced video production. If you use After Effects, then this is your video card.
Check out the site and it will bring you around. http://www.3dlabs.com/product/index.htm
Speakers? Sacrilege! As MadCow states, they are called audio monitors, or studio monitors. I have Behringer Truth B2031 audio monitors. At under $500US, they are a great bang for the buck. They are qualified as mini-Mackies by some reviewers.
As for the Wildcat graphics card... like Zoom said, it's nice to have, but for video editing, it offers little or no performance gains at all. Wildcats are killer in 3D apps thought. Other then that, don't waste your money. ATI, nVidia, and Matrox all remain excellent products at a fraction of the cost of a Wildcat. All three offer good performance, quality and features in one form or another. I think it's really a matter of personal choice... unless you want 3 monitors (for added screen real estate), in which case only Matrox Parhelia can offer such a thing.
[quote author=Flintstone link=board=Links;num=1069302601;start=25#28 date=12/01/03 at 20:19:47]unless you want 3 monitors (for added screen real estate), in which case only Matrox Parhelia can offer such a thing.
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i run a pair of rolands ds90's and pair of ds50's studio monitors http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DS90
but my film (by film i mean video) studio was built onto an audio studio.
the sound replication is just amazing..(they do speaker modeling as well, so you can replicate any listening environment with them to hear what it would sound like played back on different systems..) when i first went to check them out i was just blown away, and had to have them. pricey but worth it once you hear them.. and they get loud.. i mean LOUD. i have to keep them at a real low .. they have just about any connection you could ask for digital or analog, but i just use the optical, and coax digtial ins. then i mix all the sound on my audio gear. it was nice to get rid of some of the extra cables behind my setup and go down to a couple digitals.. i swear even now if you tied all the cables together you could lasso the moon.
only downside is that i have them sitting close enough on at the workstation to the floor where for a while my little daughters favorite thing to do in that room was to push in the rubber foam dome on the tweeters.. it was sorta funny, but needles to say i didnt let that go on too long.
Hmmmm...monitors now that is my bag as my day job is to run my studio. Zoom, with all the good advice you've given stay away from the Rolands at all costs...they suck. Goto VS-planet.com and read what some of the die hard roland guys say about them. I sent them back after one day (sorry imaloser). My main room monitors are a pair of ADAM Audio P11-A, and in my nuendo room the Mackie hr824's with the sub and probably overkill for most guys in here. The Alesis M1 Active Mk2 are awesome at only 399...i can't believe the Roland's are still around.
Yeah, I had the event 20/20bas before I could afford the mackies...when I received the mackies I could not believe the difference. I really like the smaller ones too...i think hr624...then I got the Adams...that's a whole 'nother beautiful experience.
ha ha.. yeah they made a pro series last year that was very good That I picked up.. 650:1 contrast etc.. My second TFT is a KDS 15" piece of **** that I wouldnt recommend to anyone.
now now..they dont suck. lol! i have run a recording studio for years as well. its just that everyone is used to moitoring sound with that warmth that analog brings.. digital to some sounds a bit tinney..in essence people arent used to hearing such clear sound through a pure digital connection . anyway you can connect them any way you want to , and in the end you can model the type of sound you like from a monitor. ive only heard good things about the new rolands since the day they came out.. of course thats marketing as well, but in the end people have to decide for themselves. i love them.. its not really a fair review to say they suck because you personally dont like them, or may have had a bad experience with them. and i wouldnt doubt that tube amp loving roland fans have issues adapting to newer technology.. same as old film lovers saying our little video cameras suck. but roland isnt known for making sucky audio monitors. these new monitors are built on the same award winning designs as their older ones, and just bring the power of digital to the table as well.