Do I need a new computer?

[mjjason]

The correct answer is yes but I am trying to figure out if I can get by for the time being with my current set-up.

My laptop specs:
Intel(R) Pentium(R)M processor 1.6GHz, 512MB of RAM
Windows XP Pro

I have run into several issues while trying to view 720p and 1080i footage. The playback is jerky with several frame skips. I figure this is down to the low RAM. Is there any things I can do with my current machine that would help me handle 1080i or 720p footage better?

Would playing the footage off an external harddrive through USB or Firewire improve this?

How can I better edit this footage? I mainly use Vegas as it is less demanding on the computer.

Any ideas would be grateful. I am trying to get by on this machine until I can make enough money through work to pay off my investment in the camera and also to invest in a better machine.

 

[Barry_Green]

Playing the footage off of the cards should improve your playback experience. A Pentium M is not really up to the task of handling full-screen 1080; I had a 2.00GHz Pentium M and it could handle full-screen 720/24p from the cards, but not from the hard disk; it choked on full-screen 1080.

I now have a Core 2 Duo at 2.00GHz with a fast graphics card, and it can play 1080i, 1080p, and 720/60p all at full-screen full-frame rate from the cards. Still bogs down when playing from the hard disk.

 

[mjjason]

I tried running them from the card and viewing them through the P2 Viewer with the same results.

I downloaded a demo of Raylight and use Raylight Red but that takes about 5 minutes per clip to convert.

If I do use Raylight red to create and edit AVI files in vegas would the final render in Raylight Blue be a clean playable picture or would there be frame issues as a result of my machine?

 

[mjjason]

I covnverted the footage into avi files using Raylight red but that just made the stuttering worse. Not sure what to do at this point.

 

[mvb]

I covnverted the footage into avi files using Raylight red but that just made the stuttering worse. Not sure what to do at this point.

Vegas on your system should be able to play back Raylight Red at 720P/23.976, but the playback window needs to be 1/2 or 1/4-size Preview quality. Make sure the project settings match your clip settings for frame size and frame rate. Your system drive may be fragmented and cause halting playback, so try a firewire or USB 2 drive. Another thing to check is the system commit charge (memory usage). If it's close to the physical memory limit then the system is going to bog down on memory swapping. Close down other apps if possible.

 

[mvb]

If I do use Raylight red to create and edit AVI files in vegas would the final render in Raylight Blue be a clean playable picture or would there be frame issues as a result of my machine?

Raylight Blue is optimum quality no matter what your system is, but probably will not render or play back in real time. However if your computer has an advanced graphics chip you might be able to encode to mpeg-2 or wm9 and play that in real time. Playstation 3 can play back HD mpeg-2 in real time. ANother option is record back to the camera with P2 Maker and play back from the camera to an HD television.