The best computers for editing Canon DSLR video

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dslr_sc

Active member
If you can transfer raw Canon video to your PC and then edit it in real time with no stuttering on playback and no need for creating proxy files or transcoding, could you please list the make and model of your PC and/or the specs?

I'm in the market for a PC and would find it very helpful to know what others are successfully using to edit their Canon video (I have a T2i). I've seen some other posts here where users mention their specs but could not find one thread that was only composed of this info. If enough people reply to this thread with their PC info it should be very helpful for others in the market for a new PC.

And again, please ONLY reply if you have a PC that can edit Canon DSLR video files with smooth playback of the raw files without converting them with Neo Scene or similar software or using a proxy method. It would probably be helpful if you also mentioned the editing program you use. And if you like, mentioning how much your system cost would be nice (although I assume this board would not allow you to mention where you purchased it from).

And although I use the term "PC" feel free to list your Mac.
 
A generic quad core pc with 6 gigs of ram, a 2 gig video card, 2 1TB ESATA HDs, running 64-bit Windows 7 and Adobe Premiere CS5. You can get one for under 1,000 on ebay. No transcoding, no stuttering and super fast rendering.

I know because I have one and edit 7D footage with it everyday.
 
On the laptop side, I use CS4 on an Alienware M17x. Pricey, but it's just about the fastest laptop money can buy, and paired with CS5 would probably be pretty much the single best portable editing solution out there.
 
Cieloent said:
Pcs are some ugly computers..... After using a Mac for so many years I can never go back to the horrible OS which is WIndows
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The look of the computer is far down on my list of concerns...personally I don't care if it looks like a trash can if it's fast and powerfull. Bang for buck. most applications look and operate the same on PC as Mac. I have a Hackintosh and rarely use the Mac side.
 
on a mac you can't even file manage like in Windows. Ever try to delete a file from a dialog box on a mac? you can't.
 
I think dslr_sc is asking a valid question as it pertains to him.

DO NOT MAKE THIS A PC V MAC DEBATE.
 
Dell precision 690 Duel Xeons , 6GB Ram, Windows 7 64 BIT, Adobe Production Suite CS5, 2TB, Nvidia GeForce GTX285,

6-8 layers of Canon footage runs realtime with CC (and other FX) on all of them.
 
Noel Evans said:
I think dslr_sc is asking a valid question as it pertains to him.

DO NOT MAKE THIS A PC V MAC DEBATE.
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This is a Mac vs. PC debate. He's trying to see what we're using so he can get something for himself, Mac or PC.

I use the Adobe Production Suite on both Macs and PC's. The Mac I have at work cost around $3000.00, it has more RAM, 16 GBs, but performance wise, it may be 10% faster because it's an iMac and the video card is not so good, important for Premiere CS5 now. It also has two quad cores.

The PC I have for my freelance work, I built myself. All together it cost around $1200. I upgraded from Windows Vista and a Core 2 Duo. I prefer Windows to MacOS. I've used both as long as I've been using the Adobe products and Windows has improved over the years. Windows 7 64 Bit is the most stable system I have ever used and it really makes this machine cook when I'm rendering. I use After Effects for everything.

So, if it was my money, and it usually is, I'd build another PC for about half the cost of a comparable Mac. Simple economics and I'm not missing a thing.

On the Mac side, there are some really cool gadgets and programs out there for the mac I'd like to try like the trackballs for Color, but it's never worth it to me to step into the Mac arena when I can do the same in AE.

If you were going to use Final Cut Pro and not the Adobe suite, an iMac might do. I know plenty of people who do just that, but for the Adobe Suite, I really think Windows is in the lead, at least for HDSLR editing and mastering.
 
On a budget, I'd make sure that you get at least a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285. It's a "budget" card that will allow the Mercury engine to make use of its processing power for playback of AVCHD files. On my desktop, it works really well. You can get a Quadro card that allows you to layer more clips (I think the GTX will only do 3 layered clips in real time), but those are super pricey.

I'd also avoid ATI-based cards (so if you go with a laptop to edit on, try to get something along the lines of an NVIDIA 330M) because who knows when Adobe will add support for ATI cards to accelerate AVCHD playback? Hopefully soon, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
 
WhiteMonkey said:
This is a Mac vs. PC debate. He's trying to see what we're using so he can get something for himself, Mac or PC.
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Valid point - but I believe what Noel was warning against was turning this into a mac vs pc flame war. Which computer one finds 'ugly' isn't really relevant to the conversation, for example.

So yes, feel free to discuss the merits of each - but if this devolves into yet another flame thread it'll be shut down quickly.
 
i built my system not including the televisions of course for around 2200$... it was a very generous gift from my brother actually but i built it myself with help from the DIY from videoguys.com... read my signature.... primeiro pro cs5 7d raw .mov playback seamlessly but i still havent found the magic codec for after effects to get it playing at the fps i shoot at... i need to start working with proxies... it seems thats how the pros do it
 
My custom PC is about to turn 2 and it screamed with SD footage in Vegas and now my 7D footage in Premiere CS5 also screams. It was about 1100 when I bought it 2 years ago.

Quadcore Q6600 Chip
GeForce 9800 512mb Graphics Card
3 SATA drives
8GB of DDR2 Ram
Cheap Motherboard

I have not edited anything huge but my normal shooting and editing has no hick ups while editing. It is all thanks to CS5 though!
 
dslr_sc said:
If you can transfer raw Canon video to your PC and then edit it in real time with no stuttering on playback and no need for creating proxy files or transcoding, could you please list the make and model of your PC and/or the specs?

I'm in the market for a PC and would find it very helpful to know what others are successfully using to edit their Canon video (I have a T2i). I've seen some other posts here where users mention their specs but could not find one thread that was only composed of this info. If enough people reply to this thread with their PC info it should be very helpful for others in the market for a new PC.
Click to expand...
I've been using this system since January and edited many T2 projects. It also handles my uncompressed Quicktime files at 12 GB / min.
CS5 will be 100% better.
My advice is forget using a Quad core. I upgraded my 2nd system to a quad last month and it can't compete with the i7. It will work, but the difference is dramatic. The Quad gets stuck if you work it too fast. Lot of crashes and restarts. If you work at a slower pace it may do OK, but who works at a slow pace?

PC/ Windows XP Pro 64bit
ASUS P6TD Motherboard
Intel i7 920
Corsair 3X 1Gb DDR3
ASUS EAH 4870 DK 1GB
ADOBE PREMIER CS4
Canon H-264 Mov. 1080 25 fps

Edits native camera files smooth without transcoding
 
MajorLeagueEnt have you had a look at Canopus Edius Pro5.5. With your current system it should fly . Currently I edit and 550d footage with on the older version of Edius (pro4.61) and very happy with the stablty and speed.
 
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