Turnkey Video Editing Workstations?

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notharrylume

Active member
After years of dithering I've decided to take the plunge and start making movies from some of the material I've written. I'm planning to buy a AF -100 at the end of the year.

I want to be, for the time being, a one man band and do everything myself, which means that
I want to do my own editing, for educational reasons, if no other, and that rules out hiring an editor, who would know about all this stuff.

I've decided from what I've read that Premiere CS5 is what I want to edit on. I'll need a new computer to use it, and I'm trying to figure that out.

I'm an old fart PC user, so Apple solutions are out. I have no interest or ability to build my own computer, and I believe that Dell, who has served me well at my office for CAD, isn't the best solution for editing. Because this is a creative endeavor, and because I have no idea where it will lead I want to get a basic system that will let me edit HD - ie as inexpensive as will serve my needs.

That has led me to consider buying a "turnkey" PC editing workstation from someone like ADK, who advertises basic i5 systems without monitors starting at $1350.

I'd very much appreciate anyone's input about the turnkey concept in general and ADK's reputation in particular. Thanks much.

Dennis
 
It doesn't take any special system to edit. Just a fast one with a lot of reliable storage space. If you like what ADK offers, then go with them. If you like what Dell offers, go with them... although ADK is probably going to have much better installations that aren't full of the bloatware Dell puts in.

I do recommend an i7 if you're serious about investing. I have an i5, but an i7 would be my choice if I had the funds for it.

Don't forget to buy lights, a sound kit, and to reserve enough for production costs.
 
Great advice, Cassius, thanks. Perhaps I was overthinking it and making it more complicated that it needs to be. And the other, yes - lights, camera support, filters, .. I'm avoiding adding it all up!
 
I think I would have to differ with Cassius, especially since your editor of choice will be Premiere CS5. There is a vast (can be an extremely vast) difference in using Mercury Playback Engine with supporting CUDA hardware or just using it in software mode. Also, the more cores (and faster cores) you have running in your CPU, the better speed you will see in all tasks not fully supported by the CUDA enabled GPU. Hard disk size is of course very important, but don't discount transfer speeds as there is a great amount of data passing into and out of the Hard disk's when working with HD footage. I've spent many years building systems and also many years editing my footage, and it seems to me that I never seem to have enough raw power to do editing with the speed I'd like to. Then again, I've never taken the time (or money) to put together a dedicated editing system for myself, just use alot of leftover I seem to always have too much of.

It's been a few years now since I've been active (professionally) in computers (or even much editing for that matter), but I have just purchased a new toy (Panasonic HDC-TM70) and my rather antiquated PC is not up to the task of editing this HD 60P footage very well. I'm putting together a list of components which should be up to the task (and then some) right now. I need to stay at or just over 2K for the whole PC hardware, which I should be able to do as I already have about 5 TB of fast hard disks and a nice nVidia GeForce GTX 470 graphics processor and the software needed.

I suppose, after I build this thing, I give a little review here for any who may need to (or want to) put together their own editing workhorse on the cheap.

-Rodger
 
notharrylume said:
I'm an old fart PC user, so Apple solutions are out. I have no interest or ability to build my own computer, and I believe that Dell, who has served me well at my office for CAD, isn't the best solution for editing. Because this is a creative endeavor, and because I have no idea where it will lead I want to get a basic system that will let me edit HD - ie as inexpensive as will serve my needs.
Click to expand...

Avatar was edited on Dell PCs. Maybe your needs extend beyond those of James Cameron. I don't know. But to dismiss them out of hand seems... odd.

Adobe, Avid, and Apple all publish recommendations for their systems. I suggest you start with that in your quest for an editing computer. I've cut on Premiere, Vegas, and now Avid, all on dedicated hardware. Following manufacturer recommendations has served me quite well. Also, doing a complete format of the delivered system, and installing a bare operating system, and then just my video applications has served me very well also.

Good luck.
 
Thanks for that Perrone - I'm now thinking that maybe I was too hasty in dismissing Dell. Since my first post I've found that their XPS 9100 (i7) system will meet all the CS-5 requirements ( except for the nvidia GTX 470 card, which can be purchased separately) for about $1000 less than any of the semi custom systems being offered on the web.

And if I can get my software engineer son to deign to fiddle with a non Linux PC I'll be able to get all their bloatware off the machine before I start editing!

My architecture firm does have 15 years of good expereinces running Dell machines for CAD.
 
My new "Dream Video Editing Machine" build has begun. I had mentioned this may happen in my earlier post above. I've pretty much determined that in order to do functional editing on footage from my TM700, I need much more power then I current have at hand. So, with no other workable remedies for this, I decided time to upgrade to a more powerful editing system.

Rather then belabor the particulars here, I'll provide a link to another thread I have been active in that gives more details. I'll also come back to this forum with a new "build" thread once parts start getting put together. I'm sure there will be some interest by a few here.

-Rodger

Link to my parts list - http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...mp-HDC-TM700&p=2138823&viewfull=1#post2138823
 
look at the gxi 109 (cyberpower sells it) I got mine for about $1800 (no monitor) and it came with the gtx470 installed which takes care of your cuda acceleration. it was a great start for a system. I have since added to it but it works just fine and zero bloatware. You cant go wrong with the case it comes in either, HAF X which means mega airflow to all the internals.
 
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