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What kind of computer chip do I need to process video?

post #1 of 22
11/11/12 at 8:59am
Thread Starter 
What kind of computer chip do I need to get decent video processing speed? Is it the speed of the chip or speed of the hard drive that matters most?

I am currently using a almost 4 year old Dell office type computer and processing video clips is very slow.

I was thinking of getting a Dell multimedia computer on or around Black Friday with a budget of $800. It must have a Blu-ray burner.

Suggestions? Is there another brands as reliable as Dell that is any better?

THANKS
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post #2 of 22
11/14/12 at 5:01pm
You want to get as many processing cores as your budget allows, Drive speed matters not, 4 cores or more, and a good Graphics card helps too
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post #3 of 22
11/14/12 at 6:05pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks allot.

I processed a 15 minute video today and it took several hours at least. I lost track of time and din't time it out.
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post #4 of 22
11/14/12 at 6:32pm
Depends on multiple factors. I have a pretty old 4-core 2.2GHz AMD machine. I used to have 1/8 rendering speed in relation to duration of original video (8 minutes to render 1 minute of original video). Then I bought a half-decent Nvidia card with CUDA and upgraded software, which utilizes GPU. Now I nave 1/6 rendering speed, so it is an improvement. Right, for 15 minutes of video my computer will need 1.5-2 hours of rendering.

Point is, if your software uses GPU for rendering you can keep the old computer, just upgrade the graphics card.
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post #5 of 22
11/15/12 at 8:47pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ungermann View Post

Depends on multiple factors. I have a pretty old 4-core 2.2GHz AMD machine. I used to have 1/8 rendering speed in relation to duration of original video (8 minutes to render 1 minute of original video). Then I bought a half-decent Nvidia card with CUDA and upgraded software, which utilizes GPU. Now I nave 1/6 rendering speed, so it is an improvement. Right, for 15 minutes of video my computer will need 1.5-2 hours of rendering.
Point is, if your software uses GPU for rendering you can keep the old computer, just upgrade the graphics card.

This is the computer I might get. Is it good enough?



DELL XPS 8500

PROCESSORS 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3350P processor (6M Cache, up to 3.10 GHz)

OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 8, 64-bit

MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz

OPTICAL DRIVE 8x Blu-ray Disc (BD) Burner (Writes to DVD/CD/BD) edit

HARD DRIVE 1TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive 6.0 Gb/s

VIDEO CARD NVIDIA GeForce GT 620 1GB DDR3
Does i5 mean five processor cores?
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post #6 of 22
11/15/12 at 8:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by inky blacks View Post

This is the computer I might get. Is it good enough?
DELL XPS 8500
PROCESSORS 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3350P processor (6M Cache, up to 3.10 GHz)
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 8, 64-bit
MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz
OPTICAL DRIVE 8x Blu-ray Disc (BD) Burner (Writes to DVD/CD/BD) edit
HARD DRIVE 1TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive 6.0 Gb/s
VIDEO CARD NVIDIA GeForce GT 620 1GB DDR3
Does i5 mean five processor cores?

The i5 is a quad core processor, which is the standard.

You have everything you need; a fast quad core processor, 8gigs RAM and a 1GB video card - very good setup for video editing.

Just make sure you have enough storage space; you always want to backup up your files to at least a second spot/second drive, in the event something happens to the original files.

Even though the PC comes with a 1TB hard drive, get a second external 1TB or 2TB USB drive to backup the files.
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post #7 of 22
11/15/12 at 9:50pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks

I will see what the Black Friday price is on that machine. smile.gif
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post #8 of 22
11/16/12 at 2:42am
Also look for other options. For example, Staples has a Lenevo machine with similar specifications on Black Friday for $449 (has built-in graphics, but if you want a better card would be extra):
http://blackfriday.com/stores/staples/flyers/black-friday

..or similar/right now for $499:
http://www.staples.com/Lenovo-H430-57311430-Desktop-PC/product_985090


All Black Friday:
http://blackfriday.com/flyers

=
Edited by xfws - 11/16/12 at 3:12am
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post #9 of 22
11/21/12 at 10:26am
Thread Starter 
http://www.amazon.com/Acer-AME600-UR378-Desktop-Black/dp/B009AAU9TI/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1353521450&sr=8-15&keywords=acer+desktop+computer

What do you think of this?
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post #10 of 22
11/21/12 at 10:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by inky blacks View Post

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-AME600-UR378-Desktop-Black/dp/B009AAU9TI/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1353521450&sr=8-15&keywords=acer+desktop+computer
What do you think of this?
Quote:
3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3770 processor 3.4GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology up to 3.9GHz (8MB Total Cache)
10 GB DDR3
2 TB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Intel HD Graphics
Windows 8
Looks really good.
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post #11 of 22
11/24/12 at 5:34pm
Thread Starter 
This is what I ended up buying, a 6 core 3.6 Ghz HP for $589.99.

HP ENVY h-8 1400z

I read HP is now higher rated than Dell for reliability and Dell had some deceptive Black Friday sales tactics, like jacking up the so-called value of their computers so the sale prices looked better. I did not get the Acer because it has lower reliability ratings and the DVD burner is only 8X vs 16X for the HP. HP has the largest computer sales volume so I figured they are less likely to go out of business. Lenova has the highest reliability rating, but I think that is for their expensive office stuff. I read reviews for their home-consumer stuff and they sound way less than enthusiastic.
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post #12 of 22
12/4/12 at 9:56am
Thread Starter 
Well I have my new HP 6 core computer and it now process 15 minutes of video in just under 11 minutes. That’s pretty good, isn’t it?

I have been through COMPUTER HELL with Windows 8. What a horrible operating system. I am thinking of paying $80 to have it removed and replaced with Windows 7.

My video card started out working great and I could edit video at full resolution, but now the image quality stinks. I am using Classic Shell, a free program that makes Windows 8 perform like Windows 7, but it may be making my computer crash every day or two.

Windows 8 deletes the DVD burn function from Windows Movie Maker, so I will need a DVD program that will stitch together video clips and make them one movie and then burn them to DVDs. I also need the ability to create DVD menus. Any suggestions?
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post #13 of 22
12/4/12 at 10:15am
"now process 15 minutes of video in just under 11 minutes"
--Nice!

"I have been through COMPUTER HELL with Windows 8"
--Not Nice!

"so I will need a DVD program that will stitch together video clips and make them one movie and then burn them to DVDs. I also need the ability to create DVD menus. Any suggestions?"
--I use and enjoy Adobe Premier Elements 11 for that. The editing is easy, DVD and Blu-Ray menus are easy. It is all built in to one interface. Many prefer the home version of Sony Vegas, but I think it installs with the editing and DVD creation as separate programs.

"may be making my computer crash every day or two"
--Really not nice!

Bill
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post #14 of 22
12/4/12 at 11:49am
I got the Acer i7 computer, and I love Windows 8, which just seems a more efficient and more fun version of Windows 7. You do have to learn its new tricks, though.
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post #15 of 22
12/4/12 at 5:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by markr041 View Post

I got the Acer i7 computer, and I love Windows 8, which just seems a more efficient and more fun version of Windows 7. You do have to learn its new tricks, though.
Which Acer i7 and which NLE are you using on Win 8?

Bill
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post #16 of 22
12/4/12 at 6:30pm
The Acer in the link above (amazon). Sony Vegas pro 12.
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post #17 of 22
12/7/12 at 1:09pm
So based upon this thead I believe that the new laptop I am considering so do quite well for editing videos?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7407714&Sku=H25-156406

HP ENVY dv6-7228nr Notebook PC - 3rd generation Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz, 8GB DDR3, 1TB HDD, DVDRW, NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M, 15.6" Full HD Display, Windows 8
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post #18 of 22
12/7/12 at 1:16pm
Excellent - and the screen resolution is 1920x1080, which is rare in laptops. Go for it.
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post #19 of 22
12/8/12 at 9:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by markr041 View Post

Excellent - and the screen resolution is 1920x1080, which is rare in laptops. Go for it.

Thanks for the reply. So one more question.

Would you go this way with a better resolution screen or would you move up to the 17.3" screen which is still HD but not full 1920/1080? System specs are the same so just wondering if the bigger screen might be a better way to go. Sure it weighs more but that isn't really an issue for me.

So smaller screen with the best resolution or bigger screen with a bit less res????

Thanks,

Steve
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post #20 of 22
12/8/12 at 11:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ifsteve View Post

Would you go this way with a better resolution screen or would you move up to the 17.3" screen which is still HD but not full 1920/1080?
I never noticed any problems editing video earlier this year when I had a 17" screen, but a larger screen does give you more real estate room to work with when you are running the program.
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post #21 of 22
12/8/12 at 5:58pm
Good question. The optimal size of the screen will depend on how far away you are - if the smaller screen fills your field of vision, then it is ok (for video editing). You are going to be editing 1080 videos sitting close to the screen, so having a 1080 screen is really helpful for seeing how sharp and/or in focus you are (resolution matters less the farther your viewing distance). You will probably be playing the video on big TV's with 1080 resolution too. Usually the bigger screens have higher resolution, so this is an odd choice
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post #22 of 22
12/9/12 at 6:33am
Well I ordered the original option I posted. 15.6" screen with full 1920x1080 resolution. Talked to a Electrical Eng buddy and that was his suggestion. He also talked about how close to the screen I would be when working on the laptop as a consideration. Since it will be very close decided to go with the higher res screen. Thanks for the feedback. Laptop should be here Tuesday! smile.gif
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