A Powerful Purpose Built Computer For Video Editing Is A Necessity For Indie Filmmakers
There has never been a better time in the history of technology to aspire to be a film maker. The last three years have seen an unbelievable boon in digital film making capability spear headed by the video capable dslr’s introduced by Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Olympus and Pentax. Finally a beautiful image can easily be achieved with a camera for fewer than three thousand dollars, and as low as $799 dollars with a full cache of interchangeable lenses. This new breed of camera brings a new series of challenges to videographers specifically how to ingest and efficiently edit the sometimes peculiar codecs implemented by camera manufacturers. Film makers will specifically need a computer for video editing to handle the massive amount of data tied to this footage, as well as the resource hungry codecs to achieve smooth playback and editing.
Considerations for pre-built Video Editing Computers
The first thing you should do in considering a prebuilt machine is consider the NLE you will be using as well as the format you’ll be shooting on. HD requires a multi core processor with simply no way to skimp on the minimum specs. While dual core processors are often great bargains, and prolific in major brand systems made for online ordering or in stock at the local superstore, they present a few disadvantages when editing. First, they are really old technology and inefficient when running a 64 bit operating system. Adobe’s new production suite requires that a computer for video editing have a 64 bit OS installed for use with Premiere and After Effects. It won’t be long before Sony, Avid and Canopus follow suit, and their products will no longer function with a 32bit OS.
Secondly, you will want to obtain a system with a decent video card. Many major brand computers come with
several integrated components. These components draw excess processing power from the processor as well as memory resources from available ram. HD footage of all flavors is process or intensive, so the ability to alleviate unnecessary strain on system resources by selecting standalone components such as video cards is an excellent way to ensure optimal system performance. Since we are huge fans of Adobe’s CS5 suite the selection of the video card becomes as important as the any component in the system, thanks to their new Mercury Playback system. If you have the option when purchasing a pre build system consider upgrading the video card if the option is available.
You Get What You Pay For
Even considering these issues you may still be tempted by the price. Under a $1000 will get you a nice looking machine with decent specs, a widescreen monitor, and other cute accessories. It might be a great multimedia computer, but it will not be a competent computer for video editing. By the time you’ve spent money upgrading the important core components, you might be close to a true workstation class editing machine.
These Purpose Build Editing Workstations Are Expensive!
Both Dell and HP make computers that are designed for the purpose of video editing. These workstations come in many flavors and are tweaked model to model for different purposes. Some machines are geared more toward effects while others are more all around. Nearly all of them come with the I7 processor and chipset, which when combined with Window 7 is second to none in editing speed and efficiency. With huge amounts of ram and video cards that costs as much as the budget system we mentioned above, you can easily be at $5000 for a middle performing machine. And while there is no defending that this is indeed expensive, you also pay for the support that comes from these two industry giants, as well as the confidence that the components inside your computer corvette are optimized to be compatible with each other and tuned to peak performance.
Now Dell and HP are not the only games in town. In fact Alienware makes a few machines whose specs are fiercely competitive with any purpose built computer for video editing. The price is competitive as well. Boxx is probably the best of the bunch when it comes to machines that are optimized for use with specific applications. With hardware specs that match the most powerful MAC Pro, Boxx computers are infinitely configurable to the end users needs with a golden reputation for support and dependability.
If money is no option and you have an aversion to providing your own 24/7 tech support, you would serve yourself well to consider one of these pre built monsters. They come standard with quad core processors, high speed ram, ample cooling, and powerful video cards to meet the tasks of a short film or the next big trilogy you plan to edit.
DIY The Happy Medium For Building a Capable Video Editing Computer
If you’re comfortable under the hood of a computer case, then building a diy computer for editing is an easy way to get a machine with purpose built performance while saving some money. Let’s start with what we consider to be the bare minimum requirements for the most pleasant editing experience.
1. A Quad core processor (we prefer the I7 Processor and chipset)
2. 1gb Video card ATI or NVIDIA
3. 3 hard drives of 500gb or above
4. 6gb of ram
5. An external drive to store raw footage
Motherboard
Again the I7 is the best thing to happen to the independent filmmaker since the Canon 5d Mark II. You’ll need an I7 chipset on the motherboard which happens to come in two flavors: the x55 chipset and the x58A. The x55 is a very capable chipset and when budget prevents you from moving up to the x58a its better than any other alternative. The difference without being to technical is the system bus, which allows for huge amounts of data to flow from processor to memory to other hardware components efficiently. Brand is really a non-issue, however we use Gigabyte for the simple fact that we’ve always used them, and the cost performance ratio is great. The price difference between the two chipsets can range from$75-$200 depending on features.
Good and Cheap Video Cards
Since we use Adobe’s CS5 suite in our computer for video editing, it was an easy choice pick an Nvidia video card. Adobe introduced the Mercury playback engine which allows the user to implement hardware acceleration utilizing the video cards GPU. The original minimum specs meant you had to purchase a compatible card that would cost a minimum $300-$400. Thanks to some ingenious and kind soul, a simple change to a file allows the user to use any NVIDIA card with a minimum of 768mb of ram. We saw a 40% increase in performance using a $100 video card.
Follow these guidelines and you’ll be ready to rock and roll. Our last system cost us $685 using our old monitors and our productivity is through the roof. With just a bit of searching you can have a great computer to edit full HD video on for a bargain whether you decide to buy or build.