My first machine that was capable to perform video editing was a Dell Pentium 2.4Ghz and worked perfectly fine. My current machine is an HP with an Athlon 64 3700+ 2.2 GHz, 1G Ram, 200GB primary drive, 160GB drive slave and a 250GB external drive.

The good news is that you can get a pretty decent PC for under $1000. The most important features to look for in a video editing machine are the processor and the hard drive.

Minimum features to look for:

• A Real P4 or AMD processor. Avoid the Celeron or Sempron lines.
• At least 160G drive (it is HIGHLY recommended to get a second hard drive of at least 200G)
• 512K ram, 1G is better, more is better still.

I was able to recently price a Dell Dimension 9200 System that had an Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 processor, 1G RAM, 250GB hard drive, 19″ monitor and a Firewire port for $849. If I was in the market video editing computer this is what I would buy. I would also upgrade to 2G RAM.

The Processor - AMD VS Intel
Recenty Intel introduced the Core 2 Duo Processors. These processors are THE choice for home video editing at the moment. According to Tom’s Hardware if you compare a Intel Core 2 E6400 to a AMD X2 3800+ there is over a minute difference in their benchmark to encode a 24 second clip.

Last year I essentially said it was a toss up between an Intel or AMD processor. That is no longer the case as I now recommend an Intel Core 2 processor. If you are going to buy an intel based system I would make sure it is a Core 2 system. The Core 2 processors are a major leap in performance from the Pentium 4 and Pentium D.

The Hard Drive - Two is better

There are some that recommend two hard drives for better performance. One for the operating system and programs and the other for your video files. I never had any performance issues using one hard drive. However the reason I recommend two hard drives is to prevent fragmentation of your operating system files. Fragmentation occurs when the operating system stores parts of files in gaps that surround existing files, instead of saving the file in a contiguous space on the hard drive.

When you are saving Gigs and Gigs of video files it is rather amazing how fragmented your hard drive can get.

Windows comes with a utility to defrag a hard drive located at
Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools

Luckily hard drives are rather cheap. I would not buy one less than 200G. An hour of DV video uses about 13 Gigs. If you’re like me you may use two cameras to shoot a concert or recital. Before you know it you need to store 4+ hours of DV video to begin the editing process. Also the programs themselves create scratch or temp files when editing and authoring.

The Video card

For video editing you do not need a high performance video card. For DVD playing and video editing the standard graphics cards work well. If you are a gamer then you will need a high performance video card.

The Monitor

If you can afford the extra $$ get a 19″ LCD. I thought a 17″ would be fine but now I can’t imagine not having the 19″.

The choice of video cards for home movie editing is not important at all. You will be able to capture movies from your camera via firewire, edit and play AVI and MPGEG movies with just a basic video card or your on board graphics.

But what if you do your editing on a machine where you play an occasional game ? Games do require a special graphics card that is more powerful. The reason is that unlike video streams games send mathematical data to the card describing how to draw items. Some games need very complex commands and huge amounts of data describing how to draw textures and shading for objects to make the games look more realistic.

Following is a list of what I recommend for video cards. Whenever I buy products I want my purchase to be future proof. I want a product with technology that will last a few years. I also stay away from bleeding edge technology. Often brand new products are have a high price/performance ratio. In the computer world prices will drop after a product has been released for a while.

Nvidia and ATI are the two primary players in the graphics card world. Vendors take the basic cards by the vendors and place them into their own packages and layer other applications into the package.

Nvidia

• GEforce 6200 - This is the minimum card I would buy from Nvidia. Current prices are in the $55-$75 range. Make sure you do NOT but a 6200TC or Turbo Cache.
  Although it sound it will be faster it is not. Rather than having memory on the video card it uses system memory. The need to pass information to system memory takes time and processing power, which slows things down.
• GEforce 6600

- Good solid card in the $75-$100 dollar price range.

• GEforce 6600GT

- The current sweet spot for video cards. High performance in a price range of $120-$150.

• GeForce 7000 series

- For the video gaming enthusiast. Typically in the $180+ range. Includes
the GeForce 7300, GeForce 7600, GeForce 7900 and GeForce 7900 series.

ATI

• Radeon 9600PRO

Minimum card from ATI. Typically in the $50-$75 range.

• Sapphire Radeon 9800
• Radeon X700 Pro

- This is the competitor to the Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT. $140-$150

• Radeon X800GTP

- a lower clocked version of the X800PRO

• Radeon Radeon X850 XT

- Typically in the $150+ range

• Radeon 1xxx series

- Thes are the enthusiasts models and include the x1300, X1600, X1800 and X1900.

Who’s not for ?
If you enjoy making nice DVD navigation menus and want to create custom chapters then a stand alone DVD recorder is not the end all solution. However a stand alone player can still save you a lot of time because you a bunch of time. You can import the recorder DVD into your computer and re-author it with your custom navigation and chapter points. Your goal is to not re-encode the MPEG stream if you can avoid it.

What to look for in a stand alone recorder
There are a whole bunch of stand alone video recorders on the market starting at prices as low as $100. For the home video enthusiast a feature you will want is noise filtering capabilities. With this feature you can almost always improve the quality of the VHS source. You may want to consider a DVD Recorder that contains the LSI Chipset.

Some recorders also allow you to do some basic “time interval” based menu systems for the final DVD.

The two primary companies that have the best reputation for stand alone DVD recorders are JVC and Panasonic. Let’s take a look at a few of the choices available. The JVC DR-M100 is one of the favorite stand alone DVD recorders with video enthusiasts. The price is about $240. It features noise reduction circuits but not TBC. This unit has a firewire DV input terminal to connect and record digital video content from a DV Camcorder.
The JVC DR-MV5S is essentially the same as the DR-M100 with the addition of a built in S-VHS player/recorder.

The JVC SR-MV40 is part of the JVC professional line of equipment. This is a combo VHS/DVD recorder as well. It is built a little more rugged and features TBC in addition to the other noise reduction circuits. It also features a firewire input so you can transfer directly from a DV camera. The price for this unit is about $380. For this price you are essentially getting a pretty decent S-VHS deck and DVD Recorder in one unit.

JVC issued a press release announcing the DR-M101S DVD recorder and the DR-MV7S is a DVD/VHS recorder combo that includes all of the DR-M101S features plus a Hi-Fi VHS deck. the expected release date is in May 2006. There is no word if the DR-M101 is replacing the M100.

The Panasonic line seems to get favorable reviews at Amazon.com. However some claim if you’re looking to record for up to 4 hours the performance of the JVC decks is superior. After about 2.5 hours of recording time the JVC units will use Half D1(352×480) resolution while Pansonic uses 720×480 D1 resolution out to four hours. Because of this the Panasonic has to use a lower bit-rate which creates macroblocks and artifacting.

Which unit is right for you depends on your needs. If you’re recording TV shows and using the unit as a VCR and VHS Transfers then the JVC wins hands down. If you’re using the unit to record or transfer less than 2 hours of material the Panasonic will do a fine job.

One cool feature of the Panasonic units is something they call Time Slip. This feature allows you to perform TIVO like functions.

The Panasonic DMR-ES10 is a stand alone recorder for leas than $200. The ES20 adds a firewire connector. The DMR-ES40VS has a built in VCR player as well.

Each of the major companies also have models with built in hard drives. The addition of a hard drive allows these units to get more TIVO like in features such as the ability to freeze live TV and store shows to a hard drive and decide what to burn later on. Some of the hard drive models also feature enhanced menu authoring tools.

Video is exploding right now thanks to sites like Youtube and Google Video. However in the past it did take a a somewhat tech savvy person to create, edit and upload videos to the web. Not anymore.

When I first saw the Flip Video Camcorder I admit I was skeptical. However this little gem seems to be getting great customer reviews at Amazon.

So what’s the deal ? There have been other “el-cheapo” video recorders in the past. Why is this product from Pure Digital Technolgies different ?

For one thing the Flip records 640×480 at 30 fps. This is a little better than TV-quality video. Another cool feature is that he software is built right into the camera. This means you can edit and share video on any computer. Also the camcorder also comes with cords to plug it directly into a television. Cool !

I imagine this will be a huge hit with video bloggers and teens. The Flip Video has partnered with YouTube to make uploading video a snap.

The Flip Video Camcorder is available from online stores and large retailers like Target and Walgreens. For less than $120 this is a no brainer

It looks like Pinnacle Studio version 11 is available for purchase. In the past Pinnacle products were not my favorite. They were riddled with bugs and crashed all the time. However since Pinnacle was bought by Avid I have been keeping an eye on the product line. Version 10 seemed to be an improvement over earlier versions. The new version 11 has a lot of nice features including the ability to edit HDV and AVCHD footage. I’m curious if the software was written from the ground up or just built upon the version 10 code.

I haven’t seen any consumer reviews on the product yet. I’ll keep my eye on the various forums.

There are now only 3 Mini DV camcorders in the Canon consumer line. The ZR850 ZR830 and ZR800. It seems like consumers have responded well to DVD camcorders and manufacturers are catering to that crowd as well as introducing more high definition camcorders.

The ZR850 ZR830 and ZR800 are fairly similar camcorders. The main difference between the ZR830 and ZR800 is that the ZR830 allows you to take still images while the ZR800 does not. Is it worth the extra $15 for still images ? I say yes. The still camera on a camcorder will not take picture nearly as well as a dedicated digital camera. However it is a pain to drag two devices around. In well lit environments most Camcorder still images are satisfactory. If you really are looking for quality take your digicam as well.

Now let’s look at the jump between the ZR850 and ZR830. For an extra $45 the ZR850 has a 1 megapixel CCD compared to the 680,00 pixels CCD of the ZR830. The ZR850 also has a pretty much useless built in light. You will not notice much of a difference in the video performance of the ZR850 compared to the ZR830.

I know in the past people seemed to complain about the built in microphone picking up motor noise from the camcorder. I honestly never notice it on my Canon ZR. Maybe I tend to shoot in louder environments like concerts and recitals.

The Canon ZR series are decent camcorders for the price and are great beaters. For the more discerning consumers I would take a look ad the new wave of high def cameras being introduced.

Camcorderinfo.com has just posted a review of the Canon ZR850 Camcorder.
There are a few comments in the conclusions that make me chuckle in regards to choosing the ZR850 or the ZR800

The big choice you’ll have to make is whether to opt for the entry-level ZR800 and it’s mic input, or the ZR850 and it’s better video. This is a tough call. If you’re a new or budget consumer, you might think that you can go without the mic input. We would urge you to reconsider. You’re likely not going to find a better deal on a camcorder with a mic input, which makes it highly compelling. An inexpensive mic will make a huge improvement in overall production quality, probably more so than a slight bump in color and resolution.

This comment illustrates one of the problems I have with reviews at camcorderinfo.com. I sometimes think the get a little too thorough. They tend to place a lot of emphasis on the importance of manual controls, mic inputs etc.

Who is going to use an external mic on a $300 consumer camcorder ?

I can’t remember the last time I saw the average person using an external mic on their camcorder. I never hook up an external mic on my camcorders when I am traveling or shooting for my own home videos. I will use an external mic for paid gigs.

If a person cares enough that a camcorder has an external mic then I am sure they will be shopping for a better camcorder that the Canon. More than likely it will be in the $800+ price range.

The fact is the Canon is a great choice for the regular consumer that wants a nice portable camcorder. I agree that the performance suffers in low light. The picture will be a little grainy if your shooting indoors with nothing more than an overhead or table lamp.

DVGuru closed shop and it’s author moved over to Camcorderinfo.com

I wanted to comment over there wishing him luck but the site is wicked slow. I hope they move the blog over to a real blogging platform and not some hacked up version of vBulletin. Offering a feed might be nice too

DV Guru was a nice site that met the needs of beginners and experts alike. I’m looking forward to see how things go over at camcorderinfo.

It’s not clearly documented on the YouTube site but you can upload WMV files to Youtube.

Here is a quote from the Youtube website:

What video file formats can I upload?
YouTube accepts video files from most digital cameras and camcorders, and cell phones in the .AVI, .MOV, and .MPG file formats.

I found that the best setting in Windows Movie maker to create WMV files for Youtube is 320X240 at 512 Kbps.

I am going sway a bit from video gear…actually a GPS does have a screen…

I was in RadioShack yesterday and there was a gentleman buying a few TomTom ONE units. I have been looking into getting a GPS unit. There was a lull in the checkout so I asked him how he likes the TomToms. He said he really liked them and they worked great unless you were in a large city like NYC, the buildings can block the signal but it comes right back.

At Amazon the TomTom ONE sells for $389. So with the $100 rebate your looking at $289, not too shabby.

The other units I had been comparing are the Garmin C330 or the Garmin C340.

The C330 is selling for $309 and the C340 is selling for $399. Apparently the biggest difference is that the C340 says the streets name in the instructions like “take left at Spring Street”. I guess that’s pretty cool but is it worth $90 ? The C330 seems to get rave reviews at Amazon.

The other low priced unit I was comparing is the Garmin StreetPilot i5 for $269. It’s hard enough to compare units sometime from the same manufacturer. It gets a little harder to compare the TomTom to the Garmin Units.

Either way it doesn’t look like you can go wrong with any of these units and they are seem god enough for those of us that need a unit 4-5 time/year. To be honest my current “co-pilot” isn’t the greates navigator in the world. A GPS unit can save my marriage, and $300 is a lot cheaper than a divorce !