On 29 Dec 1998 11:34:48 GMT, apostle3n1@aol.com (APoStLe3n1) wrote:

>Hello. I need your help on something..
>I am going to by a new computer system specifically for digital video editing,
>my price range is up to about $1800(maybe a little more). I want to know your
>opinion on exactly what components to get.... This is a suggested setup I've
>heard of:
>
>~ 2 HD's one big (10-14Gig) and one smaller (6 Gig) - the bigger one for all
>my video and the smaller for my OS and other programs. Most likely SCUZZY

Skip the SCSI (or buy my two 9-gig SCSI-II IBM's + Adaptec
2940UW for $1200 total...;-), get three UDMA drives (one for
programs, at least two for keeping video and audio files in
order [with drives not fragmented...]), no RAID needed...
You will quickly run out of drive space with your proposed
drives (one hour of mini-DV occupies about 13-gigs...).

>~ a Firewire card (so that no Analog is involved)

Yes - and analogue can also be input/output through the new
Sony converter or the TRV-9/900 camcorders or DV-VCR's,
if you want...

>~ most likely a 450 mhz P2 maybe Xeon

The Celeron 300*A* clocked to 450MHz works fine, and will
soon be under $70!!!! (It is only about $100 now!) Buy an
extra for backup, in case the first doesn't work or fails at
450MHz - these are fast AND cheap!

>~ Windows NT system with as much Memory as the OS can handle without it
>starting to eat away at my cache.
>
>~ Sound Blaster Live card
>
>~ a CD R drive that will record (burn) data onto a CD only once, in order for
>me to save money on mini DV video tapes. Also a good reading speed on this CD
>ROM.

Why? The CD would hold less than three minutes of mini-DV!
A tape holds 60 minutes, and is about $12 - it is a cheaper,
more efficient, and more useful way of storing mini-DV
files, I think...;-)

>~ the other essentials such as modem (57k) good size monitor, etc..
>
>~ the program for editing at this time is Adobe Premiere 5.0

Uh-uh! Buh-gee!!! Maybe you can get P-5.1 (NOT P-5!!!) to
run well, but I went back to the more reliable (and faster-rendering) P-4.2...

>Now I want my system to be able to run fluidly without memory problems. I also
>want the Sound Blaster Live card so that I can edit my own tracks for the
>movies I'm making..

??? - You can use most any sound card, I would think, unless
you are planning to input native digital-audio material that
doesn't come from the mini-DV camcorder (that info is
transferred digitally through the FireWire cable, along with
the video). Premiere can be used for audio mixing, and
P-5/5.1 (or an additional WAV-editor program) can be used
for audio manipulation...

>the source of the video is a Sony TRV-7 single chip CCD
>camera. (mini DV of course) I'd also like to run a few programs on this system
>to help in making my movies really nice, such as a special effects program,
>CAD, and some sort of 3D rendering program like Truspace or 3D studio...

The old Corel Lumiere editing software suite had several
neat programs for this... (or I have a copy of Ray Dream
Studio V for sale cheap...;-)

>I'd
>also like to not be limited to basic programs I need like Microsoft Word, and
>other various things... I really need your help, what can you suggest for
>me??? If so, please give me specifics, and reasons why the items you chose are
>good. Thank you so much for your time, I really appriciate it..

I think for $1800 one can build a rather good mini-DV
editing computer based on the Celeron 300A..., or one could
look at the Sony VAIO as a starting point... (this could
cost more, when fully equiped). Good luck with it!