This is my set up i plan 2 buy :- (The Computer I've Already Got)
MAX Budget £15 Thousand
The end result neededs 2 b BROADCAST QUALITY !!!
MY COMPUTER:- I think these are all the important stuff !
DELL Dimension xps T600 Pentium 111
128 MB RAM
13 GB hard drive Ultra 66 EIDE
19" Trinitron screen
Diamond viper V770D 32 MB graphics card
Creative labs sound blaster live
CAMCORDER:- JVC GY-DV700 or JVC DY700 (Digital S)
EDITING PLAYER/RECORDER:- JVC BR-DV600 or BR-D80 (Digital S, for the DY700 CAM Above)
Between these 2 devices i want a component connection, through the break out box 2 b edited at 3:1 compression, as this would be better than DV at 5:1 giving the highest possible quality end tape 4 my budget.
VIDEO EDITING CARD:- Pinnacle DC 2000, this seems 2 b one of the best real time edit cards available of the moment with component connections on the breakout box.
TRIPOD:- £400 ish ! Which one ???
Lights:- This seems 2 me 2 b a big expense 4 nothing much! Can't an out door security light work just as well, being bounced of a white board or through thick misted architecture tracing paper, maybe with a different bulb ??? Any HELP would b gratefully received.
MICROPHONES:- Phantom powered
Sennheiser K6:- Omni- directional general purpose
Uni-directional short shotgun
Cardioid directional
+Radio Mic like the EVO Sennheiser or somthing else ??
UPGRADES 2 MY COMPUTER 4 VIDEO EDITING:-
1)Large IDE hard drive/s like the Maxtor Diamond 80 60GB Drive, must b capable of easily editing video at 3:1 with no dropped frames !!
2)Upgrade my RAM two 256MB so rendering and speed is helped.
3)Will i have 2 upgrade my graphics card 2 something like a Matrox Millennium G400, this is what most people seem 2 use & it seems 2 b the best one !
4)The other upgrade i'd like 2 make is 2 my sound card or a sound program, this is 2 create new opportunity 2 make sound effects & music as well as refining recorded sound footage. Which one ??
What I NEED 2 NO IS THAT:-
1)Is this the best camera i can buy & if at 3:1 i can produce docs at a standard 4 TV? What's the best lens i should be getting 4 my camcorder ??
2)Will i b able 2 upload tape footage from the JVC VCR to the computer edit card & back with component connection 4 best results at a min of 3:1 with this set up ??
3)is this the best edit card in my budget range 2 do the job ??
4)Are my choices 4 phantom power mics the best 2 go with 4 quality & performance ??
5)Are my upgrades & in fact my computer capable of handling the job?
6)Could u suggest any single place i could crack a deal with one firm 2 buy these products 2 make the most of my limited money resources. If not where would u recommend that i purchase these products with out getting ripped off or buying GREY dodge stuff !!
I would like 2 thank u very much 4 not only reading my very tedious & long letter but 4 any help u could pass my way
MANY THANKS, ANDY
Andy
If you have that much cash available forget your Dell and buy a turnkey NLE PC from a specialist supplier.
The remaining hardware depends upon the prime use you want to put your system to.
And you are about to spend £8500 on a camera but can only afford a £400 tripod ?
A tripod is for life not just for christmas. 
Why are you proposing to buy a high quality digital camera and spoil it by putting it into you computer via analogue leads? A digi-S deck should have SDI output, and AES/EBU for audio, which you should take straight into your computer, and edit uncompressed. Dump back to the digi-S in the same way. Buy a big RAID array while you're on - you'll need it. The best SDI card I've come across is the Digital Voodoo one, but it's only for Macs. The quality is superb though.
If you're not prepared to do that, buy the best DV camera you can and edit via firewire, getting the input and output through a system that uses the native DV codec - don't transcode it.
Don't touch Pinnacle stuff. It never works right, and the DC2000 won't give you broadcast standard results as it's overcompressed.
Also make sure the camera does real 16:9, and you can edit it anamorphically. I doubt broadcasters, esp the BBC are interested in anything that's not widescreen at the moment.
Natt - You mention the SDI card for the Mac as best but do you know of *any* SDI cards for the PC?
Richard
Newtek, Avid, DPS and Matrox do them for PC.
Graeme
Natt-I was trying 2 avoid a DV set up beacause of the short life of DV heads & only being able 2 out put at 5:1 !
Andy X
Why are you worried about DV's 5:1 compression? Stick a decent camera and lens infront of it, and you'll get a better picture than Beta SP, which has been standard for years. If you're not adding much in the way of effects to DV, it will keep that quality throughout production.
Sure D9 looks nicer, but again, if you want to keep that quality, you've got to deal with it digitally, which means going SDI and uncompressed. If you get it into and out of your computer via a component link, you'll loose some of that quality you've paid big cash for.
If you're also worried about being "Broadcast Quality" - by definitions set down by the EBU, the DC2000 doesn't fit.
I'd certainly like to see D9 edited component in a DC2000, and DV edited digitally with a native DV codec throughout, dumped back to tape and compared. We'll make the DV tape on a DVCAM deck modified for SDI input direct from the D9 master, to eliminate the differences in the cameras and lenses and stuff, and to make sure that the source material is identical as possible. I don't have the gear to perform that kind of experiment, but it would be nice if someone on this board could.
Thanks 4 your advice Natt! U seem 2 no a lot more than me about this stuff.I'd like 2 no if any one could do that test, if i go ahead i don,t want 2 buy the wrong stuff.But i only have a limited amount of cash! & it never go's far enough.
Any advice on the rest of my set up!!! Mics ex ?? Andy X
hey andy,
Broadcast quality these days doesn't really stand up to its phrase,like it used to, Dv
produced on an nle system is plenty good enough, compared to beta sp, and what you could get with 15k is ridiculous, you could get an amazing setup. You could purchase 2
or even three top end 3 ccd cameras if you planning on having a static and a steady arm or something . I use 2 sony trv900', the quality is amazing., Guess i'm just seeing if youv'e ruled it out completely. If you do go this way i recommend you stay well clear of the canon xl1 piece of rubbish, that it is .
Hope i've given a little more insight, take care.
Andy, I'd recommend you check out Fast Purple and look at adding an accelerator board or two.
quote:Originally posted by w-howe:
Andy, I'd recommend you check out Fast Purple and look at adding an accelerator board or two.
i agree: fast purple is awesome! one of them has my name on it...
soundblaster live also seems entirely out of place: and probably a pro audio editing tool would also repay the investment.
peter
If I've read the original post correctly ain't a 600 Mhz processor a bit on the light side ? Response from Puremotion suggested minimum 350 Mhz to replay AVI in real time. Therefore for transitions you require 2 x 350 plus a load of grunt for the calculation of the transition.
I also wonder if this guy is for real. He talks originally about 15k budget excluding PC then says money is tight. I wish I thought 15k was tight. Yes I do realise he is talking about broadcast quality but still it doesn't ring true to me.