Please help - buying a new Dell...

davmat wrote on 1/17/2003, 11:58 AM

I'm getting ready to purchase my new Dell. Should I consider adding on the Movie Studio Package that Dell offers?? I know the editing software isn't much good, but one package gives me multiple fire wires ports. The upgraded package offers allows me to capture video from analog sources.

Also, is a 60 GB hard drive going to be enough for video editing?? The upgrade is a 120GB drive for another $100. Not sure if it warrants the additional cost. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading..

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 1/17/2003, 12:38 PM

I've never seen Dell's movie package myself, but based on the many reports i've seen in these forums and elsewhere, your appropriate action is to run away screaming! The general concensus is that it's a total waste of money. Use the search function to look through old posts here on the topic. They'll be very eye-opening.

Drive space? Digital video needs about 225MB/minute, or about 13GB/hour. How much video are you going to want to work on at one time? You'll probably need about twice as much drive space as your current project takes. If you're editing a 15 minute movie, then you'll need about 6.5GB to move around in. If you keep about 40GB free on your drive you can easily handle a 90 minute project. Of course, you'll have to finish and purge that project from your drive before going on to the next one. If you're planning on working on multiple projects or projects longer than 90 minutes, then the extra drive space is a plus. You might be better off though by sticking with the 60GB drive and adding a second drive just for video clips. This has several benefits including helping to reduce dropped frames when capturing.

Simmer wrote on 1/17/2003, 3:10 PM

davmat

My experience...
I purchased a new PC (mine was Gateway), that touted wonderful video editing capbailities. Well, the hardware shipped with the PC works extreemely well for me! The software for editing and burning?... marginally usefull at best.
I since purchased VideoFactory for capture and edit. This works wonderfully.

As to HD size.
My HD is 120Gig and I need and use every bit!

-Mike

P.S. My system config for editing includes:
2.2GHz P4
1Gig S800 RD-RAM
120Gig 7200RPM HD
WinXP Home
1394/USB 2.0.
Dazzle Hollywood Bridge
VideoFactory (capture/edit software).
DVD-Complete (DVD authoring software).

DGrob wrote on 1/18/2003, 10:57 AM

I went the Dell editing package route and suffered considerable difficulties. It's all about propriatary versions and who supports what and who knows what they're talking about. Dell et al were useless. Currently using an Inspiron 8200 running XP on a 30GB "C" drive, fangui fan control, Belkin PCM firewire out to a Maxtor 120, 7200 rpm external "E" drive strictly for video capture and storage. Just upgraded from VideoFactory to Vegas 3.0. The hardware stuff works great, and this product and forum have been a joy. Grob

Grazie wrote on 1/18/2003, 11:39 AM

So Grob, you did go the Fangui route. Any problems with it?

Grazie

DGrob wrote on 1/18/2003, 3:45 PM

Everything seems to be working fine. I'm just now transitioning up to VV3 with the external drive, et al. I have noticed that if I simply leave Fangui minimized on the taskbar all the time, the I8200 seems to regain control. What I've taken to doing is to close Fangui most of the time, then, when I'm ready to PPT, open and engage low fan settings for the duration of the Print.

I've one project left from Xmas (who doesn't) that I'll finish up in VF. Then the plan is to install VV3 alongside and get the external drive directories, folders, and files configured before I run through the tutorial stuff. I'm assuming that on initial VV3 prompts for capture and saving that I'll be able to simply alter the drive from C to E and the rest will take care of itself (with XP).

Hey davmat, haven't forgotten you. The seperate drives for the OS and DV capture/rendered files are highly recommended throughout this forem. Do a couple of searches and you'll see what I mean. Grob

JohnMuellerJD wrote on 1/18/2003, 4:41 PM

I bought a Dell two years ago, 40Gb and Pentium III at 866, and the movie studio package they offered was Videowave III. The biggest problem I had with it was after 40 seconds of video, the sound would no longer sychronize with the picture. This created hours and hours of frustration where I blamed my computer and a number of other things when it was clearly the software. I then tried several other movie editing software programs and came to a quick conclusion that Videofactory was Far and Away superior.

Stay away from Dell and their package containing Videowave...unless you want to get in on a class action suit with those of us suckers who bought the junk.

Stiffler wrote on 1/19/2003, 4:42 AM

I got a virus once...it was named VideoWave...

Grazie wrote on 1/19/2003, 6:32 AM

Haha! - Oooohhhh me sides are spppplllllitting . . . stop it Stiffy - you're really naughty. . . those poor souls . . . lanquishing in Purgatory . . .. . I'm proposing p_l for Pope or . . . Kofi's job when he steps down. . . .

Grazie

ralphied wrote on 1/21/2003, 9:38 PM

60 GB hard drive is not enough. I have 3 - 80 GB hard drives and I'm constantly saving rendered files to tape (DV camcorder) to free up hard disk space. Video editing gobbles up disk space.

ralphied wrote on 1/22/2003, 12:04 PM

I thought some more about this. You can get an 80 GB hard drive for $100 at several mail order locations (Circuit City this past week had an 80 GB Western Digital hard drive for $120 plus you got a $40 mail-in rebate for a final cost of $80.)

If you're comfortable with adding a hard drive, you could get a little more storage for the money this way.

the_ripper wrote on 2/4/2003, 8:50 AM

There are some real nice sound cards and video cards now. I would NOT get a dell version. Get the real deal and add it separate. Yes I also got the Dell dazzle / MGI Videowave virus a year or so ago, and have since destroyed it. the_ripper