suggestions for dedicated rendering machines please

pb wrote on 12/9/2003, 8:28 PM

Hi,

I can't spend any more time in rendering hell and am going to pick up a couple of 500 dollar 2.5 Ghz/512 RAM PCs to do nothing but render AVIs to MPEG2 files. What would you more knowledgable fellows suggest for MINIMUM specs. All I want to do is carry Lacie 1394 drives containing the rendered AVI over to the PCs and set them to render to whatever DVD compliant format I need at the time. I have three Sony 1394/USB DVD burners so don't need anything in the cheapo PCs

Would this one be suitable? Here are the specs for low end machines at Compusmart:
Processor: Intel® Celeron® Speed: 2500 Mhz
L2 Cache: 128 KB
Base Memory: 128 Mb
Max Memory: 1024 Mb
Memory Type: PC2100 DDR SDRAM
Hard Disk : 40 Gb
Hard Disk Type: Ultra DMA
Optical Storage: CD-RW
Audio: Integrated AC-97
Video: Integrated Intel® Extreme Graphics with up to to 32MB shared video memory
Bus Type: PCI
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition

thanks,

Peter

Comments

kameronj wrote on 12/10/2003, 6:32 AM

PB,

First off I would never suggest a celeron processor to do 'serious' work on. But, you can go that route and eventually find out for yourself what I mean.

Second off...if you are serious about cutting down your render time (or as you put it ... "being in rendering hell") - then don't concentrate on software render.

I would suggest looking into Hardware render. I mean, if you have a thousand bucks to spend on machines just for rendering - you might as well spend it on a hardware render solution.

craftech wrote on 12/10/2003, 6:35 AM

It sounds OK, but I would go to http://www.lacie.com/ and scour the website for FAQ and possible incompatibilities with certain hardware and/or software. If they have a decent tech support staff I would call them and discuss it with them as well.
I seem to recall that BillyBoy had some compatibility issues with a different external storage unit and his two computers around two years ago. Do a search using his name. I don't remember if he posted his solution to the problem though.

John

pb wrote on 12/10/2003, 8:38 AM

I have hardware encoders but 1) they are manual only and 2) don't do as good a job as the new Main Concept encoder. For jobs like the surrent 2 hour pair, they are creating aliasing and motion artifacts. Thanks for the input, the search continues.

Peter

pb wrote on 12/10/2003, 2:06 PM

There is another limitation with the DVC II: it doesn't do 16:9. What would the group recommend for hardware encoders? I have a Canopus Storm with Media Cruise but that PC is rented out for a month and wasn't that great anyway.

I would go to 2500$ Canadian for something that does 16:9, video and audio separately and has full IEEE 1394 device control.

Peter