upgrading to HD- Advice needed please

[EidolonUK]

Hi,
I've spent the last couple of years working in Education rather than making my own productions, and so have fallen a little behind in upgrading to HD, as I've not really needed it.
I've just started my first new video project, the current footage being shot on a Sony Z7 in 1080/25hz.

I currently run a PC with Edius Pro 3, on a Raptor RT board. I know my hardware specs are inadequate for HD.

I'm goign to be doing a feature length HD project, and need the speed/power and storage to deal with it.

I've always had a problem with Edius Pro 3 relating to outputting long projects to tape. Even with everything that's running in the background shut down, and a fully defragged drive, it never plays for more than 45 minutes at the most, before stopping due to dropped frames. Becuase f this, I've got my old Premiere 6 on the system, which I've always used to transfer to tape.

I'm concerned I'll have similar problems with the nwest broadcast version of Edius when I get arodun to getting it. As Canopus/Grass Valley no longer support Premiere via hardware, I'm somewhat concered that I'll not be able to output a feature length project. Any details relating to this will help.

Anyway, I need some advice on what to get to become HD compliant. Decent hardware advice please, and mimimum specs if possible.

*Is there a card that supports Firewire & HDMI on one?
*Can I still keep my raptor board? I have a partially completed project on Edius 3, that is in SD, and I'd like to be abel to output to the TV while I'm working on it.
*I dont mind working without TV monitor output for HD content for the time being, if it allows me to finish off my older projects. I do not have a HD compliant HD TV montior, and dont see as the most essential part of the upgrade just yet.
*I am planning on getting Adobe CS4 as part of my upgrade (mainly for Encore [blu-ray] and After Effects), and may manage with Premeire for the time being, if budget restricts me from getting new Edius just yet. I want to stcik with Edius, as it's been very reliable and hear that the new version supports all codecs. I also work a bit with the Sony XD cam.

Any advice on where to start would be much appreciated.

If/when I do get a HD hardware card to replace my Raptor, with the new Edius Broadcast, will it recognise save files from Edius Pro 3?

[EidolonUK]

I'm in the UK by the way, if that helps any.

[drgagx]

I will try to answer some of your questions from my standpoint - I now video with the AVCHD codec to SDHC cards - which is different to your workflow.

Edius v5.12 offers capture to SD and HD, using Canopus HQ as the intermediate codec for editing. This is essential for AVCHD which cannot be edited from the timeline in Edius. This means that a 10GB AVCHD file becomes anything from 7x to 10x the size in HQ (in my own experience) ie I need from 70GB to 100GB drive space for the corresponding HQ files; no doubt it will be different converting from HDV. Consequence - you will need lots of hard drive space to accommodate your HQ files. 1TB drives are relatively low cost now, c£65. I connect mine via e-sata to a NEWlink Docking Station - this offers both e-sata and usb connection. I bought mine from Scan Computers.

The pc should be the fastest you can afford - I am unable to comment on the slowest you can get away with. It is possible to edit HD without the assistance of a Canopus card, but several are available. The current range of Canopus cards can be found here:

http://desktop.thomsongrassvalley.com/products/nlesystems.php

As far as I can see none of these offer firewire and HDMI in one; presumably the assumption is that pcs come equipped with one already - I use my pc`s firewire for DV capture. The Spark card is well spoken of here for monitor output.

Regarding pc specs for HD, I suggest you do a search here on the forum or quickly scan the Edius forum over the past month for relevant threads. In the UK check out the specs at DVC here:

http://www.dvc.uk.com/index.php

As you may know, encoding for Blu-ray can take forever. GV offers the FireCoderBlu card for hardware assisted encoding to the Blu-ray codec. However the software driving this card is not yet mature and lacks several features; when that is sorted out it will be worth investigating.

E5 will accept files produced by earlier versions, but you will not be able to use them again in E3.

[Spready]

NXExpress

Hi there,
thought I would express my thoughts - for what they are worth!

I have a NXExpress system built by Scan.co.uk
This card (I believe ) has been replaced by the HD Storm Plus and I imagine there is little difference in everyday use.

My system is used every day - all day. editing and outputing mainly DVD but have tinkered with Sony AVCHD files and Bluray for testing purposes only.
It is an absolute workhorse - it has to be as my work involves very quick turnarounds needed very urgently.
I would recommend a similar setup and the build quality is fantastic.
David

[EidolonUK]

Thanks for the help, it does cover a couple of things. I'm not keen on this file conversion thing that increases the file size. What's the point of that? HD is big enough already. I will in time be doing a feature in 1080/24p and need a machine capable of handling it. If it's going to add all the extra filesizes thats a real issue.

I pretty much need support for capturing all codecs/storage formats, as I'm wokring freelance with a number of cam operators with their own kit, each of which seems to have thier own take on HD.

I'm not sure at this pint what codec the z7 saves in, but I expect it's MPEG2, but I also need support for AVC, XD-CAM etc, and a way to transfer from solid state media onto the system.

[EidolonUK]

The pc should be the fastest you can afford - I am unable to comment on the slowest you can get away with. It is possible to edit HD without the assistance of a Canopus card, but several are available. The current range of Canopus cards can be found here:

http://desktop.thomsongrassvalley.com/products/nlesystems.php

As far as I can see none of these offer firewire and HDMI in one; presumably the assumption is that pcs come equipped with one already - I use my pc`s firewire for DV capture. The Spark card is well spoken of here for monitor output.

Hmmm, no Firewire support on any of them? That's nt a good sign, although if I can keep my Raptor in the system at the same time, I dont supose it matters (expansion slots allowing).

[DigitalDave]

Two Points
1 No Firewire support - not an issue as you capture via OHCI where appropriate. FWIW earlier this week I captured approximately 18hours of footage from a shoot in Monte Carlo last week on one of my NXe's and used OHCI - Capture through NX got screwed in 4.5 and above.

2 If you are running from any of the new Formats AVCHD/XDCAM and want a smooth workflow, conversion to HQ is mandatory - there is not a PC fast enough to handle AVCHD to any degree.

3 Vers 3- BIG Fan and no problem moving files across to 4 and 5* but be aware that projects with Xplode anything in, will be a problem in 5* as there is no Xplode present....although some have got it to work (do a search for that one)

DD

[drgagx]

If you need to be ready to handle different formats, including card based AVCHD, then you should download the AVCHD2HQ converter utility from Support at the GV site (it is a free download); this includes a preview utility as well. It is a quick and essential way to convert mts files to HQ ready for editing. It offers the option to use all your processor cores for transcoding - a good reason to get a multi-core processor.