Its been a long time

[dcmutt]

A long long time ago I purchased the DV Raptor RT2 max with imaginate, Xplode and Edius V3.x There has been some serious upgrades since then and I was wondering how significant the differences are to what I currently have. In particular, is there a way for me to work with MPEG (DVD?) files so that when I have finished a project I dont have to convert what I have created, I can just burn to disk or output to author in DVD workshop V2? The conversion is a massive time proportion of project time.
The reason for this question is that I am on the threshold of a new business venture and any time saving will be appreciated. Bear in mind I will need to upgrade my PC. My rock solid and bullet proof ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe with 1gig of RAM and ASUS 9600XT video card wont hack the new pace required.
Please note that the work I will be doing will be satisfied by what I currently have, it just the conversion that takes time.
Also, will a major upgrade in hardware be sufficient.

Please ask as many questions to help me to help you answer this question.

thanks all

[Bluetongue]

Edius will work with what ever (Well almost) what you throw at it, MPEG is no problem BUT my question is why would you want to go that way.
MPEG has a structure where a Picture (I) frame is placed every 15 frames and all the frames in between are only a reference to the difference to the frame before and or after, so once you start editing the structure is broken and has to be completely rendered to bring the MPEG structure back into line, so there is no gain. MPEG is an excellent delivery format but is really not for editing.
In fact there is a loss as it takes more processor power to work with MPEG as each frame except the (I) frame has to be rebuilt by the processor instead of just passing on to the Graphics card or encoder if the AVI structure is used and there is less chance of (Artifacts) being produced.
If you are thinking of going HDV then edius will (Providing your processor is capable any 3.2G 32 bit processor and above) convert in realtime on capture to CanopusHQ AVI and you are smoking.
Hope this helps
Regards Barry

[dcmutt]

so regardless of what card etc. once the project is completed, you will need to convert the job to produce the output file(s) and author.

[Bluetongue]

so regardless of what card etc. once the project is completed, you will need to convert the job to produce the output file(s) and author.

That is correct
Barry

[Imagine Video]

However if SPEED is the issue Then grunt is the answere! BEEF up the system for faster encoding.

1 1/2 hours od SD 16:9 converted to mpeg 2 for dvd took 28 minutes to encode on my system

1 hr 1440 x 1080i to HD 1920 x 1080i took 2 hrs 43 min to encode for hd blueray.

ALL source material is HQ or Canopus AVI FOR DV/ DVCAM

Not too long ago I was extatic at real time encoding with storm board so the SD stuff is great and for what you get with hd content 2 x realtime is Not so bad

However maybe someone can answere this My quad core using PC e OR 3 is anly running at between 48 and 67% why not 100% on all 4 cores?

[harveylexton]

I have e3++ with Photoalbum, Imaginate, etc on a P4C800E Delux with 3.4 Ghz

When I make a 1.5 hour film (sd) and let pce render it for mpeg2 it takes at least 3 to 3.5 hours, I have a Sony Dual core laptop VGN AR21S now just being upgraded, on this dual core 21s it took 1.5 hours to render. GV Edius 4.6

The only problem you will have is that some of the products that worked with E3 will not work with E4 ie Photoalbum etc. E4 is streets ahead of E3 and will work with your P4C800 mobo. But even more so with a dual core machine.

I am in the process of upgrading to a quad core tower.

[dcmutt]

So Photoalbum wont work with E4? what about Xplode.
The fact is for the moment Edius 3.X is sufficient for what I am doing. The only path for me at the moment is to upgrade to a new system with lots of ram and the fastest processor I can afford. My current pc components were well thought out, which is why I have never had any issues and it all works well to this day. I will have to do the same for the new one.
If possible may someone let me know which components wont work with Edius 4.xx I have imaginate, Xplode and Photoalbum.

thanks

[GrassValley_KH]

If you own EDIUS v4.x, you can download the (unsupported) v4 compatible version of Xplode Pro for free.

Imaginate 2.0 can plug into EDIUS v4.x