Best videocard 4 explode 4.x & edius?

[thready]

Hi all,

My AGP ATI graphics card which has served me well has died... I require a new one. Things have changed quite a bit since it was installed. I use two displays (DVI). My maximum AGP Aperture size can be no more than [256MB] on my motherboard.

Most importantly I Use Explode 4 with Premiere and Edius. Also Imaginate 2 and Procoder 3. EXPLODE 4 stability is essential. Which is best ?

Choises locally (new) with 2xDVI connectors are:

ATI 3650 512MB,
ATI 2600XT 512MB,
ATI 3850 512MB,
ATI X1950 Pro 256MB

All are around the same price +/- $50 no concern. Functionality is the issue here...

Should I consider NVIDIA as well? None available locally new.

Will I see any improvement with the latest cards. HD playback is now a consideration but not essential on this machine (My Old card had occasional pauses in HD playback)... Or, do I need to look for an older second hand card for compatibilty and stability?

Any assistance here would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, thready.

[mike0130]

ATI 3850 512MB
is probably best FROM YOUR LIST. 3870 will be better. Do not go for 256mb and if you use Xplode do not go for nVidia, also have to say that nVidia cards better. As you know Edius 5 doesn't work with Xplode, there are some tricks how to make it work, but oficially it doesn't, so I swithched to nVidia card and I like it a lot. If you can get 3870 w/512mb or 1Gb, you will be ok.
Good luck
mike

[thready]

Best agp ati nvidia quadra cs adobe cs4 canon eos 5d mk2

ATI 3850 512MB
is probably best FROM YOUR LIST. 3870 will be better. Do not go for 256mb and if you use Xplode do not go for nVidia, also have to say that nVidia cards better. As you know Edius 5 doesn't work with Xplode, there are some tricks how to make it work, but oficially it doesn't, so I swithched to nVidia card and I like it a lot. If you can get 3870 w/512mb or 1Gb, you will be ok.
Good luck
mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the reply. RE: nVidia cards better. NVIDIA cards are much harder to obtain locally for AGP. I managed to find one online called: Nvidia 7950GT 512MB Video Card. upto AUD $100 more than ATI options.

Functionality is the issue though. I guess this nVidia card wont perform with Xplode 4. How would an Nvidia 7950GT compare? I'm poised to purhase an ATI 3850. 3870??? Are 2 x DVI connector cards AVAILABLE? Where? I guess it is still true to say that video cards haven't even come close to using all of the bandwidth an 8x AGP slot provides hence the newer models appearing.

I mainly edit in SD. With some upconversions to HD. Waiting for the dust to settle with the new HD SDI/HDMI/DVI capture cards and will purchase a new camera shortly followed by a new PC with SDI/HDMI/DVI I/O. I will be keeping my two old faithfull SD Storms and REX systems. More toys for the kids... Currently using Edius 5 on OHCI due to non SD Storm/Rex support...

Looking closely at Adobe CS4 with a quadra CX bundles... I hope Edius 5.x will support the quadra CX soon. I am planning on a newer Xeon system soon... but a HD camera featuring 1920 x 1080P being my main concern. For capturing quality stills off video on the fly. An DSLR HDTV/still camera like the EOS-5 MkII would be ideal. Yet to play with one... Rare in AUS pro camera stores... November08? Or other solutions with 1920 x 1080P... HDV/cine ?

A hands on Jellocam phenomenon test will determine purchase (rolling shutter, skew, partial exposure). I will make a comparison of HD video camera versus HD DSLR video camera's before purchase. Apparently all CMOS sensors experience some degree of Jellocam. CCD ?.... low light problems/noise ?

Any comments/advise/suggestions/threads greatly appreciated...

Thanks again, thready.

[mike0130]

Looking closely at Adobe CS4 with a quadra CX bundles... .

Please don't! Waist of money. Card is very expencive, but has same power as 8800 Ultra. So if you will get GeForce 260 or 280 it will beat CX card easy...
With nVidia card your Xplode will not work realtime. So if you use Xplode- go for ATI. Card like 3870 w/512mb RAM will be very good for SD and more...