What do I look for in a computer?

[Scotttyd]

So I think I have settled on the canon HF10 with ikelite housing. (for me best balance of price and quality). I am not the best computer person out there. Basically I know enough to get me into trouble! I currently have a laptop computer with a duo processor (gateway bought 2 years ago, I do not know the specifics of it as I am at work), but I am asuming I will need to upgrade to edit my videos. What do you recommend as far as minimum requirements, and as far as how far above the minimums should I purchase in order to fully utilize the capabilities of the camcorder? Also what editing software is the most user friendly. I am going to stick with a PC vs a mac (I know the pros and cons of each). I do not have a blue ray DVD burner - just a SD DVD burner. Can you buy a desktop with a HD DVD burner? Are those DVD's compatible with a SD DVD player?

One option I was considering was burning to SD then hopefully santa claus will bring me a Blue Ray next december and then upgrading my SD DVD to HD?

 

[H2O lover]

I'm interested in this too. No one has any advice?

 

[PerroneFord]

*sigh*

People hate giving "advice" on stuff like this, because there is no well received answer.

So here's the truth.

A computer that can legitimately edit the HD format this camera shoots in (AVCHD) will cost 2-3 times as much as the camera. That's just the flat fact. An average computer purchased a couple years ago will NOT get it done.

So, my advice is to buy the fastest quadcore or i7 computer you can afford, with as much RAM as you can get, and 2-3 disks so you can separate the video data, from the programs.

There is no "user friendly" editing software that's worth a crap. Buy a decent editing package, and take the time to learn it. Expect 30-60 days to become conversant, and a year or two to become good. Sorry, that's the price of admission. Look at packages from Avid, Adobe (Premiere), and Sony (Vegas Pro).

You can buy a PC with Blu-Ray burners installed, but you can buy them separately for $399, and that's the route I'd take. HD-DVD is dead technology and you can't buy them. You also cannot SD DVD to HD. They are two separate things.

Feel free to use this "advice" or toss it aside. Your call. But take note at the numerous accounts of all the unhappy people on video forums worldwide when they ignore advice like this. Crying because they can't edit their AVCHD on old computers or new dual cores or other slow hardware.

If you want advice on some workarounds, I can offer that too, but you asked what you needed, so I am telling you.

 

[mislav]

I'm interested in this too. No one has any advice?

Well, he did rule out the best choice he had right away. What else can we say would be the best for this apart from a Mac bundled with iMovie? For all the reasons he mentioned.

 

[PerroneFord]

Let's not get into a dumb platform discussion here. iMoivie is no silver bullet either and has a ton of limitations. If the guy wants to cut on a PC, let's just respect that.

 

[diversteve]

PF's right on. A fast Quadcore with lots of ram. I've got a terabyte and a 1/2 (internal/external)of drivespace also. I just saw an off-brand (Lite-on) Blu-Ray burner for $279. It also will burn SD DVD's. Don't remember the speed but it might've been 6X Blu-Ray burning.

Just tried doing some AVCHD captures off a HG-10 on my buddies machine (couple yr. old P4 3something, raid etc. - killer machine 2-3 yrs. ago) Although it was over the minimum for Pinnacle 12, it couldn't edit AVCHD files except as SD - even when copied directly from the cameras drive via USB.

 

[mislav]

Perrone, I respect his choice and I'm not an Apple computer salesman. iMovie has limitations but not tons of them and certainly less than Windows Movie Maker.

And if you want to start counting the lack of some advanced functions as limitations then he may simply go for Final Cut Pro but I believe OP is more interested in ease of use and user friendliness as well as everything working right out of the box, no compatibility or missing drivers issues etc.

As a user of both platforms I gave my honest opinion on what's best for what he needs.

If he asked about something else, my answer might have been more PC. I have advised one person to buy a PC Netbook less than a month ago. It's small, cute, does email and Internet and is crazy portable. It's perfect.

 

[TheBigPhillyFish]

I doubt that laptop is going to cut it, and if it does, its gonna take a an hour or so just to render a 2 minute video. I would think Core 2 duo with min. 4GB ram should do the job. Also look at an external 7200 rpm hard drive. There is also plenty of blue ray burners and player out there cheap. Your existing system may work with Windows Movie Maker, if you don't try and get fancy with the editing. If you go Sony Vegas, I think your gonna get lock up issues. I know you have your eyes set on the HF10, but did you look at the HV20. It would be a lot easier to edit, and I have seen some really wicked HV stuff out there. For example check out all this HV20/30 stuff here. I am not trying to change your mind, but it seems you have a budget, and I was just trying to give you the path of least resistance. Your existing laptop should be better equipped to edit and render HDV.

Just my .02 cents!