Looking for Advice on a Video Editing Computer

[mjc_ma]

Get a mac and go with final cut express it sooo easy if you have not already done so. The macs dont get bogged down like the PC, they are faster and if you need to run Windows stuff they do it. Best of both worlds. Oh and they dont put out broken software.

 

[drbill]

I finally bought a new machine... 2.83 GHz Core 2 Duo, 3 GB RAM, decent HD video card and it now has about 2.5 TB of hard drive space. Haven't edited anything on it yet since I'm still (slowly) migrating software and data from my other systems. It has XP installed with a disk to "upgrade" to Vista should I ever feel the urge to be stupid.

So far all my necessary legacy software has loaded and operates fine. Only problem is the integrated soundcard doesn't seem to function with any of my mics... looking for loose cables, etc.

 

[Laustimus]

I've always hated integrated sound. Is it a SoundMAX?

Though I am sure there is better high end stuff out there I have never been let down by Sound Blaster stuff outside of some buggy drivers during early release of a new chip. Granted I don't do any creation just playback and some games. X-Fi Elite Pro

 

[cfelliot]

I use my PC to play music through my stereo along with video processing.

One of the problems I always had with internal sound cards was noise from ground loops between the stereo and the computer when I was using the analog connections. Also, I had problems with noise in general from the high frequencies internal to the computer.

Using the S/PDIF optical output, available on most newer computers, connected to a receiver with decoding capability provides a much cleaner signal. If not available, an external USB to S/PDIF unit works the same. See: Audio Advantage SRM - In Detail

 

[drbill]

No, it's a Realtek.

I'm trying to record sound using a mic in the mic jack. Tried both front and rear. Nothing. I tried headphones in the speaker jack and they worked, but none of my speakers do. Device Manager says everything is functioning.

 

[LowVizWiz]

Wow, I'm sorry I missed this when you actually needed advice. I would have asked you why not build a system from scratch? And forget the Vista nightmare. Oh well...

BTW, I really hate when people give advice about things they don't know a thing about. I'm still running all my PowerPC apps on my Intel Macs without a single problem. I'm even running FCP 4HD on and Intel Mac which the peeps at the genius bar would be quick to tell you it won't work!

Wys

 

[drbill]

I looked at pricing on components when I was considering building this one from scratch like I did the last one. I couldn't even match the price of the pre-built Dell and it comes with a one-year warranty and support.

 

[randini]

DrBill - have you checked to make sure the mike isn't muted in Windows (as is the default).

 

[LowVizWiz]

I looked at pricing on components when I was considering building this one from scratch like I did the last one. I couldn't even match the price of the pre-built Dell and it comes with a one-year warranty and support.

That's pretty amazing, I haven't built one in a while but last time component prices kept dropping so much I couldn't decide on what I wanted to use. By the time I received all the components I ordered priced had dropped yet again

I hope you're able to solve your sound issues!