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General discussion

Hardware/Software Suggestions Wanted

Apr 12, 2006 12:26AM PDT

I will be working on a project to create some videos for my company. I will likely be incorporating video camera footage, still digital photos, other existing .jpeg documents, and motion screen captures. I have made a demo video which was well received but I did have a few problems.

Although my video tape looks fine, my transfer to the PC showed some ''ghosting'' or blurring when a fairly rapid pan occurs. I used firewire to transfer. What do you think could be the cause of this ''ghosting'' - PC speed/memory, other hardware issue, compression, transfer software?

Also, all software for recording screen activities (such as a PowerPoint animation or simply web-surfing) that I found, provide a somewhat jerky product. Do you know of any software that would allow a smoother recording?

In general, I'd like to see anyone's suggestions for PC hardware specs including processor speed, minimum memory requirements, transfer cards (firewire?), etc. Also appreciated would be reasonably priced video cameras and digital still cameras.

Finally, what video capture software and video editing software would you suggest.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Discussion is locked

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Ghosting.
Apr 12, 2006 1:37AM PDT

The most common cause is low light. Solution? More light. If you want pro results, carry some big lights and diffusers. Avoid fast pans...

If you recall I used my pitiful p3-600 MHz on the road for years to do editing. Any current machine of good specs should be fine.

For software, look at:

1. Final Cut Pro.
2. Sony Vegas.
3. Adobe Premiere.

Cheers,

Bob

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Thanks, Bob!
Apr 12, 2006 2:00AM PDT

I'll check out the software you mention.

I'm using my personal P4 2.6GHz for editing and it seems fine. The rendering does take forever though! I'm a little light on memory - just 256 - I think. I should probably increase that but have never gotten around to it.

In any case, as I'll likely get approval to purchase a PC at work, I'd like to make sure I get a machine that will perform as well as possible.

Back to the ghosting - My initial thought was to avoid panning too quickly and I can probably get away with that. However, playing back the original digital tape on my TV using my camcorder does not show the ghosting, or, it is at least barely noticeable. After transferring to PC, as MPEG-2 if I'm not mistaken, then rendering to DVD and playing the DVD, the ghosting is pretty apparent. Do you think this would still be a lighting issue or is the transfer/compression part of the problem?

Thanks again.

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2 comments.
Apr 12, 2006 2:39AM PDT

1. Ghosting.

I wonder if the compression during capture is wrecking havoc. If I wanted to test this, I would pull up WINDV (my fav standalone firewire capture) and test with various compressions. At least you can control this and the lighter the compression the better. Then let the DVD creation software do the final.

Now that I have a little more to ponder, I'd have to agree it's somewhere else but testing will confirm it.

2. About the "forever" encoding time.

Those new DUAL CORE CPUs are about as good as it gets for dragging down that time. I don't have any strong feelings about AMD or Intel but at the office we just get the Intel dual cores.

Bob

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Thanks Once Again
Apr 12, 2006 4:30AM PDT

I'll try WINDV - hadn't come across it before. I also have a few other capture programs around that I will try.

As for dual core, that's the way I was planning to go.