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PC Hardware :
LYou will find that the basic requirements for working with digital video are
an IEEE 1394 port and a processor capable of running the editing software
of your choice. (At the time of writing, the general recommendation is a
Pentium 4–based PC.) You’ll also need a great deal of hard disk space. And
if you intend to distribute your edited videos on any sort of optical disc, you’ll need either a CD or DVD burner installed in your PC (or connected
externally).
Here are some general hardware specifications to consider:
• Processor Should be a Pentium 4, although, for instance, Adobe
Premiere currently lists its minimum system as a 500MHz Pentium
III. The faster your system, the better.
• RAM The minimum for video editing tends to be 128MB, and,
again, the more the better. Consider 512MB a practical minimum if
you’re serious about video.
• Hard disk space Video editing requires a great deal of hard disk
space—about 2GB per 10 minutes of video. Remember that you may
want to work with more footage than what will comprise your final
project. For an hour-long video, that might mean upwards of
15–20GB just while you’re working on that one project.
• Hard disk speed To work with digital video, a PC’s hard disk must
be fast enough—generally most drives meet this requirement,
particularly those that use either a SCSI (Small Computer System
Interface, pronounced “scuzzy”) or an Ultra ATA (Advanced Technology
Attachment) interface of any type. Some earlier Integrated Device
Electronics/Advanced Technology Attachment (IDE/ATA) drives may
not be fast enough (about a 4Mbps sustained rate of data transfer is
required) for video transfer and editing.
• IEEE 1394 port If your PC doesn’t have an IEEE 1394 port, you
can add one with a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) expansion
card relatively easily. Many recent models offer built-in IEEE 1394
support that includes a port on the front of the PC’s case, which can
be handy for connecting your camera quickly.
If you’ve already got a PC that meets most of these requirements, you’ll
find that you can add an IEEE 1394 card, for instance, to give your PC the
ability to communicate with a DV camcorder. Again, particularly if you’re upgrading to do some video editing, you should check your software’s
requirements; some applications require certain versions of Windows
(Windows 98 Second Edition or later is necessary for IEEE 1394
compatibility) and may specifically recommend that you purchase a
DirectX-compatible IEEE 1394 expansion card and that your sound and
video cards be DirectX compatible as well. (DirectX is Microsoft’s
multimedia application programming interface, or API, which enables
applications to access multimedia hardware via special DirectX drivers that
are managed by the operating system.) In fact, you might need to shop for
a more sophisticated sound and/or video card if your PC is somewhat aged.
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