Will my PC bottleneck the camcorder?

Xpred wrote on 2/10/2004, 10:18 PM
P4 2.1 GHz, 1GB of PC2100 DDR RAM, WinXP Home, 80GB 2mb buffer 7200rpm HD (possibly another HD coming soon for more storage). I want to be able to use Vegas and will be using video editing for medium usage, not short stuff, but probably like 15-30 min clips with some medium-to-high effects. Its a two year old PC, and I don't plan on upgrading until the summer. I finally get to use my new GL2 for a school project. So I am still unsure if I can use faster programs like Vegas and what not. I am quite paranoid (as methinks still that the crappy or slower computer/programs/hardware can bottleneck and degrade your camcorder!

It's just that specs these days for the programs are pretty high up there (around 2.8ghz + or so) and I believe if you don't have those specs, it would cause either some dropouts or some problems to either the comp or the camera. But I also prefer the better features of it. If I am just editing DV footage then putting it back onto the camcorder, does it matter what codec? Or does the codec only apply if I am saving it like on the computer or whatnot? Do you think I can still use Vegas and run pretty smoothly?

Comments

GaryKleiner wrote on 2/10/2004, 10:37 PM
Your computer has plenty of power to run Vegas.

Degrade your camcorder? You'll have to explain that one.

Gary
PeterWright wrote on 2/10/2004, 10:50 PM
I have a picture of a GL2 looking down on a slow computer saying "How degrading!"

Seriously Xpred, just go for it .... I use Vegas mainly on a 1.6 and a 1.8, but occasionally on a PIII 450 and it still works fine - try it and see, if your camera can stand it!

busterkeaton wrote on 2/10/2004, 11:07 PM
If the computer can't handle the data, it just "drops" it which is why they call it a drop out. It doesn't back up or bottleneck on the camcorder.


Imagine if you were reading a news crawl on TV. If the crawl went to fast, you wouldn't be able to read all the words, but the crawl would just keep going , regardless of whether or not you could keep up.
Grazie wrote on 2/10/2004, 11:32 PM
Ho . .I've run Vegas 3 and 4 on a Dell Laptop 1ghthz, 256 ram with about 10 gb of spare HD space . . it worked. You might wanna consider some form of dedicated video drive though . . ;-) . . .As the Vegas people say "Vegas is Hardware Agnostic" . . but that's more to do with needing RT cards etc etc . . but yes, humbler setups run Vegas. But, more powerful pcs make it Ffff l l l yyy away .. .

Grazie
farss wrote on 2/11/2004, 1:48 AM
To answer the second part of your question.
Capturing footage form a VCR is purely a data transfer. Printing it back to tape is also purely a data transfer so codecs don't come into play.
If you only apply cuts to your footage when you edit again no codec involved. It's only when you apply FXs or do dissolves, anything that means the frames have to be decompressed and compressed does the issue of codecs come into play.
The one that ships with Vegas is almost certainly the best there is, certainly much better than the one from uStuff but even it isn't truly horrid in the sense that'd you really notice on the average TV after going down even a couple of generations.