Digitizing Betacam-SP L for preservation & editing

Looking for some guidance. I have a Betacam-SP L tape that I want to digitize for preservation and editing. (For the curious, it's a film of interviews & reminiscences of older members of a local Quaker Meeting. The film was made 8-10 years ago by a pro who was a member of the Meeting and had his own production shop; sadly, he is no longer alive to help me bring the video into the digital age. There are no copyright issues involved.)
For preservation purposes, which codec would you recommend the editing house use? ProRes? DV50? AIC? ... or should I just stick with DV25? I want to capture & preserve as much of the quality of the Betacam video as possible but not use a codec that is overkill for Betacam, or go all the way to uncompressed video.
For short-term editing purposes I also want a version I can edit in FCE4. That really means either AIC or DV25. Any thoughts on one vs. the other if my starting point is a Betacam recording and my end goal is a DVD?

Tom,
I'm not doing the conversion myself. Someone who has all the necessary professional gear & Final Cut Studio is doing it for me. I want two digital versions - one higher end for preservation purposes; and one lower end that I can edit in FCE.
For preservation, is ProRes the way to go? What about DVCPRO50?

Similar Messages

Which is higher quality, edit to tape or print to video on digital betacam?

Which is gives higher quality results, edit to tape or print to video on digital betacam?

They should be the same quality.
Edit to tape will allow you control over making sure your program starts at 01:00:00;00.
Neither will send your timecode from the timeline. Edit to tape allows you to assemble your program starting at an in point set on your tape.

Which is the best way to record full hd on digital betacam tape?

Hello,
I'm capturing and editing full hd size but the final product has to be delivered on a digital betacam tape with Edit to Tape option to record. I have tried doing so with the following 2 ways:
1. Recording from HD timeline on a HD tape. Then capturing back on the machine from the same HD tape as PAL. Then recording on a Digital betacam as final product.
2. Exporting from HD timeline with current settings as a qucktime movie. Importing the same movie on a PAL timeline. Then recording on a digtal betacam.
My timeline setting for HD is : Uncompressed 8 bit 4:2:2 1920x1080 HDTV 1080i 16:9; Pixel Aspect Ratio SQUARE
My timeline setting for PAL is: Uncompressed 8 bit 4:2:2 720x576 PAL CCIR 601/DV Pal 5:4; Pixel Aspect Ratio PAL CCIR 601 (720x576)
The problem is when the episode is broadcasted on tv, the quality of video looks bad and a little jarred. Can anyone suggest any other way to record on a digital betacam?
Thank you.
P.S. I've tried dragging the hd sequence to a PAL timeline.
And also exporting using qicktime conversion to Custom size 720x576 without preserving pixel aspect ratio with Uncompressed 8 bit 4:2:2 compression and then changing the distort setting to -33.33 to fit on a PAL timeline with black bars. These 2 options look better than the ones i've mentioned above but I'm not sure if it is right. Please Advice.

Go into the AJA Control Panel. For secondary output, choose 525i 29.97. Right click on the output option you want (they are on the right) and choose SECONDARY or 525i. Then a little box should appear between the Frame Buffer and the output option that says DOWNCONVERT.
Do you have the Kona 3? what hardware are you using?

Which option do you use? PSD or TIFF for external edits?

I'd like to hear why you use PSD or TIFF for external edits. Why do you choose one over the other? Do you wish you had a choice, as in an option, when you click on Edit in External Editor?

I did a little reading on this and this is what I have found so far:
Deke McClelland in Adobe Photoshop CS2 one-on-one states:
"TIFF is a wonderful format to use when handing off CMYK files because it enjoys wide support and prints without incident."
He also states "Photoshop also lets you save layers to the TIFF and PDF formats, but where multilayer compositions are concerned, the native PSD Format enjoys wider support among other imaging applications (including, older versions of Photoshop itself)."
Classroom In A Book states:
"TIFF is used to exchange files between applications and computer platforms. TIFF is a flexible format supported by virtually all pain, image-editing, and page-layout applications. Also, virtually all destop scanners can produce TIFF images.
"PSE is the default file format. Because of the tight integration between Adobe products, other Adobe applications such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe GoLive can directly import PSD files and preserve many Photoshop features.
Apple Aperture 1.5 by Mike Cuenca:
"PSD: The Photoshop proprietary format is widely used by digital imaging professionals because it supports the storage of alpha channels and layers. Aperture will preserve this extra data byt will not display the layers or channels. PSD files are not compressed, and although they are intended for use within Photoshop, they are becoming more widely accepted outside Photoshop."
"TIFF: The TIFF format is the recommended format for high quality storage of master images. It has a loss-less compression method that can be applied, but more often the images are stored uncompressed. The TIFF format is also the most widely used format for images destined to be printed on a printing press."
Maybe some of this will help
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Anamorphic Digital Betacam to 16:9 WMV

My client wants to take an anamorphic digital betacam source and come away with a 16:9 WMV file for plasma display.
I was hoping to be able to export some kind of FCP file and take that into Sorenson Squeeze to create the WMV.
Problem is that the anamorphic settings seem to be for DV or HD, and my source is neither. I am coming in SDI via a Black Magic card.
Any way to do this?
Apologies if this has been answered, I did search but found a ton of mostly irrelevant (to me) info on DVDSP and DV anamorphic, nothing about my specific situation.
Thanks for any help!

Maybe this is relevent. As I edit a lot more then I shoot, I get sent about every format there is- most of which are covered in the A/V Settings, but some are not. But I can easily "edit" any preset to fit the desired format, even though not every format is listed. As long as you know what your source media settings are, you should be good to go.

Multiple Hard Drives for Video Editing with Premiere Elements 8?

I'm using Premiere Elements 8 for video editing. These are the specs I'm using:
The camcorder I used to shoot the footage is a Sony Handycam with model number HDR-SR12. It's a digital HD video camera recorder that shoots in NTSC 1920x1080i HD recording. The footage was shot with AVC HD 9M (HQ), which records in higher image quality mode. The video camera is connected to my computer through a USB cable.
The computer itself is a Windows 7 desktop computer. The CPU is an HP Pavilion Elite HPE-150f PC with Intel Core i7-860 processor. I imported the video into Premiere by selecting "File" --> "Get Media From" and then choosing the third option from the top.
My import option is NTSC/AVCHD/Full HD 1080i 30 5.1 channel, which matches the specs of the camera I shot the footage with.
Even with the patch 8.0.1 that should be preventing crashing, the program keeps crashing upon startup with one specific video project. Using the exact same video files for that project, I recreated the video, with Elements, and never ran into the problem. Both times, I had the patch installed.
At the moment, I am using only the single internal hard drive for everything (software, OS, video editing, etc.). It is 1 TB in size. However, I am informed that one hard drive is not recommended for video editing, and that I need at least two hard drives, one for OS and one specifically for video editing. I was also informed of FireWire 800 and eSata; however, it does not appear that my computer supports eSata.
Can this problem be resolved if I have an external hard drive and connect it to my computer with FireWire 800 (which the computer supports)? If not, what can be done so this problem doesn't arise in the future?
Thanks for the help.

staring-into-space wrote: My import option is NTSC/AVCHD/Full HD 1080i 30 5.1 channel, which matches the specs of the camera I shot the footage with.
When you import the footage is there a red line across the whole of the timeline?
staring-into-space wrote:
I recreated the video, with Elements, and never ran into the problem.
As you have the recreated project working fine I'd be inclined to put this down as a one-off glitch. If it happens again on a different project then it may be more worrying. You may want to consider using save-as to create multiple versions of your project (note this does NOT duplicate the source clips - so you won't be eating up much extra disk space). You could for example use save-as to create a daily version - ProjectName-Mon, ProjectName-Tue etc....
Cheers,
Neale
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

Which G5 for Video Editing?

Hello, I've decided not to wait for an Intel MacPro, but would like to buy a G5 in the next 5 mos (by July) for standard-definition video editing using FCP 5 Studio. I have a few questions:
1) Currently, I have a Quicksilver G4 with dual 1 Gz, 1 Gb ram and 160 Gb ATA drive. Would FCP 5 Studio work effectively on this machine (for editing, color-correction, motion graphics, rendering to DVD etc)? If not, is it worth investing more money into this machine, or should I switch to a G5?
2) Which G5 would work effectively for my purposes? Kindly advise on clock-speed, RAM, Video card, hard disk etc. I take it I will not need RAID for SD, but only high-definition? I would need to use this machine for at least 3 years. Do you see Apple discontinuing hardware or FCP support for this platform during this time?
3) How would the 23" screen be for video-editing? Are there any rumors about a 25" screen replacing it?
4) Lastly, are there any Apple conventions in the next 6 mos (where new products could be announced), which I should wait for, before purchasing?
Thanks for your advice!
G4 Quicksilver Mac OS X (10.3.5) Dual 1 Gz, 1 Gb Ram, 2 x 80 Gb ATA

Hello, I've decided not to wait for an Intel MacPro, but would like to buy a G5 in the next 5 mos (by July) for standard-definition video editing using FCP 5 Studio. I have a few questions:
Get a Quad and get one fast, with a PPC machine you'll have lots of media copying freedom as you have control over your hardware. With the new EFI Mactels, trusted computing and HDCP coming you will not.
Actually I wouldn't waste money on a PowerMactel machine until the whole "Blueray/HD-DVD" thing gets straightened out too, that's going to have a lot of baggage associated with it. When they do at least you'll have a Quad to be able to do things you won't be allowed on the PowerMactel w/BlueRay.
Standard definition is going "bye-bye" in the US mandatory by 2009, mostly by 2007. You'll need to go HD as all the new TV sets being sold are HD/digital ready and all the content will switch as well. (HD Is really nice too, but eats hard drive space fast)
1) Currently, I have a Quicksilver G4 with dual 1 Gz, 1 Gb ram and 160 Gb ATA drive. Would FCP 5 Studio work effectively on this machine (for editing, color-correction, motion graphics, rendering to DVD etc)? If not, is it worth investing more money into this machine, or should I switch to a G5?
Yes sure, but if time = money, you'll need CPU muscle to render faster and large RAM to burn faster.
I say get a PPC Quad, a large stock drive with 16MB of cache and a Western Digital 150GB 10,000 RPM RaptorX for a boot/app and "bare bones" home drive, keeping your video on the large stock drive. Get yourself 4Gb of RAM or slightly more, install it yourself and save money by visiting Crucial.com. (no comp)
2) Which G5 would work effectively for my purposes? Kindly advise on clock-speed, RAM, Video card, hard disk etc. I take it I will not need RAID for SD, but only high-definition? I would need to use this machine for at least 3 years. Do you see Apple discontinuing hardware or FCP support for this platform during this time?
Apple will support PPC based hardware for a long time, so will a lot of third party software makers because it's the majority platform. Not much software is available for the Mactel based machines, so PPC and the Quad is the best longterm professional choice at this time. I would also not get the stock card but the next one up.
RAID you can play with later, rolling your own mini-raid set or if you have volume and require speed then a X-RAID.
3) How would the 23" screen be for video-editing? Are there any rumors about a 25" screen replacing it?
I had a 23", it's small, but it will do the job. A couple of inches increase won't make much of a difference IMO. If you got the bucks get a 30", it's awesome and better than two monitors as you don't need to turn your head back and forth. Just sit back and take it all in.
Of course for standard video your going to need a standard monitor anyway for previewing.
4) Lastly, are there any Apple conventions in the next 6 mos (where new products could be announced), which I should wait for, before purchasing?
We just had one, Macworld, where the Mactels were announced, supposely Intel will release a 64 bit dual core around September, Adobe Photoshop supposely won't be ready with a Mactel version for another 14 months it's been estimated.
Apple is working on universal versions of their apps, some are ready already.
http://appleintelfaq.com/
A site that be of interest to you is HDforIndies.com
I always advise people to clone their boot drives
http://homepage.mac.com/hogfish/Personal11.html

Suitable laptop for video editing

Hello,
for months now I am looking for a suitable laptop for video editing of my footage captured by Canon 60D (and also GoPro). Since it is in a HD quality and h.264 format it puts a great strain on the CPU. I already had to return an ASUS U30J and Dell XPS14 both with i7 processors because of their terribly slow performance :(. So now, I really want to be 100% sure that the laptop will be able to smoothly handle my footage. I am using Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 for video editing and I do need a laptop (preferably 15'') as I travel all the time.
Here are the specifications of the Force 16F2 laptop built on MSI 16F2 (from the xoticpc.com), which I have chosen so far:
FORCE 16F2 / MSI 16F2
- 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare Type Screen
- 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM, 2.2-3.3GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache)
- IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU (Cools better than all Compounds)
- nVidia GeForce GTX 560M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
- 12,288MB (12GB) DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2x4GB 2x2GB)-
- Standard Finish
- - 500GB (w/ 4GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid 32MB Cache (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)- or 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)--
- 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)-
- Raid 0 Stripe Enabled (Requires 2 or 3 Hard Drives. Combines Hard Drives for performance)
- 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) in ODD Bay
- 3 Year Complete Care Warranty - 3 Year Parts with Ground Shipping, 24/7 Telephone Tech Support & Lifetime Labor Warranty
I would like to ask you what do you think about this configuration regarding my requirements? Will this system be powerful enough to handle the h.264 footage? I would like to use both the SLR camera and the laptop as long as possible and don't have to change the laptop in one year time or so. That's why I would like the system to be powerful enough to withstand even future demands of the software, etc.
I was also not sure about the 500GB (w/ 4GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid 32MB Cache (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s. Do you think it is a smart choice? Is the 4GB SSD memory of any use? Or should I rather go with the 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)?
I don't have any previous experience with the raid system, do you think that the Raid 0 Stripe Enabled (Requires 2 or 3 Hard Drives. Combines Hard Drives for performance) is the right choice for smooth video editing? I know that I have to use at least 2 hard drives so that's why I'd rather order 3 HDD to get the best performance..
This configuration is worth 1800USD, I would obviously like to save some money as I will need to pay also the shipping costs, tax and duty (I currently live in New Delhi)... So if you think that something from the system might be downgraded and I would still get good video editing results, please let me know.
Do you think that the 3 Year Complete Care Warranty - 3 Year Parts with Ground Shipping, 24/7 Telephone Tech Support & Lifetime Labor Warranty is of any use when I am not from the US? Should I rather go with the 1 Year warranty?
I would very much appreciate any feedback from you!
Misha

Frederick, I will firstly answer your questions, I am in no way a pro video editor, my projects are up to 10MB of size although I wasn't yet able to edit the h.264 footage properly ... I mostly do events and quite simple projects, effects, two to three timelines... I use only h.264, my older projects are in DV quality thought. I usually have to rush to finish a project since I have limited time during the travels.. I usually work at one, maximum two projects at the same time
Now, I have been trying to figure out what would be the best configuration for me and ended up with these two options, which are touching (maybe even overflowing) my budget... Both are worth around USD2100 (without shipping, etc.). Either I will be going for one SSD disk for the OS or for maximum CPU and RAM. Which configuration would you recommend me? Do you think that the second configuration is an overkill when taken into account the size and scope of my projects?
With SSD disk:
FORCE 16F2 / MSI 16F2
- 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Matte Type Screen
- 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM, 2.2-3.3GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache)
- IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU (Cools better than all Compounds)
- nVidia GeForce GTX 560M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
- 10,240MB (10GB) DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (1x4GB 3x2GB)
- Standard Finish
- - 120GB OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS Sandforce Solid State Drive (Up to Sequential Read 550MB/s - Write 500MB/s SSD Serial-ATA III)
- - 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)-
- HDD Raid Settings - OFF
- 320GB 7200RPM WD or Seagate (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) in ODD Bay
- 3 Year Complete Care Warranty - 3 Year Parts with Ground Shipping, 24/7 Telephone Tech Support & Lifetime Labor Warranty
With better CPU and RAM:
FORCE 16F2 / MSI 16F2
- 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Matte Type Screen
- 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2820QM, 2.3-3.4GHz, (32nm, 8MB L3 cache)
- IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU (Cools better than all Compounds)
- nVidia GeForce GTX 560M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
- 16,384MB (16GB) DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (4x4GB)-SPECIAL
- Standard Finish
- - 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)-
- - 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)-
- HDD Raid Settings - OFF
- 320GB 7200RPM WD or Seagate (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) in ODD Bay
- Stock OEM Thermal Compound ( IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU Provided FREE with Processor Upgrade!)
- Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
- Internal Bluetooth + EDR
- Built-in 802.11 Wireless B/G/N - Stock Wireless Card
- Integrated Digital Video Camera
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Smart Li-ion Battery (9-Cell)
- 3 Year Complete Care Warranty - 3 Year Parts with Ground Shipping, 24/7 Telephone Tech Support & Lifetime Labor Warranty
Frederick, regarding the RAM I checked the 8GB option and it comes in 2GBx4 so I won't be able to save those slots. Plus I have been searching for prices of the RAM, HDD and SSD in the US and they don't seem to be that great for me to even consider them... I would simply have to pay more and would end up with unused parts from the basic configuration. I think that the Xoticpc have quite reasonable prices of the upgrades they offer... Plus I can count on higher prices of the components here in India so all in all I think that it would cost me too much energy and save me minimum bucks... That's why I thought I might go for the 16GB RAM straight away if it isn't an overkill for me. As I said before, I would love to save money (after all I am a woman who controls the common budget) so please let me know, if I am just wasting money for high end technology which I won't be able to use . I rather think that in the future once I will finally be able to make some money when I will have a machine to work on, I might upgrade to better hard drives (SSD possibly). But right now I need a laptop on which I would be able to smoothly edit the HD h.264 footage.
Thank you very much for your help!

Computer for Video Editing for the Present and Beyond

In an earlier post I announced that I have been a Premiere Elements user since Day One, and I also mentioned I was looking to have a new computer built from scratch rather than purchase from Dell or HP. I am close to finalizing that build, and am looking forward to upgrading to Elements 8.0. I am also looking forward to becoming a subscriber to Muvipix.com. Becoming a part of the Adobe Premiere Elements Forum coupled with being an eventual subscriber to Muvipix.com has elevated my enthusiasm for video editing. Special Thanks go to Bill Hunt and Steve Grisetti for anchoring this Adobe Pre E Forum. Your advice has motivated me to take my video editing with Premiere Elements to another level.
Speaking of advice, what does everyone think of the following specifications for my new computer? Is this a solid computer for video editing? In some cases some components lack specificity (model numbers, brand names, et cetera). Suggestions and comments will be greatly appreciated as I take this final step. Thanks to all!
ATX Antec     193 Computer Case
X58 ASUS      Motherboard
Core      i7- 930 Processor (1366)
700W     OCZ Power Supply
Triple     Channel DDR3 (6 GB RAM - 3x2GB)
64-bit      Windows 7 Home Premium
(2) Western     Digital 1T HDDs
22xDVD+/-RW      Burner
ATI Radeon 4670 Video Card DDR3 (dual     monitor support)

jcrystal76 wrote:
I read your computer spec sheet. Thanks for sharing. You said the ideal thing to do is use the computer just for video editing. Best way to go. However, you still need an OS, which requires updates. And you need to update drivers, and then there are product updates and add-ons. You need to connect with the Internet to do all of this
I do not have $$ or space to have 2 computers, so my single computer is for day to day work, and video editing as a hobbyist... which of course is not "ideal" for video editing... but I don't make $$ at this, so I use what I have
I am still learning about Win7 64bit, so do not have all the startup process optimized... that is my next project, to figure out what does not need to be running, and remove that un-needed stuff from the startup
You also asked about backup... the IMAGE program I use is mentioned in http://www.pacifier.com/~jtsmith/ADOBE.HTM#SmartOwn
I make a boot drive image to external USB hard drive before installing any new software

What resolution & order of work to scan slides for Photoshop editing

When editing all done I would propose to save at 300 dpi. If the photo/slide requires no editing, I would also scan in and save at 300 dpi.
My slides, however, need a lot of work. They have deteriorated over the years and need - colour correction, removal of colour casts, brighten up shadows, brighten up colours etc. etc.
I have read many books and tips but they all seem to think I want to produce prize winning images with amazing time consuming enhancements! I just want, as I have seen from other threads, to get into a simple routine and crack on through the pile of slides to produce acceptable digital images!
My simple mind suggests give Photoshop as much to work with as possible!
I have:
- a Minolta Dual 3 AF 2840 Slide scanner which has many features akin to Photoshop - curves, Levels etc.
- Photoshop 6.0.1 and Elements 2.0 - not very up to date I am afraid!
Three questions:
1) The maximum Scanner resolution is 2840 - I would have thought scanning at this best to get the most information of the image into Photoshop. Would this seem right - I can resample down to 300 dpi at the end?
2) How much editing should I do in the Scanner - to give Photoshop the best information to work with - e.g. should I use Levels/Curves in the scanner to brighten up the shadows for Photoshop etc?
3) Once in Photoshop for final editing, what is the best order of work and which tools best to use, bearing in mind for, say colour cast, you can use Curves, Levels, Colour Balance, Variations etc, etc.- it seems colour balance is best for this from what I have read. My suggested routine is:
Use Scanner to scan and do initial editing:.
- Clean slide
- Crop
- Set 2840 Resolution
- Pixel polishing etc
- Use Colour balance for colour cast
- Curves/levels to bring out detail from the shadows
- Scan
- Save as TIFF
Photoshop
- Crop
- Final Overall Tonal adjustments - Curves and Levels?
- Final Overall Colour casts - Colour Balance?
- Adjust specific tonal adjustments etc. for selected areas - Dodge, Burn etc?
- Other adjustments - Clone out blemishes etc.
- Unsharpen
- Resample to 300 dpi and save as JPG or TIFF etc. for required purpose - usually JPEG
Does this sound right - any suggestion for variation etc. will be most welcome?
Any other advice also most welcome!
Tony

Dear Marian,
Thanks for the prompt reply - it sounds like it is just what I want to hear!
Just to double check my understanding! Do you agree, then, that it is a good idea to scan slides (and negatives for that matter) at the maximum resolution for the purpose of further editing in Photoshop?
As you say, Photoshop will reduce the ppi automatically for larger images than the slide. Most of my final printed output will be 6x4" but it still gives me scope for a half decent print at 8x11" if I want.
As I understand it, Slides and Negatives are pretty dense and can accept high resolution scanning whereas to scan a magazine page, for example, there would be no need to scan at more than 300 dpi - in fact to do so may even produce funny results!
I know people can get carried away with resolution. I do get amused when people get excited about their super megapixel cameras when they ever only display the results on a screen or a small print!
Thanks again for your comments - if you can confirm the above, that will be one big issue solved for me.
Tony

Best type of SATA drives for video editing?

I'm getting a MacPro system to do editing of Hi-def home movies in Final Cut Express and iMovie. I will be adding additional internal drives, but I'm not buying from Apple because they seem overpriced. So the question is: is there a preferred brand out there for video editing? Maxtor, Western Digital, Seagate, etc.?
They have good prices on MacSales.com, but some talk about being suitable for nearline applications, and I don't know what that means. I have also heard that setting up a RAID may be the way to go, but I've never done it and I'm a little intimidated by it (I don't want to get hundreds of gigs of material and then realize I should have done something differently, and have to reformat and start over).

Look for SATA-II (3 Gbps) drives that are 7200rpm and have at least 8MB cache (preferably 16MB). Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi and other drive manufacturers all make drives that meet these specs. For what it's worth, I have long preferred Seagate drives.
In addition to your working drives, remember to add 1 or more drives for backup capability, preferably external drives that can be kept offline except for times you are backing up or restoring.

Workflow tips for preserving disk space??

I'm curious as to what, if anything, you can do to preserve online disk space for a video project. Let's say I take 30 minutes of video footage but I only end up using 5 minutes of it. It seems a waste to keep 30 minutes of captured footage on disk when you're only going to use 5 minutes of it. The only way I can think of to reduce the disk space would be to edit the original file in adobe premiere, export the edited version into a smaller .avi or .mpeg file, re-import the smaller file into adobe premiere and use that smaller file on the timeline. The original footage could then be moved to less expensive archival storage. My concern would be a degradation of quality due to the multiple renders.
I'm using ridiculous amounts of disk space for simple projects like a video compilation of my daughter's soccer team. I've got about ten 30 minute video files that I'm using roughly 10 minutes of for the end project.
Any advice? I don't have the cash to buy some huge disk tower (plus I couldn't back it up anyway). Using a NAS device for archival storage is fine but trying to use it for video editing and rendering is waaaaay to slow.

Jeff,
Thanks! I can't believe I didn't know about Project Manager. In reading about the Project Manager there are a lot of functions that I desperately need, one of which is the "collect files and copy to new location". I've got source files scattered all over the place because in an effort to minimize the disk space on my expensive storage, I've moved still images to slower storage. Once I've completed a project I've tried to manually get all the files in once place which is a pain, I didn't realize that there as a utility that would do it for me. Woo hoo!
Thanks for your response, you've just saved me a ton of time.

Saving iMove projects for later edit by PC users

I've been converting a lot of VHS tapes to DVD for friends and family using iMovie and iDVD. Lately, I've been getting asked if I can simply hand over the digitized files to them for editing on their computers with their video editing software. What's the best way to save an iMovie project to disc for people with PCs (or Macs) so that they can edit and create their own DVD?

As Karsten said, the most foolproof method is to give them tape.
I don't know what kind of video files PC editing apps can import. Looking from the Mac side, a DV-stream (.dv) would be the most convenient format because iMovie can readily export it. The downside is that all scenes would be stuffed in a single file (unless the user exported each scene separately) and it would be up to the PC app/user to re-split the scenes into clips.
Another tempting format would be a DV-encoded .avi. But then you should remember that due to a bug in iMovie HD, it can't properly export it.
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovieHD_6_bugs.html#expertsettings
So you should then use a workaround and use apps like MPEG Streamclip to export the iMovie project as a DV-AVI.
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/SVCDon_a_Macintosh.html#imovie_3rdparty
The latest MPEG Streamclip beta has a Save as... -command which AFAIK should wrap a .dv file as DV-AVI (choose AVI from the pop-up).
...but as I said, I don't know how the PC apps handle these formats.

Which iMac for Video Editing?

Hi Folks,
After about 7 years with my Dell 4550 I am close to making a purchase of a new Mac and leaving the Windows world - Yeah!!! My decision is now coming down to how much I should spend on the video card. Basically it is a 300-500 premium to upgrade to the discrete video cards compared to the integrated graphics in the 2.66 model (granted you do get a ~10% faster processor at 2.93 as well).
What I am wondering is that for video editing (using iMovie) is there a significant difference in performance of the machine based on the video card? I do not play video games on the computer much as I have a Wii and XBOX already to have that area covered. Primarily I will use it for iTunes, iPhoto and HD Video (have a new baby we need to record!)
So my choices are mainly these three configurations to select from:
iMac, 24-inch, 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Part Number: Z0FP
2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
1.0TB Serial ATA Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
$1599
iMac, 24-inch, 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Part Number: Z0FQ
2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
1.0TB Serial ATA Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 256MB
$1899
iMac, 24-inch, 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Part Number: Z0FQ
2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
1.0TB Serial ATA Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 512MB
$2049
iMac, 24-inch, 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Part Number: Z0FQ
2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
1.0TB Serial ATA Drive
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
$2099
Since I will not be gaming, are the more expensive video cards worth the premium in relation to video editing, iTunes and iPhoto main purposes of the computer?

I wouldn't stress it much. I recently bought a new iMac, but for years I have been editing my home movies with iMovie on my old G4 eMac. Granted these are standard def movies, not HD, but the point is, a lot of video editing doesn't require a lot of video horsepower. Most of your time will be spent scanning through thumbnails, picking parts to cut out, etc. None of it requires fantastic video displays and most of the time you are not paying attention to the quality of the playback (as long as it isn't stuttering) and are more concentrating on the content to figure out what you want to keep, trim, edit, etc. 90+% of the time you are not actually watching a lot of video simply playing.
So get what you can reasonably afford. If you can afford the best model, then go ahead and get it. But if money is a little tight and you have to make some tradeoffs, with digital video you will want to put money towards storage. Hard drive space gets used up FAST. So get the 1TB upgrade and invest some cash toward one or two large external hard drives (one dedicated just to storing your video and then the other for back ups, extra misc. storage, time machine, etc.). Fortunately external hard drives these days are about $100 give or take per Terabyte. For the drive you will want to use for your video work, I suggest spending the extra cash and getting a model with Firewire 800 connection, not just USB.
Have fun,
Patrick

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