Help putting together a simple portable editing set-up

I have a MacBookPro at 2.16, with 512 of video memory and 1 GIG ram. I would like to purchase Final Cut Express, an external hard drive, etc, to do some basic Mini DV editing - nothing huge - perhaps short 5 - 10 minute films. Questions:
1. Is 1 GIG of ram enough? Should I upgrade to 2GIG?
2. Will a portable LaCie drive (say 100-200 GIG) work off the firewire 400 or USB 2 port without dropping frames? Are there any specs to look for in a drive?
3. The external drive is for source media. I am guessing I should not have source media on the internal drive along with the editing program. Correct?
4. Using a deck or camera to go out to a TV. Is this the best, cheapest way to view output?
- Any help, or other adivce, would be greatly apprecaited. Thanks - Rob

As Ian said, USB speed is a theoretical maximum of short-term peak speeds.
Among the many complex reasons USB and Firewire are different, USB carries all data & control signals over 1 twisted pair of wires in the cable and has to leave a timing gap (margin) between data & control packets; as a consequence data packets can get delayed and this is especially problematic where the data must be streamed as in video. FireWire, on the other hand, separates data and clock onto 2 different twisted pairs in the cable and therefore the data & clock signals don't have to share the bandwidth of a single pair of wires.
Also, in the G5, the USB controller runs off the 33MHz PCI bus but the FireWire controller is directly connected to the high speed Shasta I/O controller; and this probably makes for some additional differences in the total throughput especially under streaming conditions. The Macbook Pro is of course an Intel design and may be different in this area.
As you can see, it's a combination of very complex hardware & software design issues that make FireWire much more capable of handling video requirements.

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Need Help Putting Together a rMBP so I Have Everything I Need...

Hello-
I am having trouble getting the right kind of help from "Chat Now" on apple.com and calling in to get my questions/needs taken care of so that when I get the rMBP I will be sure I wil have what I need to go right online and teach the online courses. I even went to the local apple store and woked with a couple sames guys there, but they were not clear in a couple situations on what I would need with the different options the rMBP gives. so I am truning to the great apple forum for additional help. this might be too much to ask even for tis forum, but if I can learn a little at a time, maybe I can gradually gain the knowledge I need to have a complete and functioning home office for my personal computing needs and my needs as an online teacher at a university back East. My technical knowledge is not the best, so as far as the rMBP goes, a big problem for me is that I do not have the knowledge to make sure I order everything I need with the changes a new rMBP will bring to my current setup (which is just a basic MBP using a wireless router and a USB cable for the printer that I just connect when I need to print). I realizee my current set up on my desk is not the most advanced, but I would need a pro to come to my office and help me get the best set-up for what I am curently using. It seems that the agents I chat with and/or talk to on the phone are aslo lacking in knowledge to help me put together a rMBP that will be ready to fully use and have with the order all that I need so that I do not have to order additional items in a mad rush to be ready for the courses I am teaching online. I have read several articles about the rMBP so that I cold have some knowledge about what I will need but as I said my techie knowledge is lacking. I am looking at the 15" rMBP with all of the full upgrades that the configure option allows one to get. I am not clear if I do run into trouble with my wi fi and have to use my ethernet cable what I will need to do this. I also have programs that are older that I am guesing I will need to install using a DVD player. I would like to hook up the printer I have or a new Canon printer and use it wirelessly, but for now I will most likely be using it with a USB cable. I am not clear on the thunderbolt technology and if I should get any of these cables for any of the connections. I also would like to get a great speaker system and will need to hook that up, but I am not clear on the best way to do this. I have been wanting an iMac, but I am not sure what is a good slection to get and how to connect it to the rMBP or one of the other 2 older MBPs I currently have.
If somebody could list for me what I would need to have a complete rMBP that will allow me to do these hookups and connections and explain what would be the best way to complete the various connections so that I have all that I will need to get up and running, I would really appreciate it. Because I do not have any USB 3.0 cables or cables for various additional connections, I would need help/suggestions in this area. I realize this is hard to do not seeing my office, but since I will be starting new with the purchase of the new rMBP and hopefully an iMac (and a new Canon printer and new set of great sounding speakers) getting some advice on what I should order for the various connections would be a hugh help. Part of the problem is with the rMBP and not having used one of these in the past. I know some of the differences with this machine like the lack of an internal SuperDrive and the new ports, but I do not know what cables I will need that will utilize the newer technology this machine and an imac will bring to my office.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, even if you do not give me specific answers, but an idea, for example, of what I might need to connect the speaker system (knowing the best way the new speaker system shold be connected to the rMBP and/or the iMac. I am not even clear if I do want to use the iMac with the rMBP for teaching with a larger display what I will need to connect the imac to the rMBP. is this done by an HDMI cable and if so is there a specific type or example you could mention that is on apple.com?

There are many differences with the new rMBP. There are ports that I am not sure what I would use them for. Even the ethernet cable I use now to get the internet will not work with the rMBP. I thought there would be some additional help on here. as far as configuring the rMBP there are just a few options but the differences between an older MBP and the new rMBP is great. No need to reply I will turn off email notifications. I gave as much information as I did because in the past I was told to give more information.

Pls help putting together the BEST SOLUTION for PP and AE CS4

Hi guys
I was tasked to put together the best machine (machines) for video editing / rendering .. money is not an issue.
My client is a TV broadcasting network and they do lots of videos everyday .. They want to render their work as FAST as possible because sometimes they have tight deadlines and rendering and re rendering (if there are mistakes) has cost them .. so now they're serious about getting the best technology to achieve best rendering time possible, but in a bit of practical sense of course.. i mean there's no sense spending 1000USD or more for a piece of technology that offers under 10 second faster rendering only ..
What they do and want
- edit/put together/ sequence lots of videos constantly, under premiere cs3 (will upgrade to cs4 on the new machine)
- use affter effects for some effects and 3D stuffs.. but not that much.. but increasingly as time goes by and their video editors get more affter effects training..
- needs really really fast rendering!! Right now it takes them typically 1-2 hours to render stuffs, and what to cut this time by half or more..
Existing Setups on work stations:
Intel QuadCore (Q6600, i7, Q9550, Xeon x3220, and the likes)
4GB RAM DDR2 1066mhz
Highend motherboards
GeForce 9500GT , 9800GT, and GTX 260 216sp
GSKILL Falcon 64GB SSD Drive as primary
1TB Western Digital BLACK edition drives for storage
Software:
Windows XP 32 bit
Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 (80% of all their work done here)
AE CS3
etc..
Running NOD32 Antivirus
I am an somewhat of an expert in Hardware and stuff, i build custom PC's machines most of my life but i have limiited knowledge on optimizing hardware for VIDEO EDITING stuffs.. so i turn to you all.
I do understand that w/ video editing CPU is the most important, followed by RAM, and ofcourse by HDD for disc caches and stuff.. and where videocard may come to an advantage as well. and normally i'd suggest the fastest components available . i7 , extreme processors, skulltrail dual quad setups perhaps? RAID 0 SSD Drive? etc.. but I do not know w/c gives the most advantage, and w/c is a waste of money..
I also read about quadro cards offering really big performance improvements using CUDA tech etc..
again im not the expert at this type of requirment.. so i need your advises..
with unlimitted PRACTICAL budget given to me to come up w/ a solution I initially thought a rendering farm would be the solution, but upon reading around it seems there's no rendering farm solution for PP CS4.. just the adobe after effects part.. so i had to go back to the drawing board and suggest really powerful work stations instead..and perhaps have them migrate to 64bit OS for that "extra" performance.. i myself am on win7 64bit and it's looking mighty good.
1) is this the right move?
2) is it still worth it to put together rendering farm for AE renders only? or might as well concentrate funds on the machines/workstations?
Also along the PRACTICALITY LINE, would it be practical to maintain all the existing machines, and instead build a manned RENDERING MACHINE w/ PP and AE (basically desktop or Server if they are faster at rendering w/ the best specs for the purpose etc) where they can just throw the workload to some guy there for rendering? Atleast the editors can continue using the workstations while the rendering machine guy is at work? and even perhaps setup a gigabit lan network where the RENDERING MACHINES can dynamically pull the work load via the network , not needing to transfer the files to the rendering machine first ? etc
as you can see im not only looking for the best machine, but the best STRATEGY for my client.
Good suggestions would be much appreciated.
regards to all

in a nut shell no. if you do not have to "Share" then Avid is pointless Adobe is a far better answer.
Avid solutions still need a computer. The Mojo.Nitris are a joke and Avid no longer provides computers even the Symphany comes with your choice of Apple Mac Pro or HP 800. (Dual Xeon)
there are better "hardware" answers that what Avid sells for Adobe. Decklink, Aja to name a few.
if you have to share then you have no choice. this is the one area Abode does not lead.
renders have to do primarily with 2 things CPU power (Xeon will render faster than single i7)
and Drives. the faster your drive set up the faster the render. Memory does play a part and so does the video card depending on what codec and to what
it also depends on WHAT you are rendering and from what for the HDDs.
without knowing your work flow format and codec its impossible to suggest something.
in terms of rendering
Core i7
Dual Xeon (faster unless still doing DV/HDV thru firewire)
Sonnet raid array
Scott
ADK

Need help putting together two scenes in one frame

Hi Guys,
I'm trying to put together a movie project. The thing is I wanted to put together two video captures in one frame - one on the left and the other on the right. I've been reading threads here in the forums and there have been varying answers (sometimes misunderstanding the question) so I would give examples.
Here's an example: Do you know those movies where the guy and the girl sing a duet but they are in different locations and to give a cinematic effect, the movie will put their faces side by side singing the same lines?
Another example is when the good and the bad guys are about to face each other from different directions, the scene would be split such that the left side shows the good guys and the right side shows the bad guys.
Is there a way in iMovie to do this?
Thanks guys!

take a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5rSr7Z7Vck&feature=channel

I need help putting together different sized video/photo

I just got back from a trip to Yellowstone National Park. I want to put three different pieces of media - GOPRO HD video shot at 1280 x 960, NIKON jpegs at 3872 x 2592, and SDV (Sony DCR-TRV33) shot at 16:9 resolution (can't figure out pixel size.) I have Compressor (of course) and also MPEG Streamclip.
First of all I need to convert the GOPRO HD (compressed at h.264) and digitize the SDV. What format would be best for editing and integrating the three pieces of media - Apple Pro Res, DV/DCVPRO, ...
1280 x 960 is 4:3 (too late to change the SDV to 4:3) so what would be the best compromise?
Thanks for the help,
William

So you recommend digitizing (log and capture) the SDV in FCP as a ProRes (422?) Also convert the h.264 (GOPRO) to ProRes. Trim the jpegs in Photoshop (is there a simple batch program that can do this?)
When you say to leave the GOPRO in it 1280x960 frame size so it can be re-framed in a Sequence - how does that work?
I'd just use ProRes 422 for both types of video. You could probably get along with ProRes LT for the SD, but I like to keep things simple.
Create your timeline by dropping a "SDV" clip in and answering "yes" to the auto-conform question that will appear. This should give you a 16:9 aspect ratio SD timeline. Now, when you drop in a GoPro clip it will scale down and try to fit in.
If you double click it into Viewer and go to the Motion tab, you can hit the Reset button (the one with the red X) and you will have a 1280x960 clip again. It will seem as if you're looking at it through a hole in a template; you can "steer" it or resize it just as you usually do with a still. You can do a zoom in or out on the video, or pan from side to side.
Use this to sharpen your story visually. Have fun with it.

Need Help, put together information, summary to print

Hello,
I need help.
I want to make a e-learning for school children of the 5th class.
I have a lot of excersises like a fill-in-text or drag and drop and so on. Now my question is, can I put the information the children puts in together like a summary at the end of the lesson, so the children can print it like a worksheet at the end?

Happy to provide more detail, but on what, exactly?
Do you need more detail on how to create the PDF? If so, that's a bit beyond the scope of what we usually do here in the Captivate forums. There are many different ways to create a PDF.
As for linking the PDF, I already advised. But you may need more detail here. When you insert a Click Box or a Button object in Captivate, you assign an action that occurs when the user clicks the object. The assignment occurs in the properties panel on the right. The typical action is "Go to next slide", but it's a drop-down you may change. I suggested changing it to assign "Open URL or File". Once you do that, you will see a field where you may type the URL or the file name.
Cheers... Rick

Help - i recently made put together a high quality movie for a relative, it has taken me months to complete and it goes for a total of 9 hours and 43 minutes ,however, it won't let me export the video at all! please help - its taken ages to make it!

Help - i recently made put together a high quality movie for a relative, it has taken me months to complete and it goes for a total of 9 hours and 43 minutes ,however, it won't let me export the video at all! please help - its taken ages to make it!

9 hours??!
Twice the length of a cinema epic?
How are you expecting to distribute it?
iDVD encoding settings:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iDVD/7.0/en/11417.html
Short version:
Best Performance is for videos of up to 60 minutes
Best Quality is for videos of up to 120 minutes
Professional Quality is also for up to 120 minutes but even higher quality (and takes much longer)
That was for single-layer DVDs. Double these numbers for dual-layer DVDs.
Professional Quality: The Professional Quality option uses advanced technology to encode your video, resulting in the best quality of video possible on your burned DVD. You can select this option regardless of your project’s duration (up to 2 hours of video for a single-layer disc and 4 hours for a double-layer disc). Because Professional Quality encoding is time-consuming (requiring about twice as much time to encode a project as the High Quality option, for example) choose it only if you are not concerned abo
In both cases the maximum length includes titles, transitions and effects etc. Allow about 15 minutes for these.
You can use the amount of video in your project as a rough determination of which method to choose. If your project has an hour or less of video (for a single-layer disc), choose Best Performance. If it has between 1 and 2 hours of video (for a single-layer disc), choose High Quality. If you want the best possible encoding quality for projects that are up to 2 hours (for a single-layer disc), choose Professional Quality. This option takes about twice as long as the High Quality option, so select it only if time is not an issue for you.
Use the Capacity meter in the Project Info window (choose Project > Project Info) to determine how many minutes of video your project contains.
NOTE: With the Best Performance setting, you can turn background encoding off by choosing Advanced > “Encode in Background.” The checkmark is removed to show it’s no longer selected. Turning off background encoding can help performance if your system seems sluggish.
And whilst checking these settings in iDVD Preferences, make sure that the settings for NTSC/PAL and DV/DV Widescreen are also what you want.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1502?viewlocale=en_US

I need help putting my printer together hp photosmart cn218a b210a how do u find a book on it

i need help putting it together i had to take it apart there was dog food jammed in it the mice

Here is a link for the manual.
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02456532.pdf
Here is another link for a video on putting the cartridges in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbZkq01F7do
""Click on the WHITE STAR if you would like to say THANKS""
**Click the KUDOS star on the left to say 'Thanks'**
Please mark a reply "ACCEPTED AS SOLUTION" if it solved your problem, so others can find it.

I am using pages '09. I have been trying to put together a report and I am using tables to help keep my data in line. My data is free text and would like to footnote certain data as to it origin, but footnoting is grey-out. How can I footnote on table mod

I am using pages '09. I have been trying to put together a report and I am using tables to help keep my data in line. My data is free text and would like to footnote certain data as to it origin, but footnoting is grey-out. How can I footnote in table mode inpages '09?

Footnotes can only be inserted in the main text area between the margins on a Word Processing document.
Peter

HELP: Need clear, simple guide to setting up two WAC120

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I have purchased two WAC120 units.
I live in a 4 story home. I have put the...

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I've put together a slide show and cannot get it on You tube. I've put the presentation together in Iphoto, then sent it to ITune and I cannot get Youtube to accept it. On the upload page, Youtube even says just drag and drop. That didn't work. Help!

To repeat my problem, I've put together a slide presentation and am trying to get it on Youtube...have compiled photos and music under IPhoto, then moved it to ITunes to dump into YouTube, but can't get anything to go thru. Have submitted two previous slideshows and don't remember ever having this probem. Am sure I'm doing something wrong. Anyone have suggestion(s) as to how to get this on to Youtube. Have been stonewalled for the last two hours. Thank You.

Sanjam....you are having the identical problem I'm having. Re the response to your dilemma, I'm gonna see if there is a way to export. If I figure something out to get on YouTube will let you know and would appreiate you doing the same.

I need help putting Classical Music CDs into iTunes

I need help - this question has lots of subquestions, sorry.
I have found just a few discussions that deal with this but I am still confused. Forgive me if I get wordy and misuse technical terms - I am trying to learn this thing...
I'm an iPod newbie and haven't a clue on the best way to organize my many, many classical CDs that I'd like to put onto my iPod Classic 160G. I'd also like to do this with as little fussing around as possible since there are lots of CDs I've got to deal with.
If each CD is a separate entry [album?] in the playlist and titled with composer name first [ex Bach, Brandenburg Concertos, Titov conductor] I'll have several playlist entries with the same titles, but different contents. No problem really.
But, should I separate it further, by having each concerto [say] be a separate entry in the playlist - without having to download the CD again. [I've just practiced on a few CDs but I imagine it being a problem if I had to download each CD several times - once for each work] Does it make sense to leave gaps between movements? [I'm not finding a way to remove gaps, though I have seen that suggested somewhere]
And when I come to play the pieces, if I start playing a work in a playlist, will the iPod keep going from one movement to the next as it makes its way through the playlist - or will it stop at each movement and wait for me to tell it what to do next?
Advanced Settings - are these the best? I'll be listening to music on an airplane using noise cancelling headphones and at destination attaching iPod to portable speakers to listen to music in hotel rooms.
General: Keep iTunes Music folder organized - unchecked? [not sure what this means or does or doesn't do]
Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library - checked?
Importing: AAC encoder? High quality -128 kbps?
Thanks for all your help - I know this is a multiple set of questions and perhaps should have been broken up...
Mrs H
Message was edited by: Mrs H to fix typos
Message was edited by: Mrs H

Thank you so much for your help. You have sorted out a lot of problems for me. I've tried to go through what you wrote, add some more info and I have asked a few more questions below-
I re-ripped at 256. I too have the 160GB classic so it's good to know that it will take 10,000 tracks as lossless - now I have to re-rip again! I actually hadn't anticipated using the iPod with anything other than our high quality noise canceling airplane headphones, our cheap, portable travel speakers for hotel rooms and our Cambridge sound speakers for our cabin. It's that last set of speakers that makes me think I should follow you advice and go with lossless.
QUESTION #1 - When I re-rip and do an automatic sync, will the tracks at 256 automatically be replaced by the bigger lossless ones with the same name or should I delete everything from the iPod and begin anew?
"I create a playlist for each work, using a systematic naming convention..." What I did on my test was create a playlist for each composer breaking it down - ex- Bach:concertos, Bach:sonatas, etc. I have the Album column highlighted and it appears as if the movements stay together in the correct order. I fear that the task might be too large to create a playlist for each work, though that certainly is appealing.
QUESTION #2 If the Album column is highlighted and the movements are in the correct order in iTunes in the playlist, will they stay that way in the iPod?
"I tend to use just surnames for composers for example, or at least "surname, firstname"." I finally found in settings on the iPod the way to change sort by composer to last name, first name. In iTunes, the composer column which is imported from the internet search for info on the CDs gives composer with first name first and I can't find a place in iTunes to reverse this. Typing it or erasing the first name will be a huge chore.
QUESTION #3 Is there a place in iTunes to change the order of the composers' name in the composer column?
"For compilations etc I still create one for the whole CD or box set"
I figured this out on my own before you corroborated my idea - I think I'm getting the hang of this...
"The option iTunes has to "organise your music" is a good one"
QUESTION #4 - are you referring to the preferences > advanced check box "Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized" ? If not, what are you referring to?
"I have my library in its own dedicated disk. Wherever you put it, its important to then never change it or doing anything else with it: leave it for iTunes."
QUESTION #5 "dedicated disk"? as in hard drive? I have been using SuperDuper to back up my Mac to an external HD; I plan to put a copy of the iTunes folder onto yet another HD where I keep copies of all our photos as well.
"never change it"? I noticed a misspelling "Haendel" from the on-line CD/track info - no problem in fixing that - right? Since you later say you do change info, what is it you are never changing?
QUESTION #6 - "Disk N of M capability" - what? Where do I find this option? And when you say "for multiple CD albums, don't include the cd number in the album name." Where? when you put the CD into a playlist entry? or just in the list of music in the album column - do you change the listing?
ONE FINAL QUESTION - when I turn on the iPod when it's not attached to headphones or speakers, and I'm just looking at the screen to see settings or how the syncing worked, the iPod appears to begin playing something as soon as I turn it on. THIS IS A STUPID QUESTION, but I can't find the answer, how to I get it to stop playing without turning the iPod itself off???
"I hope that helps a little. " A little?? It helps a lot - and I'll award those points as soon as I get it all resolved.
Thanks again,
Mrs H

Make a simple "cut" edit in a singular video in CS6 (one video file as opposed to multiple clips).

I want to be able to do simple editing in CS6. I just spent three hours watching tutorial videos and reading help articles and this forum. I have never used an Adobe video editing program before. I normally use Windows Movie Maker, but it's too simple for my current needs. (Eventually I will learn effects.)
My problem is that the tutorial videos show examples where there is more than one "clip" being placed on the timeline. That seems to pre-set editing points. I only need to import one longer video file and then cut out frames that I no longer want in the video.
I have figured out how to set start and end points on the clip, as in at the actual beginning and actual end. But following every single method described (JKL, etc), I still cannot seem to edit frames out of the middle of my videos. I assume this is because I'm missing some very simple method for setting edit points. This is what I need to know.
I am an extreme novice with this program though I'm somewhat computer savvy. So please no jargon. I know nothing of this program. I did all I could to find my own answers before asking here, but if this is answered somewhere else, please direct me there. Thanks.

I'm in a similar boat -- editing family video recorded on Hi8 and captured into DV with a Canopus ADVC-300. I typically have a 2 hour clip in the timeline. I'm separating these into clips with the razor tool, but sometimes I want to remove a garbled few seconds from within a clip.
Today I discovered something nifty: in Keyboard options, there are two items that don't have a key assigned:
Application->Ripple Delete->Ripple Trim Next Edit to Playhead
Application->Ripple Delete->Ripple Trim Previous Edit to Playhead
I assigned these to the Shift+] and Shift+[ keys. Premiere didn't warn me about these keys being assigned already, so I guess it's ok. At first, I used '}' and '{' but I'm afraid that it is too easy to accidently hit them.
When I play back in the timeline, at the start of the garbled area I want to remove, I hit Ctrl+K to add an edit point (the "out point", I suppose). Then I continue playing. When I reach where I want the video to resume, I just press Shift+[ and Premiere ripple-deletes to the edit point.
This does leave me with an edit point, though. I have yet to figure out how to splice the two clips together again.
I'm sure the pros won't like this, but I find it makes things easier.

How to Put together all SAP Transactions that are used a single User

Dear Friends,
In our client place, each user will be given a set of transaction codes, (like Sales Order Creation, Invoice Creation etc....). Each user role differs with other user role.
Our client requirement is to put together all transaction codes on which his role is assigned, for instance transaction coeds like VA11, VA15N, VA21, VA25N, VL01N, VL06O, Print command. and customer generated report 'Z' codes should be placed together in a single transaction.
I heard about area menus but I dont know how to call that functionality within the Sales Transactions. Could any one of you help me to resolve this issue. Your suggestions will be highly appreciated.
Thank you,
Raghu Ram

HI,
In case of your requirement , you can create an Area Menu (SE43) based on the role and assign all the required transactions.
Later you can assign that Area Menu as the default parameter to the User ID (SU01).
Whenever the user will logon he will see that area menu instead of initial SAP screen.
Please check with the same and confirm.
Regards,
Harsh

I am putting together a proposal for a Final Cut Pro Workstation to use with a tapeless HD camera. Can anyone suggest the best camera (in the 5-10,000 dollar range) ? What hardware and software should I include in the package?

I am putting together a proposal for a Final Cut Pro Workstation to use with a tapeless HD camera. Can anyone suggest the best camera (in the 5-10,000 dollar range) ? What hardware and software should I include in the package?

This is quite an open suggestion, but here are some ideas which might get you started. There are good HD cameras in your price range from Sony, Panasonic and Canon (and maybe other manufacturers). Tapeless formats vary. I have only worked with Sony XDCAM which seems pretty good to me. File sizes for material shot at 35MBS are not too huge and, with the free Sony transfer and conversion programme, are easy to bring into the computer via USB direct from the camera or from a fairly inexpensive converter. The Sony XDCAM EX3 can produce results well up to broadcast quality.
As to hardware, you'll need a powerful MAC - iMac, Macbook Pro or MacPro with 4GB or more of RAM and a good video card. Softwarewise, FCPX is quite a bit cheaper than FC Studio 3 and of course it's 64bit and can make better use of multi-core machines than FCP7. It's also designed to handle HD formats with less hassle than FCP7 and is matched to the latest versions of Motion and Compressor. But you'd probably be wise to search reviews of FCPX before you make your choice - it has some issues.
A good HD monitor will be essential and, for colour correction etc, you may want to consider a second monitor or HD TV foe editing. ( A MacPro is generally the best machine to connect a second monitor to).
This should give you a good editing system, but there are many other things you could add (Photoshop, professional sound monitors, etc)
Hope this helps a bit.
Jonathan

Help putting together a simple portable editing set-up

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