video card question

[backpackerx]

I'm starting to research some things for Digital video editing (never done it before) and have been checking out my current system.

I have a stock Compaq laptop with an ATI Rage P/M mobility AGP 2x video card. I'm sure this is a pretty old card but I'm wondering what it can do. Other than driving the graphics and screen display what do video cards do?Specifically so I know what I need to add to the system. I really don't know much at all when it comes to video cards so any help or info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[James Fee]

I'll leave the "What does a video card do" to an engineer. ;)

I'm not an expert on Compaq laptops, but can you exchange the video card on them? I'd assume its integrated into the motherboard. I don't think you can add anything to an older laptop to improve its video performance.

[backpackerx]

Well I for one have no idea. :)

[Suhit Gupta]

So I started to write this long essay on what a video card really does, but then I figured that someone on hardocp or slashdot or anandtech must have written something, and sure enough, I found this article (http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/19970101/index-01.html) from tomshardware. It is a really old article but most of the tech still applies.

The idea basically is that all things painted on your screen are computed on your GPU instead of the CPU. Whether it is a game or Microsoft Word or 3D Studio Max or Photoshop, it is all going through your video card. Additionally, even if you have a video capture card, once the video has been captured and is being played back on your monitor, the frames are being computed on your video card.

Suhit

[backpackerx]

Thanks for the info. So, are there video cards with video capture built in?

[Suhit Gupta]

Thanks for the info. So, are there video cards with video capture built in?
Definitely. There are some cards with video capture built in. However, off late, you don't find many of these since video cards already do so much work. For example, if you go to the store and pick up an ATI Radeon 9800, it is a already a beefy card. But then you can pick up the ATI Radeon 9800 All-In-Wonder and it has the TV Tuner built on top of all the other features which makes it ridiculously large and heavy. Now imaging a video card that not only has to deal with output but also taking in input.

Therefore, if you do find a video card that has video capture built in, it probably won't be as nice as the 9800 for output. I have seen capture cards that come as add-ons to existing video cards, although I don't know whether you want that or not. Anyways, typically, it is nicer to have dedicated cards for dedicated tasks.

Suhit

[Crocuta]

I'm starting to research some things for Digital video editing (never done it before) and have been checking out my current system.

Others have answered about the cards themselves, but I thought I'd read between the lines and guess where the question is leading. If you're going to be editing digital video (as opposed to analog), then you won't need a video capture card anyway. All you need is an inexpensive Firewire (IEEE-1394) card. (Be sure it's OHCI compliant... should say so on the box.) And editing DV isn't really all that hard on a video card, so the one you have will probably do fine.

All that said, if you really get into it (or if you're rich and have lots of money to toss around), you may one day want a card that can render the effects you create in your videos (transitions and such) in real time. But it's not at all necessary, or even useful, to a novice who's just learning about DV editing.

If I were going to start editing on a system not bought for that purpose, I'd put my priorities on the hard disk storage. You'll be amazed how quickly you use up you hard disks when editing. DV takes 13GB per hour of disk storage, and an hour's final product will require several hours of raw and intermediate material. Ideally, you'll want a dedicated hard drive just for video (a different drive than your system drive), running at 7,200 rpm and as large as you can afford. (Say 80 GB minimum.)

If I were you, I'd get myself an external drive (because of the laptop) like the Maxtor DV5000, that will connect via USB 2.0 or Firewire, and I'd pick up a nice inexpensive beginner's editing program like Pinnacle Studio and then just use the rest of my current system as is. Once you've used this set up for awhile, you'll be in a better position to think about how to best invest your money in upgraded equipment based on your own experience and what you particularly want to do with your editing.

[backpackerx]

Yeah, that's mainly what I need to know, Thanks.
Do most DV cameras output via firewire then?

[Suhit Gupta]

Do most DV cameras output via firewire then?
As far as I have seen, yes. But like you say, this applies to 'most', probably not 'all'.

Suhit

[Jason Dunn]

Wow...talk about going down the wrong path here. ;-) Capturing video has zero to do with a video card - any card made in the last decade is capable of displaying the 2D video frames. The performance is based on the specs of the laptop.

Taking a step back here, the real question is "What do I need in order to edit video on my laptop?"

The answer is that you need a Cardbus card for your laptop to give it Firewire ports, because that's what the digital video camera will connect to:
http://www.iogear.com/products/product.php?Item=GPF103

You'd also need an external Firewire hard drive to capture the video:
http://www.maxtor.com/en/products/external/personal_storage_3000/index.htm

...and yes, you can have the DV camera connected to the Firewire card at the same time as the hard drive.

A few questions:

What kind of video camera do you have? Is it MiniDV or Digital8? If so, both of those offer Firewire connections. Or is it an older, analogue camera? If so, then you'll need some sort of analogue capture equipment, which is a completely different question.

What are the specs on the laptop? Video capture, and especially editing, are very resource intensive, so you may be biting off more than your laptop can chew. ;-)

[Jason Dunn]

This is a cheap plug, but honestly, if you're new at video editing and want to learn the basics, you're exactly the person I wrote this book for:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=jasondunn-20&path=tg/detail/-/0735618739/qid%3D1073878585/ [Affiliate]

[backpackerx]

Thanks for the info Jason. Yeah, I was confused about capture cards and video cards but over the weekend I got sorted out. Most likely I'll be doing editing with a miniDV camera so the firewire solution is the way to go.

[Gary Sheynkman]

This is a cheap plug, but honestly, if you're new at video editing and want to learn the basics, you're exactly the person I wrote this book for:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=jasondunn-20&path=tg/detail/-/0735618739/qid%3D1073878585/ [Affiliate]

Its not THAT cheap of a plug. From reading the first chapter (before DMT went live) I found the book to be helpful and written for those of us who always wanted to enter the field but were afraid to take the plunge :wink: