[olug] Video Editing and Linux

Wed Mar 10 18:09:27 UTC 2004

Some video capture devices provide compression via
firmware on the card itself.  Some cards rely just on
software.  If you have a card which uses firmware, you
can use a slower processor, at least 1Ghz.  If your
video capture relies on software, plan on at least a
2Ghz processor. 

For a good idea of specs and Linux compatible
hardware, take a look at MythTV and related projects.

For editing software, Broadcast 2000 used to be the
best choice, but has been replaced by Cinelerra.

-=Sean Edwards=-

--- Carl Lundstedt <clundst at unlserve.unl.edu> wrote:
> Since no one else has responded, I'll jump in with
> my two cents and
> anything ignorant I say will prompt a more
> knowledgeable person to
> respond.  For the most part I've been doing my video
> editing in Windows
> (Premier Pro Educational, Ulead Studio & DVDMaker),
> so I have a good
> idea what hardware you need, but am shaky on what
> Linux software is
> available.
> 
> On Wed, 2004-03-10 at 06:44, Joe Gulizia wrote:
> > I'd like to edit videos using a program similar to
> > Pinnacle Studio 8 and JASC Paintshop Pro for
> graphics.
> >  I'd input VHS, SVHS, MiniDV or DVD along with
> stills.
> >  I'd output to DVD, SVCD or VCD.
> > 
> > A.)  What type of machine and rough cost?
> 
> In order of importance:
> 
> A standard PC with the following extras/upgrades:
> 
> TV Capture Card.  You can get a pretty good
> secondary capture card in
> the $50-70 range.  (Make sure it is linux
> compatible.)  Other options
> are to get a "dazzle" or other outside
> Video->digital converter.  I have
> a card that I got from DIT that works ok in Windows
> and is recognized by
> Mandrake 9.2 and SuSE 9.0 but I haven't tried to use
> it in Linux to
> capture (viewed some TV signal though).
> 
> DVD/CD Burner.  Try and get a multi format to ensure
> hardware
> compatibility with the DVDs you make.  I got the LG
> Multi-drive (~$120)
> 
> LOTS AND LOTS OF HARDDRIVE SPACE.  I invested in a
> 120 GB harddrive on
> its own IDE controller just for video file storage
> and swap space, and I
> don't think I'm a "serious" video editor. (~$100)
> 
> LOTS AND LOTS OF RAM.  I upgraded to 1 gig of high
> speed crucial ram
> just to get decent performance from Premier (but I'm
> doing large video
> file conversion).  Small amounts of ram will work,
> but you'll be
> constantly accessing swap space.  It will be slow
> and hard on your
> computer. (~$???, $100-$300)
> 
> Fast Processor.  To encode a DVD file from an hour
> of edited movies
> files my computer was taking on the order of 10
> hours (Athlon XP 2000).
> (Now I could have been doing something wrong, but I
> don't think so). 
> Any processor will work, but I'd buy the fastest I
> could afford.
> (~$???)
> 
> For a decent Video editing Linux PC, I'd wager a
> cost of about $1200 -
> $1500.  You can certainly go cheaper (upgrade a
> stock Dell or the like),
> but you'll probably regret it.
> 
> > 
> > B.)  What Linux flavor software and other
> > applications?
> 
> I use Mandrake almost exclusively (although I'm
> slowly moving away from
> it to SuSE).  I'd wager the distro won't matter
> much, but the kernel
> version might. You may need to recompile the kernel
> if you get a
> hardcore do-it-yourself distro like Slackware or
> Gentoo to include
> support for your "fancy-smancy" hardware (TV Card,
> video support, etc). 
> SuSE would also be a good choice.  I saw that the
> boxed version of SuSE
> at BestBuy listed video editing software as being
> included.  (Trial
> version?)
> 
> I tried Cinelerra on my somewhat weak Workstation at
> my office. 
> Cinelerra is a poor work-alike of Adobe Premier. It
> was HORRIBLY
> unstable.  I haven't found a good (& Free) piece of
> linux software for
> video editing.  There are commercial video editing
> software packages for
> Linux but they seem quite costly. (Compared to the
> educational version
> of Adobe Premier.)
> 
> Of course for graphics, GIMP is still king.  I even
> saw a Linux Journal
> article on how to use GIMP to make menus for DVDs.
> 
> Here's my impression of the experience you will have
> trying to use Linux
> for video editing.  Its going to have to be a labor
> of love.  There are
> cheaper, cleaner editors for Windows and Mac.  My
> (limited) experience
> with video editing on the PC has shown that unless
> you REALLY REALLY
> need to use Linux...don't.  For a comparable amount
> of money you could
> get an OK Mac with iMovie.
> 
> I'd love to be proven wrong on the above point.  If
> others know
> something I'm missing I'd love to hear it.  I just
> purchased a used Dual
> Athlon MP Motherboard/processors/Ram to use for
> video editing/authoring
> and I'd love to use Linux with it.
> 
> Carl
> > 
> > Thanks in Advance.
> > 
> > CB_Joe 
> > 
> > 
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> -- 
> Carl Lundstedt <clundst at unlserve.unl.edu>
> University of Nebraska
> 
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