The Background
This is a case study in building a non-linear video editing system. After
reading it, you should understand why you should not build your own non-linear
video editing system. No matter how simple it seems, I assure you, from
experience, that this is a Very Bad Idea.
There is no doubt that the Pinnacle Systems Targa 3000 card is generally
well regarded in the professional
video editing community. It can be purchased as a complete system from
one of Pinnacle's authorized dealers, or the T3000 card can be purchased
alone.
Naturally, as with most value-added computer products, when buying an integrated
system the reseller tacks on
the price of the hardware plus as much as the traffic will bear.
Since the price of a new T3000 card alone is (at this writing) about $5,000, buying a ready
to run integrated system from a reseller raises the price
to a level that many small shops would consider prohibitive.
Oh, yeah? Pay it and be glad.
Now, I had some experience maintaining
Studio One Teleproductions
cranky old Amiga 2000 Video Toaster and Video Flyer based systems.
I thought, incorrectly as it turned out, that just about anything had
to be better than these beige devils.
Reliability?
You may find it in other systems, but not in 20 year old Amigas.
They are cranky and touchy, electronically obsolescent,
effectively a black box as far as the
video components are concerned, and occasionally demand sacrifices of
other systems to keep them alive. When not even a sacrifice
works, special prayers are required from a smelly Amiga holy man 150 miles away.
This situation had been going on for several years, and when Rick decided he
wanted a PC-based video editing system, I was overjoyed. Nothing -- well,
few things -- would please me more than putting
two ounces of 00 buckshot through that Amiga.
Still, I should
have looked on past experience as predictive of future events, realized that
a PC based system would just be more of the same thing, and said "No.
No, absolutely not. I'm sorry, you're a friend, and I'd just as soon
keep it that way, because the risk
factor and probable continuous future annoyance from such a system forces
me to say NO, and that decision is not negotiable because (a) I don't want to
be permanently tied to another system and (b) you don't want to be
permanently tied to me for support."
That's what I should have said. Instead, I suffered some kind
of temporary brain problem and said "Sure, we can build it." After all, how
much can go wrong with building a
PC, and how difficult can it be to integrate a standard PCI card into a
standard operating system? It would save several thousands
of dollars, and we would know what to upgrade and what to replace
when the time came to change things for new hardware.
The answers to the pop quiz in the preceding paragraph are:
-
Everything that can fail, plus many things that shouldn't.
-
Quite difficult, because the Targa 3000 is not a standard PCI card.
Before you get the bright idea to save yourself lots of big money
by building your very own video editing system from scratch, you should carefully
read this somewhat lengthy and still ongoing account of my experiences
with building one.
I do not recommend building a video editing
system.
If you have just got to have a video editing system,
buy a configured system that is sold ready to run, from someone
who builds those systems every day. Buy it from someone you've paid to deliver a working
system, which is a contract enforceable under law.
This is my professional assessment and opinion, based on
-
my own good conscience
-
my experience with this product
-
a lot of foul fallout associated with the project.
If you want a commercial-grade video editing system,
one that you can use reliably in your business, then
good for you! I hear that
they are powerful platforms, and people posting to the
user groups seem to just love them. I wouldn't know.
Be forewarned, sir or madam, that a commercial-grade video editor
is not a typical home PC that
anyone can build successfully on a free weekend!
The pages below detail my travails. Read them, and resolve
strongly that you will not make my first mistake, the one that led to so
much grief --
thinking that anybody could build it because "it's only a PC".
Caveat lector!
The statements expressed in this document are opinions, either professional
or personal, of the author.
Company and product names appearing here are used only
for identification, and remain the trade-marks, service marks, or intellectual
property, as applicable under law, of their respective owners.
They have no business, personal, or other connection with this site, its
hosting ISP, or its maintainer. Their appearance here
implies neither approval nor disapproval, neither recommendation nor
condemnation. YMMV.
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