Here's a tip for you...

when planning a multi cam project, don't film it in HD .

EmbeR:

Here's a tip for you...

when planning a multi cam project, don't film it in HD .

Um, this isn't much of a statement. You can't just say things like this without additional comment.

Multi Cam HD has worked for me. I just did a live event with 3 Cameras in October. 2 of which were HD.

 

Awe Com'on moodman!  Maybe you have to have experienced what I experienced to understand.  I posted this in an attempt to be funny but there is value in it.  I had a lot of trouble trying to multicam a HD project a while back and have never had trouble prior to it so I'm just throwing a short and simple fyi out there that if you are planing to multi cam a project and you don't have to shoot in HD, to shoot in standard def.  My comment was just a simple warning.  I am not a computer technical person so I can't throw around a lot of details other than I tried it in HD and it was to slow to work with.  I don't have trouble editing HD but the multi-cam feature made editing nearly impossible due to the lag.

And there you have my additional comment.

Hey Dun4cheap.  I just figured my computer (pentium 4 with 3.0 processor) was not strong enough to handle it and since most people aren't using state of the art computers, I figured my comment would help someone avoid a headache.  Perhaps you could tell me what type of computer you have to see if it is in fact my computer specs that was the problem.

My computer handles 3 HDV steams at once without problems. I frequently tape lectures and seminars with 3 HD cameras and multicam editing is the way it should be.

I am currently running an Intel D945 D. Core with 3 gig of ddr2 and with an ATI x1600 w 512mb

I have 8 Hard Drives, 4 Sata II, 1 Esata 3 eide Drives.

 I have 2 Canon HV20's and a canon Optura 20, along with a Canon Digital XTI.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the hardware specs Dun4Cheap.  To be more precise, I use a 2.8 pentium 4 processor with 3 gigs of ram (no idea what kind) and a G-Force 6800 (256mb) with two identical 500gb sata drives configured to either Raid 1 or Raid 0 (the one where the drives are mirrored) and an external 750gb My Book drive for the Render and Media files.  The platform is Windows XP home edition.  Do you think that my computer hardware specs are probably the reason I had so much trouble trying to multi cam the HD clips?  I can edit HD without too much difference but the multi cam was impossible.

I would say its your processor. Even if that is an HT processor, it just not compare to the Duel Core, or Core 2 While mine edits fine, I am itching to go to a cooler running quad or core2. With the faster buss and better multi processor processing you would gain a lot. My last system which is now my media server, is a Intel P4 3ghz/800mhz which is HT. There is a noticeable performance gain from the processor change.

So, I think your bottlekneck is simply your processor. I am sure others can chime in and support this. I have seen it first hand.

 

Thanks for the tip Paul.

I actually have four gigs of ram installed but only 3 gigs are being used by windows XP.  I understand that Vista can process four but XP cannot.

How much did the upgrades run you?

Hi Erik,

If I quote you our European prices you might just fall off your chair but here goes anyway

Gigabyte Mother Board GA-G33m-DS2R…100 Euro

Intel. Q6600 210 Euro

4 Gig memory 85 Euro.

Total 395 Euro.

 

With regards to installing the 4 Gig memory yes you are correct Windows XP takes 750Kb for the system and I don’t think you can do anything about that.

I did my first multicam, project last week with this new configuration and no problems at all. I must admit I did not have to many effects.

 

So far ...so good.

Regards

Paul

Erik,

 I think the key though is 3 gig of ram is plenty. I think where you will find your real performance is moving to a true multi processor or quad processor cor. The HT just does not cut it, not to mention the faster bus speeds the newer processors are offering. Key here, solid motherboard with a new duel or quad cor processor.

 

I think using an external drive for render and access to media file can make a difference in system performance the drive if its a USB drive could be an area to examine usb devices don't always care about other devices and they can starve another device. Firewire is smarter and you can have several firewire devices and they are smart enough to know who needs the bus and when, USB isn't quite so good with this. Having a raid 0 for performance  may be a good idea for a render drive. Having the mirroring type of raid takes system resources and that in its self may be enough to prevent the multicam editing with your PC. Just try to put a short HD clip on your sata drive set up and see if it is any better. Why are you running that type of raid set up anyway is there a specific reason? I have a 3.2 hyperthreaded CPU and it cuts HD its not fast but it works. I have never tried a multicam with it though........Edd

I think you're right Dun4Cheap.  I badly want to upgrade my processors.  I actually edit on a laptop that has the same graphics card but the processor is 2.0 dual core.  I got it just as the dual cores came out and at the time the fastest I could get was 2.0

Edd I mirrored the drives only in case of hard drive failure that I would have a back up.  I think there are better ways of preserving my hard drive but it's been like that ever since I bought the drives because I don't mess with the computers.  I have to hire it out because I don't know what I'm doing.    The external drive is usb.  If I partitioned the internal drives differently I could just use them and nothing else.  Two 500gig hard drives are plenty big for what I do.  The most I ever use for a big project is about 150-200gigs with media and render files.  I'll try the internal sata drives (mirrored) and see how it handles.