video editing on HP

hello,
curious how editing video (especially with Premiere) on a HP is like? and what model(s) would be best for editing?

thanks in advance,
m

 

I have a v4000t. I haven't tried Premiere with it yet (I've used Premiere 6.0 but that was years ago).
I did use Virtual Dub for about 5 - 10 minutes trying to select a scene from a much larger clip and compress it to a different file from an uncompressed source. Certainly not a complex thing, but trying to do this using a touchpad made it take twice as long as it needed to. Especially on those big dialogue boxes that come up with a bajillion check boxes.

You'd certainly want an external USB mouse. I have one, but I was too lazy to plug it in.
Other than that, it should be fine. Could you be more specific on what you want to do with Premiere?
Most of the HP screens are wide. But not quite "true" DVD Widescreen.

Even if you're doing a lot of 4:3 video editing, the HP "wider screens" are really great to use.. Because you can see the source and target windows at the same time when positioned next to each other. And if you're working with true widescreen content, then position the source and target windows on top of eachother. It looks like this would work very well (Note: I'm in VirtualDub).
Certainly don't get a screen smaller than 15.4" Widescreen

EDIT: Oh, and get the 5400 RPM drive of course. Maybe you might want to consider the 7200 RPM if you're doing any stuff that is higher framerate or higher resolution than a regular deinterlaced (Inverse telecine) TV signal.

 

The dv8000z series is ideal for this. Nice big 17" widescreen, two HDs, AMD Turion 64-bit CPU (you're a definite candidate for 64-bit Windows Vista when it's ready), and it's light for such a big machine. Get the Bluetooth option and a Logitech Bluetooth wireless mouse, or just a nice USB wired mouse.

 

Faster hard drive wouldn't hurt either.

 

Thanks everyone for the input. I've been looking into both the hp dv4000 and dv8000. Leaning more towards the latter.

Sidicas-I've only edited dv using Final Cut Pro. but I suppose I want to add audio, fine tune cuts... on Premiere and would use VirtualDub to cut clips from a larger file. Also, how's the glare on the hp 4000 screen?

I was considering getting the hitachi 7200 drive but would overheating be a problem?

 

Heat from the 7200RPM drive won't be a problem. Hitachi makes good stuff. It will be slightly louder, that's about it.

 

Yeah... I just bought a dv8000 from BB 2 weeks ago and planing on doing some editing on it.
I don't use Premiere but I am using Sony Vegas 6. Editing software is personal preference, but the true test is going to be the render time.
For what I know and have experience with is that I can render my files alot faster on my desktop P4 then my AMD rig.
We'll see how my dv8000 will do after I get it setup. Hopefully it'll do a decent job.
Becuase of the 17" wide screen, it should be equivalent to my 19" CRT.

If you don't mind a hot and heavy laptop, go with zd8000 P4 since it's got HT.
HT will cut your render time to least 1/2 it'll take on Centrino or AMD 64. (for now).
But from what I've read, when 64bit OS (Vista) come out and your SW re-write to 64bit code, 64 bit supposed to run every thing 4x faster then none current 64.:decision:

Ol yeah..... what ever you get, try to get one that can handle 2x HDD. I'm loving the real estate on my dv8000.

Have fun choosing/shopping.......

 

Don't believe the hype too much.. The truth is that at absolute most, you will see up to twice as fast. But that is in an absolutely unrealistic situation where for every instruction, you are capable of using a single 64 bit instruction to replace 2 32bit instructions. This is ridiculously rare.. So rare, its safe to say it never happens.. Unless you're doing something highly math intensive WITH high precision, you're not going to see ANY speed increase on a 64 bit optimized program. The real world speed increase is closer to around 30%-40% at MOST over running 32 bit. (Presuming you're running 64 bit Windows and 64 bit apps which have been heavily optimized.. And I mean REALLY REALLY heavily optimized for 64 bit instructions.)

By the way, if you want... You can switch to Linux.. Linux has been 64 bit compatible for years. There were 64 bit and 128 bit versions of Linux out when I first starting using it 4 or 5 years ago.. I believe both Debian and Gentoo have fully 64 bit optimized distros available for end-users now..
There are also 128 bit and 256 bit Open Source versions of Linux for IBM and Sun Microsystems mainframes with multiple 128 bit or 256 bit CPUs.

 

The just released Premiere 2.0 has the requirement as posted here

Notably it requires AMD chip to support SSE2 that caught a lot of desktop athlon users off guard (adobe originally did not mention this requirement when the products was released on Jan 17, 2006), but should not be an issue for the current line of HP laptop offerings.

Adobe encore 2.0 for DVD authoring requires SSE2 also.

If you are to use after effects (AE) for further editing, SSE2 is not required but choosing a video card that support openGL 2.0 is really helps both in realtime preview and faster rendering. ( AE7 supported video card list)

 

I think the DV8000z is just perfect for you. Don't forget to read the Notebookreview.com review. It's written by a video editor, and he loved every bit of the DV8000z. He didn't even complain about the ATi Xpress 200m! If you are going to travel a lot, however, you should get the DV5000z. Its like a miniature DV8000z without the dual hard drives and Turion ML-44 option, but with the option of a 12 cell battery.

 

One of the biggest advantages of AMD64 mode is that twice as many general registers are available, which fixes one of the major faults of the register-starved x86 architecture. AMD did some other x86 brain damage cleanups like that too. Java, cryptography, and video codecs all get huge boosts from AMD64, roughly 2x performance. (1080p H.264 playback on my 64-bit Linux desktop uses half the CPU time as 32-bit WinXP.) The only apps that get more than 2x that I know of are the memory-starved ones that can take advantage of more than 4GB of RAM, which doesn't matter much on a 2GB-limited notebook.

No way will HypeThreading give you double performance. Sometimes it'll even hurt performance. It'll also increase the odds of thermal throttling. Two real cores will stomp it.

kondlao, going by your sig, your notebook having half the memory of your desktop is going to slow it down an awful lot. Video editors can justify buying a pair of 1GB Crucial PC2700 or PC3200 SODIMMs. It's the biggest bang for the buck performance boost you can buy by far.

All Turions have SSE3. I think all the Athlon 64's have SSE3 too. SSE2 was introduced with the Athlon XP, IIRC. If your CPU predates that, you were due for an upgrade anyhow.

 

That's not true. Athlon xp only support sse (even that is not true for all core) SS2 and SS3 supports only begin from The Opteron and Athlon 64

. That's why so many people are so pissed off (by adobe's requirement)

 

I think my only reservation with going with the hp dv8000 is the Brightview screen. I do a lot of reading online as well and have recently been having problems with the brightness (glare). Granted I'm still using a CRT screen. So how's the screen for reading online?

 

Oops, my bad. I should have Googled first. It's only the newer E-series core AMD64 chips (Venice, San Diego, X2's, Turions) that have SSE3. SSE2 was new with the introduction of the Athlon 64 and SSE was new with the Athlon XP. SSE3 was largely a way for Intel to knock AMD down a bit on synthetic benchmarks but SSE2 is useful. Darn those off-by-one errors...

Well, OK, anyone who's still running a 32-bit-only CPU is due for an upgrade anyhow .

 

Well, I was comparing 2 diff generations of CPU when I said that. My old rig is an AMD [email protected] and is currently still being use as a studio pc (audio only).
My current rig in sig is for video editing only and it's using not so current CPU (3.2 Northwood) but with HT.
But here's what I've found. If I disable HT in BIOS, it would take me more then twice as long then if HT was enable.
I can render an 8 gigs of video (Premiere 2.0) in less then 1 hr. (37 min.), but if HT is disable in BIOS, I'll take over 2 hrs on the same rig.
This is just to show that HT does help in render time besides being able to multi-task better. Much better.......

NOW...... I've just finish that same project on my laptop in sig. It's taking it 1:14 H: M at default every thing.
So....... clock per clock, laptop is kicking A$$ and taking names at only 1.8 (1.79) GHz.
One thing that every one should know though, once you've start the rendering process, you might want to be very patient as multi-task comes to a craw.
** Unlike Intel ** were multi-task is w/o a problem.

Once I switch out the stock RAM and replace it with Corsair PC3200 RAM. This lappy will give my desktop a run for the money.

CPU was peaked at 100% while rendering, but heat is NOT an issue as the stock HSF keeps it cool and quite.
I only notice a few degrees in temperature increase (only at the exhaust).
:hp: I'm loving it......

FIY: I was able to OC this lappy to max that clockgen will let me. From ML-32 to 37. Nice gain with software tweak and current RAM and w/o heat increase.
Ran Memtest for 16 hrs w/o error, and fold@home for another 12 hrs.
During these two tests, the only thing that got hot was the 65Watts PSU. Hotter then I would like or comfortable holding in my hand more then a second at a time.
Got a replacement PSU from HP and still same issue. This is not a defect in product. It's just that these tests drew a lot of power and demand a lot from a 65watts PSU.
It performs flawless however.

Well, my wife use to work at CompUSA and she was told about the glare issue that the screen may have, and she could lose thousands in sales due to return because of it.
Once her clients use it a day or so, they got use to it and never have a complaint.
She now uses the laptop 95% of the time and she (or I) doesn’t have any complain about it.
Pictures/video is bright and vivid, and texts are crisp and easy to read.
She use it at the coffee and dinning table with windows behind her and all. The 17" wide screen has a slightly more viewable area then my 19" CRT (horizontally).
:hp: I'm loving it......more....

 

Here's an update:
The replacement PSU is work slightly better then the one that came with it (not as hot at full load).

I just burn almost 8gig on the dual layer lastnight and it took 1:21:xx.
My NEC 3540a on the desktop does a full DVD in 0:43:xx (42 min.)
Both are burn with Ridata disc at 2.4x using Nero Ultra 6.6.0.16.

 

You should select Verify when you burn discs, especially when trying out new media. I found out that my dv8125's drive doesn't like Ridata 4X DVD-RW's. I'm using the same version of Nero.

Yeah, notebook DVD burners are a lot slower than desktop ones.

 

On the laptop, I did select it to varify. At first, that's what I though why it took so long.
I've also use NexxTech disc which is rated at 8x, and I can burn at 12x on the NEC 3540a drives. But it only burn at 4x on the laptop.
Don't know if that 8x is HP disc only or not.

Edit: So there you have it. I think dv8000 is a good laptop for video/photo editing. But not all media will burn at it's rated speed.

 

It looks like my burning problem is more to do with Nero 6.6.0.16 than with the media. I had a Verbatim DVD+DL disc fail to verify with Nero but the HP-supplied Sonic software works just fine. I have one of the Toshiba/Samsung drives. Nero has an update out but I don't know if that'll fix things. They want over $50 to upgrade to Nero 7 and I just don't need all the bloat they include with it. New drives often require DVD burning software updates, that's why I bought the Nero 6 update. For now I think I'll stick with Sonic since it's paid for.

 

i'm going to go with the dv8000. thanks a lot for all the information. any spec recommendations? especially for processor speed and memory.

 

Get the fastest Turion you care to spend money on (the ML44 is a bit extravagant at the moment so the ML40 is my first choice).

Memory... you might want to buy the minimum and get one or two Crucial PC3200 1GB SODIMMs from mwave.com (I just ordered mine, I have a Crucial PC2700 in there now so I know that works). Or buy 1GB or 2GB from HP. 1GB is about right for most people.

I'd get the 160GB (two 80GB 5400RPM HD) option. That's what I have.

Get the 802.11a/b/g and Bluetooth option.

Definitely get the 1680x1050 res screen option... well, unless your eyes would prefer the slightly larger text the standard screen provides.

Or do what I did and pick up a dv8125 on sale at Best Buy this week. It's tough to beat the price. I do wish I had some of the upgrades you can get with the CTO models though.

 

Sweet....... BB got it back on sale again. I definitely get that one. I belive you get more for your money.
Seriously, you would pay more for the same specs if you CTO one on HP with that spec.
$1,324 before $50 MIR or you can walk out the door for less then $1,250.
I also agree with every comment above except the resolution.
You can get a higher resolution and still be able to view every thing bigger by adjusting your font size (windows, IE, etc...).
But I do wish it has an intergrated bluetooth though.
Then all you got to do is get a Bluetooth mouse and this would make things lot easier when editing photo/video to get every precise.
You don't have to mess with cord or transiver device sticking out on the side and risk knocking it and/or breaking it off (hey...... but that's just me).
brianstretch, I did the update on my Nero Ultra to 6.6.1.4 and it works fine. Didn't really notice any changes and still feels the same (functionally wise).

 

I've got a MSI Star Key Bluetooth 2.0 adaptor on order, along with the PC3200 memory. The older Bluetooth 1.2 version worked well on my brother's PC.

 

How much RAM did you order? And please let us know how well it work after you got it running.
If you can do a bench before and after that would be awsome as well.
Hope you get a great result as we will follow your lead.

 

I ordered a pair of Crucial PC3200 1GB SODIMMs. Great price, barely over $100 each. MWave sent me the tracking # so FedEx should deliver them Friday (not guaranteed since I went with FedEx Saver but they rarely miss). That's one thing I really like about MWave, they're VERY good about same-day shipping.

 

Got 'em! MemTest86+ and CPU-Z both read them as PC3200 CAS3. The two sticks have sequential serial #'s, built Week 05 Year 06. Not bad for $203+ship for the pair from mwave.com. Now I can disable virtual memory again.

The only benchmark I did was SuperPI, which yielded zero difference between PC2700 and PC3200. I wasn't expecting much of a difference. Subjectively, I think H.264 1080p video drops fewer frames now but I'm not certain (you really need to be running 64-bit Linux for 1080p, or perhaps 64-bit WinXP if someone's compiled VLC for that). Anyhow, for about the same money you might as well buy PC3200.

The MSI Star Key Bluetooth 2.0 adaptor works effortlessly too. I tested it by transfering a pic from my Bluetooth phone. It comes with the preferred Widcomm drivers that support just about everything Bluetooth can do.

Anyhow, highly recommended on all counts.

 

Haa, I am surprised about that. Because I got better scores in all areas including Super Pi ( about 4 seconds lower with DDR400).

 

so wait which is better the 160GB 5400 HD or the 7200RPM?

 

A 7200RPM drive would be a little better... if HP offered one. You can swap one in yourself if you like, but I decided to keep the stock 5400RPM drives in mine. 5400RPM's are a little quieter. The big reason to get the two HD option is to get the second HD mounting bracket, otherwise mounting a second drive later will be difficult at best.

 

I just did some video editing on my v4000t with a 5400 RPM drive.. Using Windows Movie Maker (wow, somebody shoot me now)...

The funny thing is that this Seagate 5400 RPM drive in this laptop gets Waaay better throughput (MBs/sec) than my 6 year old Seagate 6.4 gig 5400 RPM in my Desktop.. Clearly, RPM isn't everything, but it should definitelly reduce seek times which is great when you're "scrubbing" (Cute Video Editing jargon) the timeline.

HDTUNE
ST36451A (5400 RPM, Desktop 6.4 GigByte)
http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/specs/ata/st36451a.html
HDTune
Min: 0.6 MB/sec
Max: 8.6 MB/sec
Average: 4.8 MB/sec
AT: 36.4 ms
BR: 2.0MB/sec
CPU Usage: 5.3%


Seagate Momentus ST98823A (5400 RPM Laptop, 80 gig)
HDTune
Min: 13.1 MB/sec
Max: 23.9 MB/sec
Average: 19.6 MB/sec
AT: 19.9 ms
BR: 25.0MB/sec
CPU Usage: 7.8%

 

Below are the screen shots of my drives. Both are Seagate ST9808211A 80gigs.
Not bad for 2.5" drives.