my pc capability for videoediting

[videoted]

I have a Compac sr505nx vista computer with aPentium D 925 processor, 2gig's of ram, and a Ge force 8600 GTS video card. I'd like to get some quality software to edit like Sony's Vega 8. Was wondering if anyone had suggestions about whether I need a faster computer to run this program. I'd like to do some fairly sophisticated life story video's using photos and HD video. I also need good authoring, sound editing and ability to burn to blu ray. Thanks.

[Chuck Engels]

Welcome to Muvipix Ted

From what I can tell your system will probably come up a little short for editing HDV.
I could not find that particular Compaq model but the processor is only 3.0 GHZ and not dual core.

To effectively edit HDV without driving yourself crazy you will really need to have a dual core or core 2 duo processor and 4GB of RAM.
The video card is secondary to the processor and memory but any of the higher end Nvidia or ATI cards work just fine.

I have a 3.0 GHZ processor on my Dell Dimension and wouldn't think of editing HDV or doing any major projects on that computer anymore.
What exactly do you have in mind and why do you think you need a professional editing software package?
Many of us have used Premiere Elements for editing and authoring without any problems, even for professional work.
It definitely isn't necessary to start out with Vegas or Premiere Pro just to edit video and author DVDs

[videoted]

Thanks for the reply Chuck. I actually have a Casablanca Avio I bought probably 8 years ago that I used to edit weddings on. I want to move away from weddings and do more creative things with video, pictures and interviews in HD. I was looking at the current crop of Macro Systems editors but they're around $4k. I know very little about PC editing software/hardware but it seemed possible that that rout might be less expensive to give me what I need. So I guess I'm doing some homework here...
I'd like capabilities of multi-layering of photos and/or video, photo "scrapbook", a good quality photoshop, quality authoring and a blu ray burner(which is hardware I guess..)

[Chuck Engels]

Many people here do video professionally, some full time and some part time.
Most use, or started using, Premiere Elements. Check out the Video Tours and Steve's Tips along with some of the tutorials in the Products/Complimentary section, they will give you a good idea of how it all works.

Premiere Elements has unlimited tracks of audio and video (we tested up to 104 tracks and no problems).

Photoshop Elements is a great Photo Editing software package, you can do just about anything with that.
The bundle of the two programs is just over $100, you can beat that.

I have a Lite On Blu-Ray burner, the LG and Sony models are good also. Blu-Ray burners are under $300 these days, some getting close to $200, prices are way down from just 6 months ago.

[videoted]

Ok, so now you've got me looking at new pc's. I was just on Dell's website looking at the XPS 420 with a quad-core processor. Including a blu ray burner, 500GB hard drive, 8GB of ram, a 24" HD monitor and Sony"s imagination suite it's about $1475. I was wondering what you thought of Sony's bundled software vs. Adobe.

[Chuck Engels]

There are a number of members here that use Vegas, many that use DVD Architect.
There are differences between the Sony offerings and the Adobe alternatives, but both are excellent.
The price from Dell is not bad at all considering all you get.