What to buy for video editing

[Trevor Shipman]

This is supposed to be a site for only jet boating, right??

Sorry for the off topic post but there is such a wealth of knowledge on this site, I figured I’d ask:

I have a drone and a GoPro combine those together and you find the need to spend time behind the computer to make meaningful videos. I’m trying to come out as cheap as possible but with something that will definitely do the job. I think Apple is the way to go for video editing so that’s where I’m starting.

I read this site: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7916476

And this started my search to look at 2012 Mac Mini’s. I don’t think I need 4K do I? These dang pictures are so clear now and I’m just rewatching our family videos on YouTube, do they need to be 4K?

My question is what components are imperative to my needs? Processor? Ram? Storage? Typically I delete raw footage after I create the video, so I don’t think I need more than 500gb?

Thoughts?

 

[swatski]

I think Apple is the way to go for video editing so that’s where I’m starting.

I was amazed at iMovie capabilities, which are substantial. I joined a free class at the local mall/apple store, it was surprisingly good.

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[mdchachi]

There is actually a forum non-boating posts. https://jetboaters.net/forums/general-off-topic.40/ Just fyi.

Are the source videos 4K? If so seems like you'd want to keep them that way. Especially if you're discarding the raw footage.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

I would def future proof your self and go with something that can handle 4k. I would not go with a 2012 Mac Mini IMO. What is your budget?

If looking to look to have 4k capabilties, processor speed is def something to consider. My buddy upgraded his mid-2013 (maybe 12) MBP to 16GB of ram and upgraded SSDs and it still cannot handle 4k from his go-pro.

Budget is going to be everything here. Also if keeping footage in 4k, you are going to need some serious space. I would probably upload footage, edit, and move it to an external drive that is at least a few TBs.

 

[Trevor Shipman]

Yeah it seems so hard to get a consensus on what you need/should get. And I wonder about the future proofing too. I’d like to stay under $700 or so but don’t want to buy something that cost $700 and it does t quite work.

 

[swatski]

This topic intrigues me.
How does one watch 4k material? Unless one is watching on a huge screen (80"+) up real close there is no discernible difference between 4k and regular HD formats...

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[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

This topic intrigues me.
How does one watch 4k material? Unless one is watching on a huge screen (80"+) up real close there is no discernible difference between 4k and regular HD formats...

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Working in retail for many years and seeing the TVs up close, I would argue otherwise. However with 4k comes much better technology like HDR10 and Dolby vision.... along with flat out better TV tech such as OLED. To separate one another is pretty tough. These TVs still all lack decent motion which why I am still rocking my plasma until it dies. Which brings to another point about editing.... 60FPS vs 30 is going to require a lot more power as well. Hopefully someone with good knowledge in editing and computers can chime in.

 

[haknslash]

I do a lot of video editing for both work and my YT channel over the years. I use Adobe products (Premiere Pro and After Effects) for video editing. You don’t need a MAC unless you just feel like you want that OS. What gives you the impression Apple is the way to go? I won’t get into that debate as it’s for another thread but curious on your statement.

As for 4K the reality is unless you’re hosting the video on your own site, you may as well post in 1080p and 1440p on sites like YouTube. Their compression algorithms are so bad that it will kill the 4k quality compared to your source or post processed footage. They have some pretty stringent bit rate caps as well which makes things even worse for uploading extreme high quality footage. You can get around this if you shoot in 4K but output to 1440p or 1080p because you will have more data per line of resolution than 1440p or 1080p natively. That way the bit rate and compression monsters on YouTube don’t murder your footage as bad. 4K footage is nice and all but it’s a pain to retain its quality unless you’re hosting the files on your own site or server.

And then there’s the whole how many of your viewers actually are watching your videos with a 4K monitor to justify the time and file sizes for rendering? I’d argue most people on basic home PC’s are still using 1080p monitors while people in their living rooms may have a 4K TV but don’t watch YT from it. Typically your viewers on PC watching in 4K are gamers and tech savvy folks. 4K is much more prominent in the living room so just keep that in mind. For those reasons I do not upload my videos in 4K and still rely on 1080p as my standard. In a few years things may change and 4K becomes more of the norm but who knows what will be out by then. Gotta love tech...

 

[Trevor Shipman]

I do a lot of video editing for both work and my YT channel over the years. I use Adobe products (Premiere Pro and After Effects) for video editing. You don’t need a MAC unless you just feel like you want that OS. I won’t get into that debate as it’s for another thread.

As for 4K the reality is unless you’re hosting the video on your own site, you may as well post in 1080p and 1440p on sites like YouTube. Their compression algorithms are so bad that it will kill the 4k quality compared to your source or post processed footage. They have some pretty stringent bit rate caps as well which makes things even worse for uploading extreme high quality footage. You can get around this if you shoot in 4K but output to 1440p or 1080p because you will have more data per line of resolution than 1440p or 1080p natively. That way the bit rate and compression monsters on YouTube don’t murder your footage as bad. 4K footage is nice and all but it’s a pain to retain its quality unless you’re hosting the files on your own site or server.

Sounds to me like I can rule out needing 4K. Again these are just family type videos.

So by chance do have input on where I should spend my money when it comes to a Mac Mini? I5? Or the amount of ram? Or should I go a complete different direction?

 

[haknslash]

Sorry I’m not fluent with Apple hardware. I build my PC’s around Windows OS and related hardware. Regardless of platform you’ll want plenty of RAM for high resolution video editing. I have 16 GB as a standard and you can go from there.

 

[Mainah]

4k allows for enhanced additonal post effects like digital zooming with losing less detail. 4k is a monster for the for the processor to compile and eats ram like a freshman in college drinks beer. So pluses and minues. My home machine for normal stuff is a maxed out 2012 macbook air. It processes 4k go pro video just fine but it does take a bit. Long term file storage is handled on my raid 1 NAS. Fast processors, good graphics cards, plenty of ram, and fast ssd are the keys to a good video processing machine.

Not to start a debate but for normal consumer stuff I am an apple guy because it just works. If you think that debate is hot among the average end user consumer you should see it between me and my co-workers (coding/data/math uber geeks) For less normal stuff I have a custom multiboot machine for linux and windows so I can do programming stuff.

I would not buy any old stock apple stuff. I would not invest in a desktop machine just for video editing just for casual use. I would buy a mulituse machine. If you don’t already have a desktop machine it is unlikely the new machine will get used much. If you already have a laptop that will handle it just max out the ram, make sure it has an ssd, and buy a external drive for file storage if needed. If your laptop can’t handle it then perhaps a new laptop is in order. Newer ipads are also plenty capable video editing machines.

 

[2kwik4u]

Buddy of mine does EXCELLENT video editing (IMO anyway). He uses iMovie for home stuff, or at least he did 8yrs ago when he made this.

I think all of his album was done in iMovie, but I'm not 100% certain.

https://vimeo.com/jeffpayne <--the rest of his work on Vimeo. Be aware My ugly head is in a number of those videos.

 

[2kwik4u]

In another thought (and why I'm putting it in another post)....I'm looking for some inexpensive video editing software for the windows environment. I've been taking time lapse footage of a machine build at work, and would like to stitch it all together into one video with the boring/useless parts omitted. Doubt the office wants to buy anything permanent, and I don't much capability, basically, just cut/splice multiple videos togethor into one, then add some music on top.

Machine behind is an Win10 box with below specs
i7-7700 (3.6Ghz)
32Gb RAM
Quadro P200 graphics card (It's a CAD station in it's daily life)
1Tb SSD

I suspect this will run about anything I need/want. Any reccomendations?

 

[Bluewater272]

A point to consider besides futureproofing, is that 4K video that is rendered to 1080P can be significantly better than capturing in 1080P originally. Also, more room for cropping/panning a shot in post.

Cost of parts and storage are to be considered, but it should be fairly easy to do that nowadays for your budget. If you're going to get something made today that cannot reliably handle 4K, it's already obsolete.

 

[haknslash]

In another thought (and why I'm putting it in another post)....I'm looking for some inexpensive video editing software for the windows environment. I've been taking time lapse footage of a machine build at work, and would like to stitch it all together into one video with the boring/useless parts omitted. Doubt the office wants to buy anything permanent, and I don't much capability, basically, just cut/splice multiple videos togethor into one, then add some music on top.

Machine behind is an Win10 box with below specs
i7-7700 (3.6Ghz)
32Gb RAM
Quadro P200 graphics card (It's a CAD station in it's daily life)
1Tb SSD

I suspect this will run about anything I need/want. Any reccomendations?

Ditch the workstation card and go with an older Fermi or Maxwell GeForce GPU. I use one of my CAD stations in a pinch at work if I need to render a video alongside my other “render rig” and I have top level Intel Xtreme processor but capped by Quadro 5000 and Tesla and it can’t hold a candle to my 4770k multi-GeForce GPU rig. Even my home rig with 4770k and one GTX780 is faster (by a LONG SHOT)! The Quadro’s just aren’t up to the video editing task IMO. You can get up some older GeForce for cheap. The reason I suggest a GeForce is because Adobe software takes use of Nvidia CUDA cores for render encoding. Otherwise that rig will be good to go. I like to keep my OS on its own SSD and have other SSD’s for data, games, software, etc. I keep a large HDD for large file storage because I don’t want the unnecessary writes to an expensive SSD. Basically only “the good stuff” gets priority to live on an SSD in my environment and anything less important goes on the cheaper HDD where you can rewrite to your hearts content without feeling guilty.

 

[Trevor Shipman]

Hahah, I think my head is going to explode.

 

[Trevor Shipman]

What about this machine? Will this do what I want? What about 4K?

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/283245852131

 

[biffdotorg]

What about this machine? Will this do what I want? What about 4K?

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/283245852131

An I7 with 16GB of ram should edit video just fine.

I'm gonna share my unbiased opinion only based on my experience and not my employer. I have been in the computer business for over 25 years and edited video before computers were nothing more than character generators. I come from an Apple background, but am currently a Microsoft employee. So I am totally unbiased on platform.

To this day, and it has always been for some reason Mac's and Apple OS based machines have handled graphics and video better. Hell, my iPad pro can render 4k video faster than my I7 based tablet. That doesn't mean you cannot pull together a windows based machine on a budget and do what you want as well.

All that aside, pic the editor you want to run and go with it. If you are on a budget, the machine above and iMovie will work fine. Don't disregard the free stuff alike the GoPro applications. For quick home movies, they just plain work. And the Quik app, can take what many spend hours on and kick out a quick clip in minutes. Someday you may want to get more serious and have more control, at that time you can invest in more hardware and heavier applications. The apps in Windows can be very affordible as well as the hardware. Get something you can get assistance with, that's my only real tip. Either platform is fine. Go with what you are familiar with as well.

I loved editing on my iPad pro for the speed and ease of use. But file management in IOS was a pain in the ass. So I now have file manager apps that are similar to windows, that let me use a folder structure like windows for all my clips. I also have a 4TB NAS (network attached storage) on my network in my home. So now I can archive video until I am ready to edit.

All video editing will require as much RAM and GPU you can throw at it. Having SSD drives is a huge help. As stated above, these files are huge and you will need space to store until you are complete with projects.

Good luck!

 

[Trevor Shipman]

An I7 with 16GB of ram should edit video just fine.

I'm gonna share my unbiased opinion only based on my experience and not my employer. I have been in the computer business for over 25 years and edited video before computers were nothing more than character generators. I come from an Apple background, but am currently a Microsoft employee. So I am totally unbiased on platform.

To this day, and it has always been for some reason Mac's and Apple OS based machines have handled graphics and video better. Hell, my iPad pro can render 4k video faster than my I7 based tablet.

All that aside, pic the editor you want to run and go with it. If you are on a budget, the machine above and iMovie will work fine. Don't disregard the free stuff alike the GoPro applications. For quick home movies, they just plain work. And the Quik app, can take what many spend hours on and kick out a quick clip in minutes. Someday you may want to get more serious and have more control, at that time you can invest in more hardware and heavier applications.

All video editing will require as much RAM and GPU you can throw at it. Having SSD drives is a huge help. As stated above, these files are huge and you will need space to store until you are complete with projects.

Good luck!

Awesome thanks for that feedback! It’s just money, right???

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

On the plus side to the Mac - they just plain out last forever. Your time to upgrade to a new machine comes from a lack of support more so than anything else. I just upgraded ram/ssd/battery on my fiance's 2012 MBP and it runs like a brand new machine for today's standards. Granted she doesn't do anything crazy on it - but to be able to drop $140 on a six year old machine and have it run just as good the new ones at the store, says a lot IMO. Before I switched to Apple, my laptops only lasted a year to a year and half before they were unbearably slow. My 2013 Air still runs great. We will upgrade once the machines are no longer supported by applications and Apple software updates. I wouldn't be surprised to get another 5 years out of each.