Topic: GPU question about transferring 480p vids from the early 2000's

[Justy Gyee]

I'm building a PC to start transferring the hundreds of vids i shot 20yrs ago. I think the extent of my work would be mixing down two sources.
my question for TS is how important is it to have a good/fast GPU?
my current GPU is a 4gig, should i invest in something better 8g?16g?
thanks for any advice

[Justy Gyee]

can anyone recommend a forum/website that might be able to help?

[grawk]

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=480p+video+editing+advice+in+2024

[morst]

if you are gonna keep them at 480 you probably don't need a very powerful machine

[Chanher]

EDIT: I just saw the files are already 480p digital format, I'm a moron and missed that in your original post. My reply has been revised:

Computer people please correct me, but I believe a GPU is primarily responsible for any video sent OUT to your monitor(s). Your processor handles any any mixing and editing of video files and 480p isn't nearly as bad as 1080p and 4k. However, I have no idea if upscaling(?) to larger, higher resolution formats is beneficial (I seem to recall there is a benefit but please verify), and that is the first thing I would google. Plenty of people have old 480p vids that they want to mix, master, and edit for modern use and they have posted the most optimal solutions. Lately I have been skipping google and just searching on youtube for these matters.

If you will be editing in a format larger than 480p, than you will need a reasonably robust processor AND ram. I wish I knew accurate specifications, but I guarantee a quick google search should solve that, something like "computer specs for editing 1080p video (or 4k)."

The best advice I can give is to take a night (or a week or a month if you have to) and thoroughly research this process. Watch as many videos as you can until you know for sure what you want to do, that way you don't process 100's of hours of video only to discover there was a better method or something.

[RyanJ]

As video transfers are daunting and there is so much information out there (with little help from other forums) let me know what I may be able to help you with. I am a bit confused by the last post by Chanher if you have already transferred the footage? What media are you working with?

To my knowledge, the GPU isn't necessarily needed for transfer. Maybe for processing later. But it's mostly done by your hardware (CPU/RAM)

[Chanher]

As video transfers are daunting and there is so much information out there (with little help from other forums) let me know what I may be able to help you with. I am a bit confused by the last post by Chanher if you have already transferred the footage? What media are you working with?

To my knowledge, the GPU isn't necessarily needed for transfer. Maybe for processing later. But it's mostly done by your hardware (CPU/RAM)

apologies, I hope I wasn't too confusing to the OP. I saw he mentioned transferring and then "mixing down two sources" which I assumed meant editing 2 different vids to one vid using video editing software. Perhaps the OP could clarify the questions Ryan asked (have you transferred the footage yet? what media are you using?) and do you plan on editing said footage, including multiple sources > 1 vid? What is your intended use (youtube etc)?

Would be happy to help, although others here probably know more. My friends and I recently all got new Iphones (with their excellent cameras) and I've already tried mixing 2-3 different vids, with my audience recording synced up, and it was quite taxing on my older i7 windows laptop. I have a more powerful desktop but naturally the video editing software I paid for on my laptop can't be used on my desktop (bastards) so I'm currently in the process of finding (and learning) all new software (sigh).

[Justy Gyee]

thanks for the feedback.
im going to stick with my 4g GPU.
i still have to transfer all the tapes.
which is the main priority.
once that task has been accomplished, i will have a good number of 2 sources shows to mix down.
i did this a number of times, 20 years ago, and remembered the super long render times.

[RyanJ]

i did this a number of times, 20 years ago, and remembered the super long render times.

Again, what media are you transferring. A lot has changed in 20 years with how you can transfer. There may be better options out there for what you want to accomplish.

[Justy Gyee]

sony digital8 vids.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital8

[guitard]

i still have to transfer all the tapes.
which is the main priority.
once that task has been accomplished, i will have a good number of 2 sources shows to mix down.

What NLE software are you using to mix the videos?

[RyanJ]

sony digital8 vids.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital8

Ah, ok. You can do most of that digitally through a firewire port if you have that available? Saves you a lot of headache with VHS tapes.

[Justy Gyee]

i still have to transfer all the tapes.
which is the main priority.
once that task has been accomplished, i will have a good number of 2 sources shows to mix down.

What NLE software are you using to mix the videos?

probably Vegas as thats what i used way back when, but im open to learning new software

[RyanJ]

I think even with running multiple angles for editing. You are not going to have a problem at all. Your rate limiting step will be your CPU/RAM for most of this. Nowadays computers have no problem running multiple 4K and 1080p HD videos in these video editing programs. Having 2-3 Digital8 tapes with about a quarter of the size and data, you should be fine making edits on the fly.

Only when you export the edit will it really be dependent on your GPU.

[guitard]

I think even with running multiple angles for editing. You are not going to have a problem at all. Your rate limiting step will be your CPU/RAM for most of this. Nowadays computers have no problem running multiple 4K and 1080p HD videos in these video editing programs. Having 2-3 Digital8 tapes with about a quarter of the size and data, you should be fine making edits on the fly.

Only when you export the edit will it really be dependent on your GPU.

I have as pretty decent work station for video that I built a couple of years ago.  I can edit multiple 4K streams at the same time with Vegas Video, but the key is to reduce the preview screen playback quality level (Draft, Preview, Good, Best) to Preview or Draft.  Usually I set it at "Preview."  If it's on Good or Best, it will lag and be problematic at times. 

[sabre]

sony digital8 vids.

You will need to capture these in real time, so a 2 hour show will take 2 hours to transfer.

I recommend transferring to your PC using a IEEE 1394 (aka Firewire) cable. This plugs directly into your Sony camcorder and you will need a Firewire port on your PC. This will result in a bit for bit copy of the tape. Size will be 13 gigabytes per hour. Video will be interlaced.

When you say: "I think the extent of my work would be mixing down two sources", do you mean you will be doing a 2-cam mix or will you be adding a separate audio to your video?

What will be your output? Are you planning to upscale to a higher resolution? Will you be creating regular DVDs or are you planning to just play them back on a media player (MP4/MKV format)?

Sony Vegas (now called Vegas PRO) will be sufficient for editing, colour correction etc. and encoding. If you want to try something different (and free), then take a look at Davinci Resolve.

What are the specs of the PC you're building?

What sort of shows did you film?

[guitard]

sony digital8 vids.

I recommend transferring to your PC using a IEEE 1394 (aka Firewire) cable. This plugs directly into your Sony camcorder and you will need a Firewire port on your PC.

Since he did this 20 years ago, it's possible OP already knows about this.  But just in case ...

I've used a firewire to capture a couple thousand hours of video, so I'm very familiar with installing a firewire port card on a computer; because they rarely ever came/come with them unless you special ordered a computer to include it.

For reference, this is what one looks like for a PC:



Even if you've never been the type to get really hands on with the insides of a computer, installing one of these cards is super easy.  The KEY is getting a card with teeth (see gold portion of card in above image) that match the corresponding socket on your computer's motherboard.  There are (at least) three or four different socket configurations for firewire cards.

Of course, you could always take it to Geek Squad or a neighborhood shop (if you're lucky to have one).  But they only cost $20 on Amazon, and professional installation would almost certainly cost a lot more.

[Justy Gyee]

sony digital8 vids.

You will need to capture these in real time, so a 2 hour show will take 2 hours to transfer.

I recommend transferring to your PC using a IEEE 1394 (aka Firewire) cable. This plugs directly into your Sony camcorder and you will need a Firewire port on your PC. This will result in a bit for bit copy of the tape. Size will be 13 gigabytes per hour. Video will be interlaced.

When you say: "I think the extent of my work would be mixing down two sources", do you mean you will be doing a 2-cam mix or will you be adding a separate audio to your video?

What will be your output? Are you planning to upscale to a higher resolution? Will you be creating regular DVDs or are you planning to just play them back on a media player (MP4/MKV format)?

Sony Vegas (now called Vegas PRO) will be sufficient for editing, colour correction etc. and encoding. If you want to try something different (and free), then take a look at Davinci Resolve.

What are the specs of the PC you're building?

What sort of shows did you film?

thanks for all the info fellas.
im semi computer literate but just didnt really know how things are working in modern setting with gpus and rendering tasks.
yes. going the firewire route.
yes. a bunch of these shows have a full stage tape and a tape with close ups. do plan on adding audio when available.
i hadn't really thought about upscaling, i dont really plan on rendering to dvd. will be happy with mp4/mkv.
main plan is to get these tapes onto hard drives and go from there.
i plan to do a shoot out with the two pcs i have on hand.
a Intel i7-6700 CPU 3.40 GHz with 64g ram & pci firewire card
or my older workstation
deal processor Intel Xeon CPU E5-2620 2.00 GHz with 32g ram onboard 1394 ports
honestly with the amount of tapes i have i will probably end up using both machines for capture.

this is in the planning stages.
next step is getting software and a couple cameras(my video hobby ended when my cameras were stolen).
heres some of the things i shot and managed to keep a list of.
https://db.etree.org/sciphotoman
 

[guitard]

next step is getting software and a couple cameras

The old digital 8 cams went through a period where you couldn't give them away ten years ago, to now - where people like you need them and supply and demand is sort of in the sellers' favor.