I think I need a new computer but

Norman-B

which sort.

I have a PC which is getting on in age. It's nearly three years old and rather slow. I keep getting a blue screen error and have had my OS reloaded (by a pal)several times in the past 8 months.

I have nearly 35 hours of home video that I want to transfer to DVD. I did a tape of 55 mins last night and it took nearly three hour and 20 mins to transfer to DVD.
Now my question is really this, should I get a new and faster PC or should I get an Apple? I have been advised that the Apple is the better of the two for film transfer. Or would the purchase of the Apple be an expensive way of going about things?



Any advice welcome.

DatabaseError

buy a new PC with lots of RAM (4gig), get your old hard drive installed into it.
FWIW, my (new, quad core) PC transcodes from avi to DVD at around 8x, so 1 hour takes around 7 minutes to convert, and around the same time to burn..


Macs may well be better for the job, but when something goes wrong it can be a little expensive, and if your pal who keeps reinstalling windows is like me, he'll know PCs inside out, yet macs not at all..

What software are you using to convert? what format is the video?

Norman-B

tonyhague wrote: »

buy a new PC with lots of RAM (4gig), get your old hard drive installed into it.
FWIW, my (new, quad core) PC transcodes from avi to DVD at around 8x, so 1 hour takes around 7 minutes to convert, and around the same time to burn..


Macs may well be better for the job, but when something goes wrong it can be a little expensive, and if your pal who keeps reinstalling windows is like me, he'll know PCs inside out, yet macs not at all..

What software are you using to convert? what format is the video?

Tony, many thanks for your prompt reply!



Your advice seems to make a lot of sense to me. Would I be able to buy a new PC with 4 gig of memory on board or would I have to get extra fitted? I transfered my tape to PC via Ulead Movie Factory 5 and it took an hour to do so. It took the 2 and half hours to burn the 54 mins to a DVD. My video camera is a Panasonic Mini DV (I think that's correct). I have installed a trial copy of Sony's Las vegas software but have not used it.

Thanks again.

ps, what sort of money would I need to find for a PC for the job? This is a job I really want to complete as the video is mostly of my grandson. From birth to 9 years old.

totalsolutions

As above really but what spec is your current PC? Ram is cheap and a processor upgrade might be possible. If you are reinstalling XP 3 times a year you are doing something wrong somewhere along the line. Once a year is ok, Is it overheating or poorly matched RAM modules? Incorrect drivers and picking up malware along the way....?

Norman-B

totalsolutions wrote: »

As above really but what spec is your current PC? Ram is cheap and a processor upgrade might be possible. If you are reinstalling XP 3 times a year you are doing something wrong somewhere along the line. Once a year is ok, Is it overheating or poorly matched RAM modules? Incorrect drivers and picking up malware along the way....?

My BSOD error messgaes all seem to indicate Driver problems. Then it crashes and it seems to be 'clearing memory' . I'm being dragged out food shopping, so will be back PM.

Thanks

DatabaseError

as totalsolutions has stated, upgrades are always possible, and generally cheaper than a new PC, but if budget stretches far enough pop into a local PC shop (a proper, independent one, not currys/pcworld etc) and discuss your needs

Blacksheep1979

Macs will be no faster at transfering data (be it film, music or text) than a PC - macs now have an almost identicle hardware spec to a PC with the OS being the main difference. Whilst some people may prefer them for video editing etc there is no logic in spending more on a mac to burn DVDs.

Robin_T_Cox

The following link suggests another approach: converting your video files to a different format before you burn them.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070725085640AAzX4s9

tradetime

As someone else has said, if you pal needs to re-install your operating system several times in the last eight months then I doubt there is something seriously wrong somewhere which perhaps should be addressed before you buy your new machine, lest you want to be re-installing that every month.

As to a new machine, if you are going as high as 4GB in RAM you may want to consider Vista 64 bit since 4GB is the maximum memory a 32 bit OS can address.

Blacksheep1979

you'll find that 32 bit windows can't address 4gb either, the most you'll see is roughly 3.25GB - this shouldn't be the limiting factor on dvd burning though.

tradetime

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

you'll find that 32 bit windows can't address 4gb either, the most you'll see is roughly 3.25GB - this shouldn't be the limiting factor on dvd burning though.

Maybe I worded that slightly wrong, but that was my point, a 32bit OS does address 4GB of memory, however it won't all be from your RAM, memory will be adressed from you graphics card(s) in particular since these are getting ever larger, along with anything else memory related on your system, as I understand it, so yes if you put 4GB od RAM in a 32 bit machine not all of it will be referrenced.