[ckohler]

I'm getting a 800mhz flatpanel iMac in the next week or so and I plan on doing much more video editing then I ever have before. I realize this might be a newbie question, but on average, how much raw DV video can I hold on my 60gig drive? For example, will I be able to capture a full 25-30min TV episode and store that in DV on my harddisk... or will that be too much?

[GK]

5 min per 1 GB

However, you should consider getting an external Firewire for capturing DV.

for more info on DV go to www.2-pop.com

[ph@lmi.net]

DV uses 210 MB/minute (or 4.9 mins/gb). your drive after formatting will be about 56 GB. so you can get about 274 minutes of DV quality video on the drive (almost 5 hours). oh iMac. so this'll be the boot disk, eh? then subtract for the os, etc...still, three to four hours of video will fit on it.

but most editors don't use their startup drive as a media drive. get's too fragmenty in there, and the os and application accesses take away from the speed of the video's accesses...but, when i run out of space, i play of the boot dtive and don't drop frames on the DP500.

dependent on what you are making (style, effects, etc), after renders and exports, you'll probably find that you have enough space to comfortably complete one 60 minute project (more or less) before clearing it and starting another.

[ckohler]

Thanks for the info. I'm surprised to find that I'll still be able to get around a few hours worth on there. That's great! Also, I should have mentioned earlier that I'll mostly be doing this editing as a hobby so purchasing an external HD really isn't in the cards right now. =)

[ph@lmi.net]

you should do just fine with your new rig. with the iMac's G4, you'll get RT effects and everything!