Now that I have done a couple of video editing suite,  I thought it would be cool to wrap it up with a full production solution that has everything you need to produce videos. This also includes a editing suite which I decided to use my Notebook Suite because it offers both flexibility and power and is not too expensive.One note before I get into this, I made this as a traditional solution and not for live-to-disk. For that I recommend this blog article written by Darren Kitchen of the popular Hak.5 podcast which was written after I emailed a question about their live video setup! I decided to make it thorough but, not overly expensive.

Camera:

Canon Vixia HF200 $600

Lights:

Arri Light Kit $2,318

Editing Suite:

Gdovin.net Notebook Solution  $5,936

Computer: 2.8 GHZ 15 Inch Macbook Pro

$2,599

• 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2×2GB
• 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
• SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
• MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy Widescreen Display
• None
• Backlit Keyboard (English) / User’s Guide

Computer Add-ons:

• Asus 22 inch Widescreen Monitors $170*2 $340
• Maxtor 1.5 TB External Hard Drive $250
• Mini Display to DVI Adapter $30
• DVI Splitter $17

Software

Final Cut Studio $1,000

• Final Cut Pro (Video Editing)
• Color (Color Correction)
• Soundtrack (Audio Editing)
• Motion (Motion Graphics)
• Compressor (Compression)
• DVD Studio (DVD authoring)

Adobe CS4 Production Premium Suite $1,700

• After Effects (Motion Graphics)
• Premeire Pro (Video editing-not as good as Final Cut)
• Photoshop (Image Editing)
• Flash (Animation)
• Illustrator (Vector Graphics editing)
• Soundbooth (Audio Editing)
• OnLocation (Live Video Capture)
• Encore (DVD Authoring)
• Bridge (Media Management)
• Device Central (Device Management)
• Dynamic Link (Media Sharing)

Microphones: $686

Audio-Technica Wireless Microphones $170*2 $340

Azden Handheld Microphone $170

Canon Shotgun Mic $176

Accessories:

Canon Video Light $80

LowePro Camera Bag $20

Dolica Tripod $45

Canon Monopod $36

Kingston 16 GB SD Cards $32*2 $64

Grand Total: $9,785 (Plus Taxes and fees)

For under $10,000 this solution gives you everything that you need for a full professional video production and all high definition and high quality. Althogh this solution is for only one camera it would be simple to add-on extra cameras and equipment if you would like but, this has everything you need from pre-production to relasing your video project.

I originally thought I would only do one budget solution but, I decided it would make sense to make a notebook version for the editor on the go so I give to you, my portable editing suite!

Computer: 2.8 GHZ 15 Inch Macbook Pro

$1,700

• 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2×2GB
• 250GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
• SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
• MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy Widescreen Display
• None
• Backlit Keyboard (English) / User’s Guide (English)

Computer Add-ons:

• 500 GB 7,200 RPM Hard drive $120
• Asus 22 inch Widescreen Monitors $170
• Maxtor 1.5 TB External Hard Drive $250
• Mini Display to DVI Adapter $30

Software

Final Cut Studio $1,000

• Final Cut Pro (Video Editing)
• Color (Color Correction)
• Soundtrack (Audio Editing)
• Motion (Motion Graphics)
• Compressor (Compression)
• DVD Studio (DVD authoring)

Grand Total: $3,270 (Plus  applicable taxes, fees and shipping)

With this version of the solution, you pay about $1,000 less although the processor is half the speed but, this is a great way to edit but, have a lot more flexibility to travel with your edit suite and to edit as you travel with or without the full components of the suite! Once again you can leave out or add additonal parts if you want the mac is a very powerful platform and would be a great way to edit on the go!

As promised I am going to make a Budget-friendly editing suite. I decided to use the iMac as the computer because it is the best machine on a budget and can save a lot of money!

Computer: 20 inch iMac

$1,374

• 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2×2GB
• 1.0TB Serial ATA Drive
• ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
• Apple Mighty Mouse
• Apple Keyboard (English) and User’s Guide

Computer Add-ons:

• Asus 22 inch Widescreen Monitors $170
• Maxtor 1.5 TB External Hard Drive $250
• Mini Display to DVI Adapter $30

Software

Final Cut Studio $1,000

• Final Cut Pro (Video Editing)
• Color (Color Correction)
• Soundtrack (Audio Editing)
• Motion (Motion Graphics)
• Compressor (Compression)
• DVD Studio (DVD authoring)

Grand Total: $2,824 (Plus  applicable taxes, fees and shipping)

This is a great value and could really help you get sarted editing professionally because it gives you what you need to edit well!

The all-in-on Apple iMac is a great machine for video editing as well so I thought, why not do another solution with the iMac as the computer.

Computer: 24 inch iMac

$2,599

• 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2×2GB
• 1.0TB Serial ATA Drive
• ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
• Apple Mighty Mouse
• Apple Keyboard (English) and User’s Guide

Computer Add-ons:

• Asus 22 inch Widescreen Monitors $170*2 $340
• Maxtor 1.5 TB External Hard Drive $250
• Mini Display to DVI Adapter $30
• DVI Splitter $17

Software

Final Cut Studio $1,000

• Final Cut Pro (Video Editing)
• Color (Color Correction)
• Soundtrack (Audio Editing)
• Motion (Motion Graphics)
• Compressor (Compression)
• DVD Studio (DVD authoring)

Adobe CS4 Production Premium Suite $1,700

• After Effects (Motion Graphics)
• Premeire Pro (Video editing-not as good as Final Cut)
• Photoshop (Image Editing)
• Flash (Animation)
• Illustrator (Vector Graphics editing)
• Soundbooth (Audio Editing)
• OnLocation (Live Video Capture)
• Encore (DVD Authoring)
• Bridge (Media Management)
• Device Central (Device Management)
• Dynamic Link (Media Sharing)

Grand Total: $5,926(Plus  applicable taxes, fees and shipping)

Once again, a great all in one editing machine with more than you need to get started editing. The iMac is great for this purpose as long as you don’t want to travel or take your editing suite with you.

As i said in my previous article, I am doing a notebook version of my Ultimate Editing solution for those who don’t want to spend on the Mac Pro or just want to have the flexibility of taking their editing machine where ever they go!

Computer: 2.8 GHZ 15 Inch Macbook Pro

$2,599

• 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2×2GB
• 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
• SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
• MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy Widescreen Display
• None
• Backlit Keyboard (English) / User’s Guide

Computer Add-ons:

• Asus 22 inch Widescreen Monitors $170*2 $340
• Maxtor 1.5 TB External Hard Drive $250
• Mini Display to DVI Adapter $30
• DVI Splitter $17

Software

Final Cut Studio $1,000

• Final Cut Pro (Video Editing)
• Color (Color Correction)
• Soundtrack (Audio Editing)
• Motion (Motion Graphics)
• Compressor (Compression)
• DVD Studio (DVD authoring)

Adobe CS4 Production Premium Suite $1,700

• After Effects (Motion Graphics)
• Premeire Pro (Video editing-not as good as Final Cut)
• Photoshop (Image Editing)
• Flash (Animation)
• Illustrator (Vector Graphics editing)
• Soundbooth (Audio Editing)
• OnLocation (Live Video Capture)
• Encore (DVD Authoring)
• Bridge (Media Management)
• Device Central (Device Management)
• Dynamic Link (Media Sharing)

Grand Total: $5,936 (Plus  applicable taxes, fees and shipping)

With this version of the solution, you pay about $1,000 less although the processor is half the speed but, this is a great way to edit but, have a lot more flexibility to travel with your edit suite and to edit as you travel with or without the full components of the suite! Once again you can leave out or add additonal parts if you want the mac is a very powerful platform and would be a great way to edit on the go!

Apple has recently released the newest version of Final Cut Studio, and has made me think that you can put together an awesome video editing suite for much less than you would for a broadcast television network and all digital! Here is the solution that I have put together for video editing!

Computer: Quad Core Mac Pro

$2,599

• One 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
• 3GB (3×1GB)
• None
• 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
• None
• None
• None
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB
• One 18x SuperDrive
• None
• None
• Apple Mighty Mouse
• Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) and User’s Guide

Computer Add-ons:

• Seagate 1.5 TB 7,200 RPM Hard drive $120
• Kingston 6 GB of RAM $130
• Asus 22 inch Widescreen Monitors $170*2 $340
• Maxtor 1.5 TB External Hard Drive $250
• Mini Display to DVI Adapter $30
• DVI Splitter $17

Software

Final Cut Studio $1,000

• Final Cut Pro (Video Editing)
• Color (Color Correction)
• Soundtrack (Audio Editing)
• Motion (Motion Graphics)
• Compressor (Compression)
• DVD Studio (DVD authoring)

Adobe CS4 Production Premium Suite $1,700

• After Effects (Motion Graphics)
• Premeire Pro (Video editing-not as good as Final Cut)
• Photoshop (Image Editing)
• Flash (Animation)
• Illustrator (Vector Graphics editing)
• Soundbooth (Audio Editing)
• OnLocation (Live Video Capture)
• Encore (DVD Authoring)
• Bridge (Media Management)
• Device Central (Device Management)
• Dynamic Link (Media Sharing)

Grand Total: $6,186 (Plus  applicable taxes, fees and shipping)

Instead of having a $100,000 broadcast edit suite you can have this awesome suite for les than $10,000 and has everything you need to edit video and archive with the external firewire hard drive. Although many production comapnies such as Revision3 use Macbook Pros instead of big tower computers to edit and I will be writing another blog post with a notebok version of this solution, however many of the key compenents will be similar. I also plan on writing a budget version and a full production suite version that has everthing you need for your own video production down the line. Also, this solution can be modified by reducing extra monitors, hard drives and RAM or expanded by adding more monitors, hard drives and RAM so you can make it fit your custom needs more. But, over all, this is the custom set that is built specifical for video editors!