My PC can't handle the footage, options?

[Linda longer]

I got a job to edit a short film that was shot in RED, but my PC can't handle the footage, options?
So I couldn't say no because its a lot of money for me and a good chance to work with a good director, however now that I got all the master footage my PC can't handle the playback of the 4K files. Should I... (1) Convert the files to low res for the edit and then replace then in Premiere before I send the final file to the color corrector? or (2)Use all the money I earned from this project to buy a new computer to be able to handle these gigantic files?

If you have other ideas, please let me know!
I'm editing with a Dell Laptop using Premiere CS6.

Its got an Intel i5, 2.5GHz with a 8GB ram.
its plugged into a 48Inch flat screen TV and runs HD clips pretty well until I start adding layers on top.

I'm trying to save enough money to start a professional editing studio so I don't want to spend all my money on a new editing machine.

Thanks!

 

[Hurcan Yilmazer]

do you have a dedicated graphics card or just using the mother board? do use external hdd or internal for the footage? if external is it usb3? can you write the model of your laptop?

 

[Paul Russell]

You need proxies. That little Dell isn't going to do the job at all.
Edit with them. Then when the edit is signed off, export an FCP XML and change the media path and all the .mov extensions to R3D to send to the colourist.

 

[David Kuhn]

Editing 4K takes a lot of horsepower... and there's no cheap way to get it that I know of. You're looking at $1k or so just for a graphics card (maybe a bit cheaper now if the GTX780 is as capable as it looks on paper), more if you go with a Rocket, a couple k for a 60hz 4k display, a machine with 32gig of ram and a very fast drive array or multiple terrabytes in SSD storage). It might be useful at some point for some of the tech oriented folks to suggest affordable builds for the non-tech users (maybe there's already a thread out there... you should do a search), but I'd guess that even an 'affordable' system is going to be closer to $10k than to $5k... even building your own system is going to cost some money. Paul's suggestion is by far your most affordable option.

 

[Will Steer]

I wouldn't work with red files natively on your machine, if you're not doing the online edit, there's no need.

Steps to take:

1) Install Redcine X: http://www.red.com/products/redcine-x

2) Install the DNxHD codec in your machine if you don't already have it: http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/download/en423319

Then:

3) Use Redcine to transcode your dailies (via Quicktime) to 720p DNxHD 36 .movs. Before you transcode sync sound here if it was two-system sound.

4) When you transcode your dailies make sure your directory structure is identical to the original clips and make sure that timecode is identical.

5) Do your edit in premiere.

6) Export an XML. The colourist should have no problem conforming the edit with the original high resolution media.

 

[Eric Bowen]

I would suggest also downloading Cineform and trying the performance with that. The free version enables Cineform in AME and Premiere. Keep in mind though you will need to get a system able to handle future projects. That Dell laptop is not really suited for any major editing work. So investing in tech is really a req for your plans regardless.

 

[Richard Tran]

I got a job to edit a short film that was shot in RED, but my PC can't handle the footage, options?
So I couldn't say no because its a lot of money for me and a good chance to work with a good director, however now that I got all the master footage my PC can't handle the playback of the 4K files. Should I... (1) Convert the files to low res for the edit and then replace then in Premiere before I send the final file to the color corrector? or (2)Use all the money I earned from this project to buy a new computer to be able to handle these gigantic files?

If you have other ideas, please let me know!
I'm editing with a Dell Laptop using Premiere CS6.

Its got an Intel i5, 2.5GHz with a 8GB ram.
its plugged into a 48Inch flat screen TV and runs HD clips pretty well until I start adding layers on top.

I'm trying to save enough money to start a professional editing studio so I don't want to spend all my money on a new editing machine.

Thanks!

Would one rather have an editing machine? Editing from their bedroom?

Or a "professional editing studio" - whatever that means - and no "professional editing machine"?

It sounds like the cart before the horse.

PS: I second the proxy method if you don't want to spend money, but for less than $2000, I'm sure you could get something that runs at 1/4 res on Premiere.

Or just drag all the files into Premiere, and hit the Render button. And let it do its thing.

 

[Saumene Mehrdady]

Where is your footage? Off the internal drive or on an external?