Video Cards and Digital Video Editing
Published: September 3, 2003
By Jason Dunn
Video cards are also known as video adapters, display adapters, video controllers, and video boards. Basically, these are the electronic components that generate the video signal sent through a cable to your monitor. Sometimes, the video card is integrated with your motherboard. But high-end video cards are usually separate boards inside your PC. A video card is a vital part of any computer system. Video cards and their performance and compatibility aspects generate a huge body of questions and discussions in the Windows XP user groups, newsgroups, chats, and other online community forums.
In this column, I'll give you some tips on picking the right card for your system. I'll discuss the impact a video card has on video-editing tasks. (The video card doesn't do much of the work when it comes to video-editing, although there are exceptions.) I'll also suggest a couple of good brands for you to check out.
Windows XP ships with a video-editing accessory, Windows Movie Maker. Check out the free upgrade and system requirements at Windows Movie Maker 2 Download. For more information about using Movie Maker 2, see two Expert Zone columns, Moviemaking 101 and Moviemaking 202, and Focus On: Windows Movie Maker. To learn more about working with digital video, read my book, Faster Smarter Digital Video (Microsoft Press, 2002).
Do You Need a 3-D Video Card?
Video cards perform their duties in 2-D and 3-D, showing images on your monitor. Everything you see in Microsoft Windows uses 2-D imaging. 3-D performance comes into play only when you're running a game based on a 3-D engine, so this type of imaging has minimal impact on video editing. It does, however, have a huge impact on any rendering tasks that involve 3-D effects. Quite a few transitions involve 3-D effects, so having a powerful 3-D card will speed things up significantly.
The manual for Hollywood FX, a transitions package that comes with Pinnacle Studio Deluxe, states that a 3-D acceleration card will result in 200 percent to 500 percent performance gains when 3-D transitions are used. To my knowledge, no 3-D transitions with Movie Maker 2 can take advantage of a powerful 3-D video card, but that doesn't mean having a powerful video card can't help you in other ways.
There's More to Video Than Rendering
A system with a cheap and underpowered video card will be very sluggish in all Windows tasks, including video-editing applications. So although a 3-D video card won't truly accelerate your video editing, a capable 3-D video card will make your entire computing experience much easier and will accelerate the rendering process if you're using 3-D transitions. It will also help with DVD playback and will reduce the CPU load when playing back video files. Some cards (such as the ATI RADEON 9700 Pro) have the ability to remove digital artifacts from video, enhancing the visual quality. If you have a low-end computer with a built-in video card on the motherboard, there's an even more compelling reason to upgrade to a new video card: your system is probably using shared RAM. This means that the on-board video card borrows from your main system RAM, which reduces the RAM you have available for video editing, which slows everything down.
Figure 1: ATI's newest flagship product, the RADEON 9800 Pro.
Two major video card companies are competing for supremacy right now: ATI Technologies (see Figure 1) and nVidia (see Figure 2). Each tends to one-up the other, and that's good news for consumers because it means we're seeing tremendous advances in technology. Cutting-edge technologies tend to be expensive, but you shouldn't automatically go out and buy the most expensive video card you can get. The best video card really depends on your needs.
Figure 2: The tried-and-true GeForce4 Ti 4800. nVidia has recently released the GeForce FX 5900, their top-tier product.
When it comes to picking the right video card for your system, there are a few questions you should ask yourself:
| • | How serious of a gamer are you? If playing power-hungry games is high on your list of things to do, you'll need a powerful card. At a bare minimum, this means the previous generation cards such as the nVidia GeForce4 Ti or the ATI RADEON 8500. If you've got money burning a hole in your pocket, the high-end nVidia GeForce FX 5900 and ATI RADEON 9800 PRO are at the top of their class right now in terms of performance--nothing will give you better looking games. |
| • | What video editing equipment do you have right now? Both nVidia and ATI offer variations of their cards with video in, video out (VIVO) capabilities. Features vary from card to card, but some of the more common features include the ability to watch TV on your computer, have a picture in picture display, de-interlace the video (which results in higher quality on your computer), remote controls for changing the channel from across the room, program guides for recording your favorite shows, and inputs for recording video from analog video sources (such as VCRs or old video cameras). Many come bundled with handy multimedia software, so buying a new video card can be a good way to get started capturing video. |
| • | How much are you willing to spend? Unless you absolutely need to have the best video game performance, a capable 3-D video card can be had for under $100 US. These cards won't win any awards, but they'll likely be an improvement over what you currently use. If you want the best, the high-end cards cost nearly $500 US. |
A video card is a vital part of any computer system. Regardless of whether you're a computer gamer, it will enhance your computer in ways beyond accelerating certain video editing transitions. Just remember not to blow your entire budget on a video card—a solid video editing computer has well-balanced components, not a blazing video card coupled with underpowered CPU, RAM, and hard drive.
Jason Dunn is an avid digital media enthusiast who also writes about mobile technology. He's the author of several books, including PhotoImpact 7 Power, Short Order Microsoft PhotoDraw 2000, and Faster Smarter Digital Video. Jason also runs Kensai, which focuses on helping companies successfully navigate the online world.
