Help with Recommending PC Specs

Marc-Goder wrote on 4/22/2025, 11:16 AM

Before I recommend anything, I need more information.
What camera are you using now?
What are the recording options?

UHD 3840 x 2160 8-bit 4:2:0?
UHD 3840 x 2160 10-bit 4:2:0?
UHD 3840 x 2160 10-bit 4:2:2?

HEVC (H265), AVCHD (H264), ProRes in the MOV Container, or an INTRA Codec ?

DIYMark wrote on 4/22/2025, 2:14 PM

Thanks for your help. I am now using the Sony FX-30. And I'll be the first to say I have a lot to learn. I believe the camera supports all those settings. I goofed around with 10 bit....thinking 10 bit is better than 8. But the MP4 wasn't recognized by any windows tools, so I changed to 8 bit. But I recognize that I'm just naïve.

johnebaker wrote on 4/22/2025, 3:32 PM

@DIYMark

Hi

IMHO the minimum you need to do is upgrade the Nvidia graphics card graphics card, the Intel CPU has a UHD 630 iGPU and as a minimum I would recommend a RTX2060 minimum, which is capable of handling the 4K UHD video from the Sony camera.

I am also editing 4K UHD 50fps HEVC 10 bit video, from my DJI sports cam, this a much more demanding format and works fine on both my systems, no proxy files required!

See my signature for the full PC and Laptop specs.

Do be aware that if you are making Blu-ray discs, then the RTX series do not support encoding of the video to the standard BD interlaceed format.

HTH

John EB
Forum Moderator

Marc-Goder wrote on 4/23/2025, 1:10 PM

Hello,

1. About the software

Video PRO X should be able to process the following recording formats from your camera.

XAVC HS 4K] 59.94p/50p/23.98p 100 Mbps 4:2:2 10 bit MPEG-H HEVC / H.265, XAVC HS 4K 59.94p/50p 75 Mbps 4:2:0 10 bit MPEG-H HEVC / H.265, Mbps 4:2:0 10 Bit MPEG-H HEVC / H.265, XAVC HS 4K 23.98p 100 Mbit/s 4:2:0 10 Bit MPEG-H HEVC / H.265, 23.98p 50 Mbit/s 4:2:0 10 bit MPEG-H HEVC / H.265, XAVC HS 4K 23.98p 30 Mbit/s 4:2:0 10 bit MPEG-H HEVC / H.265, Bit MPEG-H HEVC / H.265, XAVC HS 4K 119.88p/100p 200 Mbps 4:2:0 10-bit MPEG-H HEVC / H.265

For the following recording formats, you would need an additional Intra Codec Pack for approximately €50-60.

XAVC S-I 4K] 300 Mbit/s 4:2:2 10 bit MPEG-4 AVC / H.264, XAVC S-I 4K 25p 250 Mbit/s 4:2:2 10 bit MPEG-4 AVC / H.264, H.264, [XAVC S-I HD] 4:2:2 10 bit MPEG-4 AVC / H.264, XAVC S-I HD 25p 93 Mbit/s 4:2:2 10 bit MPEG-4 AVC / H.264,

2. About the hardware:
If you want to use the XAVCS-I formats then will this is only supported with hardware acceleration by the current NVidia RTX 50XX series.

XAVC HS with 10-bit 4:2:2 is also supported by INTEL ARC graphics cards with hardware acceleration.

For 10-bit 4:2:0, you can use Nvidia graphics cards from the 20XX series or Intel Arc A750 / A770 / A580 / B580.

I'm not familiar with AMD graphics cards.
But 10-bit 4:2:2 isn't supported by the new AMD cards either.

So, if I owned such a professional camera, I would definitely get a computer with at least the following requirements.

CPU = Intel Core Ultra 7-265K
Graphics card = NVidia RTX 5060 TI (16 GB) or 5070 TI
RAM = at least 32 GB

Further links:

https://www.intel.de/content/www/de/de/support/articles/000098345/graphics.html#primary-content

https://www.pugetsystems.com/blog/2025/01/21/nvidia-geforce-rtx-50-series-features-for-content-creators/#NVENC_and_NVDEC_4_2_2_Chroma_Subsampling_Support

CubeAce wrote on 4/23/2025, 4:57 PM

@Marc-Goder

Hi.

While I agree with @Marc-Goder on the assessment of required pc components if you want to use the highest available video settings on your camera you have to bear in mind that such increments in quality not only get less noticeable in quality step wise for the difference in price that you pay for the privilege, but that most people viewing your content will not have monitors capable of playing back the resolution and dynamic range your files show.

Marc forgot to mention that you would need a monitor that was good enough to be able to reproduce the editing alterations so you could accurately edit such files. Such a system IMHO would be insanely pricey compared to the outlay spent on the camera gear. Not only would you need the specs Marc outlined but also enough supporting NVMe drives of sufficient size to be able to do more than a few dozen video projects.

600Mb/s video content needs very high transfer and processing speeds even before you get into the decoding and encoding of such files and need to add transitions or other possible effects.

Also bear in mind the maximum video quality you can at present upload to any video sharing platform is YouTube and the specs for that can be found here.

Also although the camera can record 4 audio channels you can only mix the audio down to stereo.

Marc is correct that you really need VPX Pro for this if you want to use those higher resolution / contrast ratio files but you could upgrade at a lesser price than from buying new.

You are also only really only going to benefit from using such files if you are using the best Sony optics with your camera. Resolution and perceived quality is not just about the file type or sensor size but the quality of the optics and skill of the editing.

So really what I am asking is what are your expectations and hopeful use from buying and using such a camera body?

Please don't get Marc or me wrong, We are not criticising any choices made here and trying to help but how far down the rabbit hole are you prepared to go?

Ray.