Go Pro Video Editing and Posting

Part of the encoding/decoding algorithm resides in the CPU, but a large part can be farmed out to the GPU.

If I'm not mistaken, that depends on your editing software. More recent NLE software like Premiere 6 and Vegas 11 tap into the GPU, but older software like the Premiere 4 I'm using doesn't. I don't think the more entry level editing software, like Premiere Elements or Sony Vegas Studio utilizes the GPU,  but I'm not 100% sure about that.

In the video editing case, you may be decoding 2 streams for splicing so your CPU may be that much more bogged down.

When editing GoPro 720p/60fps with Adobe Premiere 4, my lightly overclocked Intel 2.8Ghz CPU runs about 40-70%, rendering giving it the biggest workout. When rendering the GoPro footage to Main Concept H264, Adobe renders the video and audio tracks, then muxes them into a single MP4 file.

With respect to memory, generally speaking, one HD stream can be done in <16MB of memory.

True. You rarely need 16G of RAM for anything. I often run multiple programs at the same time, so I like the overhead to prevent using the pagefile on my SSD. When editing with Premiere on a 64 bit Win7 system, about 5-6G of RAM is normal usage. Have Premiere and After Effects running at the same time, that amount will go up considerably. Having a fair number of raw video clips in the bin will use more RAM as well. Of course nobody is talking about feature length productions here.

It's an old Dell I got back in 08. I realize that is pretty vague.

If you're lucky, you have a Core II Duo with 4G RAM and a 5400rpm(maybe a 7200rpm) hard drive. Probably could use a new computer if you can afford it, especially if video editing is in your future. If you can build your own, have somebody help you to do it or help them build you one, you'll probably be much happier because Dell computers have a lot of proprietary aspects; they don't want you to upgrade, they want you to buy a new computer. You'll learn a lot and have a way better rig.

Part of the encoding/decoding algorithm resides in the CPU, but a large part can be farmed out to the GPU.

If I'm not mistaken, that depends on your editing software. More recent NLE software like Premiere 6 and Vegas 11 tap into the GPU, but older software like the Premiere 4 I'm using doesn't. I don't think the more entry level editing software, like Premiere Elements or Sony Vegas Studio utilizes the GPU,  but I'm not 100% sure about that.

Yes, you are correct.  Depends on the graphics card too.

-Allen

This is a great discussion.  Not trying to turn this into a computer geek forum, but the tool is essential to processing fishing footage.   

I have a home built computer:  Quad Core Q6600 2.4GHz, 512MB dedicated graphics card, and 2GB of RAM.  The GoPro video playback on Cineform is better than Adobe Premiere Elements in EDITING programs and I can almost do the editing that is needed.  Playback on the raw MP4 from GoPro using Quicktime or Nero Showtime get really laggy and drop frames just playing without editing (even saving the file to my hard drive and not using camera USB).  This was using 1080p 60fps recording mode, so maybe it's less laggy with 720p 120fps.  The software and codecs still have a role in addition to the system components.  Mine appears borderline, not sure which aspect is the bottleneck, so i could use some advice here.   Not everyone has the same tools, but it sure does help when someone shares what is working for them (or not) and provides some advice on what could work for me.  So, thanks for the comments!

Playback on the raw MP4 from GoPro using Quicktime or Nero Showtime get really laggy and drop frames just playing without editing (even saving the file to my hard drive and not using camera USB).  This was using 1080p 60fps recording mode, so maybe it's less laggy with 720p 120fps.

A frame of 720p has a little less than 1/2 the processing requirements of a frame of 1080p.  If you double the frame rate, 720p120 vs 1080p60, the processing requirement are about the same.  However, depending on your cache size, you may have a better cache hit rate for 720 than 1080.  This will increase the perceived performance gap.

-Allen

Im trying out windows movie maker. It seems pretty good for now and its FREE!. Im still learning. 

What music do you guys like to use in your video. I hate hearing all the dumb stuff I say and just want to listen to music.

Im trying out windows movie maker. It seems pretty good for now and its FREE!. Im still learning. 

What music do you guys like to use in your video. I hate hearing all the dumb stuff I say and just want to listen to music.

What do YOU like to listen to? That is probably what matters most. As a musician I plan on picking songs that would possibly go with the theme or energy of the video content. It just seems like another way to express myself I guess. I have friends that are in bands and I plan on using some of their songs for my future videos. It's a way to get them some exposure! I have some ideas for some ridiculous music that I think is hilarious. These videos aren't really going to cater to what the viewer wants to hear. I think that is the beauty of it!

The music doesn't really matter. There are plenty of sweet kayak fishing videos that have sweet footage and crappy music. That is what the mute button is for. All I care about is sweet catching action!

 You can't please everyone so you better please yourself.

I have a home built computer:  Quad Core Q6600 2.4GHz, 512MB dedicated graphics card, and 2GB of RAM.  The GoPro video playback on Cineform is better than Adobe Premiere Elements in EDITING programs and I can almost do the editing that is needed.  Playback on the raw MP4 from GoPro using Quicktime or Nero Showtime get really laggy and drop frames just playing without editing (even saving the file to my hard drive and not using camera USB).  This was using 1080p 60fps recording mode, so maybe it's less laggy with 720p 120fps.  The software and codecs still have a role in addition to the system components.  Mine appears borderline, not sure which aspect is the bottleneck, so i could use some advice here.   Not everyone has the same tools, but it sure does help when someone shares what is working for them (or not) and provides some advice on what could work for me.  So, thanks for the comments!

With the specs you've given, I would say you're correct that, for video editing, your rig is going to work hard to get the job done. Check your computer performance in the Task Manager or Resource Monitor while you are editing and see where the bottleneck is. One thing you can do is use two hard drives; the boot drive has your programs, and the second drive is a "work" drive that has your scratch discs and folders that you save your work to. 5400rpm drives are fine for storage, but for program(boot) drives and work drives, 7200rpm drives are standard. SSD's are fantastic, but a little out of many people's price range.
For playback, try the VLC video player. It's free and plays just about any video format. It even plays some damaged video files.
VideoHelp.com is a good site for help with your video problems and has links to many free video tools.

Im trying out windows movie maker. It seems pretty good for now and its FREE!. Im still learning.

Free is still the best. If it works for you, you're ahead of the game.

Thanks Ling ling. I found some royalty free music that the user says to feel free and use them for videos.  I will be posting the GS7 videos soon.