Additional Equipment for the Power User

A Power user is a kind of superuser of NLE software. Typically, they start out as hobbyists and then progress until they are making money from their hobby by filming events such as weddings or training videos. Some even go on to make this a full-time career. If you are a budding Power user, you'll need a little more equipment:

• A second VGA monitor so you can have a dual-screen layout.

• MovieBox Pro if you want to output 5.1 surround sound.

• A DV deck to transfer your tapes to the computer. Yes, you can use your camera. I do. But there is a price to pay if you do sodouble the work means half the shelf life for your camera.

• A quality VHS deck to output your projects onto tape and to capture from analog.

• An EIDE/SATA expansion card. You'll use this to add more drives to your system, either as separate units or linked together in a RAID, forming one big drive from up to four others.

• A removable drive bay. The alternative to a large hard drive or a RAID is simply to swap out hard drives for every project you work on.