New home computer spec for SVHS video edit

I am currently trying to decide on the specs for a new computer. The spec will be driven by the desire to edit video in a reasonably comfortable manner.
My video was captured from SVHS tapes about 10 years ago using my JVC VCR, and an external TBC into an Intensity card. The video is NTSC 720 x 486 Interlaced, saved uncompressed YUV 422 in AVI files.

I intend to edit down to watchable “stories”, with only absolutely required corrections, one of which is obviously de-interlace. I see no advantage in up-scaling, and intend to produce 720p output in some highly compressed format that can be distributed conveniently ( maybe depending on user).
This is not a commercial, productivity driven workflow, and some operations can easily be left to run overnight.
I would like some hardware recommendations that, considering my content, will give me reasonable performance while editing for the time I spend at the computer without breaking the bank. The budget is somewhat flexible, so I do not have to go rock bottom.

Well, just about any computer with a decent GPU will do. It all depends if you want to de-interlace and upscale with a specialized software like Topaz VAI or just in DR.
720 is always progressive and TVAI needs quite some computing power, the better algorithms in DR too.

I am currently trying to decide on the specs for a new computer. The spec will be driven by the desire to edit video in a reasonably comfortable manner. My video was captured from SVHS tapes about 10 years ago using my JVC VCR, and an external TBC into an Intensity card. The video is NTSC 720 x 486 Interlaced, saved uncompressed YUV 422 in AVI files.

I would question the need to record in uncompressed YUV 422 AVI. I think the workflow is way, way, way overkill for S-VHS (possibly even overkill for 1" broadcast tapes). I had a lot of experience with S-VHS in the 1980s and 1990s, and I knew the JVC BR-S822 (arguably the best VHS machine ever made) very well.

I think you would be far better off going with the 4x3 HD res of DNxHR HQ, which will be much more than enough for an 8-bit format like S-VHS. If the tapes are already captured and compressed, then it's just a question of getting fast drives and a fast computer: I would point to Puget Systems as being an example of a top-notch company that makes good Resolve systems:

https://www.pugetsystems.com/recommende ... mendations

You could do some tests and look into de-interlacing, noise-reduction, and sharpening with Topaz or Tensor (as one example of the processors out there):

https://www.topazlabs.com/
https://tensorpix.ai/

While I fully agree that uncompressed is not needed, a few remarks regarding Topaz VAI vs DR:
- it’s better at de-interlacing
- it’s pretty good at removing the typical haloes of sharpening
- it’s a bit better at upscaling than SuperScale

It’s slow if you don’t have a strong NVIDIA card.

While I fully agree that uncompressed is not needed, a few remarks regarding Topaz VAI vs DR:
- it’s better at de-interlacing
- it’s pretty good at removing the typical haloes of sharpening
- it’s a bit better at upscaling than SuperScale

It’s slow if you don’t have a strong NVIDIA card.

Yeah, I was very surprised to discover how good Topaz was. This is a good example of something I didn't want to spend money on, but it's a useful accessory and can work very well. The De-interlacing was particularly good.

I too am in the position of archiving a lot of old tapes (Super 8 film transfers, VHS, SVHS, Hi8 etc ). Some more important than others. I have Topaz and yes it is good but very, very slow on either my PC or Studio Max. For speed TMPGenc Master Works 7 is much faster, close to realtime for deinterlace and encode to almost anything !! . Topaz is better for source that is not that good. But a good source file is close between them. Older VHS I tend to use Topaz but SVHS etc tend to use TMPGenc. Most are family video or shows I recorded a long time ago so not super critical as content in a more usable form is more important than pixel peeping.

You will need a powerful computer for Topaz but even TMPGenc needs a fast GPU too.

Currently there is a discount of 72 $ on Topaz' products. Careful, it only applies to one product!

I see no advantage in up-scaling, and intend to produce 720p

Do you mean 480p?

Upscaling to 720p with Topaz or something else will look much better than leaving it at 480p and letting people's playback system upscale it the crappy way. It will be a postage stamp or super pixelated.

For Topaz they recommend https://docs.topazlabs.com/video-ai/system-requirements a NVIDIA RTX 3000 or higher, but I would argue that Topaz needs all the GPU you can throw at it to be useful. I'd probably recommend an A4000, A4500, A5000 or a A6000, depending on your budget and how long you're willing to wait for stuff to process.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If I were building a Topaz system right now I'd probably go with a Ryzen 7950x, at least 64GB RAM, A4000, and a OWC Accelsior 8M2.

Thanks for the advice.
I have a new computer, and can now load Resolve 18. Looking forward to learning how to use it.

Topaz seems to be a FAV these days, but for my non-professional eyes, I think QTGMC, or YADIFMod in Hybrid are "Good Enough". It is SVHS source so not great to begin with.
I think my "audience" are more concerned about whether I can keep the "story" interesting than whether it is Pro-video. Of course I do not want quality issues to distract from the viewing pleasure, so I will keep working to figure out what the balance is for my case.

Thanks again for the pointers.

Actually, bad old analog SD footage is profiting more from Topaz than digital ‘small’ HD.
We normally give the vertical resolution, so for clarity, 720p would be 1,280 by 720 and scale pretty well in DR or any modern TV.
Interlaced SD will look a lot better being treated by TVAI.