[TriLUG] video processing and ML on Linux

[Greg Brown via TriLUG]

I need to build a machine that is more or less decided to video production
and i have been using Linux for the back-end for this for a good while and
would like to keep on that path.  I've been doing a lot of behind the
scenes stuff with ffmpeg if I need to work on batches of files for some
reason (change formats, rotate all videos "X" degrees, strip audio, etc).

For actual video editing with clips of videos I've been using OpenShot
Video Editor on Ubuntu and that seems to work pretty well.  The problem
here is I'm up against the limits of my hardware (2012 Mac mini, 8 gigs
ram, 1 GB SSD).  Because there is no USB-C or Thunderbolt-3 I'm out of luck
as far as an eGPU goes and I would very much like to wring more out of any
GPU I can get my hands on.

So, I'd like to build a Linux box.  Is anyone out there working with Linux
for video production?  if so what do you use?  Did you spec your hardware
off whatever was the best supported hardware you could get at the time?
What I would ideally have is a much stronger CPU with more core and more
maximum threads, the ability to have a lot more ram (32 gigs to start but
expandable to up 128, 256 or beyond would be nice), and a really nice GPU.

If anyone has thoughts on specifications I'm all ears.  Budget is not
unlimited by any stretch but as of right now I could safely drop $2500.00
or so on the machine itself and more if I had to (but that might take some
massaging).  I'd like to stick under $2500 if possible.  Cutting edge is
not required, as much as I'd like to have two threadrippers.

When not doing video production it would like be used for ML tasks
(classification of sounds from mp3 files) or inferred direction of motion
in videos as well as seamless stitching of photos together of many
geotagged photos into a single, humongous photo.. things like that.

Greg