My HVX200 Direct Capture Tests on MBP, PB, & PMG5

[Bryan Xin]

I have been conducting some HVX200 tests of my own before going into production that I thought might be helpful. I did direct captures in Final Cut Pro 5.0.4 to the following systems using a 14.5 ft. Firewire cable:

MacBook Pro 15" 2.16Ghz, 2GB RAM, 100GB 7200 RPM
PowerBook G4 15" 1.25 Ghz, 1GB RAM, 80GB 5400 RPM
Power Mac G5 Dual 2Ghz, 2GB RAM, 160GB 5400 RPM
External hard drives used: LaCie 250GB d2 triple interface 7200 RPM

1080i60 and 720P24 Tests using built in hard drives:

I successfully captured 1 hour of 1080i60 directly to the built in hard drive on the MacBook Pro and also was successful doing this on the Power Mac G5. I was only able to capture 30 min. to the Power Book G4 because of space limitations. I also successfully captured 30 min. clips in 720p24 on each system.

Tests using an external hard drive (listed above) coming out of the USB port:

I was NOT able to capture 1080i60 with the external hard drive coming out of the USB ports on any system. It was dropping frames every time. I tried with 3 different drives of the same brand and model. However, I was successful at capturing 15-20 min. clips (I didn't try for longer record times) at 720p24 on all systems with the drive coming out of USB.

Tests using an external hard drive using the same Firewire bus as the camera:

I was successful at recording 30 min. to 1 hour clips on the PowerBook and Power Mac (I only have 1 Firewire 400 port on the MacBook - waiting for an Expresscard 34 adaptor) at 180i60 and 720p24 with the hard drive sharing the Firewire bus with the camera. (that's HVX to FW400 port and LaCie drive to FW800 port)

I'm hoping to get a Siig 2 port Firewire Expresscard/34 adaptor soon. I really hope it works so that my MacBook Pro will be just as functional as the others in terms of direct capturing.

[THE HONEST LIAR]

Thanks for sharing the information Bryan.
Just interested to know how much space you had spare on the hard disk on the Macbookpro after capturing an 1 hour of 1080i60.

It all seemed very reassuring.

Kind regards
THE HONEST LIAR

[Bryan Xin]

On the MacBook Pro I captured at 1080i60 until FCP ran out of space to capture, which I believe was actually about 71 minutes and used up approximately 58 GB.

Also, I received a Siig Firewire 2-Port ExpressCard today for my MacBook Pro and I did a direct capture of 1080i60 for 120 min. with the LaCie hard drive coming out of the ExpressCard FW port. I'm very happy and relieved.

[THE HONEST LIAR]

Sounds great.

Kind regards
THE HONEST LIAR

[chakamonkey]

I didn't know you could run Final Cut on the MacBook Pro without the Crossgrade. That makes it version 5.1, not 5.0.4, if my suspicions are correct.

I had heard that there was 1080/24p support added in 5.1. Did you try editing?

[noistar]

...

[Bryan Xin]

I didn't know you could run Final Cut on the MacBook Pro without the Crossgrade. That makes it version 5.1, not 5.0.4, if my suspicions are correct.

I had heard that there was 1080/24p support added in 5.1. Did you try editing?

Yes, I was using 5.0.4 on my MacBook Pro. I'm still waiting for the 5.1 crossgrade to arrive.

I haven't tried editing with it, as my main concern was using the MBP for direct capture.

I believe there is support for 1080/24p in 5.1. I read some other posts that mentioned it being possible, and Apple's website indicates, "HD at 1080i 50/60, 1080p 23.98/24, and 720p 23.98/30/60" under Supported formats and I/O on the FCP specifications page.

[chakamonkey]

Thanks for clarifying that. I guess I don't understand that "crossgrade" marketing term. I thought it referred to getting Apple apps to run on the new Intel processor. Your MacBook Pro is Intel, right?

Yes, I will be testing out the editing of 1080p at 24 and 30 fps shortly. I was hoping to read of someone else's experience first. Not a big deal. Thanks again.

[Jay Silver]

Bryan, How's the Siig Firewire 2-Port ExpressCard working for you? I just bought a Macbook pro and am looking for express cards to help with all the P2 stuff. I own an HVX200 and recording directly to a hard drive sounds like a great way to do it. That is if you're shooting in a studio or a location that you can set that up. Have you heard anything about a Firewire 800 express card? Or an eSATA express card 34?

[Bryan Xin]

Yes chakamonkey, it's the Intel model. The thing that Apple refers to as the "crossgrade" is basically a low cost upgrade from 5.0.4 (Power PC native, but runs on Intel Macs under Rosetta which is an emulation) to 5.1, which is the Universal (Power PC and Intel native) app.

Jay, the Siig Firewire ExpressCard has been working fine. I've used it to connect several different hard drives, a deck, the HVX and even a FW CompactFlash card reader without any problems. As for the FW800 or eSATA ExpressCards, I've only heard that they're on the horizon, but not available yet. I'd like to get one when they come out though.