Advantages of a powerbook G4/FCP + DVX on set?

snodart

snodart

Veteran
I will be getting a powerbook G4 12in or 17in in the near future. I know there are advantages to having one on set, but I'm wondering if those of you who have used this sort of set up can give me some more details. I will be shooting with a DVX100b. Any help, info, advice, or tips would be great!

Thanks
 
We shot using a QuickCapture unit and then downloaded straight into the laptop. We would watch "dailies" from the previous day. Since we shot over the period of a month, it was also beneficial to check setups for continuity.
 
I used my powerbook on set as a smart slate for a music video I was shooting. Worked great. I wish I had an app like DV Rack for Mac, then I would probably use it a lot more.
 
I think it would be great to have Soundtrack Pro running on your Powerbook. Then you could capture and see the waveform of the audio. You would know exactly what your audio is doing.
 
Why would you get a ppc machine?

Final Cut Studio is now universal.

The 15" macbook pros are shipping now.

The 17" macbook pro will be released at NAB.

The macbooks will be out next month.

Why anyone buying right now would go power pc is beyond me.
 
FW800
DL burner
PCMIA Slot for direct P2
Video Out

Nice stuff for video in my opinion.
I hope and pray that Apple thinks of video on the next MacBook Pro!
 
Boomerang said:
FW800
DL burner
PCMIA Slot for direct P2
Video Out

Nice stuff for video in my opinion.
I hope and pray that Apple thinks of video on the next MacBook Pro!
Click to expand...

Agreed, I think Apple put out a rush version to keep some of there clientele happy. For people working with video, they left out some of the most important things. Especially for P2, and losing FW800, what's up with that?
 
Thanks for the info all. I have zero experience with P2 or set-ups allowing "edit-ready" clips. I have had to google out more info from the posts to try and gain a better understanding.

With the DVX100b, a 17" Powerbook, and an external hard drive; is it possible to store the clips directly to the external hard drive while shooting? I have read mixed info about this. A few places noted that the timecode is not transferred with the video file. Anybody care to clear any of this up?

ecking said:
Why anyone buying right now would go power pc is beyond me.
Click to expand...


My wife can get the 12 or 17in Powerbook from work for free (not the MacBook). Free = good. At any rate, PCMIA Slot for direct P2 and FW800 seem pretty advantageous to me. Thanks for attempting to make me feel stupid though. Nice work.
:)
 
Yes, the only way you can get timecode onto your Powerbook through FCP, WHILE RECORDING TO TAPE on the DVX is to get a copy of FCP 3.
The versions now do not have this feature thats sees and records currently recording timecode.. If you use a newer version of FCP than version 3 you will get timecode created by FCP onto the hard drive meaning each clip will start at 0:00:00:00. Meanwhile your DVX will be happily recording perfect timecode which will not match.

Sucks, I know.
Why Apple broke this feature is a mystery to me.
 
I'd definitely go with the Powerbook. The Macbook is a different computer and does not have the same abilities as the Powerbook. Get a 17-inch, and you get even more than the Macbook. The Macbook really isn't "2x faster", it just has 2 processors. Computers that have 2 processors will only run programs faster than others if they are coded to work with dual processors. Sometimes, if they aren't programmed for a dual processor system, operations can go slower than with a single processor. I'd go with the Powerbook, and you can install your FCP on there, hook it up to a Hard Drive, and then set your FCP capture bin to the Hard Drive. You'll get great performance and I've found mine very useful.

z
 
snodart said:
My wife can get the 12 or 17in Powerbook from work for free (not the MacBook). Free = good. At any rate, PCMIA Slot for direct P2 and FW800 seem pretty advantageous to me. Thanks for attempting to make me feel stupid though. Nice work.
:)
Click to expand...
It's a no-brainer, you'd be a fool not to take a free 17in PowerBook. Yes...Free=Good
emoticon-10.gif
 
hi all

i'm new around here.

wanted to ask a question but snodart here's already asked half of mine. the other half is - (and really sorry if this has already been asked before or elsewhere - cudnt find anything on it)

have any of you used the new intel g5 with the universal FCP. Any peformance reviews out there? Anybody who had problems? I need to get a mac pretty quickly so i gotta decide. also ive actually seen the imac used on set, and i will need to move around with my machine occassionally (like once a month), but im not sure. is it ok to move the imac around?

cheers!
 
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