HVX200-FCP and cheap macbook.

J

jorbedo

Member
HVX200>>(Firewire)>>MacBook(not the pro just the 2.0Ghx core duo)>>USB2.0 HD?

I want to know if this config it's enough to capture edit and output without P2 cards within FCP, we had been playing with non-controllable device and works fine with a G4 Powerbook, we want to go with a cheap Mac book ($1300) but connecting the HVX200 to the Macbook and recording to a external USB2.0 Hard drive (7200 rpm-2.5")

This computer will be configured with 1 Gb of ram, and FCP pro latest version.

Any advice?.

Thank you guys.
 
Apple says it won't though -- FCP doesn't work with the built-in Intel 950 graphics adapter. So how do you get it to run?
 
ericyoung said:
A MacBook or a MacBook Pro will run Final Cut Pro just fine - see here:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showpost.php?p=559379&postcount=111

or for the whole huge thread:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=57389&highlight=macbook

The Final Cut Studio SUITE is not officially supported on the Macbooks because it includes Motion which makes use of particular video cards to accelerate it. The other applications are quite happy.
Click to expand...

Its been covered to some extent.

It works just fine.
I run FCP 5.1.1 on a 1.83 core duo macbook with the 512 mb of ram that came with it (yes i will be stepping up to the max shortly).
When Im inside, and have power I capture STRAIGHT to an external 2.0 USB drive thru Final Cut.
Ive done 720 AND 1080 to the usb drive.
Captured varialble frame rates in 720p and used the "frame rate converter" to achieve over/under cranking.

It works, it works, and IT WORKS.

(on a side note, Amazon.com has a $100 rebate going on for macbooks~ )

Id still like to get my hands on a P2 card (or two), and will soon as the prices seem to keep coming down :)
 
Cynic821 said:
No time for advice, but i garuntee you it will work fine.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree. Capturing DVCProHD to a USB 2.0 drive, and playing it back is dicey.

I have issues capturing to a FW800 drive.
 
I strongly agree with David S.

Ok, so my rant on this issue is thus: if it works for you, you're part of the exception, not the rule. Apple officially states the graphics card in that laptop will not be enough horse power for the apps in Final Cut Suite. I bet you have problems with Motion, if not FCP. And I've seen MacBooks with this graphics card refuse to launch FCP, too. Flip a coin. Do you want a known stable hardware setup, or are you willing to risk a project corrupting in the middle of editing one day?

Again, I've seen folks get FCP to run on hardware it's not officially supported on, then six months down the road, crash, lost work, trouble. So, run on an officially unsupported system, or run on an officially supported system? You're choice. Are you a hacker, or an editor? I pay my house note with editing, it's my job, my income, so I don't gamble like that. My bank won't care about my being a technilogical maverik when I can't pay the house note.

Here's the deal, I'd never edit any sort of HD material of any HD format on a USB dirve. I won't go into technical details, but as a retired IT Engineer, I don't trust the format nor transfer protocol to keep up with the speed. Remember that the stated speed for USB and FW drives is NOT what you will get in real world use.

If you plug your camera into a laptop's FW port, then a FW hard drive to the second FW port, they are both on the same internal FW buss. This is more data per second combined than that one buss can transfer, it can/will give you problems. You can capture to your internal drive, but that's very limited space, and you'll have major problems editing from your system drive. I strongly recommend NOT doing that. But short captures to the system drive of a laptop can work to a point.

The solution, and what I've found to be the best solution for this is to use the FS-100. Ok, I love mine and am predjudice towards it. Anyway, get a FireWire card for your laptop. This creates two seperate data busses. Plug your camera into one, your FW drive into the other. Should work just fine.

Another issue to note here, is that if you have NO P2 cards in the HVX200, anything that goes out the FW cable will have screwed up timecode. I've done this, I've worked with consulting clients who've tried it, it just happens that way. It has worked fine on occation. But the overwhelming majority of the time, I've found wacky timecode gets sent. So, if time code is really important to you, watch out for this issue.
 
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I dont have issues with any speed hard drive, 5400 or 7200. I use a Macbook Pro, but ive never EVER had a problem capturing any DVCPro HD to any speed drive.
 
That's great to hear folks are making it work. But I have to agree, as w hole with the IntelMac transistion, unless it's a uni-binary app, it works for some and not for others.

I was able to get Xpress Pro working on my buddy's MBP using Bootcamp, but no on mine, even though we have identical machines. We even have the same thrid-party RAM. (We even tried cloning HIS drive to mine, and it didn't work either. :()


Cynic821's Signature said:
Oakland Raiders Week 2: 0-2 < FTFY
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The Raiders lost AGAIN?!? Great! My co-worker will be here soon, and he's gonna' be in another sour mood.
 
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BenB said:
Are you a hacker, or an editor?
Click to expand...
Honestly, in the context of THIS thread, I am a person that is running the setup in question buy the originator of THIS thread. Nothing more and nothing less.

Its great that you pay for WHATEVER you pay for by using your camreas, NLEs, whatever, but I dont see anywhere in your response that you have tried this 1st hand and had it fail (or work, or...)

BenB said:
I bet you have problems with Motion..
Click to expand...
No, I run Motion on my dual G5 tower just fine :D
 
Cynic821 said:
I dont have issues with any speed hard drive, 5400 or 7200. I use a Macbook Pro, but ive never EVER had a problem capturing any DVCPro HD to any speed drive.
Click to expand...


That's wonderful to hear.

I moderate at two other pro video editing forums, and write numerous tutorials and product reviews for FCP related sites.

I strongly advise NEVER TO USE USB drives except for backup.

Certainly not for capture, or edit.

And particularly not for DVCProHD.

best wishes
 
David S. said:
That's wonderful to hear.

I moderate at two other pro video editing forums, and write numerous tutorials and product reviews for FCP related sites.

I strongly advise NEVER TO USE USB drives except for backup.

Certainly not for capture, or edit.

And particularly not for DVCProHD.

best wishes
Click to expand...


Thats wonderful to hear, the best wishes after your posts doesnt remove the brashness of them.

I highly recommend it as it has never failed me at any stage in the technology ive used. I wont benchrace with you though.

Best wishes.
 
Look 1st said:
Honestly, in the context of THIS thread, I am a person that is running the setup in question buy the originator of THIS thread. Nothing more and nothing less.

Its great that you pay for WHATEVER you pay for by using your camreas, NLEs, whatever, but I dont see anywhere in your response that you have tried this 1st hand and had it fail (or work, or...)


No, I run Motion on my dual G5 tower just fine :D
Click to expand...

First, I do a good deal of consulting for production facilities and follow-ups with students from my classes, I have actually experienced this first hand. Second, I was refering to the MacBook, not G5 towers, which have better graphics cards than the MacBook has. Only trying to share my experience.
 
Cynic821 said:
Thats wonderful to hear, the best wishes after your posts doesnt remove the brashness of them.
Click to expand...

Hey Cynic.

USB 2.0 does not have fast enough sustained data rates to reliably pass video. That's an opinion based on experience and the performance characteristics of the two protocols.

FW works in a continuous data stream. USB 2.0 uses data burst packets. That is not good for working with video files. Even though USB 2.0 on the bench can be faster than FW, all that data it's passing is not all YOUR data. A lot of it is the tremendous communication overhead that USB requires to talk to its devices.

But that isn't the point. If it is working for you, great. But you seem to be in the minority.

I'm providing anecdotal experience. But there are people who have tested the two.

Apple's implementation of USB2 is poor. PC implementation is much better. But the transfers are still dicey on a Mac, and that's what I'm responding to.

This is a good read on the two protocols, USB2 and FW: http://www.barefeats.com/usb2.html

Or: http://www.g4tv.com/techtvvault/features/39129/USB_20_Versus_FireWire_pg3.html

Do a google on USB2 versus Firewire video. Surprising results.

Thanks

Best wishes

BTW, keep the personal comments off the boards. I'm talking issues, not personalities. We don't know each other, so why not just contribute expertise, not comment on another person?

Sound good?
 
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USB2 was useless when i had to edit with a MacBook Pro of a friend, connected to a USB2 Lacie Drive and it dropped while editing DV..!!
 
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