Taking video-assist to anoher level

[taubkin]

Alright...

I have an idea. Let's see if I'm being a total fool.

DV Rack is a great idea. Or just using a laptop on field to assure that you are getting good materialwith the help of scopes, audio levels and etc. Or just using it to have a very fast and agile video assist with you (and pretty much lighter than carrying a 14 inch combo VHS around). Since a DVCAM prtable recorder is around the same price (if not more expensive) than a suitable notebook to do the task, and with a much smaller screen, this is what I have so far:

I get a Pelican case, large enough for a 15 inch screen notebook and a couple of extra features. Build inside the case a hub for firewire connection, video out and power in, 110V. So I can put any laptop I want inside and connect it to firewire, video, and power without having to take it off the box.

I build inside of the case an inverter that makes this 110V AC port to come out a 12V battery. Cut a hole in the case and install a firewire port in the case that comes from the hub>computer and a canon 4 pin battery in that will power my 110V (that will power my laptop AC adapter - I know, dumb, but will make it able to support any type of laptop). I add to that interface, whatever other I/O that might be useful to me, maybe a A/D video converter so it can take BNC in and out and extra FW or USB2 or DVI (for external digital monitors).

I put a laptop inside connect everything i can in the laptop and end up with a video assist unit that I can carry along with camera gear (digital video or high end film stuff), and have a unit free of cables dangling, adapters, need for power plug that I can use both digitally (to monitor/record digital video) or analogically (as a fancy video assist for film cameras).

Isn't it a sellable product? (I'm only saying because I lack the engeneering to actually make it work...)

Wouldn't that be worth around 400-500 dollars (if well made and with a built in A/D video converter)? Wouldn't it be profitable?

COULD SOMEONE PLEASE DEVELOP IT? - I'll buy...

Cheers...

[/rambling]

 

[Erik Olson]

I like your concept - it's an extension of how I work in the studio already. It would be great to have a USB2 hub for multiple external drives. I'm anxious to see if Serious deploys a HVXRack PowerPack in the months to come.

Heat might be an issue - my Toshiba is unhappy battery-wise even when it's nestled in my lap for too long. The problem with punching too many holes into a Peli or Hardigg case is that it compromises the safety of the gear inside - otherwise I'd say that you should install some cooling technology.

If the cooling fans, BNC and digital connectors were all situated along one side of the case behind a removable fitted rubber cover, then I think you'd really have something. If the whole solution fit into an im2500 sized case - that'd be dead sexy.

e

 

[taubkin]

Yeah, cooling might certainly be an issue, and people would probably want to carry external HDs inside of it as well... so a cooling fan would also be necessary.

But that's exactly how I feel about the I/O ports and cooling. All toghether in the same region with a solution to seal them from the elements during transportation. I'm talking about an industrial manufactored solution, not just something made in someone's garage (although someone could make something really workable from this idea). I might talk for the special FX table top guy I know here and try to build a prototype... Maybe it could work...

 

[ullanta]

Cooling would be a major and expensive problem... and likely noisy, too, if it matters to you. The issue is your goal of suiting "any laptop"... cooling, to be even vaguely efficient, would have to be tailored to specific laptops and hard drives. Using a DC/AC/DC converter (also to suit "any laptop") is also wasteful of power and heat producing. Using external long-term batteries suited to the laptop is a better solution...

 

[powerdog]

Taubkin, as you said in HVX, great minds...!

Why don't you borrow one of my ideas and have a special version with a shelf and adjustable hardware under the lid, a plexiglas window in the lid, and a tablet PC sandwiched between them?

Some of the problems pointed out here, like heat, might be better addressed with a soft bag...not as customized, but I think with just the laptop and drive in a bag, plus the highest capacity battery your laptop will take, you address most of the portability issues.

 

[taubkin]

A soft bag wouldn't cut it. I need it to be sturdy and also it need to be like a video assist VTR... one cable to plug and unplug. If the third assistant takes too long to turn it on (find a suitable surface, connect external drives, adapters and plug everything in) he/she won't be able to help his team to set up camera, something that should not happen. Also I want a solution I can just throw in the camera truck along with all the other hard cases.

The tablet PC idea seems cool... I just have something aggainst tablet PCs... I don't think they work...

As for Ullanta's comments, I agree that the DC/AC/DC thing is one of the weak points. Maybe a DC adapter from 12V to the most common laptop voltages and power specs, and with different plugs for the most common laptop models would be better. That could be made to work to power the external HD too.

I don't know if installing a cooling fan on it would make it very noisy. Some fans can work pretty quietly, and I'm sure the heat issues could be addressed this way... I would certainly want to hear more of your opinions on why cooling would be a "major and expensive problem".

Thanks!

 

[Aarcticboy]

Great idea! Would it not be even better if it was wireless?? With the latest batteries, todays laptops lasts a loong time, and you don't need ANY cables... I have a plan, you see.