DV Rack, the DVX and a Laptop

DC

DC

Cinematographiliac
[Posted elsewhere but thought this was a better location for this discussion.]

MarkRan:

Love the DV Rack demo. Probably will be purchasing soon. I do have a few questions though.

I currently own a Toshiba Satellite (top of the line multimedia laptop in early 2002) running at 1.7Ghz with 512MB RAM. My goal is to get one of those pocket Firewire drives (maybe 80GB) that are powered through the actual Firewire cable. So, while in the field, I can monitor and record to the hard disk simultaneously. In essence, I want to bypass tape capture.

Is my system going to be able to handle this? Will I have enough system power (electricity) to pull it off? What is the minimum RPM of the hard drive to capture video on the fly? Should I go the route of a 2.5" IDE to Firewire conversion kit? And basically, what else do you recommend?

Thanks,

-DC-
 
Re: DV Rack, the DVX and a Laptop

OK, the only question I can answer is that you need a drive running at 7,200 RPM to capture video on the fly.
 
Re: DV Rack, the DVX and a Laptop

A fast internal is probably the best solution. As mentioned 7200 is best.
If you have to go to an external drive you might consider a buscard so you have one firewire port for input and one for output so you don't try to cram too much data through (in and out)
 
Re: DV Rack, the DVX and a Laptop

best test i can think of is to capture from your dvx to your laptop and have the data go directly to the firewire drive.

i am pretty sure the dv rack demo doesn't allow to save the files to the hard drive?

i have the demo and i ordered the full version and should have that tomorrow or friday.

btw, they dvxuser discount has ended, but JUST BETWEEN YOU AND ME if you put DVXUSER on the order form they just might email you and just might let you still get the discount...

matthew
 
Re: DV Rack, the DVX and a Laptop

Your DVX will take over the firewire completely, so unless you have a separate card for your firewire harddrive it probably won't work. I tried it with my laptop and it didn't work too well.

But you can capture to the internal hard drive and move the files to your external drive later (that's what I do). Since you will probably be using DVRack for capture and another software for editing, I don't see it as a big nuissance.

DVRack demo will let you save the files - at least the version I had before I bought the full version did.

Wish you good luck!

Jerry
 
Re: DV Rack, the DVX and a Laptop

Yeah, I was a fool for not getting it during the $395 DVXUser deal. If the deal really has expired, and people still want that price, try ebay, look for seller guygraphics_com or "Guy Graphics"... got it for $399 plus like $7 shipping, new & sealed.
 
Re: DV Rack, the DVX and a Laptop

Well couldnt you guys get a USB 2.0 External Drive and plug it in the laptop itself if it had the usb2 ports?

John
 
Re: DV Rack, the DVX and a Laptop

I've done several shoots with DV Rack in the last few weeks and it has been sensational! I'm running a P4 Dell Laptop with the camera to the firewire and a 250GB External USB2 drive. One shoot was 5 hours continous recording of an instructor in a classroom. We stopped only to switch tapes, so we were recording for a solid hour to DV Rack with no breaks. Worked perfectly! Imagine having to capture 5 hours after the shoot. DV Rack saved is of that misery! The wear on the heads are worth the price alone. Plus, the monitor and sound monitoring is very good. Also, VERY useful, is that you can scrub back through a take without having to mess with the tape. All in all, a very worthwhile and well thought out product.
 
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