getting in for the least amount

[Zim]

If you bought the HVX 200 what would it cost to get up and running? How much computer upgrade? Is a 1.5 ram 250 GB hard drive iMac going to do the job?

Can you record on a P2 card then plug the HVX via firewire and tranfer to the computer? I see these pictures of the laptop with the P2 slot.

Then once you get it into the computer and the editting done. If you burn it to the superdrive I guess it will not burn HD,,,,,what is there to use and how much are we talking about$$$.

 

[Jaime Valles]

If you bought the HVX 200 what would it cost to get up and running? How much computer upgrade? Is a 1.5 ram 250 GB hard drive iMac going to do the job?

It'll be ok for editing, though you'll probably be rendering transitions and effects on the footage. If it's cuts-only, you should be fine.

However, you're gonna need more Hard Disk space. External drives are cheap nowadays (you can buy a 250GB firewire drive for $175, or build your own for less) and allow Final Cut Pro to run on the system drive, and have the footage on a separate disk for maximum efficiency and speed. Assume you need 1GB for every minute of footage (in 1080 mode, less for other modes), and you'll be set.

Can you record on a P2 card then plug the HVX via firewire and tranfer to the computer? I see these pictures of the laptop with the P2 slot.

Yes, you can plug the camera to the iMac directly, or you can also plug in an external firewire disk to the camera (no computer necessary) and transfer the footage from P2 to hard disk directly.

Then once you get it into the computer and the editting done. If you burn it to the superdrive I guess it will not burn HD,,,,,what is there to use and how much are we talking about$$$.

Well, you can burn to DVD for storage, but a regular DVD only holds 4GB, and a dual-layer holds 8GB. But this is only for data storage, not for viewing on a dvd player on your TV. Right now, one can't burn an HD DVD to view on a TV; it would have to be downconverted to standard definition footage to be seen on a regular DVD. This should change soon once HD-DVD and Blu-Ray drives and players come out early next year. At first they'll be expensive (around $1000 or so) but should soon drop in price to a couple hundred bucks.

 

[Cees Mutsaers]

To be honest you need about USD 21.000 to buy the essentials :

HVX200 + 2 8 GB P2 Cards ~10.000
extra battery ????
on camera light ????
Apple power mac quad ~ 4000
external HDD (500 Gb) ~300
2 Dell 2405 FPW displays ~ 1600
FC studio ~1500
tripod ~800
UV filter ~200
firestore ~2000
HD-DVD/blue ray DVD ?????
bag to carry the stuff ~500


total at least USD 21000

 

[Jeskid]

LOL - those are essentials!

No offense, but half of those aren't 100 percent needed to make a film.

 

[Cees Mutsaers]

so what do you think is needed?????

this will be the set-up I am going for

 

[esperman]

HVX200 + 2 8 GB P2 Cards ~10.000-----MORE LIKE 8400.00 USD
Apple power mac quad ~ 4000 ------HE HAS A MAC ALREADY
2 Dell 2405 FPW displays ~ 1600 -----NOPE....0.00
FC studio ~1500 -----YUP
tripod ~800 ------ASSUME HE ALREADY HAS ONE AS WELL 0.00
UV filter ~200 ----LOL....NOT MUST HAVE
external HDD
firestore ~2000 -----PLEASE......TRANSFER TO EXTERNAL DRIVE
BETWEEN TAKES

 

[Cees Mutsaers]

external drive like what ???? notebook on the move????
I think you need a the fastest mac available (even when it is not HDV but DVCpro HD) since real time rendering is very processor intensive

I don't know what he already has.

 

[Haakon]

To be honest you need about USD 21.000 to buy the essentials :

HVX200 + 2 8 GB P2 Cards ~10.000
firestore ~2000

total at least USD 21000

There's no reason that anyone using the HVX, especially for narrative filmmaking, would need both 2 8GB P2 cards AND a Firestore. Some people like one method, some people like the other. The camera is all about choices. But you certainly don't NEED both (and in my opinion, it would be completely overkill).

 

[Cees Mutsaers]

Ok you shoot 16 min 1080 HD and than what. Go home and do some NLE and end up with 2 minutes video !!!!!

There's no reason that anyone using the HVX, especially for narrative filmmaking, would need both 2 8GB P2 cards AND a Firestore. Some people like one method, some people like the other. The camera is all about choices. But you certainly don't NEED both (and in my opinion, it would be completely overkill).

 

[Luis Caffesse]

Ok you shoot 16 min 1080 HD and than what. Go home and do some NLE and end up with 2 minutes video !!!!!

If you're using P2 cards you can dump the footage to any off the shelf external firewire drive on set, no computer needed.

You can get external drives for pretty cheap these days, and a 100+ GB drive should be more than good enough for a days worth of shooting.

The speed of the drive doesn't matter too much (other than the speed at which you'll be able to transfer the footage), seeing as you don't need to edit off the external, you're only using it to store the footage. When you get back to your NLE you can copy the footage over to your edit system and go from there.


And on another quick sidenote...
I would personally consider a UV filter to be a necessary item (it's worth the investment if you care about your lens). But I don't know of a UV filter that costs $200!

How about more like $24.00?

 

[Cees Mutsaers]

so what do you think I can skip from my list and get to the essentials ?

HVX200 + 2 8 GB P2 Cards ~10.000
extra battery ????
on camera light ????
Apple power mac quad ~ 4000
external HDD (500 Gb) ~300
2 Dell 2405 FPW displays ~ 1600
FC studio ~1500
tripod ~800
UV filter ~200
firestore ~2000
HD-DVD/blue ray DVD ?????
bag to carry the stuff ~500

If you're using P2 cards you can dump the footage to any off the shelf external firewire drive on set, no computer needed.

You can get external drives for pretty cheap these days, and a 100+ GB drive should be more than good enough for a days worth of shooting.

The speed of the drive doesn't matter too much (other than the speed at which you'll be able to transfer the footage), seeing as you don't need to edit off the external, you're only using it to store the footage. When you get back to your NLE you can copy the footage over to your edit system and go from there.

 

[Stevet]

Ok you shoot 16 min 1080 HD and than what. Go home and do some NLE and end up with 2 minutes video !!!!!

Well, that wouldn't be my plan! I would simply plug in my cheap USB portable
drive and dump the video on it freeing up the P2 cards.

 

[Luis Caffesse]

Well, that wouldn't be my plan! I would simply plug in my cheap USB portable
drive and dump the video on it freeing up the P2 cards.

It'll have to be a cheap Firewire drive.
The USB port is only used to hook the HVX up to a computer.

 

[Cees Mutsaers]

isn't that basically the same you can do with a firestore. Moreover you can directly record on it and isn't it more rigid than an off the shelf cheap firewire portable drive (no offence intended).

Well, that wouldn't be my plan! I would simply plug in my cheap USB portable
drive and dump the video on it freeing up the P2 cards.

 

[Luis Caffesse]

so what do you think I can skip from my list and get to the essentials ?

Well, you need to figure out if you want to work with P2 cards or with the Firestore, you defintely don't need both.

What equipment do you currently own/have access to? It's not worth buying new stuff if you can incorporate some of your existing gear into your new workflow.

Without knowing some more details on what your situation and your application is, I don't think anyone can tell you much.

What I CAN tell you is that if you are trying to get in for "the least amount" then you don't need a new Quad Power Mac, or 2 Dell 24" HD Displays.

 

[Luis Caffesse]

isn't that basically the same you can do with a firestore. Moreover you can directly record on it and isn't it more rigid than an off the shelf cheap firewire portable drive (no offence intended).

Yes, the difference is you can record directly to a Firestore like you said. And yes, the Firestore will probably be more 'rigid' than an off the shelf drive (depending on how cheap you go with the external drive).

But then again, the Firestore had BETTER have some advantages over an off the shelf drive... it's going to cost roughly 20 times as much!!

 

[Haakon]

isn't that basically the same you can do with a firestore. Moreover you can directly record on it and isn't it more rigid than an off the shelf cheap firewire portable drive (no offence intended).

Yes, that's exactly why you don't need both of them... they serve identical purposes. The Firestore will grace you with longer shooting times, the P2 cards will be more rugged and long lasting, and probably provide you with much quicker access to the footage. There's no official word yet on if the Firestore will support the enhanced metadata on the P2 cards or the clip thumbnails on the LCD, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Either way, you don't need both.

 

[Luis Caffesse]

If you want to get in as cheap as possible then stick with PC
(I don't want this to turn into a format flame war, I work on Mac myself but you coudl probably set up a PC for cheaper).

If you want to go with Mac, check out Mike Curtis's HD FAQ at www.hdforindies.com
He has a great list there detailing the Mac requirements for editing different formats.

 

[wigby]

overkill

overkill

isn't that basically the same you can do with a firestore. Moreover you can directly record on it and isn't it more rigid than an off the shelf cheap firewire portable drive (no offence intended).

it's functionally the same as firestore but you're paying $2000 for firestore's 100gb compared to $300 for an off the shelf 500gb firewire/usb drive.

 

[Haakon]

it's functionally the same as firestore but you're paying $2000 for firestore's 100gb compared to $300 for an off the shelf 500gb firewire/usb drive.

No, that's innacurate. The whole point of the Firestore is that you can stream live capture to it. With an off-the-shelf drive you have to record to P2 first, and then offload the data afterward.